The Martial Unity

Rui felt strange as he began spotting an increasing number of Martial Squires the deeper they went. Given that the depth of the Shionel Dungeon was sixty kilometers, most Martial Squires were exploring tunnels at a depth of forty to fifty kilometers. Rui could normally relax the deeper he went since he didn't need to deal with the annoying adventurers who were basically associated with Chairman Deacon, or the annoying freelancers that accepted the bounty that Chairman Deacon had put on his head, which had grown by a factor of eight since it was originally instated.

Now all those annoyances were migrating to the places that were normally devoid of human presence.

Rui and Kane traveled deeper until they reached levels that weren't too far from the Root floor at the bottom of the Shionel Dungeon.

It took more than a day of exploring, but Rui finally managed to detect a new floor.

"Finally!" Kane exclaimed. "This damn dungeon finally yields a floor!"

Kane had truly begun to grow sick of the Shionel Dungeon. He couldn't wait for him and Rui to have finally cleared it to that they never had to enter it ever again. Spending an entire day trudging through annoyingly contorting tunnels was not fun.

"What kind of floor is it?" Kane asked, eagerly.

"It's a… snake pit" Rui narrowed his eyes.

"Urgh," Kane's expression soured as he grumbled. "Why can't it be something nice like a bunch of bunnies?"

"It's a little strange though," Rui frowned.

"What is?" Kane raised an eyebrow.

Rui didn't respond immediately as he observed what he was seeing, moving closer toward the dungeon to get a better look.

The snakes seemed to be constantly wrestling with each other to move toward the center of the floor. As if the rest of the floor would lead to their deaths

"They're not venomous serpents like the inland taipans, through," Rui told him. "They're more like pythons. They're constantly engaging in this huge wrestling war with each other as they're piling on top of each other at the center of the floor. It's strange, really."

"And let me guess, the esoteric ore deposits are under that pile?" Kane sighed.

"Yep," Rui laughed mirthlessly. "An advantage that we do have is that they seem really preoccupied with whatever their strange goal is," Rui shrugged.

He didn't have much of an idea as to why the pythons were doing what they were doing, but he had to admit that as long as it kept them distracted, he was completely fine with that.

"Let's get started," Rui told Kane when they arrived.

He drew his hot air pipe and sword, before inhaling a deep puff of air.

THWOOM

The crackling hot Tempestuous Ripple struck several pythons, making their flesh rigid and brittle, yet what happened had exceeded his expectations.

Suddenly, every single python ceased their actions before turning towards Rui, and the targets of his attack.

HIIIISSSSS!

They all immediately abandoned what they were doing before immediately dashing in his direction.

Kane immediately dashed away while Rui narrowed his eyes, preparing his sword, he intended on mowing them down as much as he could.

Yet to his surprise, they did not go to him, they immediately stopped at their paralyzed siblings whose flesh had turned rigid after being hit by Rui's hot air wind blast attack. A whole wave of snakes began fighting and wrestling with each other as they all tried to reach the super-heated and paralyzed bodies of their siblings.

"What…?" Rui frowned, confused as he sky-walked around the increasingly large pile of snakes, trying to reach the targeted pythons that got hit by his attack.

In the meant time, the giant collection of esoteric ore deposits in the center of the dungeon floor was unchecked.

Rui sky-walked down to them, glancing back at the pythons.

He ought to have just taken the esoteric ore deposits, but unfortunately, his confusion and curiosity had peaked far too much.

('What's going on?') He wondered.

He could come up with a dozen theories as to why they were acting too bizarrely, but he wasn't sure.

"Hm?" He noticed that the esoteric ore deposits of this floor were strangely hot.

He glanced back and forth between the pythons and the esoteric ore deposits as his eyes widened.

"Could it be…?" Rui murmured aloud.

"Could it be what?" Kane asked as he reached Rui's position.

Rui didn't reply, instead pulling out his hot air pipe, before inhaling and launching a heated Tempestuous Ripple at a random spot on the floor.

THWOOM

Instantly, the pythons ceased their wrestling, before glancing in the direction of the target of his technique, staring at it with their yellow eyes and flicking tongues.

HISSSSSSS!

They once again repeated the same old pattern.

"Uh… What's going on?" Kane asked Rui, confused.

"I think I figured it out," Rui murmured. "It's simple really, but they just love heat."

"What?"

"They love really high temperatures, it appears that the hotter it is, the more they're drawn to it," Rui explained. "That would explain their behavior pretty well."

He hadn't heard of any species that was so strongly attached to heat before, but it wasn't outlandish. Snakes had infrared vision, thus the means by which they detected heat was evidently clear.

"I see…" Kane scratched his head. "So you can just lure them away from the esoteric ore deposits of the floor by leading them away with heat. Great. That makes life easier."

Rui smirked. "That's true, but we can do so much more than just lure them away from the esoteric ore deposits, you know."

"Like what?"

"Like lure them to the Root," Rui grinned. "After months, I have finally been blessed with the opportunity to direct test subjects exactly where I want them. I can use these snakes to gather more information on the Root of the dungeon as I watch the snakes engaging in conflict with the Root."

"That…" Kane raised an eyebrow at that plan. Luring away heat-loving monsters to take them to fight an opponent he couldn't to gain more information was a plan that he hadn't even conceived of.