The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 17: Shout, Baby!

The pile of corpses that were scattered all around the room was no longer there.

The floors, walls, ceiling, everything was clean.

The room also shrunk in size.

"What the fuck is this dungeon?!" Aria cursed. She ruffled her hair, slumping down to the ground.

She obtained another burst of adrenaline when Jin-kyung was put in danger, but once that adrenaline died down, she was back in her exhausted state.

She wanted to complain, but didn't know who to target.

Not only did the dungeon suck someone in, the interior was also capable of warping.

Clearly, this dungeon was far more complex than the previous one.

'Is it intentional?' Aria heaved a sigh, calming herself down. It wouldn't be beneficial if she panicked.

Aria walked around, checking the walls. The innards weren't hollow, any attacks she tried to make were fully absorbed.

"Dianthe, can you pass through these walls?" Aria released the spirit, letting her look into the room carefully.

Minutes passed, and Dianthe had gone through every single corner of the room.

The spirit returned, her face showing disappointment as she couldn't find anything substantial.

She had the capability to turn into mist, but the walls were solid and didn't have any crevices between them. It wasn't made of a material that would let her pass through, not even as a mist.

The two were completely trapped inside.

Aria didn't mind, since she could protect herself, but Jin-kyung didn't.

The girl was powerless.

"Don't worry, we'll look for other ways," Aria sighed and consoled the spirit, who still rolled and turned in the air to look for potential clues.

The room was square shaped. Almost too perfect to be true. Like someone cut it to be a square, the four corners' edges were sharp.

Aria suspected that this was an oxygen deprivation trap. The room would certainly lose oxygen as time passed, and when that time comes, Aria will suffocate.

It was ironic. She tried her hardest to suffocate when she was entrapped within the coffin, but now she had to search for ways to escape this chamber.

"Magic that lets me pass through walls... Is there something like that?" Aria sat down to think.

She recalled all the spells that she could use: ones that walked in the thin line of enhancement spells, those that are technically not considered 'Skills'.

Alas, simple enhancement spells that she could use weren't capable of doing anything significant except for powering up her own self, whilst the complex spells required more mana that what she had.

Feeling down, she sighed.

Thankfully, the oxygen inside the room didn't seem to be thinning out. At the very least, she had time to think.

"If the oxygen supply is still rich.. there should be a ventilation somewhere. A loop hole," Aria mused.

'But how can I find it?'

The walls were rock solid. There was no need to mention destroying it with brute force to find the ventilation. She had no methods that could do that.

"Dungeons.. Warping interiors.. The reason would be..." Thinking for the solution, Aria cupped her face and mumbled.

For minutes, she went around in circles, trying to touch the dungeon walls to see if there was anything different.

"...Magic,"

Aria came to a conclusion. There was no other explanation on this warping phenomenon other than magic. The dungeon's magic.

Perhaps it wasn't intentionally done, but the dungeon's mechanism was just made to be that way.

If it was a working compartment, it would've been triggered long before she finished the battle. However, it waited until all the goblins were dead.

'Perhaps..?' Aria thought up of a plausible solution.

The dungeons were locked up inside spatial membranes called 'Gates'. The interiors were realistic, but the total area was made to be just enough to accommodate the inhabitants.

There was only one answer she could wrap her around.

The use of magic.

Creating things using the many elements of magic. The various environments that are made possible within the dungeons could also be explained through magic.

If everything was created using magic, then what the result would be was determined by the creator. It was free, as long as you had enough mana to successfully conjure the design.

If the walls were made out of earth magic components, then Aria had an idea on what she should do.

Dianthe was an elemental spirit.

She was sensitive to elemental particles, and could discern artificially created compartments from the others.

Dianthe seemed to understand what Aria was thinking about. She circled around her Summoner and rose up to the air.

They were standing in the center of the room. No sounds were made. It was dead silent.

Then, the process started. Dianthe's watery body started to shift, glimmering with a beautiful blue light. It signified her use of energy.

"Show me the building blocks of life, my Elemental," Aria held Dianthe's hands in hers. The two figures closed their eyes.

The blue light enveloped the two figures. Aria found the light to be quite special. It was different from other spirits, who normally possessed a nearly identical shade for each element. Dianthe's elemental color was brighter and much more vibrant, once again showing that she was going to utilize her origins to investigate the place.

The holding hands implied that they were sharing the power. With this, anything that appeared would also be visible by Aria.

Soon, four diamond shards appeared before her eyes as a result of sharing vision with Dianthe. They were in the shade of ochre, an earthen color.

It was placed in random corners inside the room.

"Magic.. fragments," Aria recognized them as clusters of mana, sourcing from an Earthen element to be specific. "As expected,"

This wasn't a surprising result. The magic was basic.

If it was done by an expert, these simple trigger objects wouldn't be here.

These cluster of mana could be destroyed. It was a flaw, something that every teacher would tell their students to fix.

By applying a stronger cluster of mana onto the shard, you can overwrite the original creator's own cluster.

Of course, it had to be done with elemental magic, but Aria had the perfect assistant: Dianthe.

"Dianthe, you know what to do," Aria beckoned for her to come and follow her to the nearest shard.

Nodding, Dianthe started to use her elemental powers. One that didn't come out of mana, but made up of elemental particles instead.

She focused it all into the shard. After a long treatment, the shard started to show cracks.

With the shard shattering into tiny smithereens, Aria flashed a victorious smile, knowing that she had cracked the case.

The walls collapsed on one side.

The debris didn't hit the ground and pile up. Instead, it was absorbed. The space was as clean as ever.

Only, there were three holes in the walls. One that would be enough to fit in and entire human.

"Three.. paths?" Aria analyzed the three sections that were now open.

Aria tapped her finger rhythmically. She continued to observe the paths.

'So it really was sealing fragments.' Aria huffed her breath.

Sealing fragments. In truth, it was just clusters of high, potent mana crystals. One that was manipulated to serve the creator's purpose.

However, it could only be done in a place where a select element was powerful- more than the other elements.

Especially if the change was as large as warping an entire dungeon.

Just like the earthen conditions and the matching sealing fragments, Dianthe would also be able to conjure up her own space in a place with high water elements.

Her spells would also get stronger in the right place.

With just these clues, Aria predicted that she was about to face something that was proficient in the Earth element.

'But how am I going to know which path is it..' Aria analyzed the paths, not finding any difference between those three.

Just as she was planning on sitting down to further discuss the matter, the walls started to move once more.

"..Fucking bullshit," Aria widened her eyes in horror.

'So I'm not even given time to think, huh?' There was no way of knowing what was beyond the paths.

Intuition? That could very well get her to dive into certain death.

Aria clicked her tongue, watching as the walls moved towards her. The crackling sound was bizarre, as if it was reminding her of the dreadful scenario that was about to happen.

"LEE JIN-KYUNG! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, SHOUT AS LOUD AS YOU CAN!!!" Aria shouted on top of her lungs, inching away from the closing walls.

This was risky. The scream wouldn't only notify the girl, but also every single monster within the cave.

However, she had to take the risk if she wanted to leave without casualties.

She couldn't afford to recklessly choose any paths, but if Jin-kyung really couldn't respond, then it would come down to her instincts.

The walls were cornering her. If she didn't go to any of the three path, she would be crushed.

"LEE JIN-KYUNG, SHOUT IF YOU ARE ALIVE!!" Aria tried once more.

It was like holding to an already thinned out rope. There was only a slim chance that Jin-kyung could hear her.

Moreover, there was nothing that guaranteed whether Jin-kyung was still alive or not.

'Damn it all.' Aria decided to wing it. Anything beyond the path she chose, she'd face with all her might.

At least that way she would've died a proud death, after wasting all of her methods.

Just as Aria was prepared to jump in whatever path it was due to Jin-kyung's lack of reply, a voice entered her ears.

It was faint.

And the sounds of the moving walls almost covered it whole. If not for Aria's superb hearing, the cry wouldn't have been heard.

But she heard it. Lee Jin-kyung's voice.

"HERE, SAVIOR-NIM!!" Jin-kyung's reply came in clutch.

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