Next page password is bold portion: nOqI9=ONa6a
Translator: SumTLMan
As Sineva immersed herself in her meditation, the others were left in silence, each consumed by their own patience.
None dared to break the quietude. Except for the faint crackling of the fire in the hearth, a shroud of silence cloaked the subterranean cavern.
Angel’s gaze swept over the occupants of the cave, each expression etched with solemnity, even those formal wizards. Perhaps, in the Southern Region, these formidable wizards occupied the pinnacle of the societal pyramid. However, once they descended into the Abyss, they were merely mid to lower level entities, with creatures in the Abyss far outmatching them at every turn.
It was at this moment that Angel truly felt the chilling terror of the Abyss.
The silence stretched on, maintained out of respect not to disturb Sineva’s meditation. But then, amidst the group of apprentices, a sudden scream shattered the tranquillity.
“Ah! Enough! Be gone, be gone!”
A rather frail-looking young apprentice, adorned in a worn, purple wizard’s robe, contorted his face in agony, hands clamped over his ears, his voice oscillating between desperate pleas and panicked cries.
His piercing scream drew the attention of everyone present.
Maher, seething with anger, marched forward, grasped the young man’s collar, and hoisted him into the air. His intimidating glare bore into the young man, “Silence!”
The apprentice, initially caught in the throes of his fit, slowly regained his senses as Maher choked his breath by lifting him off the ground. Gazing at the scene unfolding before him, the boy froze in fear, and as Maher’s oppressive aura targeted him, his body began to shiver uncontrollably.
“Maher, let him go,” a cool voice emanated from behind.
Turning around, Maher noticed that Sineva had risen and stood behind him at some point.
“Lady Sineva, did his outburst interrupt your meditation?” Maher unceremoniously dropped the apprentice, his tone laced with concern.
“Nothing to worry about, I was almost fully recuperated by the time he called for me. Let’s tidy up a bit and get ready to hit the road.” After saying these words, Sineva’s gaze unintentionally swept over the apprentice discarded on the ground by Maher.
The apprentice was still trembling, the shock yet to wear off. However, his hands were still clutching his ears, his mouth incessantly mumbling, “No more… No more…”
Sineva arched an eyebrow, seeming to have a suspicion, and asked, “What happened to you?”
The young apprentice quivered, unable to utter a single word.
Maher, furrowing his brow, turned to the other apprentices surrounding him, “Does anyone know what happened to him?”
The apprentices glanced at each other, taking a moment before a middle-aged man wearing a robe identical to the young apprentice’s slowly raised his hand, “Lord, it seems like Gusia might have suffered a nervous breakdown from the pressure.”
“Nervous breakdown? What do you mean?” Sineva turned to the man.
Facing Sineva’s query, the middle-aged man stutteringly recounted the events he had witnessed.
This apprentice named Gusia hailed from Night Whisper Forest. He ended up in the Abyss due to someone else’s schemes, forcibly included in a frontline mission. He was always of a timid disposition, bearing every tribulation silently in his heart. Arriving in the Abyss, experiencing relentless battle after battle, might have resulted in an overload of pressure, leading him to develop hallucinations.
“He had previously asked me if I could hear voices. I hadn’t heard anything at that time, so I asked him what had happened. He didn’t speak up initially, but after a while, he started stuttering about someone continuously whispering in his ear, calling him to a certain place… Eventually, he claimed he had seen the person who was summoning him, waiting for him at that very location.”
Upon hearing this, Sineva’s eyes flickered with a hint of contemplation, exchanging a glance with Maher.
“I understand.” Sineva nodded, turning towards the middle-aged man, “You… keep a close eye on him, and try not to let him out of your sight.”
Sineva’s words were spoken in a light tone. The middle-aged man didn’t grasp any hidden implications, assuming that Sineva was merely concerned that Gusia might start yelling again and disturb others. Therefore, he nodded, “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
Sineva didn’t utter a word, instead releasing a barely discernible sigh. She then turned towards the others, stating, “We’re not far from the Gray Layer Zone. We will do our best to reach our destination within the next ten hours.”
After Sineva finished speaking, the group instantly set into motion, one by one departing the cave through the tunnel with the Frost Moon Guard.
Angel was among the last to leave, his gaze persistently drawn towards the enigmatic figure of Gusia.
The majority of the crowd presumed Gusia was talking nonsense, and Angel, too, initially considered that excessive pressure had induced some form of backlash in Gusia.
However, at this moment, Madeline commented, “Something was off about the look in Sineva’s and Maher’s eyes just now. There might be more to Gusia’s story than meets the eye.”
Not just Madeline, Angel also noticed a handful of official wizards scrutinizing Gusia with inquisitive stares, evidently picking up on something unusual.
For this reason, following Madeline’s gaze, Angel also found himself curiously inspecting Gusia.
Gusia appeared relatively composed, revealing nothing out of the ordinary. Together with the other apprentices, he extinguished the campfire and proceeded towards the tunnel, a middle-aged man incessantly conversing with him by his side.
However, this tranquility didn’t last long.
As they exited, Angel’s gaze remained fixated on Gusia. Yet in the blink of an eye, Gusia had vanished.
Angel’s pupils constricted as he looked closer; there was indeed no sign of Gusia. The middle-aged man at his side, oblivious to the anomaly, continued to talk.
Angel turned to glance at Madeline, then at the other wizards, noticing a trace of astonishment on their faces. Evidently, Gusia’s sudden disappearance caught even them by surprise.
“Indeed, I was wondering why Sineva added that last bit about his companion keeping a close eye on him. It seems she knew this would happen,” Madeline mused after a moment of contemplation. “Perhaps, this is the inherent danger lurking within the Cold Ancient Ruins?”
From Madeline’s comment, Angel gathered that she had also been observing Gusia, whose disappearance was utterly unheralded. There were no spatial fluctuations, nor energy ripples, he had simply vanished without a trace.
Even in the void left by Gusia’s vanishing, Madeline meticulously searched, yet no peculiarities were unearthed.
The moment everyone emerged from the gloomy corridor, a middle-aged man cried out in shock, “Ma…master, Gusia has disappeared!”
Sineva’s only response was a nod devoid of emotion; no words accompanied.
“I… should I go back and search?” stuttered the middle-aged man.
“There’s no need, he cannot be found,” a glint of chill flashed in Sineva’s eyes as he shook his head.
Incessantly probing about Gusia’s whereabouts, Sineva’s replies were nothing more than ambiguous, “Perhaps, as he claimed, he was summoned away by someone.”
Listening to Sineva’s words, a shiver raced down everyone’s spines. A man vanished from their midst, the cause of which unknown; how could this not incite terror?
“Could this truly be the peril of the Cold Ancient Ruins?” Angel voiced out uncertainly.
“There’s more to it than that,” a smooth male voice came from one side.
As Angel turned around, he found Bruen standing beside him, a smug smile etched on his face.
“You mean, the Cold Ancient Ruins harbour other horrifying perils?” Madeline turned her gaze to Bruen.
Bruen affirmed with a nod.
Madeline: “And this peril, what is it?”
However, Bruen was playing coy at this moment, “I can share this secret with you all, but… you won’t mind me tagging along, right?”
……
Half a moment later, Bruen, round as a globe, had joined them on Angel’s Gondola.
Angel’s wariness towards Bruen remained undiminished, initially intent on keeping a respectable distance. But Madeline quietly reassured, “Don’t worry, as long as I am here, Bruen wouldn’t dare lay a finger on you.”
Given Madeline’s assurance, Angel naturally couldn’t refuse.
Once on board the Gondola, Bruen immediately began to probe and investigate every nook and cranny, mumbling incessantly, appearing determined to unravel its secrets.
“This Starfall Iron and Mist Silk has quite an interesting charm… Ah, this is the special effect of Tide Shell, what good luck… to use a Leap Core here…”
Back in the Crag Forest, Bruen’s eyes had lit up at the sight of the Gondola. He wished nothing more than to leap on board and inspect it then and there. However, his past actions, coupled with Madeline’s presence, had prevented him from getting the opportunity.
Having finally found an opportunity, how could one not delve into the study meticulously?
Still, enchantment alchemy ultimately diverges from Bruen’s path, and his attempt to craft an identical Gondola would merely result in a vague likeness. In the end, he could only shake his head in regret.
“Have we not perused everything? Shouldn’t we now tackle the main issue?” The one speaking was Madeline. Currently, Madeline and Angel are sitting on the same side, with Bruen facing them.
The main reason being Bruen’s sizable stature, occupying the space of two.
Bruen: “You wish to inquire about the crisis of the Cold Ancient Ruins? In truth, the sudden disappearance of the young apprentice called Gusia is an instance of the crisis.”
There was a hint of apprehension in Bruen’s eyes: “As far back as a hundred years ago, when the Frost Moon Alliance planned to construct a fortress here, anomalies were detected. Individuals vanished without a trace, and moreover, the circumstances were similar to what Gusia described—feeling as if someone was calling out to him.”
“Because the number of missing people wasn’t significant, it initially didn’t raise an alarm. Until… the Sin City Wanderer vanished here as well…”
Shock flickered in Madeline’s eyes: “Sin City Wanderer? You mean Puccio?!”
Bruen nodded, a flicker of reminiscence in his eyes: “Yes, Puccio also vanished here.”
“This genius true knowledge wizard from a hundred years ago also disappeared here,” Madeline murmured under her breath, “No wonder, for nearly a hundred years, Puccio hadn’t shown his face…”
“Puccio’s disappearance made the Alliance take note of this place. Then, after sifting through past records, they discovered that over the course of a millennium, the number of people that vanished here, according to records, has reached several thousands. Among them, it is suspected that two formal wizards disappeared here! From then on, the calls for building a fortress in the Cold Ancient Ruins began to slowly fade.”
“An unexplained loss of a true knowledge wizard is a serious matter in the Alliance. Some people specifically came to investigate but found nothing. Later, even Lord Mengke himself visited this place to investigate…”