: The Second Floor Lobby

Chapter 147 Returning to the Second Floor Hall

Matthew has now searched the entire castle.

Only this black door remains.

Now that he was already here, Matthew wasn't about to stop there.

"Perhaps the way to leave this world is hidden behind the door."

He stared intently at the black door before him, an idea forming in his mind.

"It cannot be directly cracked using runic techniques."

"Then I'll have no choice but to resort to brute force."

Matthew stretched out his arms and touched the two doors.

With a sudden burst of strength, he pushed forward with all his might.

However, the black door remained completely still, not even a crack was visible.

Seeing this, Matthew quickly focused his mental energy, manipulating the fire elemental particles floating in the air to rapidly form dozens of scorching runes.

Runes rapidly combined, nested, and pieced together in front of him, forming a spell model.

Then Matthew stepped forward and gave him a firm handshake.

A giant, blazing claw of fire emerged from the shattered spell model and fiercely gripped the black door before it.

"Bang-!!!"

However, the defensive barriers on the black gate seem to be able to absorb magic.

The powerful slash of the fiery claw did not cause it any damage.

With a loud bang, the violent magical energy and flames quickly dissipated.

Without any hesitation, Matthew quickly retreated to the other side of the corridor.

He drew a large amount of magic power from his body and channeled it into his skin.

In an instant, Matthew's entire body was covered in dragon scales.

At the same time, he chanted incantations.

The earth element in the air rapidly gathered around him and condensed into pieces of gray-white rock that enveloped him.

Then, Matthew lowered his body, tensing his leg muscles.

The next moment, he suddenly exerted force and pushed off with both legs.

Matthew's figure vanished from the spot in an instant, like an arrow released from a bow.

Using the momentum of his forward thrust, he twisted his waist and slammed his arm down hard against the black door.

"BOOM—!!!"

The moment the rocky arm collided with the gate, a deafening roar echoed throughout the entire castle.

However, the black door remained completely undamaged.

Moreover, the huge aftershocks impacted the surrounding area, but the castle remained completely unaffected.

Matthew couldn't even feel the slight tremors emanating from inside the castle.

"It still doesn't work."

"It seems it's not just the restrictions on the gate—"

"Even the defenses of this building are quite astonishing!"

"If this were an ordinary castle, the shockwave from my punch would be enough to shatter the surrounding walls!"

"Yet it remained completely still!"

Matthew glanced back at the floor.

"The power I just unleashed was enough to crush the rocks."

"And these floors are clearly just made of wood, yet they can withstand my footing."

This reveals the extraordinary origins of the castle, especially the eerie eye meditation image and the tightly closed black door before us.

If it weren't for concerns about unforeseen consequences, Matthew would have loved to completely refining the castle.

Just as Matthew was pondering what to do next.

Beneath the black gate, a black mist slowly seeped out.

These black wisps of mist emitted a nauseating, fishy odor, clearly indicating that they were not good things.

Matthew was shocked and quickly retreated to the other end of the corridor.

"What is this?"

He looked down intently at the continuously billowing black mist.

【Name: Harmful Gas】

[Note: This is a harmful gas with high levels of radiation. Do not touch it.]

"Severe radiation —"

Matthew frowned, even with the blessing of dragon scales and his rock body, he dared not easily touch the mist.

He had a premonition that his current physical strength was insufficient to resist the black mist.

Matthew doesn't have much time left.

Black mist continued to seep out from beneath the door, gradually covering the entire corridor and soon reaching his feet.

With no other option, Matthew had to go down the stairs back to the first floor.

"What should we do next?"

"Given the rate at which that black mist is penetrating, it probably won't be long before it covers this place."

Matthew glanced out the window at the haphazardly piled-up boulders.

He gritted his teeth, pushed open the castle gate again, and stepped out.

However, as soon as he lifted his right foot, the stone giants that had been sleeping on the ground awoke.

They grew heads and limbs at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Soon, the eyes of these stone golems became completely empty, emitting a faint green light.

Clearly, they lost consciousness once again, and their bodies were being controlled by some mysterious force.

"Boom!!!"

The Stone Golem army completely surrounded the castle and launched repeated attacks on Matthew.

Seeing that the massive stone arms were about to crash down, Matthew had no choice but to retreat back into the castle.

"Bang bang bang—!!!"

The attacks of the stone golem army rained down, but the castle remained unmoved.

This building once again demonstrated its amazing defensive capabilities.

Just as Matthew was pacing back and forth in the castle’s first-floor hall, pondering a solution.

He suddenly noticed that a layer of black, highly radioactive toxic fog had appeared sometime earlier.

"So fast?"

Matthew was taken aback. He turned to look at the stairs and found that there was no black poisonous fog spreading there.

This indicates that the toxic fog did not seep out from the door on the third floor.

His light swept across the area rapidly, and he finally located the source of the black poisonous fog.

"It's seeping from that basement!"

But Matthew had just explored the basement.

Apart from the power crystal and the magic arrays on the wall, there was nothing unusual.

"Where did this black poisonous fog come from?"

However, Matthew didn't have time to think about it at that moment.

Because the black poisonous fog was spreading rapidly in the lobby on the first floor and would soon reach his feet.

With no other option, Matthew could only climb the stairs back up to the second floor.

Just as he stepped onto the second floor.

The toxic fumes from the third floor also spread down the stairs.

Matthew didn't have time to think much and could only walk deeper into the corridor on the second floor.

Soon, he arrived once again in front of the hall where the eye meditation chart was hanging.

"Judging by the pace of these two plumes of poisonous fog, they're trying to drive me into this hall!"

Matthew knew exactly what was inside the hall, so he didn't want to go in.

But the poisonous fog didn't give him a chance.

At this moment, the toxic fumes from the third and first floors converged at the stairwell on the second floor.

It slowly spread towards Matthew's direction.

The corridor was gradually swallowed up by the black mist, which was about to reach his feet.

Matthew had no choice but to retreat into the lobby deep inside the second floor.

Judging from what happened after he came into this world.

Matthew was quite certain.

The monster skeletons, the sudden sandstorm, the army of stone golems, and the black poisonous fog before him were all what led him to this hall.

The purpose was simple: to seduce him into starting to meditate on that eye meditation picture!

"What would happen if I meditated on that meditation image?"

"Will these toxic fumes disappear?"

"So I can leave this world?"