Mistake

At the same time that the party of four left the side-room with their new bauble, the auto-pilot of the Dungeon Core made a change. While it didn't micro-manage to the level of the fully sentient Dungeon Core itself, it was no slouch either. When it realized the object it assumed was an artifact and sent it to be loot was draining energy, albeit, at a slow rate, it was too late.

The Dungeon Core didn't use treasure rooms because dungeon monsters had a natural aversion to them, for some reason. The Dungeon Core liked to micro-manage; therefore, treasure rooms were not conducive or seen as necessary. Whatever being made the rules made it so treasure rooms and traps cannot exist without each other, something about risk and reward and fairness and all that.

Another thing was that once items were put into the chests, the dungeon could no longer manipulate them, making treasure rooms a kind of 'dark room' in the eyes of Dungeon Cores, which the Labyrinthian Dungeon Core did not like. It could not settle for anything less than full control, or at least as much as it could get with the rules set in place.

...

Valentina checked the pocket watch as they walked back, two minutes had passed, and they were making good time, but... she was still uneasy. Once they had left the treasure room, the distant roars of monsters ceased simultaneously. Christoph was also on edge; he felt things were too easy, especially for a third-floor path.

On the other hand, Ace and Toki were quite happy; if what they found was indeed the cause of the monsters going berserk, they nipped a problem in the bud before it spread to other floors guild would probably reward them greatly. Ace was already thinking of the fame he could get, and Toki was thinking of all the food and booze he could buy if the bauble turned out to be worth the big bucks, especially if the silver inside was Sacred Silver, it was improbable but one could dream, couldn't he? Sacred Silver coins were something rarely used; only the wealthiest of nobles and royalty traded in such things. They'd be set for life if that was the case.

But how sad, then, that Ace and Toki made one of the worst mistakes you could.

The party came to a crossroads; their path took them straight through, ignoring the hallways to the side. Toki's tower shield was at his side; his head tilted back, daydreaming of wealth and power. Likewise, Ace was thinking of fame and popularity, so only Valentina and Christoph, who were in the back, noticed when a tile that Toki stepped on sunk slightly.

At the same time, the sound of rapid chants filled the air, and before Toki could react, several spears of ice were thrown at him. The right side of his body was lucky; the ice spears impacted the shield but didn't pierce, only causing damage to the arm that wasn't properly braced. His left side was not so lucky.

Three large spears of ice dug into the gaps of the Bear-man's armour, followed by a shout of pain, but it didn't stop there. The pressure plate that Toki stepped on sprung a trap, the stone floor cracked, and metal teeth broke through to bite into his leg, a bear-trap, how ironic.

Christoph was the first to react, "Dammit, you idiots! Valentina, heal him, Ace, get that bear-trap off him!" He shouted out commands as he rounded the corner and fired off a shot at the ambushers, lizardmen who were clearly lucid.

Ace snapped out of his stupor and rushed to Toki's side; his hands moved with practiced precision as he jammed his dagger into the mechanism and rewound the springs. Toki let out a grunt of pain as the metal teeth retreated, covered in his blood. But he had no time to complain; he braced his shield as a second volley of ice spears was fired by the lizardmen in the right hallway. Even with ice spears piercing his body, his defence was still solid.

On the other side, Christoph managed to stop their chants with well-timed shots. There were only three lizardmen on each side, but they were no longer feral, and their attacks focused on Toki, who held the source of their ire.

With the bear-trap disarmed, Ace threw two daggers at the lizardmen on the right and rushed them while Valentina focused on removing the ice spears jutting out of Toki's side and mending his wounds. Her hands trembled when she realized how deep they went in, and the process of removing them took too long, leaving frostbite on his insides.

"We need to leave, Toki's in danger!" Valentina shouted, doing her best to temporarily treat the deep gouges and frostbite, along with the rent flesh where the bear-trap dug in. The potions and magic helped, but there was only so much it could do.

"I'll be fine, don't worry so much," Toki said through gritted teeth before coughing up a glob of blood.

Christoph and Ace returned from the side hallways, only looking a little worse for wear; by all means, the party was fairly competent. It was only their personalities that were problematic.

Christoph scowled at Ace and Toki but said nothing; there was no use blaming anyone right now, "Ace, take the lead and make sure there are no traps along our path, Valentina, please help Toki move," he retakes command, checking how many arrows he has left and getting the pocket watch from Valentina.

Valentina nods and helps support Toki from the side as they begin to move, Ace was able to detect and disarm traps fast enough, but Toki couldn't move too fast; some of the ligaments in his leg were severed.

More monsters appeared in the way, but with the combined efforts of Ace and Christoph expending arrows and throwing knives, they managed to scrape through, suffering only minor injuries each time.