The First Legendary Beast Master novel Chapter 244

Chapter 244 Find A Way

Karl considered the options for a moment. "I think that we might have missed a side tunnel. Do you remember how the other one was hidden? There might have been another like it. The city down there has dozens of tunnels leading out into the mountain, so what are the odds that the one that leads outside doesn't have a single branch?"

Alice smiled as she considered the options. "Well, it's worth checking before we try sneaking to another tunnel and hoping that it heads in the direction that we want."

The closest tunnel was only fifty metres away, but at ground level, and it had fairly regular traffic through it. That clearly wasn't an optimal choice.

But there was one about seventy metres to their left, and that one was halfway up the wall and also looked abandoned. It was also slightly lower, so he could have Rae make them a zip line and everyone could slide over.

Prince Corbin looked back down the tunnel. "Let's check all the walls back to the last room. If that doesn't show us any missed branches, we will try for another tunnel. I know Darryl and Muffin don't really understand how valuable that portal is, but we absolutely need to find our way to it."

Rose bristled at being called Muffin, but she fell into her position in the middle of the pack as Karl led them back up the tunnel, using his swords to check both walls for anything that wasn't as solid as it looked.

But after only a dozen paces, he paused.

"The tunnel isn't the same. We're headed down again." He informed the others.

It took them a moment to realize what was wrong with that statement. They had been on a steep decline all the way to the chamber, so they should be climbing back up the ramp now, but according to Karl, they weren't.

Corbin cast some sort of elementary spell, and a handful of marbles appeared in his hand. He scattered them on the floor, some in front, some behind the group, and they all rolled away.

"Both sides are downhill. We're definitely in an illusion, or the tunnel was changed." He agreed.

Karl closed his eyes and whistled softly, letting Rae's echolocation tell him what was around them.

"This way. Behind us is still the chamber, but the real upward tunnel is on our left. In front of us is solid rock. Everyone hold hands and follow me for a few steps." He instructed.

That sounded a bit foolish to the others, but they followed the instruction, and when Karl got four steps through what had looked and felt like solid rock, they were in a new tunnel.

He took a few more steps, then pulled everyone to them, and called Rae to her space, then brought her back out again. She couldn't close her eyes, so she was unable to get past the illusion on her own, even though she could clearly tell that what she was seeing was not right.

Once they were all in the new tunnel, Karl took out a strip of cloth from his bag, intended to be a bandana or dust mask, but it would do as a blindfold.

He needed a bit of eyesight to use Thermal Vision, and the folded over cloth made a hazy, but not completely impenetrable view, though he couldn't see anything in the dark with normal vision.

"Alright, illusion resistant eyewear engaged. I will lead us forward, just warn me if there is anything strange going on with my actions so that we don't get separated." He informed the group.

There was a short pause, and Karl turned back to the group, only to find them staring straight ahead. There wasn't anything there by his vision, though.

[Rae, what are they looking at?] He asked.

[No clue. They all look pretty freaked out, though. Maybe swat at the air with your sword or something.] She suggested.

Karl did, and everyone started moving again, looking around as if expecting to be ambushed.

"I'm pretty sure we're still in the illusion. I didn't see what you do, and when I waved my sword around, you all came back to me." Karl explained.

"If it even got Corbin in its trap, perhaps we should find another alternate way." Larry suggested.