Soren didn’t know when exactly the torches lining the walls became infrequent, but once he noticed, it became obvious that they would soon be submerged in darkness.
Of course, that would be the case if Cassia wasn’t walking with them.
In front of him and Candice, the short dragoness walked alone—illuminated by a small dragonflame she had manifested with magecraft.
As the dim light flickered across the walls, Soren glanced over at Candice and frowned. “Hey, she’s pissed off, isn’t she?” He whispered.
Glancing at him for one second, Candice sighed. “What do you think?”
“Well,” he shrugged, “I guessed as much, but I didn’t think it would bother her this much.”
“Well you should think more.” She retorted sharply.
“Okay, okay… I apologize…”
Candice shook her head. “To be honest, I can’t really blame you. Your circumstances aren’t exactly ‘normal.’ So it’s understandable that you’ll make desperate decisions.
“However, know that you are no longer alone.
“This guild—although you haven’t been in it for long—is still your home. At least, in this world. Try to cherish your life a bit more, will you?”
Hearing this, he glanced back at Cassia’s figure in the distance. Her tail flicked from left to right as she walked ahead of them.
Home, huh? He had heard these words from Myrin before. At the time, he simply discounted them as nothing more than empty words—something they tell to every person who joins.
After all, who in their right minds would ever trust a person as dubious as him?
And the same went for himself. He couldn’t find it in him to trust them in the slightest.
However…
“What the hell are you two idiots whispering about?” Cassia’s voice cut through their conversation.
She pointed to the entrance behind her, “We’re already here.”
As they walked toward the entrance, the corridor expanded into a colossal hall. If not for Cassia’s lighting, they would not have been able to see anything.
What reflected in his eyes was a monstrously large metal gate that stood proudly on the other side.
It was then that Soren realized where they were. This was the same entrance Sienna had led him to back when he needed to freeze his Epoch Star using an Accord.
The arched gate looked relatively the same compared to his last visit. Much of the rust seemed to have slightly gotten worse, and the dust didn’t really help build any confidence either.
At the bottom right of the grand chamber door, a small altar was mounted with a hand print etched in stone. The last time he had seen Sienna use it, the mechanism confused him greatly. At the time, Soren had no proper understanding of how Magecraft Formations worked.
Now however…
“Allow me,” he stepped up to the front—much to Cassia and Candice’s surprise—and walked toward the altar.
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The last time he was here, he never actually got the chance to actually analyze the formation within it. After all, this broken-off section of the dungeon once belonged to the Avalon Empire. He was curious about how their magecraft looked back then.
Seeing that most of the magecraft formation was embedded beneath the stone, he activated [Eyes of the Fairy] and thought deeply about what he wanted to see most. The golden butterflies flew out of his Soul Weapon and into his eyes.
All it took was a couple of seconds to analyze everything. The Records got to work chronicling what he had seen.
“What are you doing?” Cassia asked in annoyance. He glanced back at her momentarily and smiled.
“Just watch.”
Placing his palm into the imprint, Soren closed his eyes and expanded his Soul Realm to a small radius. But that was all he really needed to take over the formation. After a few more minutes of silence, a change began to occur. The once peaceful chamber hall began to shake violently as dust rained down from above on them all.
The gate… It was opening…
Candice frowned as the sound of stone grinding against stone filled her ears. “How… did you do that? Your imprint shouldn’t have been registered in the formation…”
Soren grinned while covering himself with his cone hat from the falling debris.
“Oh that? It was pretty easy. There was a loophole in one of the axioms. You see, this gate only grants access to the anima signatures it has registered. However, with [Eyes of the Fairy], I can easily read what those signatures look like and recreate them with my Mesmerism affinity.
“But to be fair, this method is kind of overkill... The magecraft formation that powers this mechanism is beyond ancient—even the slightest bit of brute forcing would do. I am certain that’s how the mistress operates it, at least.”
The gears finally stopped. Soren glanced over at the small gap that had formed. Even back when he first arrived here, the gate had never truly opened all the way. There seemed to be a mechanism that long eroded, causing it to never fully complete its designed task.
“Did that satisfy your curiosity?” Candice asked. He turned around to face her and smiled.
“Yes, indeed it did. I gained a few material runes that will be useful for me in the future.”
Cassia perked up. “Material runes?”
Soren nodded. “Yes, they’re compatible with my affinity.”
Her eyes brows knit sharply. “Strange… I feel like you’re hiding something again.”
“.....”
She sighed. “Fine. Keep your secrets.” She walked past him through the gate. Candice followed suit.
Soren stood silently for a few moments, watching them from a distance before finally following them.
The courtyard on the edge of the mountain looked the same as before. Illuminated by the brilliance of the Silver-Eyed Moon, every broken tile and overgrown weed was visible. Though, what attracted their eyes the most was the strange statue placed at the center of the terrace.
It was mounted above a once pristine marble fountain. Most of its luster had been lost to time, and yet its shape remained as beautiful as he had seen it last time. A robed woman’s figure holding a scale with both hands, like an arbiter of justice.
However, most of his attention was once again drawn to its head—or rather, the absence of it.
The last time he came here with Sienna, Soren wondered if it had been deliberately vandalized or not. The answer was now certainly the former…
After all, this dungeon was once a part of the Avalon Empire’s legacy. A legacy that stretched far into the annals of time—back to the very first Age of Fantasia itself. And the gods known to mortals today were not the same as the ones in that era.
“I wonder which god this statue symbolizes…” Soren asked out loud. “There’s only three options to guess from, right? The Heavenly Loop, The Tower of Runes, and The Serpent of Untruths… Though, I somewhat doubt it’s the last one…”
Candice shook her head. “We can never tell. After all, information about what each of the unorthodox gods represent has been lost to time… Same with their genders and stories…”
Soren scoffed. “Lost to time? I doubt it. It’s probably been hidden on purpose by the churches.” He pointed at the statue, “How else would you explain the missing head?”
Candice didn’t say anything so he simply shrugged. Walking toward the edge of the cliffside terrace, Soren leaned against the railings and watched the scenery below. The ruined buildings of a once thriving civilization came into view—all of it covered in a dense layer of nightly fog that glistened in the light of the moon.
After taking in the view for a few minutes, he sighed and turned back to his companions. “When will the mistress be arriving again?”
Candice lifted her glasses. “They should be here at any minute now… Ah, talk about timing.” She glanced up at the night sky and smiled.
Soren and Cassia followed her gaze. It took him a few seconds to understand what he was looking at.
Far into the distance, a lonely star was glowing. Its shine was rapidly growing in size, as if it was a shooting star.
It was only then that Cassia’s move improved again. “She’s here!” Her tail flicked around in excitement.
“No, something is wrong.” Soren frowned as he squinted his eyes. “There’s not just one star, but multiple… flashing lights?”
Hearing his words, they both focused a bit more. It took them a moment but they finally saw what Soren was seeing.
Up in the night sky, a strange light seemed to be hovering around the glowing star. It was moving rapidly, as lights flashed in its direction.
“Are they… Under attack?”