Following Noe Jin Un's directions, the group descended through increasingly narrow and ancient corridors beneath Thunder Palace. The air grew colder and more oppressive with each level they descended, and the walls here were carved from solid stone inscribed with lightning patterns that seemed to pulse with residual energy from decades of accumulated power.
"There!" Blood Flower pointed ahead with scholarly excitement. "The Thunder Palace crest, exactly where he said it would be."
The crest was carved deep into what appeared to be a solid stone wall, but as they approached, they could see faint seams indicating a hidden door that had been masterfully concealed by whoever built this place.
"So, how exactly do we open it?" Blood Wolf asked, running his fingers along the seamless edge of the hidden entrance.
Jin Ho placed his hand on the crest and immediately felt the tingling of electricity beneath his palm, as if the stone itself were alive with power. "Noe Jin Un said it required lightning abilities combined with the right emotional resonance."
"The emotional part sounds complicated," Blood Protector muttered, shifting nervously. "I'm much better with straightforward combat than feelings."
『Just think about friendship and happy feelings,』 the Thunder Lightning King suggested with uncharacteristic helpfulness. 『Though I admit that's not really my area of expertise.』
『Nor mine,』 the Blood Heaven Great Emperor admitted with aristocratic awkwardness. 『We're more accustomed to dealing with anger, pride, and vengeance.』
Jin Ho closed his eyes and let his mind drift back to that precious day at the Gangcheon Blood Tomb—the moment when four strangers had become true friends, when he'd first felt like he belonged somewhere in the world. The warmth of that memory, enhanced by Noe Jin Un's spiritual gift, filled his chest with golden light.
As he channeled lightning energy through his palm while holding onto that feeling of pure friendship, the crest began to glow with increasing intensity. Suddenly, intricate mechanical clicks echoed through the corridor as ancient gears and mechanisms activated after decades of dormancy. The wall slid aside with surprising smoothness, revealing a trap-filled corridor beyond.
"Masterfully done!" Blood Flower said with genuine admiration. "That was one of the most sophisticated magical locks I've ever seen. The combination of technique and emotional resonance is extraordinary."
Beyond the hidden door lay a corridor lined with various defensive mechanisms that spoke to Jin Noeumu's paranoid nature. Pressure plates, lightning conductors, dart launchers, and alcoves containing dormant guardians created a gauntlet that would have stopped most intruders.
"Okay, this is where things get interesting," Blood Wolf said, cracking his knuckles with professional appreciation. "I can see pressure plates, lightning conductors, paralysis dart mechanisms, and what looks like... oh, that's particularly nasty. Acid sprayers."
"Don't forget the thunder golems," Blood Flower added, pointing to alcoves along the walls where massive stone figures stood in silent dormancy, waiting to be activated by intruders.
『Finally! Some real action!』 the Thunder Lightning King exclaimed with obvious glee. 『I was getting bored with all the talking and emotional stuff!』
"Everyone ready?" Jin Ho asked, drawing his sword and feeling the Blood Thunder energy begin to circulate through his body.
"Ready!" the Blood Flame team replied in practiced unison, their movements showing the coordination that came from years of working together.
They moved forward with careful precision, Blood Wolf taking point to identify and disarm traps while the others maintained defensive positions. The first challenge came quickly—a series of pressure plates that would trigger devastating lightning strikes if stepped on incorrectly.
"There's definitely a pattern here," Blood Flower observed, studying the plates with intense concentration. "The safe ones are arranged in the shape of a lightning bolt, but there are decoy patterns designed to fool the unwary."
They navigated the pressure plate maze successfully, stepping only on the correct sequence, but this very success triggered the next layer of defense. The thunder golems began to activate with grinding stone sounds that echoed ominously through the corridor.
"Three of them!" Blood Protector called out, dropping into a combat stance as his warrior instincts kicked in.
The golems were absolutely massive—easily twice as tall as a normal person and crackling with electrical energy that made the air around them shimmer. Their stone bodies were inscribed with the same lightning patterns as the corridor walls, but these patterns were glowing bright blue with active power.
"Formation Delta!" Blood Wolf commanded with military precision.
The Blood Flame team immediately spread out in a practiced pattern that Jin Ho found himself impressed by. This was clearly a group that had worked together for years, facing dangers that required perfect coordination to survive.
The first golem charged toward Jin Ho with surprising speed for something made of solid stone, its massive fists crackling with destructive energy. He met it head-on, his Blood Thunder technique blazing to life around his sword.
"Blood Thunder Flash!"
His crimson lightning struck the golem's chest with explosive force, causing it to stumble backward with a grinding roar of pain and surprise.
『Not bad,』 the Blood Heaven Great Emperor approved with aristocratic satisfaction. 『But try combining our powers more efficiently. You're still fighting our energies instead of weaving them together.』
『Yeah! Like this!』 the Thunder Lightning King guided Jin Ho's energy flow with enthusiastic instruction. 『Feel how the blood and lightning want to dance together, not clash!』
Jin Ho felt the difference immediately. Instead of the blood energy and lightning fighting each other for dominance, they began to weave together in complex, beautiful patterns that amplified both aspects. His next strike shattered the golem's left arm completely, sending chunks of stone flying across the corridor.
Meanwhile, Blood Protector was engaging the second golem with impressive martial arts techniques, using its massive size against it by staying close to its body and striking at the weak points in its joints with surgical precision.
Blood Wolf had taken a more creative approach with the third golem, using some kind of shadow technique to confuse its targeting systems while Blood Flower analyzed its magical structure from a safe distance.
"The control mechanisms are located in their heads!" Blood Flower shouted over the sounds of combat. "You need to destroy the lightning crystals embedded in their foreheads!"
"Got it!" Jin Ho leaped high into the air, his sword wreathed in perfectly balanced Blood Thunder energy. "Blood Thunder Annihilation Strike!"
The combined technique punched straight through his golem's forehead crystal with devastating precision, causing the massive construct to collapse into a pile of ordinary stone as its animating force was severed.
The other two golems fell quickly once the team knew their weakness, crumbling into harmless rubble within moments.
"Excellent teamwork," Blood Wolf said with satisfaction, wiping stone dust from his clothes. "Your technique integration is improving rapidly."
"And we're not even at the actual vault yet," Blood Flower added, consulting what appeared to be a magical compass that pointed toward areas of concentrated energy. "The real treasure room should be just ahead."
They proceeded through two more elaborate trap sequences—one involving ancient runes that had to be activated in precisely the correct order to avoid triggering a cave-in (Blood Flower's specialty), and another featuring spinning blade mechanisms that required split-second timing to navigate safely (Blood Wolf's area of expertise).
Finally, after what felt like hours of careful progress, they reached the vault door itself. It was absolutely massive, made of some kind of dark metal that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it, and covered in lightning patterns more complex and sophisticated than anything they had encountered before.
"This," Blood Flower breathed with academic awe, "is a genuine masterwork of magical engineering. The craftsmanship involved in creating something like this is extraordinary."
The door had no visible lock mechanism, but as Jin Ho approached, he felt it responding to the combination of his lightning abilities and the emotional resonance from Noe Jin Un's precious gift.
"Everyone stand back," Jin Ho warned, sensing the enormous power building behind the barrier. "I think this is going to be quite intense."
He placed both hands on the door and let the Blood Thunder energy flow freely while focusing on the pure friendship he had felt with Noe Jin Un—not just the good memories, but the complete trust and loyalty that had defined their relationship. The door began to pulse with increasingly bright light as ancient mechanisms recognized both his power and his emotional authenticity.
『Careful,』 the Blood Heaven Great Emperor cautioned with genuine concern. 『The amount of energy building up behind this door is immense. Whatever's in there has been sealed for a very long time.』
『But it feels... familiar somehow,』 the Thunder Lightning King added thoughtfully. 『Like something we've encountered before, but different.』
With a sound like thunder rolling through the mountains, the vault door swung open with ponderous majesty, revealing a chamber that took their collective breath away.
The room beyond was vast, filled with scrolls, books, artifacts, and magical implements that spoke of decades of accumulated secrets. In the center stood a pedestal holding what was unmistakably the complete, original Thunder Scripture. But what immediately caught their attention were the walls, which were covered floor to ceiling with correspondence—hundreds upon hundreds of letters, documents, and records.
"By all the heavens," Blood Flower whispered in academic ecstasy. "This is a conspiracy spanning multiple decades. The historical significance alone is staggering."
Jin Ho stepped into the vault, feeling the weight of history and buried secrets pressing down on him like a physical force. Whatever they found in this room would change everything they thought they knew about their situation.
"Let's see what Jin Noeumu was really hiding from the world," he said grimly, his voice echoing in the chamber filled with the evidence of betrayal and manipulation.
Behind them, the vault door remained open, but somehow Jin Ho got the distinct feeling that once they learned what was contained in this room, there would be no going back to the innocent assumptions they had carried before.