"It`s not a simple trap that will stop me," Marc stated as if it was an absolute fact.

　　He then took out his sword, hold it firmly in front of him, took a big breath, and slashed at the wall. Edward didn`t see anything but he felt a pressure leaving the sword, the next moment part of the wall exploded leaving a five centimeters deep gash for three meters. Marc got visibly paler struggling to control his breathing. That attack took a lot out of him. Clearly, it wasn`t something that he would be able to execute several times in a row. His wound opened again, and blood stains became visible on his torso through his clothes.

　　On the wall, several green lines had been cut due to that sword strike. The lines that got cut flickered before switching off entirely. The corridor dimmed significantly, and the symbols on the right wall turned dark.

　　I was going to ask why he didn`t use that move against the wolves yesterday, but seeing him like this I think I can understand why. The way he is behaving he will get exhausted after only a few strikes. This guy is so annoying, on one hand, he is a complete jerk who treats us like trash, and on the other hand, we will quickly die without him in this expedition. If he dies our only hope of survival would be to somehow cross back through Vipin Forest without alerting the beasts in it. And if we encounter that huge wolf or another beast of this caliber on the way back, we would die for sure.

　　Marc looked at the guard who had confronted him a moment ago. "You go first." The guard clenched his teeth, but he knew Marc would probably kill him if he didn`t comply, left without a choice he advanced slowly in the corridor. He could only hope the trap was disabled with the amount of damage the wall had suffered. Luckily for him, the trap was indeed damaged enough to stop working. The guard was able to cross the corridor safely.

　　Of course, he has to make those who annoy him go first in dangerous area. Why am I even surprised at this point? Edward internally rolled his eyes.

　　But it seems Marc was right, those symbols were indeed powering that spell. If I get the occasion, I should learn to engrave a spell like that. It`s a good way to secure a hideout. If I don`t want to spend the rest of my days in Agripin I will need to be able to travel alone in the wilds at one point. And it`s not like I can stay awake forever, I will have to find safe places to sleep, engraving some spells like those ones would be very useful to secure such places. I doubt a simple snare will be able to trap a black wolf, at least not with a regular string. Well, it`s not like I know how to do a snare in the first place& I still have many things to learn if I want to be able to roam freely in the wilds.

　　Edward came near the wall, to look at the symbols more closely.

　　Even if I`m not able to learn those spells yet, I should try to remember those symbols. If I can identify them, I may be able to avoid another trap like this one in the future.

　　Several symbols had been cut by Marc`s slash. Edward didn`t know if only one of those symbols was enough to activate the trap or if several were needed. He decided to try to remember all of them. He would have gladly taken a few sketches, even though he wasn`t good at drawing, but he didn`t have any pen or anything to write onto.

　　One of the symbols was a circle with a blooming flower inside, at the center said flower an opened eye looked at the beholder. The next symbol was a square inside a circle with the angles from the square touching the border of the circle. Inside the square, several drawings of this world`s two moons could be seen in different phases, from two full moons to two dark moons. The last symbol was formed from two intersected triangles. From the center of the triangles, different vines were coming out in all directions. Edward committed those symbols to memory.

　　The trap being disabled, the rest of the group progressed to the end of the corridor. They stopped blocked in front of a close door. It was a stone slab without any decorations on it, instead of a handle the gate had what could only be describe as a button. There weren`t any strange symbols on the door, however, there was a drawing of the sun above it. Marc asked one of his guards to push the button with a nod. The door opened shakily, slowly sliding down into the floor.

　　If those green lines are relaying power within the ruins, having half its power supply cut off mustn`t help the door to open.Stolen story; please report.

　　A big room was revealed, a long rectangle table lay in the middle of open space with enough chairs for about forty people. Once again, lighting was provided by the same green lines. They were everywhere, from the walls to the ceiling, depicting several different sceneries. The ceiling was showing a night sky with various stars, all with the same green light, which was a little destabilizing to Edward. There was too much green for his liking.

　　Ok forests in green light makes sense. But even the stars are green now. Isn`t it a tad too much?

　　On the walls, lush forests were depicted, except in one place, where a clearing was opening on a beautiful lake. The decor was quite pretty, but it felt a bit chilling after having to cross a trap made from the same green lines. With so many decorations it would have been easy to hide a few symbols activating traps.

　　It looks like a dining room, with the size of this room there should have been a lot of people here when the place was still in use.

　　Several doors were accessible from this space, just like the one they crossed, they were the same stone doors with a button instead of a handle.

　　The place was orderly, the residents hadn`t left in a rush.

　　Marc took his time to look around the room. While he was looking around, the door behind them came back from the floor and closed.

　　Neat, it`s an automatic door and it didn`t even make a sound. I hate it when people enter my room and leave with the door still open. At least this door doesn`t seem to be trapped, there is a button on this side as well, we should be able to open it again.

　　The last thing I want while exploring ancient ruins is an unopenable door to close behind me with an ominous sound.

　　One of the guards hurriedly pressed the button on their side. The door opened again without complaints. The guard relaxed visibly.

　　"We stay together. Don`t go close to the walls. We will walk on the table to avoid any possible traps. Then we will take the closest door." Marc announced without hesitation.

　　The group followed Marc`s idea and went through the room by walking on the table. Since it lay in the middle of the room, while standing on it they were around five meters away from each wall. They didn`t encounter any problem while crossing it, this distance proved enough for the traps not to activate, or maybe there wasn`t any traps in this room to begin with. However, nobody was silly enough to test this hypothesis by walking along the walls.

　　When they reached the door, they saw another symbol on top of it, this time it was depicting a quarter of a moon. Once more a guard pressed the button to open the door, but nothing strange happened.

　　There are symbols everywhere, symbols for traps, symbols as decorations, and symbols above the doors. I wonder what kind of significance they had for them.

　　This door was leading to a small corridor with lots of doors on each side. The green lines were kept to a minimal here. There was no decoration, and the light came out slightly subdued. The expedition opened the first door on the left. It was a simple room, with a bed and the equivalent of a cupboard, carved into the stone. There was nothing left inside, apart from the bed, the room was completely bare.

　　It makes me remember my university room, functional but with just the bare minimum.

　　They opened all the doors from this alley, all the rooms were identical, they were situated in what looked like a dormitory. "There is nothing here, we will go back to the main room and open another door." Marc ordered.

　　Back in the main room, there were two other doors left, one was having the symbol of stars above it, and the other had a strange fruit that Edward had never seen before. "It seems that even at that time they liked turnipoes." One of the villagers joked. "My mom used to make soup out of it, it was the best."

　　"Then, it must be the kitchen. They are using those symbols as indications. We will go to the other door." Marc said.

　　The group once more used the table to reach that door. Once they opened it, they saw a small corridor ending in spiraling stairs leading down. Just like in the main room, the walls were heavily decorated with green lines. As the group was about to advance, Edward spotted one of the symbols he saw in the previous corridor. "Wait!! I recognize that symbol with the blooming flower, there was the same on the previous trap." Edward exclaimed pointing at it with his finger.

　　Everybody looked at him. "Good eye," Adrien told him. Marc took his sword and cut that symbol with his sword, once more somehow destroying it from a distance. This time the attacked seamed a lot more subdued and only that symbol got destroyed. Marc`s face paled, but his breathing was still okay, to destroy this one symbol he expended a lot less energy, and the move was less taxing on him. "You go first, from now on you stay in front of the group." He told Edward.

　　Only this symbol was destroyed on the wall, however, one thicker green line was passing through it. The green lights after the cut dimmed immediately before flickering off. The group was plunged into semi-darkness, the light provided only by one side of the wall.

　　Great& If you don`t destroy those symbols you die to the traps, and if you destroy them, the light gets turned off. How am I supposed to pick up the symbols hidden in the decorations if I can`t see? There is still one wall to be wary off, and now I`m at the forefront of the group, if I miss one, I will be the one to die.

　　The group slowly descended the stairs, being careful not to miss a step, and Edward was watching the walls closely to avoid missing any symbol activating traps.