Helos and her two companions followed closely behind Kelaode.
As they delved deeper, the surroundings grew increasingly eerie.
Low-level demonic beasts that had been everywhere on the forest’s outskirts seemed to have vanished completely here.
A deathly silence enveloped the area. Even the wind was absent, leaving only the faint sounds of their footsteps on the gravel floor.
“Something’s wrong,” Julius said in a low voice.
The Holy Sword in his hand remained sheathed, but every muscle in his body was taut. His pitch-black eyes vigilantly scanned the thick fog around them, trying to pick out any potential threat.
“It’s too quiet here. Even if the beasts were lured away by that guy Kelaode using some method, there’s no way we wouldn’t see a single insect. This kind of dead silence feels like… like walking into a giant tomb.”
“Indeed,” Helos nodded, her expression equally serious.
Through her mind’s eye, she observed the surroundings. In her vision, the world’s colors had been stripped away, replaced by countless flowing lines and points of light. The mana flow here appeared wild and chaotic, but beneath that chaos lay an alternative order.
All the mana currents converged toward the same direction, like rivers rushing toward the sea. It was as if an invisible hand was secretly manipulating everything, guiding all the mana toward some unknown core.
“The path ahead seems to have been cleared,” Gavi suddenly said, kneeling down and wiping her finger across a broken stone slab.
She looked at the dirt on her fingertip and reported in a flat tone, “Most of the defense mechanisms have been triggered. But strangely, there are no traces of battle.”
Helos frowned. “Could that guy Kelaode have other helpers?”
She didn’t think the red-haired young master she had stripped down had that kind of ability. If he were really that formidable, he wouldn’t have been bullied so badly by her earlier.
Just then, Kelaode, who was walking ahead, suddenly quickened his pace.
His figure flashed through the dense fog and quickly disappeared around a massive stone wall corner. The fog there seemed thicker than elsewhere, like a gaping mouth waiting for prey.
“Follow!”
Helos made the decision without hesitation and dashed out first. Julius and Gavi followed closely behind. The three immediately accelerated and pursued around that corner.
Turning around the thick stone wall, the view opened up before them.
This was a huge round hall. Twelve towering stone columns stood around, each carved with complex patterns. Although time had worn them down and blurred some details, the effort of the builders was still palpable.
These columns supported the already broken dome, letting rays of light through the cracks form patches on the hall’s floor.
The floor was engraved with a complex magic array. Though it was badly damaged, some parts even buried under rubble, the immense power within still pulsed slowly.
***
In the center of the hall was a platform that looked like an altar.
Kelaode stood there.
But he wasn’t pressing deeper or fighting some beast as Helos had imagined. Instead, he leaned against the altar with his arms crossed, smirking coldly at the three who had just rushed in.
The once-arrogant red-haired young man, now tattered and disheveled, had no trace of his earlier panic or fear in his bloodshot eyes. In their place was the cruel satisfaction of a hunter watching his prey finally fall into the trap.
He was like a waiting venomous snake, finally baring its fangs.
“So you were following me,” Kelaode said through gritted teeth, his voice echoing in the hall with a hair-raising resonance, as if some curse were swirling in the air.
Helos stopped.
She showed no surprise or panic. She simply raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement flickering in her violet eyes.
Looking at the clearly prepared red-haired young man, she clicked her tongue lightly, as if regretting not being able to watch the show longer, or mocking his poor acting.
“Yes, so what?” she admitted bluntly.
“You lured us here just to say that useless line? If you want us to return your stuff, I suggest you give up on that idea. Once something enters this duke’s daughter’s pocket, there’s no spitting it out.”
“Useless line?” Kelaode’s face twitched.
He looked at the girl who remained completely calm even now, who was still staring at him like he was an idiot, and his anger flared up instantly.
A feeling of being belittled surged in his heart, along with the humiliation of his dignity being trampled.
“Hah, let’s see how long you can keep up that tough talk,” he laughed sinisterly, the sound harsh in the empty hall.
“You think I don’t know what you’re up to? Using me as bait? Having me lead the way? Dream on! Even if I die, I won’t let you despicable bastards win!”
“Since you like following me so much, you can stay here!”
Before he finished speaking, his right hand, which had been behind his back, suddenly swung forward.
Swoosh!
A glass bottle filled with dark red liquid was hurled into a pitch-black hole beneath the altar behind him. That was his last bottle of inducing potion.
The bottle arced through the air, landing precisely into the bottomless black hole. Immediately, the crisp sound of breaking glass came from deep within, accompanied by a thick, sweet smell spreading rapidly.
Boom!
Without pausing, a red light flared in his hand. His lips moved rapidly, chanting a short, urgent incantation. A small but unstable fireball whistled out from his hand!
But his target wasn’t Helos and the others.
The fireball flew past Helos’s scalp, carrying a wave of scorching heat, and slammed hard into the wall beside them, which was already covered in cracks!
A violent explosion echoed through the entire hall.
Stones flew and dust rose. The wall collapsed under the blast, revealing a deeper, darker space beyond.
Helos stood still, not even flinching. She watched the fireball that missed by a mile, about to mock his poor aim.
Then her violet eyes narrowed slightly.
She could clearly see that with the explosion, the immense mana flow lurking underground had suddenly become wildly turbulent, like a powder keg set ablaze.
The ground began to tremble. A rumbling came from deep beneath, as if some massive creature was waking up and turning over.
A suffocating, terrifying pressure slowly rose from the wall hole where Kelaode had thrown the potion.
It was an ancient, wild aura, surging out with endless fury.
It was as if… something had been awakened.