Inhuman Warlock

Everyone had stepped back, thinking that the ground was going to split open again, but nothing happened even after Lucifer flew in the air.

With another click sound, the place where Lucifer had stepped returned to normal. 

"Strange. Why did nothing happen when it was his turn?" Uzuki asked, rolling his eyes. When it was his turn, the whole ground split apart, and when it was Lucifer's blunder, nothing happened. 

Woosh!

Just as Uzuki finished speaking, he noticed thousands of arrows coming towards them from the roof, prepared to impale them all. 

"On it!" Alicia actively let out as she formed a barrier above everyone, stopping the arrows. 

Lucifer also used his winds to make the arrows fly away, clearing the barrier.

"I think you really shouldn't raise red flags next time," Alicia told Uzuki as she retracted her barrier. 

"I... How am I getting blamed again," Uzuki muttered, smiling wryly.

"It was a different trap, it seems. Even though traps might look similar from the way they are triggered, they can be completely different," Lucifer cautioned everyone as he landed on the ground again. 

"Yeah, that's why I said we should be careful," Alicia agreed. 

"How can we be careful against something like that? We don't even know where these triggers are! They look completely ordinary!" Uzuki complained. "How do Hunters navigate inside the Dungeons without dying because of traps?" 

"Alicia?" Lucifer also asked the same question, asking her to explain. 

"All Hunter Teams have at least one trained member whose only purpose is to go ahead and find traps."

"They are masters in discovering such traps, and even if they can't find traps and trigger them, they have protective skills to protect themselves so they can stay safe and come back to inform others," Alicia explained. 

"Ah, so it's like sending a sacrificial lamb to check the path ahead so others can stay safe?" Uzuki asked, finding similarities. 

"Not exactly. They're just scouts that aren't in any danger. Only the Variants that can protect themselves from situations are selected as scouts, you understand?" Alicia responded. 

"Since they're safe most of the time, they aren't sacrificial lambs."

"Scouts are the most important part of a Hunter Union team which even they can't afford to lose. That's why each team tries to have at least two scouts," she further said. 

" Wait, does that mean you're our scout? You have barriers, and you can fly? You can protect yourself from anything. That ticks all criteria. Shouldn't you go ahead and make sure we don't step on a trap?" Uzuki asked, stunning Alicia. 

" Fine! I'll be the scout! Follow my exact steps, keeping a distance of at least three or four meters." Instead of arguing, Alicia agreed, realizing that it was faster. 

She knew that if she didn't take the lead, everyone would just keep stepping on traps, delaying them even more. 

She took the lead and started walking. 

Everyone else kept a close eye on her footsteps and followed her. As for Lucifer, he found tracing the steps too bothersome. He simply started floating in the air as he followed Alicia. 

He knew that if he couldn't step on the ground, there was no way for him to step on a trap. 

He soon passed Alicia and took the lead. 

"What are you doing?" Alicia asked Lucifer, seeing him ahead of her. "I'm the scout."

"What you're doing is too slow. If we go like that, it'll take days to travel the path we could travel in hours like this," Lucifer responded.

"Do you have any better ideas? If so, then please tell." Alicia exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

"All of us will fly. Simple," Lucifer casually said. 

"We all fly? How is that possible? Amongst the five of us, only I can walk in the air, and only you can fly. So that plan is useless," Alicia replied to Lucifer, not understanding how it was possible. 

"Look behind you," Lucifer casually said before he continued flying ahead. 

"Huh? What is behind me?" Alicia asked, turning back. 

"What the heck?" Those were the only three words that came out of Alicia's mouth as she saw Cassius, Uzuki, and Yaliza flying. 

They weren't flying on their own though. Lucifer was using his winds to make them fly, just like he used his winds to keep him afloat. 

"Are you coming or not?" Turning around, Lucifer called Alicia. 

"Ah, right." Alicia nodded as she also stepped in the air, using her abilities. 

She started following Lucifer, matching his speed. The others also flew behind them. 

'"This is fun. I never knew flying was so much fun," Uzuki commented, finding it fun. 

The other two didn't comment much. 

...

"Why is there no path ahead?" Lucifer asked Alicia as he landed on the ground. The others also landed. 

There seemed to be no path ahead. There was only one wall which was a dead end.

" You think we should've taken the left turn last time," Uzuki asked, remembering when they had to choose between two paths, and they took the right one. 

"I don't think we made a wrong choice. Only the right path had no monsters. The left one still had some from what I was able to see."

"It's clear that the Hunter Union team didn't take the left path. The signs of battle on the way proved it. We're on the right path," Alicia replied, sticking by her decision. 

"What right path? We're on no path instead," Uzuki complained. 

"Maybe the Hunter Union team took the right path only to realize that it was a dead end which forced them to go back and take a left? And since they were tired, they didn't fight the monsters and just passed ahead, leaving them alive?" he suggested. 

"What do you think, Yaliza?" he asked Yaliza.

"That's also possible," Yaliza agreed with that possibility. 

"One of the things I learned in the Academy is that we should never trust something so easily when we're inside a Dungeon. And one such thing is this dead end. You understand what I'm trying to say?" Cassius asked Lucifer, stepping closer to the wall. 

"Yeah. Similar to what the teachers at the Academy did. It should be a fake dead end," Lucifer agreed. 

"Exactly. We just need to find how to open it," Cassius affirmed. He stepped closer to the wall that was creating an obstruction to observe it. 

"Or we can just break it," Lucifer commented as he punched the wall, shattering it to reveal the obstruction on the other side.

"Or we can just do that," Cassius let out, smiling wryly. 

Lucifer and the others passed through, flying once more.

As they left, the wall behind them started healing itself. Soon, the path was blocked once again.