Ace’s eyes narrowed when he heard the chain figure’s broken words, as he couldn’t make anything out of them, and Zaria wasn’t in a condition to pay the latter any heed.
"My spell won’t hold much longer, and once the spell is gone, Khazar or anyone who had the Master Key of this prison will be alerted. Not to ntion, the forbidden spell will cause powerful undulation.
"Although those undulations shouldn’t be a problem, we are in the Abyss and those undulations will be filled with Spirit Qi...so we should leave while we have the chance." Zaria coldly communicated with spirit transmission with a hint of disappointnt, "This was nothing but a waste of ti."
Ace didn’t retort anymore, as he shared a similar sentint to Zaria when he glanced at the chained figure and the dark prison chamber with unease. This was supposed to be a treasury, yet it had ended up being a dungeon.
He was just about to agree on leaving with Zaria when suddenly the chained figure twitched violently as if it had already guessed their intention.
This ti it spoke again, and its words beca more stable and comprehensive, "Kha...zar...I...a...m...Khazar!"
"Khazar?" Ace was startled as he stopped and looked at the chained figure, a hint of doubt crossing his face, and asked, "Did you just say ’I am Khazar’?"
"What are you talking about? He’s Khazar? Then who is that guy outside?" Zaria retorted as she felt Ace’s notion ridiculous.
Furthermore, she was also feeling frustrated about not getting her big score, so she was now angry at Ace for his ridiculous conspiracy theories.
But that figure’s reaction to Ace’s words again startled both as the forr started to tremble like a grass blade in a violet storm.
"Y...es...yes!"
Just as that word sounded, the chains wrapped around him started to flicker as a powerful suppression power gushed out, seemingly directly challenging the figure.
Black blood suddenly gushed out from his opened eyes before it was shut tight, and all the signs of his monts were gone entirely.
Ace stood in silence for a long while after the figure’s last convulsion. The sound of dripping blood echoed faintly, rhythmic and hollow, and each drop falling like a heartbeat into the darkness.
’I am Khazar...’ Those broken, trembling words replayed in his mind like a curse.
His brows furrowed deeply as his thoughts began to spin.
"Khazar... could it be possible?" He murmured under his breath, his gaze fixed on the suspended form.
The half-rotted flesh, with the crimson veins glowing faintly beneath the skin, was monstrous. Yet, beneath the ruin, sothing about the jawline and the faint shape of the features tugged at his mory.
Furthermore, Ace thought about that inexplicable sense of familiarity when he first laid eyes on that figure, and maybe it wasn’t an illusion, and he might have seen that face before.
Ace’s senses were extrely sharp, not just his eyes, but deep within the traces of soul resonance he could feel when he first t Khazar, the ’Overseer’ of Black Hermit.
A flicker of energy so faint it barely registered then, but now it made chilling sense.
’Could it be... the Khazar we t outside is a fake? An impersonator like ? But who and what’s his purpose?’ Ace’s mind tightened like a snare, as he was very familiar with the art of impersonating soone.
A shiver slid down his spine, not from fear, but from the sick realization that they had stumbled into a web woven far deeper than treasure hunting or theft.
At that mont, behind him, Zaria’s hoarse voice cut through his spiraling thoughts, sharp and urgent, "Snap out of it, idiot! My spell’s collapsing faster than expected. The mont it breaks, the entire Black Hermit will feel the surge!"
Her breath was shallow, her aura flickering like a candle in a storm.
"Even if that thing really is Khazar," She said, forcing the words through clenched teeth, "It has nothing to do with us. Once the containnt alarms trigger, every Abyssal Being in this city will co swarming here. This secret will be exposed even if we do nothing!"
Ace’s eyes lingered on the chained figure one last ti. The black runes were already writhing, twisting with growing instability. He could almost feel the seal responding to the fading spell, a beast stirring beneath a broken lock.
Finally, he nodded. "You’re right. We can’t afford to get captured or worse, die, for curiosity."
They turned back toward the gate, their footsteps echoing softly as the suffocating dark began to recede behind them.
But before crossing the threshold, Ace suddenly stopped.
Zaria froze, frowning. "What now?"
The gloom that had shadowed his face monts ago lted away, replaced by that all-too-familiar glint of cunning thief in his eyes. Slowly, his lips curved into a sly, knowing smile.
"I think it’s not as bad as we’re making it to be," He suddenly said, voice smooth, confident. "We may not have found any treasure, but... that doesn’t an we can’t profit from this."
Zaria’s brows furrowed. "Profit? You an—"
Ace’s grin widened. "Secrets are worth more than gold, and we just found one that could shatter this entire city’s balance. Don’t you think soone would pay dearly for knowing what’s chained beneath Khazar’s feet?"
Zaria blinked, montarily stunned by the sudden return of his roguish audacity, then let out a low, disbelieving chuckle. "You’re insane... but you might not be wrong."
---
Back at the Black Hermit Mines...the entire area was deathly still.
Dozens of armored enforcers and abyssal sentinels stood in rigid formation. The ground was covered in sealing arrays and obsidian runic circles that pulsed faintly beneath the feet of their mistress, the Dread Duchess herself.
Her beauty was terrible and commanding; her veil shimred with threads of crimson light, and her re presence bent the abyssal Qi around her like a storm caught in her orbit. None dared to look directly at her.
Even Khazar, the city’s ruler, stood several paces behind her, head slightly bowed, hands clasped behind his back like a dutiful subordinate. His usual arrogance was nowhere to be seen.
Mirage Shadow, the Duchess’s silent lieutenant, hovered nearby, in form blurred like smoke, watching the sealed mine entrance with an expressionless yet expectant gaze.
However, right at that mont, a soundless tremor swept through the ground. It was faint at first...then bood through the air like thunder muffled in the bones of the world!
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