I searched the surroundings for a long time but couldn't find them, so I decided to go to the volcano — maybe I'd find a trace of them there.
"Where the hell did they go? Maybe the Harpy set a trap for them and forced them to flee, but they could've hidden in the temple."
I felt worried, not just about Elena but about everyone. It's true I don't like them, but I need them to destroy the cursed flower.
"Hmm? Is this a cave?"
I spotted an opening on the side and decided to enter.
"There's light at the end!!"
I was surprised by the light coming from deep in the cave. I realized there might be others, so I hurried toward it.
The cave widened with every step until I finally reached the source of the light. Before me was a wide cavern united by a stream of hot lava — but what surprised me were eight people sitting in the cave.
Four of them were, of course, Elena and the boys; the others seemed to be the remaining survivors.
The rest sensed my entrance and looked at me threateningly — they thought I was some kind of monster, but they quickly lowered their weapons when they recognized me.
"Nox!"
As soon as Elena saw me she rushed over and hugged me.
"Really, you're acting like you've been gone for days."
Elena stopped hugging me and blushed; she had done that in front of everyone after all.
"Umm, Nox, actually you were gone a whole week."
I was stunned by her words — it seemed I had spent a long time in the illusion.
"Has that much time really passed?"
Elena nodded and pointed to the others.
"I left first after one day, and the others left after two days, but you took a week to leave. We met the rest and decided to wait for you here."
"Why didn't you wait in the temple?"
This time Ronan answered.
"We couldn't enter the temple. The barrier rejected us all for some reason."
Before I could ask more, one of the three newcomers intervened.
"Sorry to interrupt the reunion, but honestly it's awkward to keep us out of the conversation."
I turned toward him. He was a dark-skinned boy with a tall athletic build; he was a bit taller than me. His dark brown hair was in braids tied back. He wore a white gleaming armor that looked like crusader knights' armor. He seemed handsome and cheerful. His name was Dante — I remembered seeing him during training using a shard that made his body like obsidian stone.
Behind him stood a pale white girl with black hair like night and sleepy blue eyes. Dark circles under her eyes gave her a lethargic, gloomy aura; she had her own beauty. She was short, about 165 cm, wearing a black dress with white sleeves embroidered with star decorations and golden stitching. One look revealed her noble status. She was Astria Starnight — from the Starnight noble family that controls star shards; if I'm not mistaken, she's from France.
Next to Astria stood another girl with slightly dark skin and a mature look. Her red hair rested on her shoulder and her eyes were red as well. Unlike Astria, this girl was tall, slightly shorter than me. She wore light armor with gloves and looked masculine if not for her body. This girl was Karina — a user of a shard that detonates energy through her body.
"Hello."
I said quietly in response to Dante; he smiled awkwardly at my reaction.
"Hello? Is that all you've got, brother?"
"I'm not into empty talk."
I ignored him and looked at Elena again.
"Do you know why no one could enter the temple?"
"Yes. Actually we came up with theories. It seems the illusion was the cause. We passed through the illusion, but it seems there was something we didn't do which made us fail to enter."
I thought about Elena's words, trying to find the reason, and after a bit I realized something and looked at everyone.
"Did you discover anything in the illusion?"
This time Astria spoke; her voice was calm and sleepy, like someone who could fall asleep at any moment.
"The illusion — it replays memories and turns them into a challenge."
The others confirmed her words; it seemed none of them had seen anything strange in the illusion.
"Did you discover anything strange? I mean, did you learn the truth from the illusion?"
I looked at Karina in confusion.
"The truth? What do you mean?"
I fell silent for a moment — it seemed none of them knew the meaning of the illusion.
"For me, the illusion carried a certain truth. When I discovered it, the illusion collapsed, then I left, entered the temple, and obtained the key. It seems the illusion is a test placed near the temple. After all, the temple belongs to Truth; so if you failed to perceive it, you weren't qualified to enter the temple."
Everyone was surprised by my words; they hadn't realized the illusion carried a deeper meaning.
Astria narrowed her eyes at me and interrogatively said,
"So you have two keys now?"
I was puzzled by her reaction. Elena came closer and whispered in my ear.
"Ronan and the others told them about what happened between us, so they don't have a good impression of you."
'So in short, they're hostile to me — how annoying.'
Astria nodded to confirm her assumption.
"Yes. He has them, and before you think some foolish thing, I won't give the keys to anyone. Now that you already know the truth about what happened, I'll say it clearly: you are in the same situation as Ronan and the other two. We will treat you as another group. If you refuse Elena's services or cooperation with us, you must offer something else in return."
Tension tightened around us and hatred rose from all sides.
"Hey guys, why are we arguing? Whether the key is with Nox or with us, we all have the same goal — to destroy the Gate Heart. So why don't we save our energy for something better?"
Dante intervened, trying to calm things. His words eased the tension a little, but caution remained.
'This is annoying. Now I have to worry about more people turning against me.'
I turned to leave the cave.
"Elena, let's go. We should head to the Temple of Wisdom next."
"Eeeh? So soon?"
Elena complained but followed me anyway.
"Wait, are you really planning to go?"
Karina called after me from behind. I stopped in my tracks and turned my head toward her.
"Yes. Is there any point in staying here? I'd rather invest my time in something better."
"What if you rest today? You must be tired from the illusion."
"No, I don't get tired, so I don't need your offer."
I turned to leave but she called me again.
"At least wait a bit until we prepare. We should all leave together."
"Why should we all leave together? If you think about it, Elena and I are enough. I can avoid the Flower just by calming it with the keys. But what about you? If you go alone, the Harpy will kill you — that's why you were hiding here all this time. Am I wrong?"
Karina trembled at my words; it seemed I had hit the truth. I smiled sarcastically at their tense expressions.
Astria, who was the calmest, stepped forward and spoke quietly.
"What about a trade? Let us accompany you and I promise on my family name that I'll repay you when we get out of here."
"Oh? What guarantees your words?"
Astria pointed to Elena.
"What guarantees me is Miss Elena. She can expose my shame before people — she has high status like me. If I break my promise, it would be a heavy blow to the Starnight family's reputation."
Elena confirmed her words, and after some thought they agreed to her proposal.
"Alright, I'll take you with me. I'll wait with Elena outside, so hurry and catch up."
I left with Elena, leaving the others to prepare.
"Elena, give me your things."
"Why do you want them? Also I just noticed — where's your bag? Did you leave it?"
Elena asked what I wanted but she complied and handed me the bag. As soon as I touched it I ordered the darkness to store it — the bag disappeared quickly as if it wasn't there.
Elena stared at what happened in disbelief; she thought I had swallowed the bag.
"I discovered I can store items in my darkness. The matter is similar to devouring things, but I order the darkness not to devour them, so I gained storage space."
"Really? What a marvelous thing!"
"Elena, take and read this."
I took out the Book of the Time God and handed it to Elena. She took it from me eagerly, realized its truth, and began reading it quickly. When she finished she looked at me in amazement.
"Nox, this book revealed more things — this is wonderful. I'm curious to know the truth. I wonder who the gods have been constantly talking about."
Elena's eyes shone as she jumped with excitement; she behaved like a child who had received a new toy.
"Calm down, girl. This knowledge might be forbidden, so we should be cautious about it."
I took the book from her hand and stored it again. I looked at her and found her staring at me silently.
"What?"
"Umm, Nox, can I know what you saw in the illusion?"
I was silent for a moment; I didn't know how to answer. I was trying to ignore what happened in the illusion as much as possible, so it was hard to talk about it, especially since it revealed important secrets.
"Sorry, but I can't tell you anything right now."
Elena came closer, wrapped her arms around my neck and smiled as she tilted her head to the side.
"Now? Does that mean I might know in the future?"
"Maybe, who knows?"
I shrugged in reply and stared at her for a while before she leaned in and kissed my cheek.
"I'll wait for that day eagerly~"
Elena finished the hug, smiling mischievously with a faint blush on her cheek. I put my hand on my cheek and turned my face away in embarrassment.
'Good that no one saw.'
After minutes, the others came and were ready to leave.
Klaus looked at me in confusion before asking curiously,
"Nox, I didn't notice before — where are your belongings? I don't see the key either."
"Don't worry about it. It's safe. Let's move."
I ignored him and walked forward with Elena. Now that I had a storage method, I no longer needed to keep distance from others or fear theft.
'I must be careful — who knows, maybe someone will act insanely and kidnap Elena to force me to hand over the key. If that happens I'll kill them brutally.'
'But there's no point in dwelling on that. I must focus on what's ahead. I must get the key and the book from the Temple of Wisdom. That will bring me one step closer to getting out of this damned hell.'
I lifted my eyes to the dark sky and noticed a faint movement in the clouds — the Harpies were still relentlessly pursuing us.
'If I were alone I'd kill those damned Harpies. It would be an achievement to kill a level-six monster. Who knows, maybe that way I'll get closer to my goal of striking Silas someday.'
I smiled sardonically when I remembered the annoying professor.
'I wonder what that bastard is doing now.'
...
"Achoo!"
"Silas, do you have a cold?"
"No, Anna, how could someone like me catch a cold? Maybe someone's talking about me."
"Oh, that makes sense. Many are talking about you — you're famous."
"I feel like you're mocking me, but let's drop the jokes and focus on the job."
Silas looked forward seriously. He and I were on a mission to eliminate a gate about to break.
"I agree. Let's finish this quickly. I badly want to take a bath."
The gate shattered and the first monster that came out was a giant ten meters tall. It looked at them furiously and roared.
"Waaaarggghhhhh!!!!"
In response, both Silas and I charged at it. The world trembled from their overwhelming presence. Anna vanished from her place and appeared on the giant's head, placing her hand calmly on its brow.
"Die."
With a single simple motion, its head exploded in a spray of blood.
"She's terrifying when she fights," Silas mocked as he looked at the other monsters emerging like waves. He adjusted his stance and ordered the shadows to come out. In an instant the world was covered and became like pitch dark night.
"This will be fun."
Silas smiled wickedly and took a step forward. What followed was a massacre — just two people were able to slaughter all the monsters that emerged from a level-seven gate.
This was the power of those who had reached level six. This is the power Nox and his companions were striving for — but to acquire this power they must survive this very hell.