Reincarnated in a novel: I am the villain!

The descent into the Cathedral’s subterranean levels felt like walking into the throat of a sleeping giant.

The air grew progressively colder, but the ambient Holy Mana became so dense it was suffocating. Elena walked at the rear of their formation, her chest heaving slightly as sweat beaded on her forehead.

Maintaining the [Vacuum Shroud] to bend the light around them was becoming exponentially harder the deeper they went

. The holy energy naturally resisted her wind, treating it as a foreign impurity.

"We are at the bottom," Alaric rumbled softly, raising a hand to halt their advance.

Before them lay the entrance to the Deep Vault.

It wasn’t a standard wooden or iron door. It was a solid, ten-foot-tall slab of pure Adamantite, etched with glowing, interwoven geometric runes of absolute light. There was no keyhole. There was no handle.

"Biometric and mana-signature locks," Lukas whispered, stepping out of Elena’s fading shroud and walking up to the massive metal slab. He examined the glowing runes. "If we try to force it, or if we use the wrong mana frequency, this entire corridor will detonate with holy fire."

"Can you bypass it?" Alaric asked, his hand resting on the hilt of The Anvil strapped to his back

.

"I’m not a thief," Lukas smirked, rolling up the sleeves of his dark tunic. "I’m an engineer. And Hephaestus taught me how to break things gracefully."

Lukas raised his hands. Click. Hiss.