Chapter 1 Facing a Perilous Situation

Faced with such a perilous situation, Fang Senyan immediately, at the instant the door was pulled open, even though he hadn't suffered any damage, let out a loud cry and leaped backward. At the same time, he bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood! It looked as if he had been blasted away by some immense, invisible force.

After falling to the ground and rolling a few times, he feigned unconsciousness, letting the blood trickle from the corner of his lips. If anyone examined him closely in his current exaggerated state, they would surely find flaws. However, Fang Senyan judged that in his semi-fanatical state, the Metal Mentor would disregard his life or death, focusing solely on Nu's safety! Therefore, he dared to take a gamble.

Sure enough, his gamble paid off. Only Phil rushed forward to check his injuries, while the Metal Mentor eagerly strode towards the open bar door, peering inside without paying any attention to Fang Senyan's well-being. After confirming there were no more dangerous traps at the entrance, he was the first to enter. Only Nu looked back, asking Phil in a toneless voice:

"Still alive?"

Phil nodded. Nu's next words were concise:

"Carry him. Come in."

When everyone entered the bar, they couldn't help but sigh at the skilled craftsmen who had built this place. Patrons of various races, glamorous serving girls, the dwarves' large beards, the foam of the ale, red copper kettles, old-fashioned candelabras, even the leftover bread and capon drumsticks on the tables, the sauces! Everything was so lifelike, as if the lively atmosphere still lingered in the air, as if the food and ale still emanated fragrant aromas. It created an illusion of a million years, returning to that era of Norse legend when gods walked the earth and various races coexisted.

Alas, everything was carved from stone.

Carved from cold stone.

Time seemed to have solidified at this moment.

Freezing all the joy and song… for millennia!

After a brief search, they found the only passage.

It was to go up the stone steps next to the bar, and these stone steps spiraled around a huge stone pillar. The pillar was incredibly sturdy, giving off the feeling that it could pierce the stone walls, the air, the sky, even everything!

Everyone walked to the second floor and saw a wide hall.

The hall was extremely empty, at least half the size of a football field. The surrounding stones emanated a strange, iron-blue color, giving off an indestructible feeling. Except for the entrance they came through, everything else seemed completely sealed off. In the center of the floor, a line of mysterious and powerful giant characters was engraved. Although Fang Senyan didn't recognize the writing, he could sense a kind of awe and mystery from the pattern of the writing. Just looking at the characters gave him a solemn feeling that made his heart and blood flow accelerate involuntarily.

"This, this is ancient Hebrew," Fang Senyan, pretending to be unconscious, was supported by Phil, so he heard his low exclamation: "It is said that the Dead Sea Scrolls, which record the history of Christianity, were written in this script!"

"Greed... is man's... original sin. Stray lambs... if... they do not know to return, they must use flesh and blood to cleanse the filth brought here."

Nu, standing next to the Metal Mentor, slowly translated the sentence. The Metal Mentor completely ignored it and continued to walk quickly up the spiraling stone steps next to him -- but he was blocked by an extremely strong stone door behind the pillar.

On both sides of the stone door stood two statues, exquisite dwarf sculptures, more than three meters high, carved with lifelike detail, even the beards and hairs were clearly distinguishable. One of them held a shield with a mysterious emblem, and the other held a huge warhammer aloft, both making angry, shouting expressions, as if they were about to enter battle in the next second.

In the center of the stone door, there was a very clear hole.

It had only one meaning.

A meaning that could be clearly expressed even after tens of thousands of years.

A key.

It is worth mentioning that above the keyhole, there was still a line of ancient Hebrew carved out.

Fang Senyan continued to pretend to be unconscious, but he heard Phil murmuring in his ear, softly translating:

"Speed, courage, are the only ways to open this door."

"Mercy is my intention."

"But those who overestimate themselves will fall into the abyss of despair and pain."

"To sink... eternally!"

The Metal Mentor closed his eyes, but when he opened them again, he stepped forward with a sneer, lifting his cloak.

That cloak with a metallic texture!

Obviously, it seemed that he was unwilling to delay any longer and wanted to use his power to force a breakthrough. But the Metal Mentor's expression immediately changed drastically, and he exclaimed:

"What, there is a strong arcane interference generator here! All my active abilities are unusable!"

Everyone was shocked when they heard this and said that they had encountered the same situation. At the same time, the Metal Mentor seemed to have triggered some mechanism. A huge dwarf statue with bulging eyes suddenly fell from the passage behind them. It could be seen that the statue's craftsman had reached an almost perfect level of skill, and even the texture of the beard and hair fluttering in the air was vividly depicted. The statue held a golden metal warhammer in its hand, which just happened to block their way completely!

The path ahead was impassable!

The retreat was cut off!

Immediately afterwards, an indescribable light emanated from the warhammer. It had the extreme cohesiveness of a laser, but it was not so dazzling and aggressive, giving people a warm feeling, like the warm sun in winter. It could be clearly seen that the light shot out from the hammer surface, and then refracted extremely continuously throughout the hall. Although it passed through the bodies of everyone present many times during the refraction process, there were no abnormal injuries.

After this beam of light was emitted, the dwarf statue's warhammer lost its previous golden color and returned to its stone appearance. Although the overall appearance of the statue was still lifelike, it lost its soul and essence, and looked like a lifeless sculpture. But even so, the path of retreat for this group from the Coexistence Society was completely cut off. First of all, they had no way to deal with this huge dwarf statue blocking the road, and in the current situation, even if they did, they would probably only choose the path of violent destruction when absolutely necessary.

Then, in just a short time, anomalies began to appear at various points around the hall that had been refracted by the light, and they emitted thin, condensed, warm rays of light, like searchlights, shining into the air. Because the light was unusually soft and bright, it formed a cloud of light with a cross-sectional area in the middle and upper space of the entire hall. The environment at this time was like walking into a dark room, but sunlight shone down from a hole in the roof, and the dust and small debris flying in the air could be seen unusually clearly.

"What is that? Dragonflies?" Deco suddenly pointed to the air and said suspiciously. Under the illumination of the light, it could be seen that something that was flying slowly was emerging from the air, and there were more and more of them. The thing looked like a dragonfly from a distance, but it had a unique laziness and leisure. Often, with one beat of its wings, it could slowly float and glide in the air for a long time.

A burning light appeared in the Metal Mentor's eyes, and he couldn't help but shout out:

"Those are the keys to open the door!"

As more and more of these things appeared, everyone could see that what was flying in the air were indeed old metal keys, some large, some small, some long, some short, mostly brown or copper in color. Behind the keys grew a pair or two of dragonfly-like flat, transparent wings. This should be the main reason why they can float in the air.

Nu took out the parchment scroll, looked at it carefully and said:

"The scroll records that the defense setup that dwarves and goblins liked to set up most in ancient times was called: the Metal Digestive System. The design concept of this protection is quite advanced, so much so that many mages who like to study ancient civilizations also appreciate this design concept very much, so they will also arrange similar defense methods and formations in their mage towers -- it is worth mentioning that: these mages include Dumbledore."

The Metal Mentor nodded slowly:

"Our experience along the way is very similar to the experience of Harry Potter and the others in the plot to retrieve the Sorcerer's Stone. Obviously, what the scroll says is correct. Dumbledore has learned a lot from the defense concept of the Metal Digestive System -- and what we are facing is obviously the original, complete version from ten thousand years ago!"

Nu put away the parchment scroll and pondered:

"In the original movie plot, the key to open the door was hidden among these many flying keys. Harry Potter relied on his Seeker ability to ride the broom next to him and grabbed the key to open the door, but the other keys also became angry, causing Harry a lot of scratches. And it seems that we don't need a broom in this place to grab the key... According to the prompt on that door, after getting the key, we must open it, and we must also be mentally prepared to face life and death!"

At this time, Deco also suddenly frowned and interjected:

"Have you guys felt that the light in the air has dimmed a bit? My eyes are particularly sensitive to light, it should be a little dimmer, right."