The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　Therefore, they did not travel in a straight line, but instead tried to detour around the areas they had already explored.

　Half a day later.

　Dak took out his pocket watch and glanced at it, only to realize that it was already past 11:30 a.m.

　The group exchanged smiles, then casually found a relatively flat open space and set up camp.

　Aurora took her oversized backpack off the back of the "Heavy Armored Rhinoceros" and then took out the kitchen utensils one by one, actually assembling a stove on the spot.

　"It's a pity we didn't encounter any underground monsters."

　Aurora finished setting up the stove, feeling somewhat regretful.

　Ollie nodded in agreement and together they began to boil water and heat the pot.

　However, although……

　There are indeed two master chefs hidden in this small team.

　The two of them were in charge of cooking.

　Then Tom and Jerry gathered firewood.

　Angry was in charge of guarding the area.

　Dak and Lily, on the other hand, were in charge of tasting.

　Everyone had a clear division of labor and worked together harmoniously.

　Laughter and cheers filled the ground.

　……

　After a satisfying meal, we rested on the spot.

　When we set off again, it was already 1 p.m.

　The group continued deeper into the area, their enthusiasm still intact, but with a hint of languor creeping in.

　Around 1:30, they finally encountered their first crisis since entering the temple.

　That wasn't an underground monster, but rather a pattern on a wall that came to life!

　……

　Deep within the temple grounds, the surrounding walls are no longer visible. Some areas are dotted with houses like a city, while others are a wasteland where only the top of the cave can be seen when looking up.

　However, in that desolate place, there stood a seemingly extremely dilapidated wall.

　Half of that wall had collapsed, and the other half was tilted due to changes in the terrain.

　The wall is less than two meters high and no more than three meters wide, and is not noticeable at all.

　When Dak and the others passed by, Tom and Jerry didn't even mention it.

　But adhering to the strategy of not missing a single one, Darke still went over—after all, there were still some things painted on that wall!

　Then the pattern painted on the wall suddenly emerged from the wall, and the originally messy lines formed a large snake in the process of emerging.

　The moment the giant snake was successfully formed, the lines on its body emitted a black light, covering its entire body like ink, transforming it into a giant python!

　The giant python was filthy and its breath was murky. It contracted and expanded its body and then pounced on Dak.

　Fortunately, Dark reacted extremely quickly, drawing his holy sword from his waist almost instantly and slashing across with lightning speed... Well, the flash of white light instantly purified the giant python, and the broken wall was also blasted into dust.

　Dark looked at the fragments of the wall scattered on the ground with a heavy heart and hurriedly asked the "Magic Secretary" if there was any record of them.

　It wasn't until the "Magic Secretary" nodded three times that he finally came to his senses.

　Meanwhile, Ollie, who had killed the giant python in one blow, also walked over quickly, cautiously looking at the fragments scattered all over the ground.

　Tom and Jerry rushed over, looking on incredulously.

　Tom immediately said, "I should have checked this wall."

　Dark frowned slightly and asked, "No reaction during the examination?"

　“Yes,” Tom said confidently. “I even climbed up to check, and there was no reaction at all.”

　Dark nodded and said, "That must be a trap triggered under certain conditions. It seems we'll have to be more cautious on our next exploration... Hmm?"

　He suddenly saw Jerry walk out quickly, pick up a piece of shard from the ground and examine it closely, so he couldn't help but walk over and take a closer look.

　But on the fragment in Jerry's hand, there was a complete snake's eye drawn!

　But in Dak's memory, the walls were covered with messy lines, not such specific patterns.

　He was puzzled, so he summoned the "Magic Secretary" and turned to the page that recorded the wall pattern.

　—There is indeed a snake's eye, but it is located in the corner of the wall.

　Apart from the snake's eye, the other lines are chaotic and do not contain any array runes.

　After carefully examining the lines, Dak realized that he could not extract any useful information from them.

　So he took a bag out of his bag, put the fragment with the snake's eye drawn on it into the bag, sealed it, and stuffed it into his backpack.

　"keep going."

　Dak looked up, his expression more pleased than surprised.

　When you're exploring, the worst thing is to find nothing!

　……

　After this unexpected encounter, the atmosphere within the team actually became more lively.

　Professor Lily, who had been lazily floating in the air, started jumping around again.

　Just ten minutes later, they encountered a second crisis.

　That was a trap triggered by Aurora's kick, leading into a narrow path that could only accommodate three people side by side.

　Before today, although Aurora knew a lot about this underground temple, she had never actually explored it in depth, at most she had walked around the vicinity of the previous temple.

　Therefore, like Dak and the others, this was her first time venturing into such a remote area.

　The mechanism she stepped on had been stepped on by Tom and "Heavy Armor Rhino" as well.

　However, Tom, who has the ability to sense danger, did not sense any danger.

　Even with such a heavy stomp, the "Heavy Armor Rhinoceros" did not trigger the mechanism.

　Instead, as Aurora walked by, two large snakes suddenly emerged from both sides of the path and pounced on her from the left and right.

　The two giant snakes launched themselves at an extremely fast speed; even Aurora only had time to raise her hand before slamming it down!

　"Bang! Bang!"

　Dak walked ahead, and just as he was about to turn around, he heard two loud noises. When he looked again, the two large snakes had lost their heads, twitched twice on the ground, and then turned into black smoke and disappeared.

　The group exchanged glances, then sped up and quickly crossed the narrow path, returning to a more open area.

　……

　After these two encounters, Darke already had a guess.

　"These two traps are most likely aimed at the elf wielders. To be more precise, they are aimed at the Sun Elf Wielder and the Ice Moon Elf Wielder."

　"Although we don't know why there would be a trap for the favored in this temple of the sun god and the moon god, it seems highly likely now."

　"So from now on, Aurora, Professor Lily, and I all need to be careful."

　Aurora nodded solemnly.

　Professor Lily nodded vigorously, saying "uh-huh."

　But when Dark saw her expression, he had a bad feeling.

　Sure enough, Professor Lily embarked on her "desperate journey of stepping into traps" in the following part of the journey.

　So one trap after another was activated by her, making the journey increasingly thrilling and exciting.

　……

　As they continued their journey, around three o'clock, they finally encountered a temple exploration team.

　“It’s Captain Katrin from Squad Nine,” Tom whispered in Dark’s ear.

　Unbeknownst to him, he had gone from reporting to Aurora all the time to reporting to Dark.

　Squad Nine has more than thirty members.

　According to Tom, each member of these expedition teams was capable of handling things independently, far more capable than the gatekeepers.

　But the members of this squad are now in a terrible state. The squad leader, named "Katarina," is running in the lead and has already warned them to run away before they even get close.

　Upon getting closer, the squad leader, perhaps recognizing Dak's unfamiliar face, continued shouting, "I don't know who you are, but this place is dangerous. Turn around and leave immediately!"

　As she drew closer, she finally saw Aurora and exclaimed in surprise, "Reorganize the defenses and protect the young lord!"

　The thirty-odd people immediately adjusted their formation.

　Some people scattered to the sides, some turned around instantly, and some stopped immediately.

　In the blink of an eye, the thirty-odd people formed an arc-shaped defensive line in front of Dak and the others, facing the rolling sandstorm.

　Captain Katrin rushed over and asked anxiously, "Aurora, what brings you here?"

　Aurora remained calm: "Aunt Katrin, what happened?"

　Katrin glanced around, her gaze quickly settling on Professor Lily, but she continued speaking without stopping: "It's a sala! There's a group of sala frozen in a valley. We initially thought they had wandered in by mistake and had frozen to death. But as soon as someone approached, the ice began to melt, and at least a hundred sala awoke from the ice. Although we're not afraid of sala, engaging in a battle with a hundred sala underground would inevitably cause destruction, so we've chosen to avoid a confrontation for now."

　“If it’s just a salon…” Aurora looked at Dark.

　Dark smiled and nodded, then instructed, "Angrey, go and make sure those salons don't have a chance to cause trouble."

　Angry nodded slightly, then walked from the back to the front, charging alone towards the roaring, charging group of salons under the astonished gazes of the more than thirty members of Squad Nine.

　……

　Two minutes later, more than a hundred sandbars were shattered by the flying water blades and buried forever in the sand.

　Angry silently returned and retreated to the back of the group.

　……

　The members of Squad Nine, who had maintained their formation, only breathed a sigh of relief after Angry had passed by them, and then collapsed to the ground without any regard for their image.

　Captain Katrin touched her nose somewhat awkwardly and asked Aurora, "Little Aurora, aren't you going to introduce her?"

　Aurora then said, "Aunt Catherine, you haven't come to our house these past few days, otherwise we should have gotten to know each other."

　Catherine laughed and said, "It's not easy to get a few days off, so of course I have to make the most of it and have a few drinks. How could I have time to go to your residence to report?"

　Aurora sighed and said seriously, "Drinking is bad for your health."

　Katrin responded casually, "Not drinking will make me sad."

　Aurora had no choice but to change the subject: "Could you take us to that valley? I'm quite interested in the spell that can freeze a sandal alive."

　“Of course, no problem, but…” Katrin paused, probably wanting to say that they should wait until they had explored the area. But because of the extraordinary strength that Angry had just displayed, she suddenly found herself unable to say it.

　Aurora then took the opportunity to introduce the identities of the people from both sides.

　When introducing Dark, Katrin suddenly said, "You're Dark Dimon?"

　Dark glanced at her and smiled, "What?"

　"No, it's nothing." Katrin smiled and patted Dark's shoulder forcefully, saying with satisfaction, "You're very good."

　Dark: "??"

　Although she didn't know why, Katrin's attitude became noticeably warmer after learning his name.

　The group gathered together and walked over the corpse of the sandal, soon arriving at the valley where the sandal was frozen.

　But when they arrived at Dak, what they saw was not a valley, but a mud pit.

　The ice that had frozen the salon melted into water, mixing with the mud and sand of the valley, eventually creating this muddy mess.

　Duck observed carefully and couldn't help but wonder, "How were those salons frozen?"

　The mud blocked the road.

　But the other side of the mud pit was just a flat area that didn't look unusual at all.

　Katrin said, "It would be unwise to try and cross over directly before we know how those sala were frozen. So it's best to wait until we've investigated thoroughly before taking any action. Our Team Nine is the most professional in this area..."