The woman’s eyes widened in disbelief, but her companion was better prepared. He readied his blade as Arwin charged forward. He heard the others piling into the room behind him and could see by the flicker of worry on the man’s face that they weren’t ready to fight an entire group their size. Should have thought about that before trying to kill me. Arwin skidded to a stop before the man, and a wave of blue light slammed into him as he went to swing his sword. His movements ground to a halt and Arwin moved out of the way, letting the blow pass by him harmlessly before swinging Verdant Blaze. The large warrior leaned back, just barely managing to avoid the hammer as it whistled through the air. He took a step back and pressed a hand to his sword, sending black fire coursing along its surface. “Back off,” the man snarled, thrusting the sword for Arwin. A shadow shot out, wrapping around his leg and pulling at it. He stumbled, thrown off balance, and Verdant Blaze slammed into his chest. Whatever his armor was made of was definitely better than average, because it held up against the blow. He staggered back, coughing in surprise, a new dent in his chestplate. Gritting his teeth, the man charged Arwin again. His companion pointed her staff at Arwin, preparing to cast magic, but quickly had to abandon the attempt and raise the staff defensively as Rodrick’s sword crashed down for her. It struck her staff violently, sending a tremor through her arms. “Handle the big idiot,” Rodrick called. “I’ve got this one. Olive will back you up.” “You’ll need more than one and a half people to kill me,” the large man growled as Olive ran over to join Arwin, her blade resting in a ready position at her side. “Only an idiot taunts an opponent before they’re dead. That’s just asking to lose,” Arwin replied. “Is anyone injured?” Lillia’s shadow dropped the woman and she landed on her head with a crunch – it hardly mattered. It didn’t look like she’d been alive for some time. “Nobody important,” Lillia said. “You?” “Reya took good care of us,” Arwin said, sending the girl an appreciative nod. “Good timing. You’ve gotten really good at that.” “Does she have a way to remove negative effects?” Olive asked. “I saw you start moving while I was still counting stars, and then I could suddenly move again normally. That’s a great skill. Haven’t run with someone that can do that for others before.” “Thanks,” Reya said, her cheeks reddening. “I’ve had time to practice. It’s pretty useful.” “Hey, you can’t…” Arwin nodded vaguely in the direction of the dead adventurers. “You know. With your new ability?” No point hiding it anymore. Olive has already seen it in the last fight and barely even brought it up. Reya’s lips curled in distaste and she shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t really want to find out. I have to really try when something dies. It’s kind of like scooping water with your hands. Except it’s your mind, so it isn’t really like your hands. And it’s nothing like water.” Then that’s not a very good analogy, is it? “That makes sense,” Olive said with an approving nod, somehow managing to decipher Reya’s words. “Probably for the best to avoid sticking your mental hands into other people’s souls. Great way to head down the wrong path.” Arwin couldn’t argue with that. He walked over to the dead warrior and knelt beside him, prying the armor off his body and snapping the straps holding it in place with [Scourge]. He rifled through the man’s pockets and pulled out a pouch. There was nothing else on him, though his armor seemed like it was made from a pretty tough material. He opened the pouch to look inside it, only finding 32 gold. “Did the woman have anything on her? Any indication as to why they did this? Or was it just pure greed?” “Nothing,” Lillia said. “Some gold as well, but not much.” Arwin let out a huff. That didn’t make much sense, considering they’d literally stripped the man they’d left behind. It was possible that had somehow been yet another group, but he doubted it. “Where’d the first guy’s equipment go?” “Did they toss it into the lava?” Reya asked, walking toward the bubbling pool in the center of the room. She had to step carefully as she grew close to avoid plunging a foot into one of the thin streams of liquid rock flowing through the ground around it. Reya came to a stop a fair distance away from the center of the pool. “It looks like all the rivers flow out from here, but the pool isn’t completely full.” Arwin’s eyes traced the rivers. Reya definitely had a point. There were grooves in the stone that had yet to be filled where the rivers had bubbled to a stop, lying in wait. And yet something felt like it was missing. It didn’t really make sense for someone to murder an ally just to throw their equipment into a pool of lava. “Why wouldn’t they just toss the whole guy in?” Arwin asked. “Or the lady outside? It sounded like they were part of a team that betrayed the first bloke. The three of them were all probably in on it, but then these two betrayed the third one – that or they made her come down here and then left her at the door.” “It does seem odd that they wouldn’t throw in as much mass as possible if that’s what they’re going for.” Rodrick scratched his chin. “Maybe they don’t want organics in the lava for some reason? It isn’t much of a reach, but I suspect their goal was opening this big hunking chest.” “Which probably opens when the lava does something,” Arwin concluded as he walked over to join Rodrick. There were several rivers of lava running up to the chest that hadn’t been filled. “Honestly, when I walked in here they looked pretty confused. They were just staring at the chest. They might not have known what they were doing either… but if they decided that sticking armor into the pool was the right move, they must have had a reason why they didn’t put a body in.” “Would have smelled bad,” Rodrick volunteered. “Could be as simple as that.” “True,” Arwin said. “Well, I don’t see the reason of coming down here and doing all this shit if we don’t at least try to open the chest. My first thought is to start smashing the shit out of it with my hammer.” “Of course it is,” Lillia said with a laugh. “Might even work. There aren’t any rules, but it could also damage something inside the chest. We should see if there’s a different way to go about things first.” That was definitely preferrable. Arwin turned in a slow circle, letting his eyes drift along the room. He had a lot of questions that didn’t look like they were going to get answered. The answers had to be somewhere in the room – or possibly in the key itself. That was worth checking, but not before they finished looking around. Who knew what fiddling with the key would result in. Arwin didn’t want the room to seal itself shut on them. He walked over to the pool in the center of the room, his brow furrowed in thought. The puzzle seemed to begin right here. As Arwin stared down into the bubbling lava, something in his mind shimmered. A faint tingle of energy ran through his body and buzzed at his fingertips. [Molten Novice] was responding to the lava.