"We meet again." Said Tivana with a smile.
Keira grabbed Tivana's collar, "Why were your subordinates chasing us to the point that we were forced to enter this place?!" she gasped in frustration.
Tivana shook her head, "Those people are my enemies." Her tone of voice was casual, as if it were an ordinary matter.
Keira fell silent for a moment, then released Tivana's collar. Keira smiled awkwardly while scratching her head, "Sorry Tivana, I blamed you."
"Just relax, it's natural for you two to think that way." Said Tivana casually.
"So what place is this? Why did this place suddenly open and bring us here?" Asked Zevaron while looking around at the surroundings.
"This is the ruins of a place where an inheritance from the previous era is stored." Answered Tivana flatly.
Zevaron's and Keira's eyes sparkled.
"Wait a minute," interrupted Zevaron, "why do you say it so flatly?"
Tivana raised both of her wide-open arms up to waist height, "I am already used to ruins like this, and look around and use search magic; this is just a low-grade inheritance, but strangely this place has almost no exit..." She lowered her arms, "...and there is only one room that seems to have nothing good."
Keira glanced to the side, her right hand holding Zevaron's shoulder. Magic energy began to flow from Keira's hand toward Zevaron's mana core.
"
Every movement in the surroundings could instantly be felt by Zevaron. The magic energy continued forward until it stopped at a door; behind it was a room, but Zevaron's magic energy could not penetrate that door.
Zevaron stopped the spread of his magic energy. The sensation of sensing the surrounding area vanished. "There is one room, and maybe that's the exit."
"Alright, let's go there." Keira took a step forward while pulling Zevaron's left hand.
"Don't go there." Said Tivana.
Keira stopped her steps, "Why?" She asked while scratching her head.
Tivana slapped her own forehead, "Do you two not feel suspicious about that? If there really were an exit and it were safe, how could I still be here right now?"
Those two questions were like a hammer striking both of their heads due to their foolishness.
"That's true." Said Zevaron and Keira at the same time.
Tivana pointed at Zevaron, "Zevaron, you were so suspicious of me, but why are you not suspicious of this place?"
Zevaron shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, I just followed my hunch, and my hunch told me that you are dangerous and this place is not." Answered Zevaron casually.
Tivana tilted her head, "Why is that?"
"It's to reduce the burden on my mind. If I evaluate a person, it requires a lot of effort, so I use my hunch to reduce that effort." Zevaron said all of that in a casual tone.
Tivana did not know whether she should laugh or cry.
I didn't sense any lie in his words; I thought he was a very meticulous person who suspected anyone he just met, but it turns out all this timeI he suspected me based on his hunch saying that I was dangerous. I thought he was like normal people who would suspect someone they meet for the first time. If I took him straight into the underworld with me, he wouldn't survive a single day.
Tivana had also plunged into the underworld, so it was very easy for her to identify whether someone was lying or not. Especially for someone who had never plunged into the underworld, it was naturally much easier.
"Oh right, where did you get the crystal that stores the memory of my family's slaughter?" Asked Zevaron suddenly.
"Many trade them in the black market." Answered Tivana. Although Tivana looked normal when saying it, those words clearly carried heavy weight.
A small fire began to burn in his pupils, and his eyes also turned red. Zevaron's body trembled, "What do they think my family's lives are? Are they just treated as a show?" Said Zevaron in a low voice.
Zevaron suddenly punched the stone wall beside him. The sound of Zevaron's hand striking the stone wall sounded like a struck gong.
Zevaron took a deep breath then let out a long exhale, "Keira, Tivana, let's continue down this hallway." Zevaron said suddenly.
Tivana turned around and then walked with firm yet cautious steps, followed by Zevaron and Keira.
Keira shifted her gaze toward Zevaron, her facial expression complex as she looked at Zevaron.
He actually harbors a wound this deep. I thought he was the same as me, but turns out he is different; the reasons we became casual people are far apart. Before, I thought his reason was only slightly different from mine.
Keira kept looking at Zevaron with a complex expression on her face until they reached the door at the end of the hallway.
The door was 2 meters high, with runes surrounding the formation that locked it.
Tivana closed her left eye and raised her right eyebrow. Her gaze was scrutinizing, trying to open the formation with those runes.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Blurted Zevaron suddenly.
Keira took a deep breath, "Behind your casual nature and often using hunches in your actions, I didn't expect you to harbor such a deep wound."
Zevaron looked at the ceiling, "This wound is indeed that deep," Zevaron's voice trembled, "but..." Zevaron's voice turned serious. "...don't get dragged into the underworld like me." He stated with heavy emphasis.
"Alright, alright, I won't get dragged into the underworld even if I have the potential for it." Replied Keira lightly.
The stone door in front of them suddenly opened.
"You said we had to be vigilant, but why did you casually open that door?" Quipped Zevaron.
"There was no danger or suspicious thing after I used my magic to investigate the surroundings." Chimed in Tivana.
The three of them walked into the room. There was a crystal there with runes continuously spinning.
The stone door behind them suddenly shut. The three of them instinctively turned back.
Tivana's pupils shrank to the size of a needle, "How could I not notice it?" She hissed in disbelief.
The spinning runes shifted direction, splitting the air toward the three of them.
Nine lines of runes transformed into energy serpents. Tivana, Zevaron, and Keira reflexively jumped backward to dodge.
However, while Tivana was still in mid-air—the speed of the energy serpent runes suddenly increased significantly.
Six energy serpent runes slithered rapidly toward Tivana. Their speed was many times faster than Tivana's reaction speed. One energy serpent rune bound her body; her chest was squeezed so hard that the breath she had only half drawn in was forcibly stopped in her throat. Her ribcage collided with the rigid coils pressing relentlessly against her skin.
Tivana tried to scream, but one energy serpent rune choked her neck; her breath was snuffed out, and furthermore, that bind pressed against her main blood vessels.
Not stopping there, two energy serpent runes wrapped tightly around both of her arms, forcing both of her arms to stretch sideways.
Followed by both of her legs, which were bound tightly by two energy serpent runes. Both of her legs were forced close together so that her bones slammed into each other.
All of that happened in a fraction of a second. Tivana did not have time to react, let alone Zevaron and Keira, who were weaker than her.
"Tivana!" Yelled Zevaron in panic.
Screaming like that won't help me, quickly do something or we will all die.
Tivana's voice echoed inside Zevaron's and Keira's heads.