'Evelyn?'
Adam paused, the na slicing through his thoughts like a knife.
His brows furrowed deeply.
Without a word, the blood blades floating around Cael edged closer, the air around them thickening with hostility.
"You're mistaken."
Adam said coldly.
"I know who Evelyn is."
Cael flinched back and imdiately threw his arms up in panic.
"Fuck, chill the hell out, man!"
He blurted.
"I'm not lying!"
Desperation laced his voice as he rushed to explain.
"Silver eyes... always wearing that damn white coat... and that freakish lie-detecting ability of hers! I swear it's her!"
Adam's gaze didn't waver.
He stayed silent, but inside, his mind was racing.
He closed his eyes for a brief second, sinking into deep thought, recalling his first encounter with Celestia's puppets on the first floor... when Evelyn had been there too.
'At that ti, I didn't think it was odd for an S-rank user like Celestia to slip past the governnt's building and invade one of her puppet bodies...'
'But... the guide's body during the interrogation should've been placed inside a room that restricted ability use.'
Adam's fist tightened at his side.
'Could it be... Evelyn purposely disabled that function? Opened the room... just enough for Celestia to invade the puppet's body?'
mory after mory layered itself in his mind, the once subtle details now painting an ugly picture.
'And the reason she looked for in the middle of the night... was to lure there willingly.'
He pressed his lips into a hard line.
'She claid it was because I brought the guide there... but the Governnt would never allow an outsider to be privy to that kind of information.'
The more Adam pieced it together, the deeper his frown beca.
'Then that ans... Evelyn tricked into walking into Celestia's trap on my own...'
'And when Celestia failed to kill directly... Evelyn could simply pin the bla onto "Celestia" during the incident and wash her hands clean.'
A cold fury unfurled inside him.
His blood boiled beneath his skin, the blood blades around Cael trembling with the tension.
Adam clenched his fist so tightly his knuckles went white.
Thinking about Evelyn now—
One of the few people who had stood beside him in his last life, fighting their way through the Tower of Yxthar...
One of the only people he could call a true friend in that endless nightmare of survival...
And the only woman Adam had ever been genuinely attracted to.
There had been nights... quiet, stolen monts when he'd thought—
If things were different...
If death wasn't constantly breathing down their necks...
Maybe—just maybe—
He would've asked for more than friendship.
He would've risked it all to build sothing real with her.
Adam inhaled sharply, then shook his head.
No.
He couldn't afford those thoughts anymore.
Without hesitation, he activated [Authority of Disconnection].
A cold, cutting force surged through him, slicing apart the web of sentintality and betrayal coiling in his heart.
The emotions were ruthlessly suppressed, buried beneath layers of rationality and iron resolve.
He needed to think about this clearly.
Not about what was...
Only about what had to be done.
...
On the tenth floor, where eternal darkness reigned, Raiden moved with practiced ease, his hand reaching out to pluck a glowing blue fungi from the cavern wall.
The small bioluminescent mushroom pulsed gently in his grip, casting a soft, ethereal light over the rough rocks beneath their feet.
Miya, ever vigilant, stayed close behind him, her sharp eyes scanning the shadows for any sign of danger.
As the group's protector, it was her duty to ensure her older brother Raiden, the caster of their team, remained unhard.
She couldn't afford to let her guard down for a second.
The last of the Shadow Wraiths fell to the ground, its ghostly form dissipating into nothingness with a sharp hiss.
One of their team mbers wiped sweat from his brow and gave a nod of satisfaction.
Miya, still on edge, couldn't help but ask.
"How long till we attack Celestia so we can finally advance to the 11th floor?"
Raiden paused, his fingers still lightly gripping the glowing fungi as he surveyed the dark path ahead.
His expression was distant, as though lost in thought.
"I'm unsure..."
He replied, his voice low.
"We're still waiting for a few guys from the 9th floor to arrive. Maybe two or three months."
He took a breath and continued, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Also, Krev Malgor is trying to make his way up here."
"Krev Malgor?"
Miya asked, her tone curious.
"Who's that?"
Raiden sighed, shaking his head.
"Leader of the Rustfand Dogs."
One of their teammates chid in, his voice filled with disdain as he walked away to help their other mbers.
"Ugh..."
Miya groaned, wrinkling her nose in distaste.
"You an that bandit group? I can't stand them. They're nothing but trouble. It's a wonder the Governnt even allows them to exist at all..."
"That's true..."
Raiden said, his voice cool as he continued.
"But he's an A-tier user. His ability's destructive enough that it could be useful against Celestia. We can't afford to be picky right now."
Miya raised an eyebrow but didn't argue.
She understood the urgency, even if the idea of working with bottom-feeders like the Rustfand Dogs made her skin crawl.
Raiden's tone shifted again.
"There's also one more person everyone's hoping to get here."
Miya perked up.
"Who?"
Raiden hesitated. Then, carefully, he said,
"The Chosen Conduit."
Miya grinned instantly.
"You an Adam?"
Raiden shot her a sharp look.
Miya rolled her eyes and held up both hands in mock surrender.
"Alright, alright. I won't say it again."
"He hates hearing his na thrown around..."
Raiden muttered.
"I know."
Miya replied, smirking.
"He gets so grumpy about it. But it's kind of cute, don't you think?"
Raiden raised an eyebrow, unconvinced.
"...Cute?"
"Yeah."
She said with a laugh, the tension in her voice easing.
"You don't rember? When he was five, he went on this whole rant about it. Said he didn't want to be nad after 'the first man created by God' because it was too plain and boring."
Raiden gave her a sideways glance.
"I thought he just didn't like religious references."
"Nope."
Miya said, poking lightly at his arm.
"It wasn't anything deep like that. He just thought 'Adam' was... I don't know, plain. He said if he was the first man, he should've had a na like Haldar or Korin....sothing that sounded 'cooler.'
"I asked him why, and he told ... get this—'Adam sounds like a kid who trips on his shoelaces. Haldar sounds like a guy who punches a god in the face.'"
Raiden's lips twitched, but he held back the smile.
"And Korin?"
"Oh, Korin was apparently 'wise and mysterious, like soone who doesn't talk much but everyone listens to anyway.'"
She said in a mock-serious tone, mimicking a child's dramatic voice.
Raiden exhaled through his nose.
"That does sound like him."
Miya smiled softly.
"He was dead serious about it, too. I think he even tried to make us all call him Korin for a week until Mom caught on."
Raiden finally let out a quiet chuckle.
"Right. And then she called him 'Little Korin' in front of the neighbors and he stord off."
"Exactly!" Miya laughed.
"He sulked for two whole days."
Her expression softened, eyes drifting toward the shadowed path ahead.
"He's still that sa kid, you know. Everyone sees him as so mysterious s-rank user like Celestia, but deep down he's just the sa little brother that wants to be taken seriously."
Raiden didn't respond with words this ti.
He just gave a slow, thoughtful nod, his gaze steady on the path ahead.
One of their team mbers, a tall man with a hideous scar down his right cheek, approached, changing the weight of his blade over his shoulder.
"Captain."
He said, his voice low but direct.
"Which way are we headed next? This cavern splits four ways, and I don't like the feel of the air to the west. It's... too still."
Raiden didn't answer imdiately.
Instead, he closed his eyes and took a slow breath, raising his right hand.
Faint blue sigils shone across his palm, wrapping up his arm like coiling threads.
The glow from the fungi dimd in contrast as Raiden activated his Essence ability.
It was an ability that allowed him to locate danger and opportunity based on the "essence" of the environnt.
"There's sothing…"
He murmured.
He turned his head slightly, brow tightening.
Then—without warning—
He spun sharply and pointed his staff behind them.
The team reacted instantly.
Swords were drawn, bows raised, shields readied.
Miya was already in front of Raiden, ready to strike.
Then, from the shadows stepped a figure.
A woman.
Her long black hair flowed down her back like a curtain of silk, untouched by the damp air of the cave.
With an ancient crown on her head, one eye glead a deep crimson, the other a luminous silver.
Miya froze. Her breath caught.
Celestia...
The woman who ruled the 10th floor.
The one everyone feared and few had ever seen up close...
But Celestia said nothing.
She simply stood there, eyes roaming over each of them with quiet amusent.
Then, as if greeting old friends at a banquet rather than would-be challengers in a war-torn cave, she smiled.
A slow, graceful, knowing smile.
User Comments
0 comments from readers