The intense heat instantly hit Kanos's face the moment they turned into the new corridor.
The gray stone walls were gone, replaced by pitch-black rock embedded with chunks of red crystal the size of a man's arm. The light was dim, but it made the narrow tunnel feel like the inside of an oven.
"Are you sure this is the way, Garrick?" Kanos wiped the sweat from his neck using his shirt collar. "I feel like I'm walking into a meat roaster."
"Patience, Nos. We've left the main path." Garrick walked casually in front, occasionally slashing away wild spiderwebs with his short sword. "Secret paths rarely get any draft. Three hundred meters more and we reach the stone door."
Belida stopped. The giant crouched for a moment, touching the dusty dirt floor.
"No footprints," Belida said quietly. His voice echoed, bouncing off the crystal walls. "Not even tracks from small monsters. This corridor is dead."
"That's the point of a secret shortcut, big guy," Garrick replied with a relaxed smile aimed at Belida. "If the path was as crowded as a market, the treasure room would've been picked clean by guild elites a month ago."
Kanos narrowed his eyes. On a whim, he activated his Structural Analysis skill to check the crystal wall next to him. Usually, the blue lines would form a neat grid showing the density and structure of an object. But this time was different.
The blue grid was fragmented. Flickering wildly. In some spots, the color turned bright red and instantly made Kanos's head throb violently.
"Agh," Kanos reflexively closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose hard.
"What is it?" Belida immediately turned around, his hand already gripping the hilt of the greatsword on his back.
"My skill," Kanos answered, panting slightly. He forced his eyes open again. "The lines are glitching. Flickering like crazy when I aim it at these red crystals. Like something's scrambling the signal."
Garrick turned around. The brown-haired man gave an understanding smile, walked closer, and patted Kanos's shoulder gently. Exactly on the spot where there were no bruises.
"That's the radiation effect from core crystals, Nos. It's normal," Garrick explained patiently. "The crystals in this corridor have a mana density that's too high because they're so close to the treasure room. Adventurers with tracking skills or magic eyes always get dizzy if they force themselves to use their skills here. Just turn it off for now."
Kanos was silent for a moment. That explanation made sense. In the RPG games he used to play, high-energy secret areas often caused radars or maps to glitch out. Besides, Garrick looked incredibly relaxed. If there was actual danger, this veteran would've taken a fighting stance already.
"Makes sense," Kanos muttered. He immediately turned off his skill. The dizziness in his head slowly faded.
They continued walking deeper. The corridor kept getting narrower. Belida even had to stoop a little so his head wouldn't hit the sharp crystal chunks on the ceiling. Kanos's shoes crunched on small rocks, the sound echoing loudly in the absolute silence.
After about ten minutes of pushing through the suffocating heat, they reached the dead end of the tunnel.
In front of them stood a giant stone door. It wasn't neatly shaped; it looked more like a solid cliff face that had been roughly carved to block the entrance. There were strange carvings on its surface, half-faded by time.
"We're here," Garrick said. His voice was strained, like someone holding back extreme excitement. His eyes sparkled as he stared at the stone door. "Behind this, the financial problems for both of you will be over. Forever."
Kanos stared at the stone door. There was a slight knot of discomfort in his stomach, a strange instinct telling him to run back up. But Kanos instantly pushed the feeling down. He recalled how Garrick had willingly taken that pale lizard's tail swipe for him this morning. This man had proven his loyalty with blood.
A guy this good couldn't possibly be setting them up.
"How do we open it?" Belida asked, his eyes scanning the edges of the door for levers or pull chains.
"Manual push. Needs giant strength," Garrick answered, winking at Belida. "Nos and I will help push from the sides, but you have to be the main anchor in the middle. You're strong enough, right?"
Belida snorted softly. The giant clearly felt his muscles were being underestimated. He stepped forward, pressing both of his steel-clad hands against the surface of the stone door.
"You two step aside," Belida said. "Let me do it myself."
Garrick chuckled. He pulled Kanos's arm, stepping back a few paces to give Belida room to plant his pushing stance.
Belida took a deep breath. The muscles in his back and arms tensed tightly. With a low roar, he pushed the stone door with all his might. A loud rumbling sound echoed as the massive rock began to shift against the dirt floor, slowly revealing a sliver of darkness behind it.
"Get ready, Nos," Garrick whispered quietly into Kanos's ear. His tone was warm, friendly, but for some reason, it made the hair on the back of Kanos's neck stand up slightly. "Once this door opens fully, you're going to see something you will never forget for the rest of your life."