Mob MC 73.1

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Chapter 73.1. The Hidden Temple

-???'s POV-

Some place deep in the forest where King Mantis first appeared. There is a forest within the imperial castle, but as expected, the vast site is probably inaccessible. Trees with their branches and leaves grow as if they were pushing against each other in the dense weeds. No one would come to such a place unless they had something to do.

But today was different. There was a big road that ran through the forest. Someone trampled the trees were crushed and crushed the vegetation. This was the trail where the scissors mantis had moved. The forest near the party venue was ablaze from the Iron Spider's [Flame Lance], and smoke was blowing out, making it difficult to see.

At the end path, there was a large hole in the ground. The hole was 10 meters high, rising from the ground.

It was a hidden temple. The temple, unknown to anyone today, shouldn't have been unsealed except by the royal family, but now it was open.

If anyone knew about this temple, they would wonder why. The temple was a secret, even from the royal family, and its location was supposed to be known only through oral traditions passed down through a certain baron's family.

There is a single tree in the forest. The royal family would speak the prescribed password and let the mana flow to this tree. Then, the doors of the temple would open.

The first emperor hid the treasure in the temple as a precaution and didn't pass it on to his descendants. If he told his descendants, it would be easy for them to break the temple's seal to obtain the treasures even though they didn't need them.

For this reason, the first emperor told one of his closest advisors at the time, who was honest and of low rank. He hoped that one day when the royal family fell on hard times, his closest advisors' descendants would tell them.

However, it was a natural course of events. Over time, the viscounts fell, and the oral tradition was left without people knowing what it meant.

Therefore, people couldn't open the temple's seal couldn't. Unless by chance, a certain faction of monster users happened to know about it. If that faction had not teamed up with Duke Kanna.

And if Duke Kanna hadn't hired the infamous magician Loki, who could transform themselves into a royal family member.

As a result of a combination of coincidence, necessity, and ambition, they unsealed the hidden temple. The temple was unsealed, and upon entering, the ceiling light automatically turned on to reveal the interior. The distance from the hole to the basement is quite long as if it leads to hell, and if people hadn't turned the light on, they would get struck with fear.

After descending several hundred meters long staircases, people would see the temple's interior, which looked like the interior of a pyramid with a wider hallway.

Even though the emperor built it roughly 400 years ago, there were no cracks or dust on the walls or ceilings inside the temple. There was only a musty, stagnant air of antiquity.

Although it's called a hidden temple, the interior of the temple is simple. There were no sculptures or anything. There are just stone floors, walls, and ceilings. The ceiling shone brightly inside the temple as if it were midday, people could tell the temple was enchanted with magic, but the rest of the structure could hardly be called a temple.

It was simply a dungeon. The hallway was huge, and anyone looking at the sight of the endless stone corridors must have thought so. But there was another reason to say it was a dungeon.

That's because many monster corpses lie in the passage. The corpses of various monsters piled up in piles in the hallway.

Stag beetles, midges, cicadas, butterflies. They're insects, but they're not bugs. Their bodies are at least 2 meters long, and some of the largest is 5 meters long. They're not mere insects, but deformed monsters.

All of them were a monster with the power to fight even an iron spider, but someone defeated those monsters. Some monsters were torn apart, burned by flames, frozen in ice, and defeated in many ways. Besides them, many crushed magic stones were also lying around, transformed into gray stones.

The dungeon itself was a straight path that went on and on, and at the back of the dungeon, the sounds of a fierce battle could be heard.

The metallic sounds of something striking against each other, magic explosions, and plumes of smoke filled the hallway.

[Flare Breath]

A huge dog with three heads opens its mouth and spits flames. The intense flames burn up in the passageway, burning up any insect demons that confront it, turning them into charred corpses.

[Thunder Feather]

A bird with a body made from lightning shoots a lightning fash at the escaping insect monsters.

[Rock Fall]

[Thrusting Needle]

[Strong Arms]

A turtle with a shell of rock creates boulders and crushes its enemies. A hedgehog with golden needles growing from its body shoots out its needles. A giant gorilla bares its fangs and swings its log-like arms down.

The insect monsters get reduced, they're not just beaten to death. The insect monsters also intercept these attacking monsters, devouring their bodies with their jaws, confusing them with their venom, and crushing them with sound waves.

There was a fierce battle between the insect and the beast monsters in the hidden temple.

"Damn! There are too many enemies! Why are there so many monsters in the temple where the hidden treasures of the royal family are located!"

It was an elderly magician who exclaimed in frustration. Behind the beast monsters stood 10 magicians, wielding wands and controlling the beast demons.

They were all wearing powerful equipment. Anyone who could sense mana would be amazed at the amount of mana hidden within them. The 10 magicians were wearing such first-rate equipment. The magician's power was evident in their ancient robes, accessories, and wands, which they wore without magical armor.