Although a blinding mix of anger and exhilaration had overtaken Sin's senses for a few seconds, he took a deep breath and calmed himself. He shook his body, which helped him get some clarity.
With a very serious expression on his face, Sin tracked down each path on the map before him that would lead to the center room down where Kael and everyone else would eventually end up.
After looking through all the various paths, he realized that the only path for him was the one that he had already trapped himself into.
This grave part of the dungeon... was almost completely sealed off from the rest. It was like an unskippable cutscene... he had to go through each and every room in the center dome where the king's guard was in order and complete it.
After that, Sin saw that he would end up directly in the ending room. This was good, but it still could take too long. Agneil could die, and everyone in Ace could leave him all alone to die in the dungeon--all blame shifted to him.
That was their plan, and Sin needed to make sure that was not going to happen.
So, with the decision of what path to take next made, Sin didn't waste any time and began light-sprinting out of the room and through the hallway.
Sin's cardio was quite good, so he was going to run everywhere instead of walking.
As soon as he got to the gravesite doors, he opened each one and jumped inside. Without any hesitation or respect, Sin began to search for the second metal piece of the puzzle.
Right now, his life was on the line. Respect for the dead wasn't something he could afford to dish out.
And he knew that the other piece of the metal key that he needed was somewhere inside of the hallway, so he was going to forcefully check until he found it.
Eventually, his plan worked out. He found a room that was slightly different from the rest.
It had a larger coffin in the center, one that resembled the king's guard's coffin. Inside, the metal key piece was just laying on the bottom of the coffin.
There was also an outline of a large body--but it seemed to have escaped.
Sin touched the outline on the wooden casket, noticing that it was still slightly wet from humidity and sweat.
'A day... not even. It must have been here only about 3 hours ago.' Sin could detect stuff like this, having lived in nature for a very long time.
'Interesting. It must be still in the dungeon somewhere.' Sin turned, walking out of the room.
This new detail was intriguing, but it wasn't enough to deter his mind from the job at hand.
After sprinting for a little while longer, he eventually made it back to the center room.
He walked to the second door. Lifting the two metal pieces he had in both hands, he put them together like puzzle pieces.
As soon as they came 1 inch away from each other, a magnetic force pulled them together. A slight purple energy escaped from the now shut seal of the metal pieces before dispersing into the air.
With his new half-circle attained, Sin used it as a key to enter the next room.
When he stepped inside, he was met by a large canopy of trees. Tall grass reaching up to one's knees covered the entire ground.
This new chamber was about a thousand feet in square size. It was also a quarter of the distance in height.
Multiple trees towering over 50-100 feet in height were scattered everywhere, making the room look like a jungle in the midst of the night.
Despite that, the beautiful blue, purple, and orange amber crystals spread throughout the walls illuminated the cove and gave a cozy vibe.
Many of the trees were still growing fruits. Red mangos, bright yellow apples, green oranges with yellow spots, blue pears, and dozens of other types of fruits were growing on the ground along with on the trees.
This place was like a thriving garden, filled with plants and vegetables no matter where you looked.
Sin took a few steps inward, raising a brow with confusion. As he got near the center of the chamber, he heard a sudden rustle in the grass.
He turned, on guard. With keen eyes, he scanned the area around him.
Just then, a giant frog leapt up from the ground and right at Sin's face. It was no smaller than a watermelon, reaching over 3 feet with its legs fully extended.
Sin immediately felt chills run up his spine, quickly jumping backwards and avoiding the dark-green frog.
"Disgusting..." Sin said, shaking his head. Frogs were one of the things he was genuinely kind of afraid of. They weren't scary or anything, but the big ones especially creeped him out.
Just then, however, a small monkey no larger than the frog swung down from a vine--grabbing a hand full of Sin's hair.
"Ack!" Sin exclaimed in pain, quickly brushing his head to get free from the monkey's grip.
"Stupid monkey!" Sin yelled at the white monkey as it swung onto a tree before disappearing into the branches.
Sin turned again, feeling as though he was hearing rustles everywhere now.
In fact, the grass around him was moving constantly. And now that he thought about it, he could even hear birds whistling in the distance.
"This place... is teeming with life. I guess they wanted to preserve and show what their ogre society used to consume and run on." Sin was able to piece this together fairly easily.
From the war map, he knew that these weren't any average ogres. They were far more intelligent than other ogres, forming full battle strategies.
Here, their motive was quite clear.
"Now... where the hell is that damn monke--" Sin cut himself off, hearing a sudden rustle from above him.
'Rustling from above?' He mused, his eyes darted toward the top left corner of his peripheral, 'The only sound that comes from up are the birds chirping. Anything else must be that monkey!'
He quickly turned toward the noise, attempting to grab whatever was coming toward him with both hands.
*SPLOTCH*
Sin grabbed a pile of shit, exploding it and sending the mess all over his mouth, face, and body.
Then, the monkey finally swung down from the opposite direction--grabbing the metal half-circle key straight from out of Sin's pocket.
"Wha-you fucking--gah!" Sin exclaimed, wiping the shit off of him, 'I'll fucking kill that monkey.' He began to run towards the monkey as it swung further into the trees.