Only when the warmth in his palm persisted did Aphrodite finally realize that he had, once again, unwittingly done something rather serious.
At first, he had simply intended to pull Alice’s hand gently, but unexpectedly, once she grasped his hand, she refused to let go.
The delicate sensation kept coming—her slightly sweaty warmth, even the subtle protrusion of her knuckles from gripping tightly…
Aphrodite almost instinctively wanted to pull his hand back!
However, the moment his fingertips moved, Alice’s fingers immediately tightened their grip, carrying an air of entitled stubbornness, as if afraid he might run off.
“Hey! What are you doing!” Alice instantly noticed his attempt to withdraw, glaring at him with dissatisfaction, her grip growing even tighter, her tone brimming with self-righteous defiance.
“Don’t think you can shake me off! Aunt said I have to protect you! And…” Her voice paused briefly as if searching for a better excuse, she glanced around the surroundings and involuntarily lowered her voice.
“Besides, this damn place is pitch black. Who knows if you might step wrong? Holding on is safer! Your… your eyesight isn’t good, right? I’m holding you so you don’t fall!”
“…” Aphrodite was speechless, choked by her words.
He felt utterly uncomfortable all over.
“But…”
“Cut the crap!” Alice refused to give him a chance to argue and even tugged his hand closer, narrowing the physical distance between them.
“I haven’t rejected you, so why are you the one being picky? Hurry up! Don’t dawdle! Let’s get this done quickly; Aunt is still waiting outside!”
Aphrodite lowered his “gaze”—thanks to his improving vision, he could now roughly make out Alice’s silhouette and expression.
The girl stubbornly pursed her lips, her small face tight with effort, maintaining a tsundere expression that said, “I’m only worried you’ll get lost or hold us back.”
…She was just scared.
Aphrodite told himself this.
When girls are scared, holding hands to seek comfort is perfectly normal, isn’t it?
She was only holding the hand of “Aphrodite”—a female companion’s hand.
There was nothing wrong with that.
To divert his attention, Aphrodite shifted his focus to the deep cave environment around them.
Upon looking, he indeed discovered something.
“Wait…”
“What now?” Alice immediately responded warily, clutching his hand even tighter.
“Trying to find another excuse to stall? I warn you, if you dawdle again, I’ll…” She seemed stuck trying to think of a proper threat, hesitating, “I’ll… I’ll tell Aunt you’re slacking off!”
“It’s not stalling…” Aphrodite ignored the force on his hand and concentrated, “Don’t you feel… the lighting here seems a little brighter? And the chill in the air feels less intense?”
“Huh?” Alice, hearing this, subconsciously looked around.
Her amber eyes tried their best to widen in the dimness.
“Brighter? Where? It’s still so dark here! The chill’s less? I feel colder!” She said as she edged even closer to Aphrodite, standing practically against him, her arm touching his.
“Are you losing your mind?”
“It’s not a visual brightness…”
“It’s… a sensation. It’s like there’s… light power in the air? Weak, but pure. Like… the power of Holy Radiance?”
“Holy Radiance?” Alice froze for a moment, then scoffed.
“You must be hallucinating. This cursed place is full of corruption. How could there be any? Besides, even if there was, such a faint glow—what good could it do?” Though her words were sharp, her body involuntarily shrank closer to Aphrodite again.
“Hey, are you really seeing things now?”
Aphrodite said nothing further and instead focused deeply on sensing.
Sure enough! A trace of Holy Radiance clung to the crevices of the cave walls and the damp moss.
Though faint, the energy was abundant, scattered like tiny stars, forming a peculiar energy field.
So that was it!
He instantly understood where the warm surge that had aided him in healing Alice came from!
It wasn’t a sudden burst of his own potential, but the deep cave housed a large residual amount of pure Holy Radiance!
When he had used all his power to dispel the corruption from Alice, he had unintentionally triggered these dormant forces, which then poured in like a release valve, amplifying the healing effect!
Besides, this Holy Radiance gave him a familiar feeling, but unlike the corruption outside, this power felt… how to put it…
As he pondered, Aphrodite’s gaze suddenly sharpened.
He pulled Alice toward the tunnel entrance and crouched slightly.
“Look here.”
“Look where?” Alice, puzzled, leaned closer, bending over so her head brushed past Aphrodite’s shoulder, her cheek inadvertently pressed against his face.
“It’s pitch black; what could we see?”
“There are scratch marks on the rock walls,” Aphrodite tilted his head slightly, trying to create some distance between their faces, then pointed at the faint lines.
“Looks like something scraped against it. And here, footprints in the soil… not ours. Also this…” He crouched down, picking up a small cluster of dry fragments. “Looks like from clothing.”
Alice followed the direction of his finger and description, trying hard to discern in the dim light.
Though blurry, the traces were definitely there.
“Huh? Really!” Alice’s eyes widened in surprise. “Someone’s been here? Who? What were they doing? Or… were they as unlucky as us and fell down here?”
Alice immediately became a question machine, firing off a barrage of inquiries.
“Don’t know.” Aphrodite shook his head. “But this place holds such pure Holy Radiance and signs of human activity… and judging by the direction of the marks, they lead deeper into this tunnel… It’s definitely not simple. Maybe the abnormal beast tide is connected to this.”
While Aphrodite mulled over the possible link, Alice’s voice rang out again.
She was now standing upright and shook their still interlocked hands firmly.
“Hey! Stop thinking!”
“If there’s something, we just go check it out. This damn place is freezing! And… that disgusting thing up there is still around!”
As if to confirm her words, a furious roar echoed faintly from the cave’s ceiling, followed by sticky sounds of tentacles slapping the rock walls, and a few small stones trickled down.
“Alright.” Aphrodite’s voice calmed.
“We’ll head down this tunnel,” he pointed toward the one with the scratch marks and the relatively brighter Holy Radiance.
“There are traces here and light—maybe… we can find a way out, or even a way to deal with this beast tide.” He paused briefly, then added, “Better than staying here waiting to be discovered by that thing above.”
“You go in front! …I mean, I’ll watch your back! And you better lead properly! If you dare lead me into a ditch, I won’t forgive you!”
“…” Aphrodite was speechless. This was already the umpteenth time he felt utterly helpless with Alice.