"That temple wasn't there when we were on the seventh floor, right?"
Trudy asked.
We all had stopped at the crossroad and stared at the mysterious structure with great curiosity.
"The entire area was buried in rocks back then. But since the tenth floor has turned back in time as Serafina said…"
Darius replied. He let his words trailed off.
"So the temple was always there the whole time? But why did it get buried in the first place?"
Jonah questioned.
"I remembered we could not investigate this buried path on the seventh floor."
Shanny stated.
Recalling the barrier I encountered back then, I stepped toward the northward path.
As expected, when I extended my hand this time, no invisible wall was present to stop me.
"We could tread through this path now. There is no barrier in place anymore."
I said to my comrades.
"Are we going to investigate the temple?"
Jonah asked.
Shanny shook her head.
"I say we ignore it. We're already in a hurry to the sixth floor valley. Let's focus on getting the imperial army reinforcement to Loro first."
Indeed.
That was a sound suggestion.
As we spoke, our comrades in Party 2 and 3 were battling the endless wave of goblins, risking their lives to protect the statue.
We could save investigating the temple after we had secured our prime objective.
Shinggg!
A current of mana flowing through the marbled road suddenly caught my attention.
I kneeled to the ground and traced my fingers along the road's smooth surface.
A high level rune was instilled within the marbled road.
But what piqued my attention was the fact that the rune on the road was only part of a grand web of high level rune which spread throughout the huge crater hills surrounding the temple.
The entire enchantment was powered by great surge of mana originating from the central structure.
All for one purpose.
Destruction.
The moment the temple finished supplying the runes with enough mana, the engraved spell throughout the mountains would explode and the triggered avalanche would definitely bury the structure the way it was on the seventh floor.
"We can't wait till after the sixth floor valley is secured. The temple would be destroyed by then."
I said to my comrades.
"What? Why?"
Shanny asked.
"There's a great spell instilled to the temple's surroundings. Once the spell is activated, the entire temple would get buried like on the seventh floor."
"How much time left till it happened?"
Jonah asked.
"33, no, 29 minutes."
I replied.
"Although we're no longer slowly walking now unlike in the sixth and seventh floor, we still got more than a good 30 minutes till the sixth floor valley considering the enemies we have to face along the way."
Darius stated.
"The temple would already be buried before we even reach the valley."
Trudy added.
I nodded to their statements.
"It is now or never."
The seductive voice returned, filling me with suggestions.
Suggestions which I unfortunately agreed and thought sound.
I continued.
"We should investigate the temple for a moment before moving on. There could be something useful in there."
Shanny immediately shook her head again.
There was more force to the gesture than before.
"Absolutely not! That temple could be a trap given what you just told us about the great spell surrounding it."
She went on.
"We already have a plan, remember? Let's stick to that! The Quintal Trial is already too unpredictable and risky as it is. No need to make it more dangerous."
"But Serafina has a point though. There could be something inside the temple that could help us clear this trial."
Jonah countered.
Trudy nodded alongside him.
"You never know, Shanny. I'm sure there is a reason why this temple is here within our reach."
Seeing them agreeing with me, I tried to plead the argument to Shanny once more.
"The trials are indeed very mysterious. Which is why there could be something inside the temple that might help us turn the tide of the war. We might not need to wait for the imperial army to get here. That is assuming they are coming, of course."
Shanny grunted upon our words.
She turned to Darius.
"What do you think of this, old man? Don't you think we should stick with our plan?"
Darius hesitated to answer.
"Both suggestions have a point. I won't mind following any decision."
His answer only made Shanny turned more restless.
I also could not help but sigh upon the situation.
"It seems we're faced with a dilemma. We need to form a decision quickly before there is nothing left to do with the temple."
It was then another window appeared before each of us.
[Conflict Occurred!]
[A mysterious temple has been discovered!]
[Subquest (Branch Type)]
[Objective – Investigate the mysterious temple!]
[Reward – ???]
[Tips/About Subquests]
[Sometimes, during missions, subquests may appear. Subquests are not directly related to the ongoing mission, but completing them can earn you great rewards. Just remember that there may be risks involved!]
[Warning!]
[This subquest has a time limit. Upon the temple's discovery and the subquest's activation, the timer has started counting down. Once the timer turns zero, the temple would be destroyed, the subquest will be lost forever and cannot be reattempted.]
[Time remaining until temple's destruction:]
[27:37]
So it had been made an official mission.
A subquest?
Apparently investigating the temple was, indeed, unnecessary for the completion of the tenth floor trial.
Before we could talk about the subquest window, another one appeared replacing it.
[Master, you can instruct the hero to perform the quest!]
[1. Perform perfectly – Investigation of the mysterious temple and retrieval of the treasure found within]
[2. Perform – Investigation of the mysterious temple]
[3. Reject]
[The heroes' attitude toward the subquest are as follows:]
['Serafina (★★★★)' – Very Positive]
['Jonah (★★)' – Positive]
['Shanny (★★)' – Very Negative]
['Trudy (★★)' – Positive]
['Darius (★★★)' – Neutral]
[Warning!]
[This subquest has a time limit. Upon the temple's discovery and the subquest's activation, the timer has started counting down. Once the timer turns zero, the temple would be destroyed, the subquest will be lost forever and cannot be reattempted.]
[Time remaining until temple's destruction:]
[27:21]
So the matter was not up to us anymore.
Master would be deciding whether we should investigate the temple or not.
I watched the options closely. My comrades were doing the same.
To which path master would set us upon?
One of the option suddenly glimmered brighter than the others.
We learned what master wanted us to do.
[1. Perform perfectly (selected)]
[Accepting the quest.]