Dropping down into the pit of snakes was not the problem. Kouen has faith in his translations, and unless "descend into the hall of serpents" was a metaphor or colloquialism he was unfamiliar with, this is the right path. Nor was the problem what happened right after, when the way behind them sealed and plunged them into darkness.
No the problem is this, now, when the far wall springs to life into a terrible flaming golem. Kouen watches two of his men melt to death, armor and flesh and all, under the golem's fiery grip.
This. This is a problem.
"Fall back," Kouen barks. "Fall back and regroup!"
Seishuu flicks his eyes to Kouen. "Plan?"
"Working on it." Kouen wracks his brain backwards to the inscription. The urge to screw his eyes shut tempts him, but Kouen resists. His men need him alert, watching; he can't let them down. The flaming golem lumbers slowly towards his huddled troops, but with the quick way it had dispatched the first too men, Kouen knew it's simply taking its time.
"Descend into the hall of serpents
And in that darkness
Topple the tower of flame
To open the way..."
After that, the inscription had crumbled away to fragments he couldn't make out without context. Standing here now though, it becomes clear that "tower of flame" should be taken figuratively. Kouen swallows thickly and glances back at Seishuu. "I'm coming up with one."
"Yeah?"
"Yes." Kouen digs his heels in. "We stand here-"
"Are you crazy!?" Seishuu interrupts. "That thing just melted two of our-"
"We stand here, and lure it close. At my signal you part the men and get them out of the way. That thing has to be knocked down, and we have to knock it into this wall behind us to reach the treasure room."
"And just how are you gonna knock that thing over? It's-"
Kouen grips the hilt of the sword Hakuyuu gave him. "With this." He glances back at the golem, then again to Seishuu. "It's almost close enough now. I'm counting on you."
Before Seishuu can protest again, Kouen charges, trampling the writhing bed of serpents beneath him. He doesn't have room for error, he cannot fail here. Failure here means death, not just for him, but for every man he has led here. He is a general of the Kou Empire, and he will not let it end here for them. The giant reaches, and Kouen drops into a slide. His left pauldron catches on a stone, and the strapping attaching it to his arm snaps. No time to trouble himself over it. He's behind the giant now, and the heat is so intense he feels as though he's melting. Kouen yanks Hakuyuu's sword from its sheath as he leaps back to his feet and drives the point home, right into the joint between its knees.
Something inside cracks beneath the hard steel. Magic may animate the golem, but a broken joint is a weakness in anything. Kouen yanks the sword free and barks, "Part! Fall to the sides!" and he too is running backwards, away from the fiery collision as the behemoth crashes forward and into the back wall of their snake-filled tomb.
Seishuu yells in victory, but Kouen simply stands, struck dumb that his plan worked. He looks down at the sword in his hand. A little hot, but not melted. Not damaged. Seishuu tackles him into a hug that knocks Kouen a few stumbling feet back. "You did it! You did kicked ass! And this is why we follow you!"
Kouen remembers his station and shoves Seishuu aside. "Lets waste no time. The djinn's treasure room should be this way."
Kouen strides forward, paying no mind to the way his legs shake now that the adrenaline is gone from them. He doesn't have time for that sort of nonsense. He picks a path for his men, through the flaming rubble and beyond the former wall, up a narrow flight of steps that lead to the grand, massive doors of the treasure room. At the head of them he pauses. Although fear and apprehension whirl in his gut, they are not why he turns from the doors.
"Men!" He shouts, and his next words have been carefully rehearsed since he was chosen for this important mission. "Behind these doors lies the treasure room of a great djinn! It is through great honor and strength that we have made it thus far, and I thank you all!" Kouen raises Hakuyuu's sword high. "Now... Let us step through this path so that I may claim the djinn's power and lead Kou's armies to further victory!" The assembled men roar with their fervent love of Kou and of Kouen, and Kouen allows himself a small smirk of success as he turns and opens the doors.
The treasure room is not so much a single room as a vast necropolis. Kouen could spend the whole of his life studying every inch, but now is not the time. He strides forward, under arches and past torches that still burn despite being uncountably old, and boldly lays his hands upon a vase marked with an eight-pointed star. Everything rumbles and from the vase emerges the djinn.
"I am Astaroth," booms the djinn from on high, his head wreathed in snakes and his great body draped in jewelry, "the Djinn of Terror and Meditation. Who will become king?"
Kouen grips Hakuyuu's sword tight. "I, General Ren Kouen of the Kou Empire!"