They burned through several minutes of the timer before the ice beasts were eliminated. Again, most of the bodies dissolved. Ben had a feeling these would form together just like the fire corpses did. It would be better if they destroyed the corpses now.

  "Sam, burn the remaining bodies," Alphonse ordered, surprising Ben, and taking the words right out of his mouth.

  They took an extra minute to let Sam finish the task.

  They reached the T-intersection and found the three or four dozen fire mutants frozen solid. It meant they had a clear path beyond them. They just needed to know which way to go.

  "Belov, go right, we'll wait here," Coach Liv ordered.

  Ben nodded, reactivating his Shadow Cloak, and disappearing from view. He moved quickly down the hall until he caught the scent of more of those ice beasts. Not wanting to risk trying to sneak past them, he returned to his team.

  He gave Coach Liv the report, and the coach nodded, "Good, check the other path."

  Once again, Ben vanished into the shadows and began down the path to the left only to retreat when the temperature swung the other way. He raced back to the intersection to find his team fighting more mutants.

  Coach Liv had charged into the creatures, his axe chopping down one mutant after another. Ben didn't get to watch Coach Liv fight much in the Rodent Bog Lair or even in the Hunter's Run Lair. But seeing him now, the bearman was a savage. He swung overhead, and his axe cleanly bisected one of the molten creatures. That was impressive on its own, but then he stepped through the split monster and pressed into the mob.

  Each swing of the axe cut through a monster's molten flesh, lopping off limbs left and right. He then spun around, sending one of the creatures flying with a powerful kick. And with a final heave of his two-handed axe, Coach Liv decapitated two additional monsters at once and sent their fiery heads rolling.

  Signore Barducci was no less a sight to behold as he attacked with his two weapons with a flurry of moves. As he switched between his weapons, he spun around with two spears in hands, sending flaming liquid blood spraying as he struck down two monsters at once. Then he drew his blades and gracefully slid them through one monster and then another before withdrawing both of his weapons and continuing forward without missing a step.

  Beau, like Ben's Handler, used multiple weapons, switching between throwing axes and a two-handed scimitar that lopped off entire limbs with each mighty blow.

  "Robin, left! Rober, right! Han! Douse them again! Both sides!" Coach Liv barked as he chopped into another monster.

  Han raised his hands, and with a twist of his wrists and a chant, he sent a stream of water into the air above the mutants. The mutant's fiery skin cooled and then started to crack as the water hit them, and they screamed in pain. The noise was staggering to Ben's sensitive ears, like screeching cats and nails scraping on chalkboard. Unfortunately, Sam wasn’t able to do much with his fire spells, so it was left to the rest of them to manage the battle.

  Yui and Alphonse worked in tandem, their quick movements and sharp strikes complementing each other. Yui sliced at legs and arms to disable the fire mutants, and Al snaked in with his rapier to skewer the creatures as they tried attacking her.

  Ben tried getting in close to the monsters, but found it was much too hot to get close enough to do any good. Instead, he joined Plvoer in a support role. He fired his arrows, pinning feet or peppering opponents to distract them while Ben threw flechettes and Shadow Caltrops. The caltrops were the most effective as they slowed the enemy down and gave Robin and Rober more time to manage the flow of the fight.

  Thirteen more minutes passed off the timer before the last mutant died. Coach had taken several gashes that had gotten through his leather armor and Al limped where he’d gotten stabbed by fiery claws. Yui chanted while her spirit dance drew in the healing energy that would heal both of them. The rest of the team killed the corpses that didn’t dissolve, making sure they wouldn’t rise again to attack.

  Then Ben was on the move again. The hallway to the left had several closed doors and eventually dead-ended. There were thankfully no more of the fire mutants. Although, as he returned to his group to report, he had a feeling that if the temperature changed again, there would be a dozen ice beasts waiting for them.

  “Okay, we should go left first. We need to check what is behind those doors,” Coach Liv suggested. “Everyone, we need to make a decision. We either need to wait for the next temperature change or go now and hope to get through one of those doors. If we wait, we’ll be wasting time, and who knows how long it will take to find the way down to the next floor? If we go, we risk the temperature changing and those beasts popping up all around us again.”

  “We wait,” Alphonse decided confidently. “It hasn’t been too long between temperature swings. I’d rather wait and take out the ice beasts safely than risk them spawning around us again.”

  It seemed that was the only opinion needed. The rest of Ben's group agreed, and that was the end of it. It was lucky that it only took two more minutes for the temperature to swing back to cold, and they were off. And just as Ben predicted, there were frosty beasts waiting for them. Not being ambushed made a big difference in clearing the creatures out and taking far less damage overall.

  Throughout most of the fighting, Ben felt useless. He could fight one of the beasts on his own and successfully take it down. But if there were two, he had to run to the safety of the group and hope Robin and Rober took the beasts on. Meanwhile, Al and Sam decimated the beasts with Lightning and Fire. The same would happen when the next time they faced off with the fiery beasts, where Al and Han’s water magic would take them apart.

  The fighting ended, and they moved as a group for the doors. Hopefully, the way down was waiting for them behind one of them.

  Chapter 49 – Behind Door Number One

  The hallway was lined with twelve doors, six on each side. The wall the doors were set in was white and had a yellow strip along the bottom, stained by the blood of countless creatures, and was lit with flickering torches.

  Coach Liv inspected the first door, checking it over for traps. When he finally agreed with Ben's earlier assessment, he took a couple steps away and said, “Robin, open it up.”

  The beargirl moved on the door. She didn’t knock or carefully turn the knob. Of all the things she could have chosen to do, instead she kicked in the door.

  The door flew inward, forcefully ripped off its hinges, and Ben got a brief glimpse of a dark space before a huge, furry, half-burnt body rose from the center of the room, an orange glowing fire erupting from beneath its fur. The thing looked like a bearman if it had the grizzly trait and was twice the size of any bearman Ben had ever seen. It looked like it had survived a terrible fire, its fur was burnt black and patchy with scorched skin visible beneath, and it had enormous claws and a red tongue as long as his forearm. It was growling, hissing, and looking for someone to kill.

  “Close it!” Ben yelled.

  The bear-thing looked their way. It growled and then it ran straight for them.

  “I’m on it!” Robin shouted as she desperately tried to close the door. But it was too late, and the burning creature burst out of the room, slamming into her, and carrying her across the hallway. The door opposite them exploded inward as they crashed through, and the beast raised a razor-sharp claw, ready to strike Robin down. But before it could lash out, her brother Rober cried out “Shield Bash!” and released a magical blast of energy from his shield that hit the monster square in its chest. With a bellow of pain, the monster was thrown backward over Robin and into the darkened room beyond. Gripping her injured chest, where three-centimeter-wide holes had been pierced into her platemail, Robin scrambled to her feet and backed away from the entrance of the room. Peering into the darkness, everyone saw that instead of one creature, six charred figures rose from where they had been crouching, their eyes glowing with a deadly intent.

  “Defenders, block the doorway!” Coach Liv yelled as the creatures charged.

  Robin’s shield materialized in her hands with a blinding flash of light, and she and her brother braced themselves just in time to deflect the first cinder-beastman's attack. Its claws screeched as its attacks met the sibling’s shields, and then an axe and spear flew over Robin’s head, and there was a screech and a blast of heat as both weapons bit into the creature’s flesh. Ben turned and saw Coach Liv pulling his axe back and his Handler pulling another spear from his dimensional bag. At the same time, Plvoer leapt and bounced off the wall, firing three arrows that whizzed through the air and disappeared into the darkness. Roars of pain followed moments later.

  As the first creature fell, the other five hit the shield wall together. The two defenders would have been pushed back by the onslaught if not for Beau, who had thrown himself against their backs to support them.

  “Give me a boost,” Han called out, and Ben dropped down to the ground, interlocking his fingers to form a makeshift ladder. He stepped into Ben's hands, and Ben shuddered under his weight as he scrambled over him. Ben wasn’t tall, but he was sturdy enough to support his weight as Han thrust out his hands and a gush of water blasted out from his palms, dousing the creatures in a fierce rush. The orange heat of their bodies dimmed, and they seemed to shrink.

  Al growled, and his eyes seemed to glow as he stabbed past the defenders with his rapier and cast a bolt of lightning through the weapon into the room. Robin gritted her teeth as part of it hit her, but the majority of the blast arced through the cinder-beasts, making them cry out and sending them scrambling back into the room.

  "Charge!" Coach Liv yelled, and the defenders fell back as the rest of the team rushed into the room. Teacher threw his spears, Plvoer released a barrage of arrows, Al stabbed with his rapier, and Sam and Han Shen cast spells that tore apart the monsters with a thunderous roar. Ben's knives hissed through the air as he whirled them around, slicing and cutting all who came close. The fight seemed to last for hours, but eventually the creatures were overcome and lay dead on the floor.

  Even though they had won, they were exhausted, and Robin and Rober were left with punctures from the monsters’ claws, and their shields were singed from the heat of magic. But Yui’s spirit magic mended their wounds before they could get worse.

  As they sat recovering, Barducci suggested, “Maybe we should try a gentler approach to opening the doors next time.”

  There was silence for a moment, and then Ben's Handler let out a soft chuckle. The rest of the group followed with shakes of their heads and laughter. It was just the thing to break the tension that had gripped them after the intense fight. Robin gave a half smile but at least had the good graces to blush and apologize, “Sorry, Signore Barducci.”

  “Quite alright,” Ben's Handler replied with a smile and a wave of his hand. Then, already knowing the answer, he asked, “Does anyone have the Lockpicking skill?”

  Ben grumbled but raised his hand. “I do.”

  “Ah, good, then, Mister Belov, if you would, the next door,” his Handler requested.

  Ben nodded and moved to the next door. He checked it over for traps but found none. He touched the doorknob and quickly jerked back. It was freezing cold. “It’s very cold on the other side of this door.”

  “Can you open it?” Coach Liv asked.

  Ben nodded, put his hand on the door knob, and gave it a gentle turn. It didn’t budge. He reached into his belt pouch and pulled out his set of lockpicks. The lock was fairly simple, just three tumblers. The only difficulty was in trying to keep his fingers from freezing to the pick and torsion wrench. With a soft click, the lock was open. He backed away from the door and announced, “Unlocked. I would recommend turning the knob this time.”

  Robin blushed again, but it was her brother Rober that stepped up to the door. He turned the knob as softly as he could before pushing the door inward. Several shards of ice shot through the gap in the doorway, and Rober barely had time to lift his shield in defense. As if on cue, Sam unleashed an inferno of flames that filled the room with fiery destruction. The icy creatures had no chance against the blazing fire, and when the smoke cleared, only Rober needed a healing spell.

  All that, and the room was empty. Naturally, that was when the temperature shifted, and a gout of flame burst through the door Robin kicked in minutes earlier. It was just terrible luck that the beargirl had stayed close to the door and took the full blast of the fire. She screamed as she was cooked inside her armor. Beau tackled the stumbling beargirl, slapping at the flames that covered her and rolling her on the ground. Han and Al flooded the tight hallway with water, extinguishing the blaze engulfing Robin and then turning the streams toward the enclosed room and attacking the fire beasts. The creatures roared in pain as their flames were extinguished, and Rober gave an equally powerful roar as he charged into the room, his sword falling furiously upon the creatures that had injured his sister. By the time Barducci and Ben got inside, it was a bloodbath, and Rober was covered in bubbling blood. It only took minutes to dispatch the few remaining monsters, and all for another empty room.

  It took most of the mana from both Alphonse and Yui to heal the severe burns that covered Robin, and she cried and whimpered while her blackened and cracked flesh was restored. Sam and Plvoer winced at her agony, but the eagleman held his bow tight as he kept watch over the healers as they did their work.

  “We’re in a hot phase. Find the hot doors first, Mister Belov,” Ben's Handler ordered.

  Ben didn’t hesitate to obey, wanting to exact revenge on the creatures that had hurt his friend. He moved down the hallway, testing each door knob with his hand. The first two felt neither hot nor cold, but as he reached for the third, his skin felt like it was on fire. "Hot door!" he yelled, pulling his hand back, before he started working on the lock.

  Same as the last lock he picked, this was just three tumblers, but Ben felt like the heat was going to melt his tools. As soon as the lock clicked, Rober was there with an angry expression on his face. He hardly waited to open the door and for Han to shoot magically created streams of water into the room before he charged in with his sword, shield, and a wild rage that was almost palpable. The teachers and Ben followed suit, weapons ready.

  A horde of fire monsters awaited them inside the chamber, but their strength had been sapped by the magical water droplets that now decorated every corner of this seemingly cursed place. Between the seasoned professors, Rober, and Ben, the room was cleared quickly, and they walked out with only a few scratches.

  Ben quickly moved on to the next door, another hot knob, another quick lock pick, and another brutal eradication of fire beasts. It was the last door on that side of the hall, so he swapped over to the opposite side. The first door was neutral, but the door after that and three doors on each side were hot, and they cleared them all.

  Maybe ten minutes after they finished the last hot door, Robin was back on her feet. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her skin looked like it had gotten a good sunburn. But she was otherwise whole. Alphonse and Yui looked like they’d run up and down Mancer Mountain though. Their faces were pale, and their breathing was shallow. They were definitely feeling the effects of having used so much mana in both the preceding fights and the major healing.

  “You three rest while we clear up the rest of this hallway. Plvoer, stay on watch,” Coach Liv ordered with agreeing nods from Beau and Barducci.

  Then the temperature shifted cold again, and Ben checked the previously neutral doors. Every one of them had turned cold. Sam and Han switched positions, the process repeated, and they were left with empty rooms after the beasts had been defeated.

  As soon as the last beast was defeated, the narrow wall at the end of the hall slid into the floor, revealing a small room, at the far end of which was another door. Just before the door was a pedestal with a reward chest. And about a meter before that was a stairway down. Everyone was elated, but Ben and his Handler.

  Just looking at the layout of the room, Ben knew they’d found a shortcut. They’d spent a grand total of four hours and seventeen minutes out of six on the first floor.

  “Mister Belov, check for traps,” Coach Liv ordered, holding back the team from rushing the chest.

  Ben wrapped himself in shadows and moved into the small room. He carefully tested every tile, checked for anything that looked off, but the floors and walls looked fine. He checked the door over next. It was also trap-free and locked, but there was no keyhole for him to pick from this side. He guessed it was on the other side of the door. He also guessed there was probably a boss of some sort there as well. Last, he checked the reward chest, tapping it with his knife to make sure it wasn’t a trap either. Once he was satisfied, he let the others know it was safe to enter.

  Coach Liv moved to check the chest first. The lid lifted, and he extracted four skill stones, which Al identified before Ben could. “Two Heat Shield skill stones—I think it’s fire attunement—and two Cold Shield stones, which I think is also fire attunement. Strange.”

  Robin, Rober, and Sam were the only members of the team with Fire Attunement so one of each stone went to each of the defenders. It made sense that they were taking the brunt of the damage and should therefore get the skills designed to defend against the elements of the lair. It only took a moment for the four stones to crumble to dust.

  When it was done, Sam asked, “How are they both Fire Attunements?”

  Having just used one of the stones, Robin answered, “The Heat Shield works by absorbing heat.”

  Rober then added, “The Cold Shield works by emitting heat.”

  “Strange,” Sam commented, a sentiment Ben agreed with.

  Coach Liv cleared his throat, “Alright, that’s enough chit chat. We’ve got an unknown number of levels below us, and the timer is still running. So, let’s get moving.”

  No one argued, and they made their way down the stairs. They were greeted by a room similar to the room they started in. Four walls and a pair of double doors. Ben breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the timer freeze at 01:33:12 just like when they entered the lair. Then the time changed, increasing until it stopped at 06:33:12. It seemed the lair added the leftover time from this floor to complete the next.