"What was that just now?"
"Looks like a trap mechanism."
??
"But we didn't trigger any trap, right?"
"None that I know of."
"I felt like I am in one of those old movies where the main character was a tomb-raiding dude with a hat and a whip."
"Where is Sunset?"
Upon the last comment, everyone started to look at each other. Indeed, everyone was accounted for except Sunset Walking.
"Did he got left behind?"
"If he did, he would be run over by that giant ball already."
Everyone started to open their Party system. Sunset Walking's name was still in their party, meaning he was still alive. Jack could see on his radar a lone green dot away from their position, but he saw no path in that direction.
"Hey, Sunset. What happened to you? You ok?" Bowler sent a message in the party chat.
"I'm fine. I had ducked into another path. You guys go on ahead. We should be able to meet again if we continue forward," sunset replied.
"Let's continue forward then, no point hanging around here," Jeanny agreed with him.
They observed their surrounding. It appeared to be another corridor. A short one though, they saw it turned not far ahead. Since the place they came from was already blocked, they had no choice but to go forward. They heard some whirring sound in the distance, like the hum of machinery. The corridor took them through several turns before they came out to a slightly large room. What they saw in the room alarmed them.
Four continuously spinning pillars were moving back and forth along straight groovings on the floor and the roof. They wouldn't be alarmed if the pillar was simply spinning as they moved, the problem was on these pillars were attached several long blades that slashed around at high speed as the pillars spun.
The width of the room was not that wide, the blades of the spinning pillars crossed each other. The blades were positioned at different heights along the pillar, so one blade didn't clash with other blades. When the pillars aligned with each other, there would be no space available to slip by. Luckily the speed of those four pillars was not the same, so there were still windows when they were apart from each other, allowing a limited passage if one wanted to pass through to the other side.
They observed the room, there was no other way out except the other side through those spinning pillars with blades. The other side was around fifty meters long. Even the slowest spinning pillar covered that distance in ten seconds, while the fastest one only took five seconds.
They looked at the situation with apprehension.
"What the heck kind of dungeon is this?" The Man finally asked after a long silence.
"Apparently, it is the kind without monster but full of traps and machinations that we need to go through," John said. "The worse kind, since we got no exp exploring this dungeon unless we clear it."
Jack lamented the fact that he had wasted his enhanced whetstone and sweet dumpling.
"What do you think the damage we will receive if cut by one of those blades?" Someone asked.
"How about you go test it out?" Another offered.
"Let's throw a dice and decide who goes first."
"No need," Jack said, he had been observing the movements of the pillars in correspondence with each other. After observing several cycles, he felt that he had grasped the timing. He made some internal countings and dashed forward once the window arrived.
The others looked with wide eyes at Jack who rushed into between the spinning pillars without hesitation. They saw him moved, then stopped as he waited for the adjacent pillar to pass, then slipped in and ran again. The process repeated several times as he ducked in and out from one pillar to another. After a while, Jack came out to the other side.
"The son of a b*tch really made it…"
Jack looked back and yelled at the ones still on the other side. "It's very easy, right? Do you guys memorize the way I did it?"
The others were quiet for a beat before most everyone shouted back.
"Easy your mom!"
"Who the heck can memorize all that from a single viewing?"
"How did you do it?"
"You come back here and explain to us!"
John came forward and said to them, "all right, all right, settle down. The path he took was actually rather effective. Now, I will copy it and let you guys see as well."
"Wait!" Almost everyone went and grabbed him before he entered the pillars formation.
"What?" He uttered with dissatisfaction due to their interruption.
"Don't take us as the same as you who can memorize it with a single viewing. Here! Write it down and describe the sequences to us!" They took out a stack of papers and a pen.
"What are you people, first graders?" John mocked, but he still took the pen and papers and started writing.
He made some drawings as he described the path to take, the timings, and during what position of the pillars was the best time to start. He also advised them that the process would more or less be affected by their dexterity stat. Those with slower movement speed would have a narrower window on each sequence, while those with higher might need to slow down and not rush ahead at some parts.
Jack was waiting for them in boredom, so he started playing with casting his mage spells again to increase his proficiencies.
"So, everyone understands already?" John asked.
"Um… sort of."
"All right, I will go and let you people see. Please pay attention. I'm not coming back here and do it again," John said.
Everyone watched intensely as John walked into the pillars formation, and he literally walked. Contrary to Jack who dashed in and out between the pillars with speed, John appeared to take a leisurely walk amongst the pillars. The cycles it took for him became more and thus resulted in a longer time, but in the end, he still managed to pass through to the other side.
"Damn it, do you have to act so cool?" Jack said to him once he arrived by his side.
"Friend, being cool is my second nature," he replied, then turned back to the others and called out, "It's very easy, right? Do you guys memorize the way I did it?"
Motherf*cking assh*le! He was copying what Jack had said to them before. The ones with range attack had the urge to throw some attacks his way.
"If being cool is your second nature, being damn annoying is surely your first nature," Jack commented.
"All right, I will give it a try," Trinity Dawn exclaimed.
She followed the way John did. With a slower pace but more cycles, but she did not have it as leisurely as John. At some parts, she had to dash due to near-miss. But in the end, she still made it safely to the other side.
Jeanny went next, then Fierce Flame, The Man and the others followed suit. In the end, there were still accidents. One of The Man's underlings missed one of the timing windows and panicked. He ended up being shredded by the blades. There was no damage number or scream of pain. He just simply killed with one touch of the blade.
His friend that was going next after him, another of The Man's subordinates, was terrified by the sight. Going in with an unsteady heart, caused him to make a mistake even earlier and followed his predecessor.
"Calm down!" Jeanny called out from the other side.
The rest steadied their minds before making the attempt. They passed through one after the other. The last one, Viral Cora, went through the sequence fluently. He had almost reached the end when she missed the timing.
"Watch out!" Jeanny called out to warn her. The spinning pillar was rushing at her back. To her surprise, she made a close dodge, but the sudden evade caused her to trip. She fell as another pillar was coming at her. She looked at approaching spinning blades in horror.
She had already resigned herself to fate when she felt her body getting dragged away. Before she knew it, she was already outside of the pillars formation beside the others. She looked up and saw Jack who was still holding her body.
"Phew, luckily managed to make it," Jack said.
"What was that just now? Was that a skill?" Someone asked.
"Yeah, it is a skill called Shooting Dash. At my current skill level, It allowed me to dash at high speed two times covering 7.25 meters in each dash."
Since Viral Cora was very close to the finish line when she lost her footing, it was within the range of Jack's Shooting Dash skill. He used the first dash to reach her, and then the second dash to drag her to safety, creating a swift V-pattern movement.
"How the hell did you manage to get all those awesome skills and spells?" Giant Steve asked.
"There is no need for envy," Bowler said to him, then to Jack he said, "bro, you wouldn't mind sharing with me tips and clues on how to get new skills and spells, right?"
"I'm just lucky," Jack told them. "But if any of you are in a league faction already, you should try to perform well. They are a good source to acquire new skills and spells," Jack told them what Peniel had informed him before.
"Thank you!" Viral Cora uttered to Jack, she was sincerely grateful.
"Don't mention it. We are friends after all," Jack replied.
😉