The Heist of the Holy Hall

When I opened my eyes, I almost thought I'd died again.

But no, death doesn't usually come with ornate golden pillars and celestial ceilings. At least, I hope not. If it does, the afterlife has way too much interior design budget.

The sudden shift in light and atmosphere had me disoriented for a second.

The place around me was… ancient, but in a way that screamed reverence, not ruin.

The stone walls, though weathered with time, shimmered faintly under a gentle golden hue. It wasn't just candlelight. Embedded high above were floating artifacts, orb-like crystals of mana radiating soft, divine glow. The ceiling arched like the inside of a cathedral, with runes glowing faintly along the ribbed vaults.

Golden filigree ran through the grooves in the wall like veins of light, converging on murals so old that they made me feel like a toddler with crayons in comparison.

Even the pillars that stretched around us seemed carved with reverent precision, each one a story of gods and monsters locked in timeless battle.

This was no ordinary dungeon.

It was like stepping inside a relic of divinity.

I blinked down. Clara was in my arms, her breath ragged and uneven. Her eyes were shut, her brow furrowed in pain.

Inspect kicked in like a reflex.

Strings of translucent text blinked open all around me.

[Sanctum Architecture] — Estimated Age: 1402 years

[Divine Inscription: Ward of the First Tongue] — Preserves air purity, temperature, and decay delay by 94%

[Runic Conduction Pillar] — Handmade, Enchanted, Aether-Infused.

Huh.

Useful.

Everything here was ancient. Beyond ancient. And absurdly valuable.

I glanced around, hoping to spot Sylvia, or the Crescent Bloom quartet, but the grand hall was silent. No footsteps. No roars. No groans. Not even the buzzing of mana-beasts. Just the soft hum of energy from the relics around me.

We were alone.

I shifted her carefully and reached for the belt strapped around my waist. Pulled out two stamina potions, twisted the cap off one with my teeth, and propped Clara up into a vertical position against my chest.

"Easy," I murmured.

She winced as I moved her right arm. It was trembling oddly, and Inspect told me what I already guessed. No fractures, but strained badly. Probably from absorbing most of that ogre's little love tap.

I made her sip the potion slowly. Her throat moved as she swallowed, though she coughed a bit midway.

Once she'd had enough, I eased her back and gently laid her on the floor, well, more like a lush red carpet, embroidered with geometric gold threads that probably predated the kingdom.

Still semi-conscious.

Okay. No monsters now, but I had no clue if we were safe.

So, I sat beside her, took a deep breath, turned Perception to minimum spread, paired with Inspect. The trick was to keep my range loose, less mana consumed that way, and with potions on me, I could afford a little peek with inspect by pairing it with perception.

I shut my eyes.

And expanded.

Everything around me turned to dense mass but inspect detailed everything. So I didn't have to strain my brain to give shape to objects inside perception.

The space outside the sanctum unfolded in my mind like a series of tunnels layered on top of one another. Spirals, turns, chokepoints. This place wasn't just a castle.

It was a damn labyrinth.

A dungeon within a dungeon.

Before I could map more, a weak, cracking voice dragged me back.

"Young… master…"

I canceled the perception thread immediately and turned.

Clara was awake. Sort of.

Her fingers twitched as she tried to push herself up, her breaths still uneven but more rhythmic now. I stood up and knelt beside her, lowering my voice as I chose my words carefully.

"Yo. Morning… though technically it's dawn outside."

She blinked at me.

Didn't laugh. Damn. I was trying to lighten the mood.

Her gaze drifted upwards, finally registering the gold-lit space around us.

"Outside?" she murmured, confused. "Where are we?"

I looked around and shrugged like I wasn't still trying to figure that out myself.

"Looks like we've found ourselves inside the Sanctum."

Her eyes went wide. Bingo. That name hit hard.

"No way…" she whispered. "To enter a sanctum, a party member has to infuse mana into the glyph. None of us three touched it."

Oh. she knew? Good. Saved me some exposition.

I nodded. "Yeah, well… turns out there's a loophole. The glyph's condition to consider a group party is just one simple thing."

Clara focused.

"A party… must share a common kill."

"Me and Sylvia killed multiple Vaernox. The Crescent Bloom idiots, well, they killed some too when they entered the floor for loot. And the ogre… at the last second, it killed a Vaernox and qualified."

Her eyes flickered in recollection. "The one it threw at me…"

"Yep. Then it slapped its hand on the glyph and donated its precious mana. That linked the entire group, including it, into a qualified party."

Clara winced. "I… I should've watched out for the Vaernox blood."

I sighed and shook my head. "Nope. That one's on me. I told you to stop it from reaching the glyph, that made your movement predictable. Besides…"

I hesitated, then smiled slightly.

"You weren't part of the party."

She blinked. "What?"

"You didn't kill a Vaernox. Not one. The only reason you're here is because I was holding you when the teleportation circle activated under me. That proximity bound you to my transfer."

Her expression softened, confusion giving way to something almost… warm.

"Oh. Then I guess you did good young master."

She sat up straighter despite the pain. "You don't plan to clear this place alone, do you?"

I smirked. "You had to ask?"

Clara smiled faintly. Progress.

Then her tone grew serious again. "So help might take time…"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Orion has to realize we didn't come back by dawn. Then he'll probably contact the guild, check the rubbled floor, sense the mana imprint from the teleportation scroll, then figure out we're in a sanctum. After that, he'll have to hire an S-rank rescue team."

She nodded, resolute. "Then let's not worry, young master. We'll find Lady Sylvia and hide until Lord Orion arrives."

I got to my feet, stretched lazily, and offered her a hand.

Also, points to me for steering that entire talk without letting her blame herself.

Smooth.

"I tried using Perception…" I muttered, staring at the narrow archway carved at the far end of the chamber. "Only exit from this place leads to a maze-like labyrinth."

Clara placed a finger near her chin, eyes narrowing slightly. Then she closed her eyes.

Oh? She's using Perception too.

A few seconds passed. Then she opened her eyes and spoke in her usual calm voice.

"Since this is a sanctum built like a maze, there are likely multiple chambers like this one, all feeding into the labyrinth. But… there's only one exit that leads out of the sanctum."

Wait.

Did she just scan the whole layout of this place in seconds? I barely managed to scan the entry passage and some turns.

Did she run an update or something?

I stared into the distance. "Do you know which path in the maze leads to the exit?"

Clara shook her head lightly.

"I'm not sure yet. The chambers show up like a tangled mess… and there's movement in the maze. I can't differentiate clearly. Plus, the mana radiating from those artifacts is interfering with my perception."

If only she had Inspect… and could stack it with Perception. That combo would've made her overpowered.

"Let's move, young master," Clara said gently. "Let's head toward the nearest moving presence. If it turns out to be a monster, we can move past silently."

"You sure we're good to go already?" I glanced at her right arm. "You just slammed into a wall. Pretty hard, by the way."

She shook her head, her eyes as steady as ever.

"It's just my arm. I'll manage."

Yeah. It's your right arm. The one you use to throw daggers with.

And I've seen you flick three blades into a guy's throat like it was a minor Tuesday inconvenience.

I hesitated for a second longer, but.. She'd already be halfway through the maze if I turned my back.

"…Alright."I muttered, still grumbling inside, and started walking beside her toward the maze.

Clara stayed a step behind, her posture alert, focused.

As we crept through the maze, both Clara and I kept our perception skills active, on low, though. We weren't trying to win a scouting contest, just wanted to know if anything was lurking within arm's reach. You know, the "will this thing eat me if I blink" kind of range.

It worked well enough. Every time a monster was nearby, we'd stop, crouch, hold our breath like it was a school game, and once the ugly thing wandered off, we'd slip by like obedient shadows.

Surprisingly smooth teamwork. Helps when your partner has an assassin-grade stealth.

The best part? These monsters had the intelligence of a turnip. Maybe less. Using perception properly needs at least a working brain, and these guys were definitely on the "see-then-smash" setting. As long as they didn't physically see us, we were good.

But that wouldn't be the case with Sylvia and the Crescent bloom guys. If they were close, they'd sense us too.

After half an hour of careful tiptoeing and playing "Avoid the Roaming Meat Grinders," we reached a nearby chamber.

Clara stepped in, gave a slow glance around, and finally spoke.

"Let us rest for a while, young master. It must be past dawn outside."

I nodded, already eyeing the artifacts lining the walls. They glowed faintly, like forgotten toys from some divine junkyard. According to Inspect they were definitely not junk.

Each one had some strange property: mana amplification, directional glyphs, even one that had "explosive malfunction risk" written all over it. I made a mental note not to touch that one unless I got really bored.

Then Clara asked something that had been bothering me too.

"Lord Hugo… I still do not understand. How could a monster figure out such a loophole? To trap us like that?"

I leaned back and rubbed my chin. "Yeah, I wondered about that too. But the more I think about it… the more I think it's pattern recognition."

She tilted her head. "Pattern recognition?"

"Yes," I said, shifting into explanation mode. "I'm guessing that wasn't the first time that ogre pulled off a stunt like that. Think about it. At some point, the ogre must've found a teleportation scroll. You know.. the kind adventurers in lower floors use when they want to pop back from danger."

Clara nodded slowly.

"So imagine this," I continued, gesturing lazily with a finger. "It finds the scroll. Uses it near the sanctum's glyph, ends up inside the dungeon, maybe different floors each time.

"At first, it probably just went on a rampage. Killed some adventurers, ate their bones, did its ogre thing. But then came the tricky part. Returning."

I paused, giving her a meaningful look. "It couldn't just waltz back in. The sanctum has rules. You can't enter without permission."

Her eyes widened slightly. "So how did it return?"

"It must've panicked, wandered like a lost dog. But eventually, it must've noticed something. When it killed a monster from that floor, and then touched the glyph… it got back. Coincidence? Probably. But it remembered that pattern. Not the why, not the how. Just that it worked."

Clara's brows furrowed as the idea sank in.

I added, "So it kept doing it. Found a weak human, killed them, left one alive, killed a floor monster, touched the glyph, and got sent home. Over and over. Dumb brute, but a persistent one. It doesn't know the logic, but it recognized the sequence."

Clara finally nodded. "So… a basic pattern memory?"

"Exactly," I said. "Honestly, I respect the grind. Most humans can't even remember where they left their socks."

"You think in a very strange way, my lord," Clara said after a long pause, her tone polite but oddly impressed.

"Heh, you don't have to praise me like that… if that was a praise," I replied with an awkward chuckle, scratching my cheek.

"I might take that back," she muttered under her breath.

"Hmm? What was that?" I turned with a raised brow, pretending I didn't catch it.

Clara stayed silent, so I strolled casually toward a set of ancient artifacts displayed around the chamber like forgotten treasures in a tomb raider's dream.

My eyes settled on a pale blue orb embedded at the top end of a tall, cracked pillar. It pulsed faintly with mana. Yeah, that was the good stuff.

"Clara," I called.

She walked over without a word, probably curious about what caught my eye this time.

"Can you get that for me?" I pointed toward the orb.

Her eyes followed the direction, calculating the jump silently.

"That's a mana amplification artifact. Might come in handy."

Clara gave a small nod, bent her knees slightly, and just before she launched herself like a magic-powered gazelle—

"Ah.. don't step on that pillar," I said.

She froze.

"It has this lovely little feature called 'malfunction explosion.' Not the nice kind."

Her wide-eyed nod was… satisfying. "You knew the traps too?"

I gave her the most deadpan look I could muster. "In case you've forgotten, I do have an innate skill called Inspect."

"Oh. Right. I forgot…" she mumbled and re-angled herself before vaulting in a swift crisscross, light as a feather, to grab the orb.

Of course you forgot. Because you thought it was an E-rank skill and mentally filed it under 'useless junk.' Can't blame you, I'd have done the same. Not that I'm bitter.

She landed smoothly and handed it over, but I stepped back and gestured for her to keep it.

"It worked," I said, letting the words slip out with a grin I didn't bother hiding.

"What worked?" she asked, brows furrowing.

I pointed at a glyph etched high on the stone wall, ancient script now glowing faintly in response to our presence.

"That thing translates to: 'A party may take the sanctum's artifacts only after defeating the guardian.'"

Clara's eyes widened. "So… since I'm not in the party…"

"Exactly," I said with a nod. "You're not bound by the sanctum's challenge conditions. Last time I tried to touch an artifact in the previous chamber, it was like bumping into an invisible wall. No response, no damage, just complete rejection."

"I didn't feel anything like that," she said, slowly putting the pieces together.

"Right, because it doesn't restrict you. Which means—"

"We can take everything?" she asked.

I smirked. "No, you can take everything. I'll just be the helpful guy who knows where the traps are and which artifacts are worth your time."

Clara's lips curled into something I hadn't seen in these six months. A grin.

"Sure, young master," she said, already moving with a spark in her eyes.

And for the first time in my six months here, I saw her smile like a thief who had just found a treasury with no locks.

...Please don't smile like that again, I thought. That was terrifying.