Chapter 29- A Gamers Dream

"Owwwww" I said in annoyance as I rubbed the back of my head even though it was my back that was reverberating in pain.

"Good job" Ivar said as he nodded to me for my efforts. 

Despite his sarcastic jab I couldn't help but agree, well despite getting smashed into a wall. 

A door hidden behind some kind of illusion spell. Defensively protected by layers of runes that sent me flying. 

It was interesting as it was our first time experiencing something like this. Before now things had been pretty straightforward, search the maze for an exit. Travel through a giant swamp filled with waterfalls to progress.

It proved there could be puzzles, secret routes, and possibly even other game mechanics spread throughout this tower. Probably, I might just be getting my hopes up though as I was a sucker for things like that back on earth. 'Back on earth….. What a weird phrase, like I'm in some kind of space movie or something.'

"I see a keyhole here, not much else besides glowing symbols" Ivar deduced after he looked over the secret door.

"So we need a key huh?" I said unhelpfully as I sighed and began racking my brain for ideas. 

'I hope it's not one of the ones where the keys are hidden on the other side of the floor or something, a whole lot of backtracking. Wait….. This isn't a game, a barricade of wooden boxes or invisible walls can't stop me from progressing anymore, well in theory. So why should a key be able to?' I began cackling like a madman as a rather barbaric idea came to me.

I couldn't count the number of times my max-level character was stopped by a log in the road or even a broken bridge with a gap big enough a child could make it to the other side. It was a frustrating mechanic that always broke the immersion, at least in my humble opinion.

"Let's just bust the door down" I said with a smirk as I turned to my companion. He raised a single eyebrow at the suggestion.

"This is more your thing but seeing as how you got blasted back and indented into a stone wall.... I'd rather not follow your lead" Ivar said as he crossed his arms, I almost wanted to pout as he tried to shut down my plan before it was even hatched.

"You are what my people would call a 'hater', Ivar." I said with a smirk as I began trying to figure out the best way to explain my idea.

"Weird insults aside, what's your plan? It looks like this door could take a battering ram if needed" he said as knocked on the stone door, testing its thickness maybe?

"Blast it with fireballs" I said with a shrug that caused Ivar to stagger, before he could berate me I explained further. "Hold on, I figured that if I could try to weaken the defenses with my gauntlet you could have a chance to bust through with your bullish strength and big ass war hammer" My plan had flaws and it was possible I'd just be wasting mana but it was worth a shot.

Simply because who knew if we would even find the key before we found the boss room? I was interested in the door but not enough to search this entire place for a key.

"It's worth a shot, out of all this gibberish where should I aim for?" Ivar asked as he twisted and flipped the five-foot-long snow-white war hammer in his hand. The 'gibberish' he was speaking of had to be the hundreds of runes that covered the door and surrounding walls.

'That was a good question' I agreed as I began looking over all of the glowing symbols on the stone door. At first, I would've said the wall around it where the runes were more spread out. However, after looking it over I decided our best bet was the keyhole itself.

Simply because it was designed to be opened by an outside force, not to mention the fact that runes were a few centimeters away from the keyhole in an almost perfect circle.

Relaying that to Ivar I got ready and lifted my left arm, palm facing outward as I judged the possible ricochet that could happen.

My fireballs weren't something that could just be brushed off, a concussive slightly AOE volleyball sized attack that could be rapidly fired. The area of effect range wasn't amazing but it was about ten feet in all directions. 

Sure the door had some defenses but could it take nine consecutive fireballs and a hit from a man with a stupidly high strength stat?

With a nod from Ivar, I began operation: Koolaid Man.

Blast after blast slammed against the sturdy stone door, after the first three fireballs a thin, almost translucent barrier appeared. It was interesting to see but I couldn't make any other observations about how the runes were reacting.

After the seventh fireball hit, the barrier wavered, flicking slightly almost as if it glitched. A barely noticeable thing but I knew we were close, as my mana dipped to less than a hundred and the ninth fireball I watched the barrier completely crack.

"Ivar, now!" I yelled out only moments after the last fireball cracked the barrier. The man let of a ragged breath as his muscles bulged and he charged forward. A loud crunch and the dry dirt ground cracked as Ivar stepped forward with his lead foot. With a powerful twist the hammer's head met the cracked barrier, and completely flew through it.

All that was between it was a thick stone door and well stone couldn't stop Ivar anymore.

A blast went through the cavern, sending a cloud of dust and debris everywhere. I wanted to curse as a pebble smacked me in the forehead but as the dust settled I could only laugh as I saw the results of our labors.

I walked over and joined Ivar who had already entered the busted doorway, that guy was such a loot gremlin.

"Well, that's odd?" Ivar said as I caught up with him, curious as to what he meant I began looking around the room. Only to find two things, a hanging lamp with a red gem that painted the room in a soft red and a single coffin. Or maybe a sarcophagus was a better description, as this wasn't a simple coffin.