Blair waited for the new group of Skeletal Nagas to land on the floor they were standing on. The moment they did she threw out a Gravity Well to lock them in place. The moment the last one was caught in her trap, she charged an Arcane Battle Scream and released it on them. All the creatures turned their attention on her and thrashed about viciously trying to break free from the trap.

Mercer took this time to launch an attack with his arrows. Roman threw stones from his Earth Magic while Avery shot out a few fireballs. Ariyana replaced her shooting pod plants to help with the barrage. They wanted to whittle down the health of the monsters while they were trapped so it would make thing easier for them after they started chasing after them.

As the group attacked the skeletal monsters, Artem turned another wheel. Liam called out where the pipe it was connected to was located as Val cursed. They had found the first pipe they needed to connect and wouldn't move after it did connect with the main pipe system, however, after that the wheels they tried after that restarted the whole thing because it was the wrong one. After two more tries they were able to figure out the next pipe to keep the puzzle going. Before Artem could try the next one, Val shouted for him to stop.

Artem turned to look at her with a questioning look. He didn't need to wait long as Val explained, "The next pipe we need to connect was one we already came across. I think it was the third pipe on the bottom left side."

Artem turned to see which one she was talking about and went to turn it. After he finished he heard the familiar click and let out a sigh of relief. He heard Val let out a quiet yes as she turned to look at Liam.

"I know the next wheel we turn will probably reset it, but it's good that we try it this way to help keep the memory of what order we need to turn the wheels. Do you agree?"

Liam turned to look at her. While he did agree, he also thought it was taking up time doing that. By now the pit was reaching a quarter full of those Skeletal Nagas. He was glad it was filling slowly, but with how many trap wheels still left the speed of the bones filling the pit could change.

Liam closed his eyes as he realized his own thought betrayed him. He didn't need to look at Artem and Val to know they came across another trap wheel. All he had to do was watched as another section of a wall, this time on the opposite side of them, had opened and a pipe slid out pouring out more bones.

As he watched the bones start pouring in from this pipe he noticed something was off. After squinted his eyes and focusing on them he realized he wasn't seeing wrong. To his dismay, these bones were bigger. The size of the bones had thickened about an inch to two inches more and the length grew slight as well.

Loam cursed out loud bringing Val's attention to him. Before she could ask, Liam said, "The size of those skeletal creatures are bigger. You know what that means right?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Val whined. She didn't wait for the answer Liam wasn't going to give. Instead she said, "Okay, change of plans. We need to turn all the wheels and figure out the path as fast as we can."

"We might get more pipes pouring in more bones if we try to rush it. Can you fully memorize everything with that kind of pressure?" Liam questioned.

"Do I have a choice?" Val asked.

Liam gave her a wicked grin as an idea came to mind. "There's always a choice. However, I might have a way to help give us some breathing room."

Val raised a brow as she stared at Liam. Liam moved towards the ledge so he could look over the edge. The group of Skeletal Nagas that were trapped by Blair's Gravity Well had already moved on as they chased after her once the ability sizzled out.

As soon as he reached the ledge, he got a better look at how the pit was. If he was honest, he would say what he saw didn't faze him. However, seeing a giant pit with snake-like humanoid creatures slithering, tangling, and fighting to be on top like snakes during a mating season…it was at least a goosebumps to cold chill inducing kind of sight. That wasn't taking in the fact that they were all nothing but bones. If they were zombies instead of skeletons then it might have had added a different layer, but for now it was the right kind of horrific sight.

Liam turned to look at Val and Artem. With the best smile he could make, he popped open the potion pouch on his leg and said, "They are sitting ducks down there. Perfect targets for my chemicalized Creations to bombard without any resistance."

Val's and Artem's eyes grew as they realized what he was talking about. They then watched as he tossed several different vials into the pit as he yelled out, "Fire in the hole!"

Liam watched as the chaos ensued after the vial landed and crashed in different spots within the pit. With a smirk he saw the skeletal creatures being pulled towards a small black dot that formed after the vials shattered before explosion of different mixtures of magic engulfed the monsters trapped within.

Liam kept an eye on the health bars of each monster that was caught up in the mess he was creating and noticed that one round wasn't going to be enough. After the effects of his alchemic creations started to subdue, Liam threw in few more vial and watched the ones that didn't get caught the first time suffer while the ones that did died to the attacks.

Satisfied with the results, Liam wiped his hands in a dramatic fashion as if he was cleaning off some invisible dirt before nodding and turning around to see Val and Artem staring him. Artem was shaking his head while Val just stared at him with disbelief. She then asked the question that she had formed with a half smirk, "Was that really necessary?"

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Liam shrugged. "Not sure. But better safe than sorry."

Val shook her head as she turned away and said, "Alright. Now that we have some breathing room. Let's get back to work."

Artem moved to the next wheel and turned it. As Liam turned to try and spot the pipe he heard Artem curse out, "Damn it. Way to ruin the mood."

With an irritated sigh, Liam watched as another pipe appeared and started pouring in more bones. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the pipe and whispered, "You stupid son of a bitch."

As Mercer and the others finished off the second group of undead monsters they felt a wave of relief and went to drink a potion to replenish their resources. However, as they brought the potions to their lips they heard Liam shout something out. Before they could turn and look explosions rocked the room inside the pit and different colors brightened within it.

They all jumped at the sudden noises and vibrating ground underneath their feet. Feeling their hearts race they turned their focus on Liam who they saw new the ledge staring into it with a smirk. A few of them went to ask what he thought he was doing, but stopped as he pulled out a few more vials and tossed it in.

They noticed he was focused on the creatures within the pit and decided to see what was going on. To their surprise the number of skeletal creatures within had diminished. They all realized what he was aiming to do and felt some relief. Especially Blair and Roman who had heard Liam mention the size of the new bones that were pouring in. Clearing out some of the monsters would help when they were pressed for time trying to finish the Pipe Puzzle. Since they were stuck fighting the monsters that had appeared to stop them, their group didn't have a chance to work on lessening their numbers.

Mercer approved of Liam's idea. Now that they had cleared the monsters that had appeared on the floor they were on. They could now focus on the monsters in the pit and try to whittle them down to the best of their ability.

Mercer and the others heard Val's question and Liam's comment as they finished replenishing their resources. They all had gotten ready to start attacking the Naga's in the pit when they froze after hearing Artem curse. They looked over in their direction and saw Liam was staring at something. They followed the direction of his gaze, and all cursed internally. That curse turned into annoyance as they saw skeletal forms start to pour out of the open wall where the first two groups had appeared. Like the second wave this third one had more as well.

Remembering what he heard Liam muttered moments ago, Mercer agreed and repeated, "Son of bitch is right."

Artem turned the next wheel and waited to see if it was connected to a trap or a pipe. To his relief this one was connected to a pipe. They had almost gone through each of the wheels. He listened as Val and Liam communicated with each other as they processed and noted which wheel belonged to which pipe.

To their annoyance they had opened a few more pipes that poured in more bones. Each new pipe however had bigger and longer bones. They didn't like that since the pit was becoming more and more full. It had now reached the half way mark and it made him feel more anxious.

Artem couldn't put the blame on trying to kill the monsters in the pit on Liam because he had used a significant amount of his stock of Chemicalized Creations already to give them some time. He also couldn't say anything about Blair and the others since two more groups of Skeletal Nagas had appeared after each group they killed. The amount of monsters was starting to get unbearable for them to handle due to the numbers that were pouring out each time.

It started becoming so much of an issue that Ariyana had to have Tabby blast a few into the pit to make it easier for them to handle. Could they just have Tabby blast each one that appeared away and into the pit, yes. But that wouldn't help the issue of the pit getting fuller and fuller by the second. Their idea of cutting down the amount to what they could handle was a good one, but at the same time it also added more issues to their other problem.

Focusing on his own problem at hand, Artem counted the amount of wheels left. They had five left to figure out and out of the five there was still one more trap. Each turn of the wheel made Artem sweat. His hands grew clammy, and he needed to wipe them after each turn.

Connected to a pipe. Four left. Wiped his hands again, held his breath and turned the next one after the puzzle reset itself. Another pipe. Three left. Artem wiped his hands again and readied himself for the next one. Once more connected to a pipe. Down to the last two. If this next wheel was connected to a pipe then they didn't need to turn the last since it would be a trap. However, if this one was a trap…he didn't want to know what this one would have since the bones had grown pretty damn big after each trap.

"Alright, turn it Artem," Val said as she looked at Liam.

Feeling his heart pounding pretty hard, Artem clamped his hands down on the wheel and slowly started to turn it. This wheel felt heavier than all the others he had turned. It was taking more force and energy as he gripped as hard as he could while turning it slowly.

He waited for Liam to say something as he slowly cranked it. After what felt like forever, Artem started to panic. He believed that since Liam wasn't saying anything it wasn't connected to a pipe. He was about to release his grip on the wheel but stopped as Liam said, "It's connected to a pipe…"

Artem felt relief as his body started to relax. He started to turn it a bit more as he continued to listened to Val and Liam.

"However, I feel something is off," Liam finished saying. Hearing this Artem froze and waited.

"What do you mean off?" Val questioned.

"I'm not sure…I just feel like…," Liam started to say, but was cut off as Val stated, "If it's turning a pipe then its fine. Artem finish turning the pipe so we can connect the others together."

Artem hesitated for a long moment. He knew that if Liam had a gut feeling about something then it was worth listening to. However, he heard the others start to get overwhelmed as another group of monsters dropped down and started fighting them.

"Artem, hurry up and turn it! We need to finish this," Val ordered.

Artem decided that maybe Liam was just being too cautious due to everything going on around and did as he was told. He cranked the wheel hard and fast trying to finish the full turn so they could finish the puzzle.

As Liam watched the pipe turning he scanned the area even more thoroughly. He wasn't sure why he had this strange feeling. The more he stared at it the more he wanted Artem to stop. However, without any evidence he wouldn't be able to convince Val. After looking at the pipes around it he finally understood what was bugging him. That one pipe wouldn't connect to anything. It was a trap in disguise.

Liam turned and yelled out, "Artem stop!" However, as he finished the words Artem had cranked hard and finished the full rotation of the pipe. Instead of the pipe clicking into place like all the other trap did, it started spinning backwards. The force of the spin wasn't slow, but fast. It was spinning so fast it had started moving up, down, left, and right almost like it was losing its balance.

Artem turned to look at Val and Liam and saw they were staring at a pipe in the middle of the ceiling. This pipe was much bigger than the others and was moving just as fast as the wheel. The way it was spinning was weird as well because it looked like it was starting to get loose. His guess was correct as the pipe did something they all feared shortly after. It broke free and fell off the ceiling revealing a massive wave of bones pouring out faster than the other pipes.

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