The Novel's Professor

"Wh-what's happening?!"

Eimi shouted in panic, her body swaying from the sudden quake of the area. Her eyes darted around the place, seeing nothing but darkness. In that moment, her heart anxiously beat as she felt a ringing sound assault her ears.

"Heidi, help stabilize Eimi's body." Amber commanded calmly, her eyes warily darting around the room.

Behind her, the burly student got to work and tightly grasped onto Eimi's body. Eimi sighed in relief, her attention shifting to Heidi as she gave a grateful smile.

"Now..." Shao Lu frowned, his brows knitting in worry. "Can you explain what's happening, Leader?"

Amber held up her finger, putting it on her lips as she gestured for the team to be quiet. The team nodded as they reluctantly obeyed.

The rumbling of the maze continued for a while. It started off strong as it slowly stabilized towards the end. Soon after, the quaking completely stopped.

At the moment, a strange ear rupturing groan echoed beneath the ground.

Heidi hardened her expression, her head shifting to the ground as she felt a ringing sensation go all over her body.

"I should probably explain..." Amber said, her hand taking out the bow once more. She pulled another arrow from her back. "This area...is filled with traps and invisible danger waiting to be activated."

At that moment, a beep suddenly resounded in Amber's smartwatch.

[The Gluttonous Earthworm's Trap: +5 pts]

"Traps..?" Shao Lu muttered, his eyes narrowing. "No wonder I couldn't sense them with my skill «Malicious Sense»... the skill only functions to find living beings with malicious intent."

Amber put the arrow in the bow. She tightened her hand as she pulled the bowstrings. Her eyes aimed at multiple dark spots, calculating the distance with precision and patience.

Amidst the darkness, her emerald green eyes shone resplendently. The green emerald eyes of the Hong were one of the family's most special traits and legacy.

The eyes had the ability of far-sight precision. It didn't matter how far, nor how close. The Hong's vision always sees and notices — coupled with talent over bows and extreme precision, they proved to be one of the deadliest families in the word.

The dark spots she was staring at, if it wasn't already obvious, were the signs of traps. If an ordinary person would have entered this location, they would have carelessly stepped on or approach a trap due to the blindness of the darkness.

However, as she had far better and clearer vision than most, the darkness and the traps proved to be nothing but folly.

"Try using it again," Amber said, her hand pulling the bowstrings. "I'm sure you would sense one this time."

Shao Lu nodded, immediately closing off his eyes as he focused intently. As soon as the skill activated, his expression instantly hardened as he sensed great danger beneath them.

"Found it?" Amber said, waiting patiently as she held the bowstring tightly. "That's called The Gluttonous Earthworm. A rare demon specialized in burrowing at the ground and moving at darkness to swallow their foes. Its strength hovers between Rank E and Rank D."

Gluttonous Earthworm's had long slithered body's capable of manipulating their own fat, allowing it to change shape it sees fit to enter and escape in any narrow spaces easily. It also had subtle intelligence compared to other demons at its level.

"...What are we going to do then?" Shao Lu asked, worry filled in his face.

"Kill it of course, for points." Amber responded. "You just need patience. The true ability of a hunter is not from their skill, but their patience to wait appropriately for the right moment and time."

Shao Lu went silent, his head nodding in agreement. Patience. He wasn't a stranger to that. Although he was not a hunter; he was an ascetic monk, and patience was one of the temple's main teaching.

"Eimi, lighten up the surroundings." Amber commanded "As for Heidi and Shao Lu, watch for the Gluttonous Earthworm and alert us when its body is going to rise."

All the other three students nodded.

Eimi took out a silver metallic wand from her uniform. She raised her hand to the air, mumbling a skill name quietly.

At that moment, a small orb of light formed in the air — granting brightness to the surrounding darkness. It was like a lightbulb in a room, illuminating the grotesque harrowing state of the room.

Heidi and Shao Lu stared at the illuminated surroundings, their mouth opening speechlessly. The area was like a death trap. Silky, thin white threads straightened as it encompassed the entire room.

Skulls with vacant eye sockets hanged on the walls of the room, staring at the air with their mouths opened. In one particular skull, an arrow was notched on one of its empty eye sockets.

"Are these traps?" Shao Lu asked, his eyes warily glancing at the skulls hanging on the walls.

"Indeed," Amber nodded. "Also, if you look closely and concentrate enough, you would see threads connected from traps to somewhere. The moment a thread gets grazed the slightest, the trap would activate."

Similarly to what happened with the earlier Gluttonous Earthworm Trap — Amber with her precise, clear vision, saw the hanged skulls and thread of strings inside the room.

At first, she thought they were mere decorations or simply harmless objects. But after noticing that the threads seemed to be connected from the skulls on the wall — she realized it was a trap.

After realizing that they were in a death room, her mind and eyes immediately went into action as she calculated the amount of traps and tried to guess which were the least, and most dangerous.

There were a total of eighteen traps. But their danger... couldn't be assessed, mainly because of the lack of information.

She experimented over it by shooting at one of the traps, grazing one of the strings as she activated a trap. She chose the trap at the further ends of the room in caution.

Amber narrowed her eyes as she gripped the bow once more. It was time. It was evident that the Gluttonous Earthworm had no intention of raising to the surface on its own volition.

All this time, she was waiting for the earthworm to move and rise to ground — afterwards, she would try to kill it using her bow, and if not enough, Eimi with her long ranged sorcerer prowess was there along them.

Amber smiled as she pulled the bowstrings. Her eyes focused on one of the skulls. At that moment, she released the string, launching an arrow to the air, aimed at the one of skulls.

In the air, the arrow breathlessly avoided the invisible white threads in succession. In mere seconds, it landed perfectly on one of the skulls eye sockets — making a loud noise in the room.

Click!

At that moment, a demonic groan echoed on the ground. The floor beneath crumbled as a hole tore apart in the furthest end of the room. The Gluttonous Earthworm wriggled its body as it rose.