Chapter 334 - Losing Hope
The Goblin Summon understood Adam's orders and respected and revered Adam as its master, so was planning to follow them to the best of its abilities.
However, as soon as they neared the castle, it clearly seemed afraid and intimidated by the castle or whatever is inside it.
It still followed closely after Adam, but what it was feeling was clear to Adam and it surprised him, but also confirmed to him that there really was more to the castle than traps.
The traps were going to be activated without him needing to tip them off, so it was best if he protected his Goblin Summon while skipping through the traps as quickly as he could.
He could sense that the Goblin Summon was sending out some sort of radar that was similar to a spiritual sense, but also very different at the same time.
It would draw the Goblin Beast towards treasure or valuables, but it would only be able to sense it if it has a powerful energy or if it is seen as something that is valuable and needs to be protected.
The Special Trait was fuelled by the greed and gluttony of Goblin Beasts, but in this case benefitted Adam as the Goblin Beast pointed Adam in different directions, which he followed.
Since the Goblin Summon was on the same level as Adam, it was very capable and could handle most of the traps itself and use its club to block and hit away most projectiles that were flung towards it.
However, since speed wasn't its strong suit, there were some traps that it couldn't handle with its strength and club alone, so Adam would have to help it out, as he didn't want it to get damaged.
His summons getting damaged would only cost him more energy and he also needed the Goblin Summon in his current situation, which was why Adam was keeping such a close eye on it and protecting it.
Despite his concentration being split, Adam was able to get past most traps unscathed after experiencing most of them already and would always lead the way, as he was more capable than the Goblin Summon in the current environment.
It led Adam around the castle, but it seemed to be to no avail and soon the Goblin Summon realised what was occurring and tried to relay that to Adam.
Adam believed that his summon was trying to find treasure and that its Special Trait was useful, but he was starting to get slightly annoyed since sustaining the summon was using quite a lot of energy and it was to no avail.
It led him to the centre of the castle and it was unsure why, but the Goblin Summon seemed pretty sure that whatever treasure there was in the castle should be in the centre, but all there was in the centre was a large, circular hall.
The circular hall was filled with traps and Adam couldn't see any valuables and also couldn't see any hidden passage ways.
It had taken a while for the Goblin Summon's Treasure Hunting to lock onto where it sensed the treasure was, since there seemed to be something interfering with it, just like Adam's spiritual sense was being blocked.
However the Goblin Summon seemed sure and Adam retracted it back, before checking out the middle area again.
He trusted his summon, but also knew that it wouldn't be able to handle being bombarded by traps from all directions, as the centre of the castle was a circular hall.
Despite that, Adam still burst towards the centre of the circular hall and was surprised to find that there weren't any traps, but as soon as he reached the centre of the hall, dozens of traps were suddenly activated all at once.
Arrows, poison pins and all kinds of projectiles were thrown at Adam from all directions, making it so that it was almost impossible for Adam to dodge, and because of that, he couldn't use his Step Skip Skill.
The Step Skip Skill required a clear path for it to be useful and if anything was in his way, he wouldn't be able to use the skill.
Adam used the Burst Movement Skill to launch himself upwards and grabbed onto the bricks of the ceiling as he held himself against the ceiling, making it so that he was only hit by a few of the projectiles.
After the firing stopped, Adam landed back on the ground and pulled out all the spikes, arrows and pins that had hit him before starting to recover, knowing that the traps wouldn't be renewed until he had left that room.
Adam was confident that no more projectiles would be launched towards him as the castle seemed to only be able to recharge the traps once he had left, but he hadn't expected that the ground beneath him would begin to shake and crumble.
It was as though the centre of the castle was collapsing and all the floors above it were falling down onto the ground, while the ground beneath Adam's feet was also collapsing and there was no way for him to avoid what was coming.
Activating both his fundamental defensive techniques while also streaming large amounts of Internal Energy throughout his body and preparing himself for the impact, Adam fell dozens of metres below the ground, then large pieces of rubble fell above him.
Being buried under large pieces of heavy rock, Adam had suffered quite a lot of damage and was struggling to breathe as he suddenly let out a loud roar and a burst of energy from his entire body.
He drew out as much power as he could and even used the Bloodlust Characteristic to summon up more power as the rubble above him was all launched flying away and Adam was no longer trapped under large slabs of stone.
Taking a moment to recover and catch his breath, everything was very dark and it was clear to Adam that he was underground, but he was unsure what to do next and was beginning to lose hope.