[Calyra’s POV]
Calyra stood at the front of the narrow cavern path, her gaze fixed upon the dim passage stretching deeper into the dungeon.
The light in her eyes sparkled like the majestic blue of pure sapphire, entrancing and enchanting all who beheld it. And in those eyes lay a calm assurance that seed so composed that the disquiet in the cavern seed trivial in comparison.
Surrounded by the thin veil of her long white hair, she seed to resemble a glacier in a field of snow, so peaceful that her beauty felt like the epito of serenity.
But for so reason, such serenity was not to be found among the scholars behind her.
Their footsteps had slowed as they went deeper into the cavern.
With nervous glances passing between them, their hands closed tightly around their weapons and staffs.
Finally, one of the scholars found the courage to voice a query.
"Erm... Lady Calyra," he said, his voice laced with a barely contained tremble.
"Perhaps we should retreat now? I think we have gone well past the restricted area from the academy already. I think it’s dangerous."
Calyra did not imdiately respond.
Her eyes remained directed toward the deeper tunnels.
"I already warned you not to follow..."
"If you wish to leave, then leave."
A brief silence followed.
The scholars looked at one another with visible hesitation. And yet, none of them seed willing to move by that order.
Slowly their attention shifted toward the young woman who stood among them, the one who had been appointed as their guide for the expedition.
She understood the aning behind their silent appeal. For a short while, she simply watched Calyra, the pale mage calmly walking alone at the edge of the dim corridor.
Then the guide shook her head softly.
"Sorry, but I cannot leave Lady Calyra by herself," she said with a firm resolve. "If we are going to retreat, we will do so together."
"No, I would strongly suggest that all of you leave now."
As soon as the words left her lips, the air in the corridor suddenly grew heavy.
The scholars felt the weight settle on their shoulders, their breathing slowly turned shallow as if sothing unnad urged them to step back.
One of the scholars unconsciously wrenched in sweat. While the other felt the urge to turn around without fully knowing the reason — the incoming certainty of danger settled in his chest more clearly than anything else.
Even without seeing it, they could tell that whatever waited beyond that wall in front of them was sothing that they had not prepared themselves to face.
"Go. Now."
"I won’t repeat myself the second ti."
"..."
Hearing that, they all went silent.
She made her aning clear.
Finally, the guide agreed and decided to take the two scholars away from there.
Calyra slightly glanced back and sighed.
Then, she walked another pace before placing her hand against the cavern wall.
With her heightened mana sensitivity, she could already felt a powerful current of mana gathering on the other side, pooling like a slow but relentless tide.
’As I thought... there is sothing wrong with this dungeon. It seems he already knew about it beforehand, too.’
But why?
Calyra still could not understand why he had not reported this to the academy.
Even Silvena, who should know that the most sensible course of action would be to inform the academy since sothing like this could endanger other scholars, had not insisted on doing so.
From a logical standpoint, it simply did not make any sense.
But instead of trying to reason through ordinary logic, Calyra tried to understand Ruvian’s way of thinking.
’Was that why he gave this necklace? Because he already knew sothing was wrong with my mana reservoir? As a form of protection... in case sothing went wrong during this dungeon trip?’
’In case I ended up encountering this thing?’
However, if that had been the case, he could have simply warned her.
Not giving this powerful artifact.
So, it had to be sothing else.
And with that thought, she arrived at another conclusion.
Since Ruvian had not warned her about anything and had only given her the necklace to enhance her capabilities, it ant he was expecting sothing from her.
Which ant he already knew beforehand that she would need a great amount of mana during this expedition.
And what would require such an amount of mana other than expending it in a fight?
For soone like Calyra, who already possessed an enormous reserve of mana, to suddenly require so much could only an one thing...
She deduced that he expected her to go up against sothing powerful.
For that reason, Calyra believed that if she chose not to confront this unknown danger, if she treated it as sothing to avoid, then she would be acting against his intentions.
Against whatever greater objective he had in mind.
And what that objective was... she did not know.
But one thing was clear, if she managed to overco this challenge, it would bring her one step closer to that greater goal of his.
Letting out a quiet sigh, she wondered whether her deduction made any sense at all. Even to her, the conclusion sounded rather absurd.
’Also, if that is truly the case... why not simply tell directly?’
But it seed like that question would have to wait for another ti.
For now, she would carry out the task he had indirectly placed in her hands.
Of course, it was not solely for his sake.
There was also a personal reason behind her decision for this. She found herself unable to ignore the ntion of that "promise" — the one he insisted Calyra herself had already forgotten.
Did he sohow know about the strange emptiness she felt within herself?
About the flaw hidden inside her Spellcore?
If so, then she needed to press him for the answer.
Because even she herself did not fully understand what that emptiness truly was, nor why her Spellcore had developed in such an abnormal way.
Yet, for reasons she could not properly explain, she felt certain that the lingering sense of incompleteness within her was sohow connected to that so-called forgotten promise.
And because of that curiosity, she found herself willing to entertain his reckless idea, at least for now, in return to get more answers from him.
Then, as easily as breathing, she channeled her mana toward her palm.
[Permafrost]
The enormous wall before her froze instantly, ice spreading across its surface at an unprecedented speed.
With a sudden burst, she exerted force through her mana, and the frozen stone shattered apart, crumbling away and revealing a pathway that opened into a vast chamber beyond.
A powerful current of damped mana surged out from the passage, billowing her cloak.
She took a small breath before walking into the vast chamber — into whatever danger that awaited her from within.
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[Chapter 103: The Deepmarch Dungeon (8)]
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