Vol3 Chapter 40 Occam’s Razor

The four adventurers had settled in for a break. One slept soundly, another nibbled slowly at their food. The cleric busied themselves tending to wounds, while the mage leaned against the wall, eyes closed. A short distance away, Amos stood watching the passage ahead.

So... where do I go now?

That was the problem. He’d tracked down the A-rank team by following the traces they left behind But the Blue Wolves were different. He had no clue where they were, and even if they had left mana traces, the strange nature of the ruin made tracking them unreliable.

Amos reached into his coat and pulled out a small communication artifact.

He examined it briefly before putting it away.

Useless.

There was no connection.

Of course there isn't.

He’d already tried to establish a link earlier, but the ruin had disrupted it. Calling Irene wasn’t an option. For all he knew, the Blue Wolfs could be kilometers away, trapped behind sealed passages, or in a completely different section of the ruin.

Amos studied the three branching corridors ahead. The left passage showed signs of recent movement, the middle was untouched, and the right had faint marks along the floor. Crouching down, he saw they weren’t footprints—something had been dragged across the stone.

Monsters? Adventurers?

He touched the floor.

He stood again.

The obvious choice would have been to follow the A-rank team's original route, but they had already been moving blindly.

And there was another problem.

I don't even know where the exit is.

He’d been tracking their trail, convinced that finding them was the top priority. And it had worked. But now that they were here, he faced an inconvenient truth—he had no clue if they were any closer to the exit than before. The ruin stretched on endlessly, and the teleportation trap had shredded any sense of direction. Amos glanced back at the sleeping adventurers.

If I choose wrong, I could waste an entire day.

With their supplies running low, they couldn’t afford to waste many days. His gaze drifted back to the corridors. Closing his eyes, he abandoned mana detection—it was useless now. He listened. Nothing. He breathed in the air. Damp stone. Dust. A faint metallic scent. Opening his eyes again, he caught it—the air from the right passage was just a bit colder. Not enough for most to notice, but enough for him. Amos stared into the darkness.

Airflow.

If there was airflow, then beyond that passage there was probably a larger space—maybe another chamber, a shaft, or an opening to a different section.

Amos studied the other two paths. The left showed signs of recent disturbance. The middle was completely still. The right carried a faint airflow. He thought it over. The left meant something had passed through—maybe the A-rank team, maybe monsters. The right might open a larger space. The middle... nothing at all.

Nothing is also information.

He turned down the left passage, taking a few steps before stopping. Glancing back at the resting adventurers, he knew they had to come with him. Leaving them wasn’t an option, not with their injuries and dwindling supplies. With a sigh, he made his way back to the barrier.

“We'll continue through the left passage.”

The ranger opened his eyes.

“You're sure?”

“No.”

The answer came without hesitation. The ranger blinked, and Amos went on in a calm, steady tone.

“We gotta try something.”

The adventurers shared a look. The mage let out a sigh, and Amos glanced toward the corridor once more.

***

After letting the adventurers rest for a while, Amos decided it was time to move on. The four started readying their gear. They still moved slower than usual, but the food, water, and short break had given them a bit of strength back. The ranger adjusted the straps on his quiver.

“My name is Harold,” he said, apparently realizing that they had spent enough time together for introductions to be overdue. He nodded toward the others. “That's Daren, our fighter. Vena, our cleric. And Tessa, our mage.”

Daren gave Amos a short nod.

Vena offered a tired smile.

Tessa simply adjusted the staff on her back.

Amos nodded.

“Eoghan.”

Once everyone was ready, Amos looked toward the corridor.

“Before we leave, let's go through the simplest solutions.”

Tessa raised an eyebrow.

“Such as?”

“Emergency teleportation stones.”

Harold's expression immediately became awkward.

“We tried.”

“Of course you did.”

Amos glanced at the others.

“And?”

“They don't work.”

Amos paused.

“Don't work?”

“Nothing happens,” Tessa explained. “We've tried them several times.”

“Several?”

“Yes.”

“Any indication why?”

“No.”

Vena shook her head.

“It feels like something is preventing the teleportation from taking effect.”

“An anti-teleportation barrier?”

“We don't know.”

“Did the stones activate?”

“They did.”

“Then they were consumed?”

Harold nodded.

“Every one of them.”

That turned out to be a lot more trouble than expected. An emergency teleportation stone wasn’t something an adventurer would use lightly—especially when stuck inside an S-rank ruin. Harold glanced over at him.

“You want to try?”

“Yes.”

“I'm telling you, it won't work.”

“I heard you.”

Amos reached into his storage pouch and pulled out a small, palm-sized stone. The others recognized it instantly—an emergency teleportation stone. Tessa’s expression shifted.

Amos held the stone between two fingers.

“If it fails, we'll know the problem isn't your equipment.”

He activated it.

The stone began to glow at once, a faint magical pattern rippling across its surface. For a moment, everything seemed fine—then nothing. The glow wavered, the pattern twisted. Amos waited, but there was no spatial shift, no teleportation, no sign of activation beyond the stone itself. Slowly, the light dimmed. A crack appeared, a thin fracture spreading across its surface. It was dead. Amos just stared.

He tried once more.

Still nothing.

The stone was utterly drained.

He rolled it over between his fingers.

“Not good.”

Tessa looked at him.

“You believe us now?”

“Yes.”

Amos slipped the ruined stone into his pouch.

Harold looked down the corridor.

“So that confirms it?”

Amos nodded.

“Teleportation is being blocked.”

“By what?”

“I don't know.”

He glanced at the lifeless stone once more. This failure was anything but ordinary. It wasn’t just that the spell couldn’t lock onto a destination—the stone had actually tried to activate. Something had disrupted the spatial shift itself.

It's as though the ruin itself refuses to let anything leave through space.

Amos's expression became thoughtful.

That was another piece of information.

And one he didn't particularly like.

“Then we'll have to leave normally.”

Tessa sighed.

“Through the ruin.”

“Yes.”

Daren hefted his weapon.

“Wonderful.”

Amos turned toward the left passage.

“Stay close.”

The ruin doesn't merely prevent us from finding the exit.

It prevents us from leaving by any means other than the intended one.

That raised a far more disturbing question.

What exactly is the intended way out?