[Vol. 9] Chapter 118: The Key That Was Left Behind
“Then what about us? Now that we know all these things… can we really still leave here alive?”
“Hey, hey… you’re thinking too much. We’re not like those outsiders, right? We’re followers of the same faith. No matter how ruthless the people up there are, would they really harm their own people?”
“Heh… I hope I’m just overthinking it too. But this uneasy feeling in my heart… I just can’t shake it off.”
“Alright, alright… stop thinking too much. You were never this sentimental before. What’s going on with you lately? Come on, let’s go. The higher-ups are rushing us this time. I heard something happened down below, and they urgently need people to deal with it.”
With that, the two people in black robes hurried away, and soon their voices could no longer be heard.
“...”
After a moment, the priestess removed her [Chameleon Cloak] and revealed herself from the shadows. Her silver-blue eyes flickered as she stared in the direction they disappeared, lost in thought.
“Phew… finally, we can move again. Uh, but why’d you suddenly take that thing off? Didn’t you say we had to stay hidden to avoid alerting them?”
The black-haired girl turned to look at the blue dragon girl, who was rubbing her sore backside with a grimace, and shook her head.
“The infiltration part is basically done. What comes next doesn’t need to be hidden and honestly, it probably can’t be. Are you ready to move? We need to act fast and decisively. That’s the best way to minimize the impact outside.”
“Oh?!”
As soon as fighting was mentioned, Alexia instantly perked up. She cracked her fingers, the sound sharp and clear, her face full of excitement.
“Of course! Just give the word, I’ll strike wherever you point!”
“No need to get that excited. Why does it feel like all you dragons are born with violent instincts…”
The priestess shook her head helplessly, but didn’t waste time. She pointed toward the direction where the black-robed people had gone.
“You heard what they said. That ‘place below’ should be the main reason this whole military base was built. It’s also bound to be the most heavily guarded area. Things are uncertain, so adapt to the situation when it happens. I’ll handle the toughest enemies, you just take care of the rest.”
“Got it! No problem!”
After a brief discussion to confirm their roles, Violet and Alexia followed in the footsteps of the black-robed men.
They had already mapped out the general structure of the tunnels inside the mountain during their time in the [Still Flow of Time], but they hadn’t found any path leading much deeper. So, the “place below” mentioned earlier clearly wasn’t something that could be reached by normal means, it wasn’t just a simple underground passage.
Following the faint scent left behind, the two soon arrived at a dead end. Alexia sniffed the air and frowned, her gaze fixing on an ordinary-looking section of wall beside the path.
“That’s strange. The scent stops here. Did we go the wrong way?”
“......”
Violet didn’t answer. She stepped forward and gently knocked on the thick stone wall.
Tap, tap~
The dull echo didn’t sound like there was any hidden door.
Her eyes shifted slightly, then suddenly fell to the ground. To most people it would look like nothing, but under the [Yin-Yang Eyes], she could see a faint trace of gray ash scattered in an unnoticed corner.
It was the kind of mark only left behind by [Yan]’s lingering power.
Clearly, he had been here before. Which meant… this was the right place.
But there were no signs of any space-magic coordinates or magic circles nearby, nor did it look like there was any hidden passage. So how exactly did those black-robed people suddenly disappear here?
If it was their own people, maybe they were guided in by someone from the inside, but what about Yan?
If she could enter, then why couldn’t the priestess and Alexia?
Unless… Yan reached her goal through violence or threats. But if that were the case, this place wouldn’t be so calm right now. And those two black-robed people they just overheard also didn’t seem alarmed at all, so…
There was only one possible answer, Yan itself had the ability to travel through this space.
It was a special ability that only beings like it possessed.
And what was Yan’s unique trait?
For a brief moment, a spark of realization flashed through Violet’s mind. She thought of a possibility, but quickly realized a problem.
She didn’t have the ability to connect to that kind of space. Even using the simulated B[Blade of Hollow Mark], she couldn’t enter a place without a fixed coordinate.
Nitila once used the Book of Truth to do something similar. Perhaps she could try imitating it through the Simulated Kabbalah Tree of Life…?
Wait… hold on.
The priestess suddenly realized something. There was actually no need to make things that complicated. If it was the Book of Truth she needed, didn’t she already have one?
Ignoring the strange feeling of surprise that suddenly welled up in her heart, Violet quickly took out from her backpack the blank book she had obtained in the underground temple of Icefang Island, the one found inside the frozen coffin said to hold the remains of the Fire God.
Judging from the situation back then, this Book of Truth probably wasn’t something the Snow God Sinong had placed in the coffin when building the temple. It must have been left there later by someone else.
The priestess had never understood the connection between those events before. But now, she was starting to get an idea.
She just had to try…
So, under Alexia’s confused gaze, Violet pressed the blank book directly against the wall before them.
It was a simple and direct action, so fast that the blue dragon girl didn’t even have time to say a word.
But—
The moment the two made contact, that mysterious power, which Violet had never been able to activate before, a force belonging to the Law of Truth, though strangely distorted, suddenly burst forth!
“Wmm~!”
In an instant, the profound power of law surged like ocean waves! It spread and devoured everything around them that could be seen with the naked eye.
The once solid, unbreakable wall melted away like snow in sunlight and at the same time, something new was quickly forming in its place. Even the light itself seemed to dim during the transformation, and the world before their eyes began to shift, as if it were turning into another space, similar yet different.
When everything finally calmed down, the dead-end passage that had been right in front of them was now silently behind them. A brand new, unknown tunnel appeared in front of the priestess, as if the whole world had suddenly been flipped upside down.
Alexia’s eyes went wide. She sniffed the air in disbelief and only after confirming did she dare to speak.
“The— the smell! It’s back again! What in the world just happened?!”
“......”
Violet didn’t answer. She simply lowered her head to look at her palm again.
The blank book that had just opened the Inner World for them, was now gone, vanished like a bubble in the wind.
As if it had never existed at all.