Chapter 347 The Villain Lady Arrives 176
"This place is even older than I thought." Esther whispered, her voice trembling as it echoed in the empty cave. She was a young mage, full of curiosity and awe for the unknown world, but at this moment, her curiosity was also mixed with a hint of fear.
Bruno had a serious look on his face. He held the battle axe tightly in his big hands. His heavy armor shone coldly in the dim light. He looked around and whispered to Estella, "Miss Mage, remember your spells. There may be dangers hidden here that we have never seen before."
Leah remained highly alert, her figure moving around the edge of the team like a ghost, scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes from time to time to ensure that she did not miss any abnormalities. She whispered to Rek'Sai: "Mr. Ranger, are your arrows ready? I feel that there is more than just the sound of the wind and our footsteps here."
Rek'Sai smiled slightly and gently patted the quiver on his back. The arrows collided with each other and made a crisp sound, as if responding to Leah's question: "Don't worry, my arrows are always ready for those who need them."
The team continued to go deeper, and each step seemed particularly heavy. The air in the cave seemed to be getting heavier and heavier, oppressing people to the point of suffocation. Suddenly, a low roar came from the depths of the cave, accompanied by a strong vibration that made the whole team tremble.
"Oh no, a mechanism has been triggered!" Alice exclaimed, and quickly flipped through the ancient books, trying to find a solution. But there was no relevant record in the ancient books, so she could only rely on her intuition and the power of the team to deal with it.
"Everyone be careful, stand back to back and be prepared to deal with emergencies!" Tariq shouted loudly, waving his sword and being alert to possible enemies or traps around him.
At this moment, a dazzling light suddenly lit up on both sides of the cave, and dozens of sharp stone spikes suddenly shot out from the cave wall and rushed towards everyone. Estella quickly chanted a spell, and a blue shield instantly unfolded around the team, blocking most of the stone spikes outside. However, a few stone spikes still penetrated the shield and pointed directly at the weak links in the team.
Bruno roared, swung his battle axe, and knocked away the stone spikes that attacked him one by one. Leah dodged the attack of the stone spikes and threw several darts with her backhand, hitting the mechanism in the distance accurately, stopping the remaining stone spikes from attacking.
"That was a close call!" Estella wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at Leah gratefully, "Thank you, Miss Ninja."
"You're welcome, we are a team." Leah replied calmly, but her eyes revealed unquestionable determination.
After a tense battle, the team finally got rid of the threat of the trap. They continued to move forward, but their vigilance was not reduced at all. As they went deeper, the scene inside the cave became more and more bizarre. Huge stone pillars supported the dome, which was carved with complex totems and star patterns; clear streams meandered among the rocks, making pleasant sounds; and the most amazing thing was the luminous crystals suspended in the air, which emitted a soft light, illuminating the entire cave like daylight.
"These crystals... they seem to be guiding us forward." Alice looked up at the glowing crystals, her eyes sparkling with curiosity and excitement. She found that the arrangement of these crystals seemed to match the star pattern described in ancient books, and she immediately had a guess in her mind.
"Everyone, follow me closely. These crystals may be the key to the core of the ruins." Alice said, and walked forward in the direction indicated by the crystals. Seeing this, others followed suit, their steps were cautious but full of determination.
However, the good times didn't last long. Just as they were about to walk out of the cave and enter the core of the ruins, a strong tremor struck again. The entire cave began to shake violently, as if it would collapse at any time.
"Hurry! We have to get out of here!" Tariq shouted loudly, swinging his sword vigorously and splitting a huge rock blocking the way. Others also used their own skills, breaking rocks to open a path, casting spells, or dodging quickly... They rushed to the cave entrance with all their strength.
But at this moment, a huge stone door fell from the sky and sealed the cave entrance tightly. Everyone was horrified when they saw this, and they stopped and looked at the indestructible stone door, not knowing what to do.
"This is bad..." Estella muttered to herself. She tried to cast a spell to open the stone door again but found that she had very little magic power left.
"Don't lose heart!" Alice walked forward holding the ancient book tightly, "Perhaps we can find a way to open this door from the ancient book." As she spoke, she opened the ancient book and began to read it carefully.
Time passed by... Just when everyone was about to despair, Alice finally found a way to open the stone door. She chanted the spell according to the instructions in the ancient book and injected a powerful magic power into the stone door. With a roar, the indestructible stone door finally slowly opened, revealing a passage leading to the core of the ruins.
"Great! We succeeded!" Estella cheered. She hugged Alice excitedly as if she was celebrating her rebirth.
"Let's go!" Tariq urged. He was the first to rush through the stone gate and step into the core area of the ruins. Others followed closely behind him.
The core area of the ruins was more magnificent than they had imagined. A huge palace stood in the center, surrounded by towering towers and well-arranged courtyards. The walls of the palace were carved with exquisite patterns and murals that told the glorious history of this ancient civilization. The most shocking thing was the huge altar in the center of the palace, which was inlaid with a dazzling gem - the "Tears of the Stars" they were looking for.
"Is that the gem we are looking for?" Estella murmured to herself as she looked at the gem on the altar. Her eyes were shining with desire and awe, as if she had seen the glorious future after she mastered this power.
But at this moment, a strong sense of crisis suddenly struck. They discovered that there were other explorers hiding in the ruins - a group of bandits from the dark forces who had long been eyeing the gem and intended to take it for themselves.
"No! There are enemies!" Tariq shouted loudly and rushed towards the bandits with his sword. Others also used their own skills to fight fiercely with the bandits.
The battle was extremely fierce and both sides tried their best. But as time went on, the bandits of the dark forces gradually gained the upper hand. They were numerous and powerful, while Alice and her group were exhausted from the long exploration and fighting.
"This is not a solution..." Alice was extremely anxious. She knew that if she couldn't get rid of these robbers as soon as possible, they would never get the gem. At this moment, she suddenly thought of an idea - to use the mechanisms and traps in the ruins to deal with these robbers.
"Everyone, retreat outside the palace!" Alice shouted loudly, pulling Estella, Bruno and others out of the palace. Seeing this, the bandits of the dark forces thought they were trying to escape and chased after them. But at this moment, Alice suddenly activated the mechanism in the palace, and beams of light shot out from the walls of the palace, surrounding the bandits.
"This is..." Estella looked at the scene in front of her in surprise. She couldn't believe that all this was true. But the fact was that the robbers were trapped in the light and couldn't escape.
"This is the power of the ruins." Alice said with a smile. She looked at the gem on the altar with determination in her eyes. "We will definitely get it and use it to benefit the entire continent."