530 They Wouldn't Trap A Treasure Chest, Would They?

So… After watching them go through three paralysis, three sleeping, nine burning, nine freezing, one blindness and two mania traps… I can see why they're having a hard time with this Dungeon.

Riklan pushed himself up after I had just used [Cleanse] on him for falling for that last trap.

"Ugh… I have never been this embarrassed in my time of surveying a Dungeon…"

"At least this isn't as bad as the first time we came here without a healer… The amount of potions we had to drink every few steps… Ugh… just thinking about it is making me sick…" Kaelin groaned.

Eita did not offer any comments aside from shivering from the memory.

Geez… Would the others also become like this if I were to come here with them? I guess it's a good thing that I was stopped then… I would definitely not want my girls to experience this…

Riklan wiped his brow with the back of his wrist, "Alright… You ok, Kaelin? Should we take a break?"

Kaelin shook his head, "I'm fine… But I'm more concerned about Aster's mana… You've been healing us all this while, how are your mana reserves?"

"I'm still good to go," I answered honestly.

Eita turned to me, "No need to push yourself, Aster… If you are running out of mana just let us know. It would be bad if you were not able to heal us at a crucial time…"

"Don't worry, I will."

Seeing that I was still ready to go, the three of them picked themselves up and prepared to move off again.

But as Eita was getting up, she placed her hand on the wall to support herself, only for her hand to sink into the wall with an audible 'click'.

At this point, I've already developed a Pavlovian response to that sound and leapt back from her at the same time as the others.

Eita only stared at her hand with a look of resignation on her face, most likely already knowing that it was too late for her to do anything about it.

However, instead of triggering another trap, the wall to her right suddenly opened up.

All of us waited for something else to happen but nothing came.

Eita slowly removed her hand from the wall while we joined her, all of us approaching the hole cautiously.

Riklan and Kaelin both drew their weapons and peeked into the hole, guiding my light to illuminate the hole.

Inside, we found a small room that was completely empty dave for one thing that stood in the centre.

A treasure chest.

"Trap," Eita and I said at the same time.

 Riklan and Kaelin did not seem to think so.

"I think it's a real treasure chest. After putting up so many traps here, it wouldn't make sense to put another trap here, right?" Riklan argued.

Kaelin also nodded, "This should be the reward after getting through all the traps, so I think it's safe."

Eita scowled, "On the contrary, we've seen nothing but traps so far so I don't think it's too farfetched to say that this is a trap as well."

"I think so too," I agreed with her.

Kaelin shook his head, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this room isn't trapped, but I believe the chest to actually contain real treasure."

Eita made a face at him, "And you think that it would be so easy to just take it huh? Do I need to remind you how many times you've stepped on a paralysis trap so far?"

The rogue grimaced before turning to Riklan, "So what should we do? We've gone through all those shitty traps, I'd at least want something to show for it…"

Our leader paused for a moment before nodding, "I say it's worth the risk. If anything, we still have Aster here to heal us if it's actually a trap."

"I can't heal you from death, just so that you know," I warned.

That seemed to cause them to think twice as they stopped in their tracks.

Kaelin sighed, "Fine… I'll go in by myself… If I die… I'll leave it to you to drag my body out of there…"

…

Oh yeah… I can't bring him back from death but there are other healers who can.

I know that the service isn't cheap though so that means these guys must be quite loaded in the monetary department if that can be an option.

All of us stayed at the entrance while Kaelin stepped into the empty hall, the rogue using his sword to tap on the ground before taking a step.

I suppose it's good that he's still being cautious enough to check for traps… Though he has been failing to avoid most of the traps that we have encountered so far…

He reached the chest without any issues and he started to check the chest itself for traps.

Seeing that there was nothing visibly off about it, he then gave the lid a few taps with his blade, getting ready to leap back in case that set off something.

When nothing happened again, he gave the chest a solid kick before jumping back, probably expecting it to come alive in case of a mimic.

The chest simply continued to sit there, unmoving.

Finally, the rogue went up to the chest and shoved the lid open and I got ready to cast either [Heal] of [Cleanse] on him.

… Nothing happened.

He peeked into the chest and by the way his face lit up, I could already guess that it was something good.

Kaelin reached in and grabbed whatever was inside the chest before pulling it out with him, revealing it to be a gold bracelet of sorts.

"Look, I told you it was legit!"

Eita rolled her eyes, "Right… So what does that do? Don't tell me it's just a normal bracelet."

Kaelin looked at it, "Well… I dunno? Should I try it on?"

"And what if it's cursed?"

"Ugh, come on Eita. We can't be that unlucky can we?"

Eita only raised an eyebrow in response and the memory of the past half an hour of being constantly affected by traps must have gone through his mind because he instantly shut his mouth after that.

He let out an exaggerated sigh before slipping the bracelet into his pocket, "Alright, alright… Let's get it appraised later. But you can't deny that I was right about this being a legit chest, right?"

And as though waiting for that exact moment, the chest suddenly exploded behind him.

The force of the explosion sent the poor rogue flying back towards the entrance and all of us instinctively stepped aside to avoid him.

I winced as I watched him crash into the wall on the other side of the tunnel, face first. A resounding 'crack' letting me know that he most likely broke his nose from the impact.

He then slowly slid down the wall to drop on the floor, which just so happened to be the location of a pressure plate that activated the moment he touched it.

A part of the cave wall slid open and a dart was shot out from the other side of the wall that embedded itself in his shoulder.

He spasmed for a moment before going still, the paralysis effect taking root on his body.

All of us simply stared at him, wondering if it would be too mean for us to laugh.

Eita did snort in amusement though she tried to hide it behind a cough, which in turn made Riklan let out a chuckle as well.

I managed to keep my cool and went ahead to cast [Heal] and [Cleanse] on him.

Kaelin slowly got up from the floor and dusted himself, intentionally keeping his back towards us as he did so.

He waited until the sounds of laughter had disappeared before finally turning around to face us.

"Ahem… Thanks for the healing, Aster. I can't believe I did not see that paralysis trap over there. I guess I should really take more care."

He really just wants to pretend like that didn't even happen huh…

Unfortunately for him, Eita wasn't letting him go that easily.

"How did the wall taste, Kaelin?" She asked with a smirk.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh, maybe next time don't be so full of yourself, how about that?"

"Ah, of course Eita. I will be sure to check the floor for any pressure plates next time. But do forgive me if I were to step on another one because this godforsaken Dungeon seemed set on making all of us trigger one every few steps."

Eita was about to say more when a clattering sound came from behind us.

All four of us turned to see that the far wall on the other side of the tunnel had suddenly opened up, revealing a spiked ball rolling out from the wall and was big enough to completely take up the entire width of the tunnel.

The hole that previously housed the treasure chest had also closed up, leaving us with no other way out.

And of course… That spiked ball started rolling towards us…

"Run!!" Riklan shouted.

You don't need to tell me twice!!