I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

Frederick smirked and sighed at the same time. He raised his hand to his head, closing his eyes while massaging his forehead.

"Are you okay?" Elliot asked. "You look tired."

"I am tired," Frederick said. "But I guess there's no rest for the wicked. My sins are slowly coming to take me to hell."

"You're not wicked though," Elliot smiled. "You were the one who accepted me in the guild. Midnight told me."

Frederick quirked his eyebrow up and smirked, "That– what else did he tell you?"

"Nothing else," Elliot replied with a cheeky grin. "You were one of the first few people who believed in me. That's not wicked."

"Yeah, yeah," Frederick waved his hand up and down, gesturing for Elliot to stop. "You can stop that emotional shiz going on. We have to find the others. The sooner we see them, the sooner we get out of this–"

Before the red haired man could even finish, a loud and powerful explosion rocked the mountain. They all looked above them, trying to see if the tunnel would collapse on them.

This tunnel was built thousands of years ago, the erosion and time had worn it out. A strong force from an explosion like that could destroy it entirely.

"What in the hell happened?" Luck yelled. He pursed his lips and placed his fingers between them. With a deep breath and a strong whistle, a breeze of air escaped from him, traveling deeper into the tunnel with an incredible speed.

"You have skills, too, old man," Kusa grinned. "If only Angin could see that an air elemental is more powerful than him, he would swoon."

Luck scrunched his face. "I don't know who that is. Who is that?" 

"A dead man," Kaminari said rather coldly. He sighed and pinched Kusa in the side. "Let the dead rest, and don't speak of them as though they were alive."

"You do you, I do me," Kusa grinned. "What was that whistle? And you didn't even cast anything."

"Luck has altered his skills," Frederick said. "He switched the cast from words to a form of whistle in exchange for a condition."

"And what condition would that be?" Kusa tilted his head, his face filled entirely with curiosity. 

"More power," Luck said. Not a minute later, the air he discharged came back. He closed his eyes for a moment before he looked at Frederick. "They're not at the circular hallway."

"Really?" Frederick gasped. "But if they're not there, where could they be?"

The wall on their side started to crack. Everyone raised their weapons and pointed them at the crack on the wall that was slolwy growing in size. Little by little, a silent sound could be heard through the wall.

"Explosive Thunder!"

"Oh, my f*ck!" Luck yelled. "That's one of Zeus's most powerful attacks!"

Right after he finished, the entire wall collapsed, creating a smoke made of dust that blinded everyone in the hall. They had to cover their faces to shield it from the thick dust.

"Yo, Zeus what the hell?" Luck groaned, fanning his face clear of the dust. With closed eyes, he covered his mouth his hands and whistled as loud as he could. 

From Luck gushed out a strong force of wind that fanned the dust out of the hallway, exiting on the end of the tunnel. He continued whistling until there were no more dust inside.

"We found the source of the magic here," Zeus said, raising a large cube. "This cube contains high levels of magic that was used to operate this cave. It was designed so it would act on its own, like a living creature."

"What do you mean?" Frederick asked. "The cave had a mind of its own?"

"Something like that," Zeus replied. "It can count the number of people in a certain area and it automatically prepares a dungeon for them. Each dungeon has their own problems to solve."

"And the clone?" Aquarius asked. "We suspected that Frederick was cloned."

"Yeah, we figured that out a while ago," Zeus said. "That pathetic clone of Frederick couldn't even cast three spells simultaneously. How did it expect me to believe that it was the real deal?"

"What happened to him?" Frederick asked. "Did you kill him?"

Zeus sighed, "It disappeared instantly."

"Anyway, we already explored the entire cave and there's no sign of the Ruby Maiden," Zeus said.

"You explored the entire cave?" Guan Yin asked.

"Felt that explosion?" Elizabeth smirked. "I bet that was Zeus destroying all the walls in his way to pass through."

"Do you know how hard it is to maneuver your way out of this mess?" Zeus deadpanned. "This place is filled with traps due to that brain cube. How was I supposed to maneuver my way through?"

Guan Yin shrugged, "Fair point."

"Now, let's go back to the others," Zeus said. "Our goal right now it to find the Ruby Maiden and anticipate the awakening of the next Maiden."

"How will we do that?" Frederick asked.

"You know where the next one is, let's go there by the break of dawn," Zeus said as he led the way out of the cave. While he was walking, he placed his finger below his chin. "I'm wondering something though. There's one peculiar thing about this place."

"What's that?" Frederick asked, looking back to make sure everyone was following them.

"I don't think this place only guards the Ruby Maiden," Zeus said. "I believe there's something more, but I can't seem to figure it through."

"Like?" Elizabeth interjected. "What thing?"

"It seemed like the walls were worshipping all the other Suns, not just the Sun of Ruby," Zeus stared. "But only the Ruby Maiden is here."

"It's like that," Kaminari replied. "I was raised above the chamber of the Amethyst Maiden. There were depictions in the wall of the chamber. Depictions of all the Suns and the Maidens."

"Is that so?" Zeus pursed his lips. "I guess my instincts were wrong this time."

"But–" Kaminari added. "I have never seen the chamber such as the Ruby Maiden. Hers seemed more special and intricate rather than the Amethyst Maiden's chamber."

"Interesting," Zeus whispered. He looke around and walked to the side right by the entrance. He inspected the plane flat walls closer, trying to search for anything that might help them. "That's really interesting, indeed."

Right by the entrance of the tunnel, there was a small rift that separated a frame of the tunnel and the tunnel itself. Zeus placed his hand on the rift and released a small burst of electricity through the empty space.

He closed his eyes and chuckled after realizing that the rift wasn't shallow. It was deep and there was a small passageway inside. The passage was tiny that only a small portion of a magic can pass through it.

Since electricity is not solid and has no definite shape, Zeus could easily maneuver through the passage and let his power pass through. That was until he reached a flat surface. Zeus tapped it a couple of times before fully pushing it.

He felt a soft tick inside the passage. There was a slight silence before the frame of the tunnel detached and hovered in the air. It spun a couple of times before the hole inside burst into a bright light.

At the center of the hole manifested an item. Elliot immediately scanned it and his eyes widened in shock after he read its description.

[[ Blood of the Sun ]]

Artifact