The three of them stood at the edge of the lake again, and the lake was as quiet as ever, as if the battle in the square had never happened. However, everyone knew clearly in their hearts that a great danger lurked beneath the calm.
Ian quickly made a clear plan: ''Bauer, you and I will go into the water together again and pester that aquatic creature, and Ramon, you are responsible for getting the rune. Remember, be quick, we can't hold it off for long."
Ramon raised his head proudly, "Don't worry, there will be no problems this time." His words were filled with confidence.
Bauer and Ian looked at each other and both saw some helplessness in each other's eyes. No matter what, getting the rune was the most important thing.
The three of them jumped into the water at the same time, and the lake once again churned. The aquatic creature sensed their intrusion almost instantly and quickly scurried up from the bottom of the lake, its huge body bringing up the raging current towards Bauer and Ian.
Bauer deftly dodged the first attack and quickly adjusted his position as a way to attract the aquatic creatures' attention. Ian, on the other hand, quickly launched his attack with the power of thunder, and the blazing current quickly filled the water, spreading a piercing bolt of lightning.
The aquatic creature's body trembled violently as it was struck by the electricity, and its attacking movements were obviously slowed down a bit. However, its vitality and resistance to blows were far beyond imagination, and despite being paralyzed, it kept trying to launch attacks as if it had no sense of pain. Of course, this was also because Ian did not use his full strength, having just entered the ruins, when the situation was not clear, Ian did not want to expose his strength.
At the same time, Ramon quickly swam towards the stone platform, the rune was near his eyes, and a smile of delight appeared on his face. However, the moment his hand was about to touch the rune, a strong energy fluctuation suddenly erupted around the platform.
Ramon instantly stopped moving, and a huge and hideous sea serpent appeared in front of him, its sharp fangs and icy eyes causing him to be instantly terrified. The sea serpent charged directly at Ramon, "Ah!" Ramon let out a shriek, completely losing his earlier confidence, he turned around and fled back in a hurry.
Bauer's heart sank when he saw Ramon's reaction. However, Ian seized this rare opportunity and did not hesitate to increase the release of Thunder Power, the strength of the current instantly increasing.
The creatures in the water were completely paralyzed and briefly lost their ability to move. Ian quickly rushed towards the platform.
"Ian, be careful!" Bauer warned from the rear, and the moment Ian approached the rune, a strong energy fluctuation erupted before his eyes once again. A black shadow coalesced and took shape, manifesting a demon with a hideous face and terrifying image.
However, Ian's inner peace was immense, without the slightest fear, and he firmly reached out and grabbed the rune. The demon lunged at him with teeth and claws, but the moment his hand touched the rune, the demon instantly disappeared without a trace.
As early as when Ian rescued Bauer, he relied on his sense enhancement to detect the strange energy hidden behind the rune, only that he wasn't clear about the function of this energy, so he intentionally let Ramon try it first, and after Ramon approached the rune, he and Bauer didn't see anything, but Ramon fled in a hurry, letting Ian understand that the energy behind the rune was an illusion that could create fear in the heart of the person who approached it.
Ian successfully obtained the second rune of control and turned around to quickly return to the shore. Bauer followed closely behind, while Ramon stared at Ian with a grim face, clearly sensing that he had just been tricked.
"You already knew there was something wrong with the rune!" Ramon's tone was permeated with anger.
Ian calmly responded, "I just had my suspicions, after all, when I rescued Bauer earlier, I detected that the energy fluctuation behind the rune was very special, so it's just as well that I can borrow you to test it."
Ramon blushed in embarrassment and said angrily, "You actually used me as bait!"
"If you weren't so eager to prove yourself, things wouldn't be the way they are now." Bauer coldly interjected.
Raymond glared fiercely at the two men, but in the end, he forced himself to hold back his anger and didn't make another move. He knew deep down that at this moment, they had not yet left the ruins and were still unclear about what the test behind them would be, so if they fought internally now, it would not be beneficial to anyone.
The three of them regrouped after a short rest. Two runes were already in their hands, and they only needed to acquire one more to successfully pass this trial.
"What's the next step?" Bauer opened his mouth to inquire.
Ian said in a deep voice, "See what we can do, the test in the third area is likely to be even tougher, we need to be more cautious to do so."
Although Raymond was still upset, he also understood that the most important thing right now was to complete the mission, so he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.
The three of them once again set off on their journey, moving towards the deeper relics. The passageway ahead gradually narrowed, and an ancient and mysterious atmosphere filled the air.
At the end of the passage, a low rumbling sound was faintly heard, as if some sort of huge and dangerous creature was waiting for them. The three of them pushed open the door in front of them and entered an empty room, in the center of the room, a huge robot sat there, unlike the robots full of technology in Ian's impression, the robot in front of them was filled with an ancient and simple aura, with many huge gears exposed, more like a product of the steam era, and there were many runes on the robot's body, emitting a palpitating energy.
Ian's heart sank when he saw the robot, "It's at least Astral class!"
At this time, the robot slowly got up, and a low voice rang out, "Defeat me, and you can pass."