Creaack~
Pushing open the small door that was barely a head taller than he was, Verdell slowly peeked through the small opening he had created to avoid being jumped by some monster by pushing open the door all at once.
"Huh? What in the world is that me?"
But contrary to what he had expected to see once he pushed open the door, he instead only saw himself and the dragon watching him eagerly from behind... And turning around to look in the direction he saw himself from through the door, it didn’t take him long to notice one of the doors around a dozen or so meters above him and a few hundred meters away had been pushed open at some point without either him or the dragon behind him noticing it.
However, as he began pushing open the door in front of him to confirm he wasn’t imagining things, he soon enough witnessed the door in the distance swinging open as well before he saw himself through that small door in the distance. Even more surprisingly, he could poke his arm or leg through the door and see them dangling in the air from below.
Unfortunately, as entertaining as this might be, it didn’t help the two of them get out of their current situation and only ended up making Verdell feel a sense of growing dread knowing that the other doors throughout this cube filled with nothing but stairs and doors might only lead to doors and stairs within the cube.
Even the dragon watching him play around for a bit was filled with a similar look of disappointment after discovering that the door didn’t lead somewhere else and just connected to another part of the stair cube.
Of course, though the first door was disappointing, it didn’t mean the rest of the doors were going to be the same, as after coming to a silent agreement, Scaly and Verdell split off and began pushing open the doors within the stair cube one by one. Finding out quickly that the other doors were like the one Verdell had just pushed open. All of them leading to somewhere different within the stair cube.
Even worse, as the two gathered together after being unsuccessful in finding a way out and planned on moving back down the spiral staircase to continue searching for something different within the space between floors, both were shocked to discover that the spiral staircase they had used to enter this strange cube had vanished into thin while they hadn’t been looking.
Not just that, but the stones that looked like the ones Scaly had been able to dig through not too long ago to reach the spiral staircase had seemingly been upgraded and strengthened to the point where she could barely scratch them after using all her strength.
In other words, the two of them were trapped inside the cube with nothing but stairs and doors to keep them company.
Well... Trapped wasn’t accurate, as there might be a door that led out of the cube, but with the sheer number of doors around, it might take them days if not weeks to look through all of them.
"This was not how I expected things to go after entering this place... I wish whoever created this damnable cube stub their toe and fall into a heap of play bricks!"
Agreed! Why are so many doors around!? Who even came up with something like this!?
Although she didn’t fully understand what Verdell was saying, she understood the gist of what he was saying and his wish for whoever created this strange cube to end up in a painful situation. Agreeing wholeheartedly with his sentiment, as she really didn’t want to spend the next few days and potentially weeks in this strange cube.
Not just because she didn’t want to waste so much time doing nothing but open doors, but also because she worried that there might not be a way out of their current situation. After all, it wasn’t a guarantee that one of the doors would lead them out of the cube, but more so wishful thinking on their side. For all they knew, all the doors might lead to other doors within the cube. Trapping them forever.
Just thinking about that kind of dreadful fate of being eternally trapped was more than enough to make even a proud dragon like Scaly feel somewhat anxious about her current situation, though, like Verdell, she masked the sense of growing unease with anger towards the creator of this strange cube.
Rumble~
This sense of growing dread for the two lasted for an entire day before a loud rumbling sound spread throughout the strange cube, causing both Verdell and Scaly to stop what they were doing and quickly gather to investigate the strange rumbling sound. Soon enough, finding themselves standing in front of a large door that even a dragon Scaly’s size would be able to fit through.
The rumbling sound was coming from this door and as the two of them approached it, the rumbling sound only became louder until it reached the point where the two almost had to block their ears to avoid going deaf.
By this point, the only thing that kept them approaching the door was the fact that this unique rumbling sound indicated the uniqueness of the door before them. Uniqueness that in their eyes meant that the door in front of them might very well be the door out of the strange cube that the two of them had been searching for.
Even if this might also mean that there was some kind of powerful monster throwing itself into the door from the other side, both were willing to take that risk, as anything was better than being stuck without any way out.
At the very least, in case it was truly a monster waiting on the other side, they were both fully recovered and more than ready to face off against it.
No... not just ready, Scaly was already feeling a sense of growing excitement upon realizing a powerful monster might be waiting for the two of them on the other side of the door. Having grown bored to a point she hadn’t realized was possible during the time she had spent opening doors without encountering a single on leading out of the strange cube.
By far, this was the longest time she had ever spent not fighting any monsters or adventurers since she had started her journey, without counting the time she had been asleep during her evolutions or resting after a difficult battle.
The feeling of not making even a single bit of progress even as hours passed by was something she didn’t want to experience again and had even made her think about how important it really was for her to establish a friendship with Verdell. After all, as a decently powerful adventurer, he was bound to provide her with a good amount of experience...
Of course, these kinds of thoughts only lingered for a short time before being vanquished from the depths of her mind. The rational part of her still understanding that the increase in the purity of her dragon blood was far more important than increasing her experience by a little bit that likely wouldn’t even be enough for her to increase her level.
Back to the door about to make the two deaf, Scaly began using her large body to try and push it open. Only to find that unlike the other doors she had opened over the past day without any problems, this one clearly wasn’t that simple to open and forced her to push with all her strength-
Creaaak~
But even with this, the door only let out a creaking sound without opening. Leaving her somewhat speechless before having Verdell join her in pushing open the large door.
Pitiful as the strength of the small dwarf was compared to her, it was better than nothing and could at least provide a bit more strength-
Ruuumble-!
And surprisingly enough, that little bit of extra strength provided by Verdell seemed to be just enough to push open the door, as both Scaly and Verdell found themselves overcome by joy as the large door swung open-
Swish~
Thud~ Thud~
Neither of them stopped, as the two soon enough stumbled forward through the open door. Landing face first on the ground, that greeted them on the other side. Not that either of the two were sad about unintentionally kissing the ground, as both were just overjoyed upon seeing this ground. Understanding that they were finally out of the cube filled with nothing but stairs and doors.
After all, that cube didn’t have any ground, but was entirely made up of stone of wood. The traditional ground of the cube more so being made up of a combination of materials taken from the countless stairs and doors to make something that could hardly be called solid ground and was more so a mess of materials that had been hastily thrown together...