At the sa ti.
Sowhere in the western frontier region of the Soma Alliance, inside a huge underground space.
The group led by the Long-haired Woman was standing before a giant stone wall, their brows furrowed, appearing sowhat uneasy.
After several seconds, the Long-haired Woman squinted her deep brown eyes, gritting her teeth and said in a deep voice, "I refuse to believe it. Try once more, this ti on the left side."
"Yes... Captain."
The 1.8-ter-tall burly man nodded in response, walking towards the stone wall.
On the surface of the stone wall, one could see densely carved magic runes, which ultimately converged at two positions in the middle of the bottom. Each position had a small hole, resembling a keyhole.
The burly man stepped to the position on the left, reached out to retrieve a Blue Seal, and carefully inserted it.
"Click!"
A soft sound ca, as if sothing inside the small hole was activated, causing the majority of the runes on the stone wall to light up instantly.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
The stone wall vibrated slightly, with quite a few stone fragnts falling, and a faint crack appeared in the middle position, seemingly about to open like a door.
However, inside the "door," sothing seed to block it, allowing more and more stone fragnts to fall and the runes to brighten, yet keeping the crack from expanding even slightly.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
As ti passed, the vibration of the stone wall weakened, the runes gradually dimd, and failure to open seed inevitable.
The Long-haired Woman’s brow furrowed tightly, her eyes widened, and she shouted, "I still refuse to believe it!"
With that, the Long-haired Woman raised her right hand, putting it in her mouth and biting down hard, causing crimson blood to ooze from her fingertip.
She pointed her bleeding finger towards the stone wall, where the blood was attracted, leaving her fingertip and flying onto the wall surface, quickly seeping in.
One drop, two drops, three drops...
The Long-haired Woman’s blood was thick and slow-moving, with only a dozen or so drops after quite a while, and this seed to heavily drain her, turning her complexion visibly pale.
Another dozen drops seeped into the stone wall, and finally, there was a reaction. Suddenly, the wall vibrated violently, and the runes beca brighter than before.
But... despite the intense vibration and bright runes, the gap in the middle of the stone wall retained its original size, refusing to expand a bit.
Slowly, slowly, the blood seeping into the stone wall depleted its energy, causing the vibration to weaken again and the rune brightness to diminish.
Failure was now inevitable.
Upon seeing this, the Long-haired Woman raised her slender eyebrows, stared with wide eyes, and proclaid, "This shouldn’t be, this is impossible! I won’t allow it!"
With that, she stepped forward with a thud, her long hair straightening behind her like a spear, and flew towards the stone wall as fast as lightning, her palm accumulating dense Purple Energy, striking heavily.
"Open for !"
The Long-haired Woman shouted.
Almost instantly, the stone wall responded.
"Shush!"
The dim runes on the stone wall all lit up, and golden arcs appeared on the surface, wrapping around her body like venomous snakes.
"Ah!"
The Long-haired Woman let out a short cry and was struck by energy, hurled back like a teor, smashing into the ground and forming a pit.
"Captain!"
Everyone shouted out at once, especially the 1.8-ter-tall burly man, whose eyes turned red as he took steps forward to rescue her.
"Cough, cough!"
At this mont, from the pit, she coughed twice, raised her hand, and shouted, "I’m fine, no need to co over," stopping everyone.
Under the worried gazes of the group, she slowly got up, her hair falling ssily over her shoulder as she walked back to the stone wall.
The stone wall had cald down, and the Blue Seal inserted into the small hole slid out by itself, falling to the ground.
With a wave of her hand, the Blue Seal flew up from the ground, landing in her hand. She held it, turning it a few tis, and gazed at the wall, musing to herself, "As expected, it’s not as simple as I thought."
"Captain, why don’t we use magic spells to blast this broken wall apart!"
Nearby, the burly man suggested loudly. Still upset by the retaliatory strike from the wall’s runes, he was eager to vent for her.
At this mont, beside them, the White-haired Elder wearing the Black Iron Mask spoke softly to the burly man, "If you really want to bury us all here and destroy this ancient relic completely, then go ahead."
"What do you an?" The burly man frowned and looked at the White-haired Elder.
"Quite simply, never underestimate the hurdles set by the predecessors." ca the somber explanation from beneath the Black Iron Mask, "If I’m not mistaken, this stone wall is surely connected as one with this underground space, just like the tal door we encountered before in the tomb—if we dare to forcibly destroy it, the entire underground space will collapse."
Moreover, I suspect that this wall might even connect to so energy hub inside the ancient relic. Once we forcibly destroy it, it might trigger a chain reaction within the relic, blasting us sky-high. Even if it doesn’t blow us away, the relic will be ruined."
"Then how about entering the relic through a different entrance?" The Thick-lipped La Woman suddenly suggested, proposing a new idea, "We can directly open an entrance at so location on the ground, dig vertically to the center of the relic, grab what we need, and leave; it’s convenient and efficient."
"Right!" The burly man’s eyes brightened, agreeing, "That’s a good idea! How did we not think of it earlier?!"
"In fact, the predecessor already considered that." The White-haired Elder replied coldly, "When he initially explored the relic, he attempted it, but the outco was extrely poor. According to his account, the relic inside is extrely complex; entering through this entrance is the safest, at least allowing gradual progression. Whereas entering through other entrances, no one knows where in the relic we might end up, and if sothing goes wrong, there’s no way out."
"Then..." The burly man grew anxious, couldn’t help but ask, "What should we do? Surely, we can’t just stand before the stone wall and concede after preparing for so long?"
The White-haired Elder listened, shook his head without a response, and looked to the side.
The burly man followed the Elder’s gaze and saw that the Long-haired Woman had unknowingly moved beside him.
Brawny Man: "Captain, you..."
The Long-haired Woman did not respond imdiately but looked around at everyone before taking a deep breath and decisively said, "Alright, everyone stop discussing, send the signal to that person. We will collaborate with him and explore the relic together."
"Captain!"
"Don’t do it!"
"We can think of another way."
"Yeah, why collaborate with soone unknown?"
As soon as the Long-haired Woman spoke, many voices imdiately protested.
She listened but remained unwavering, earnestly saying, "This exploration of the relic is a beginning, a spark; we can’t afford to fail, nor can we wait, we must succeed, as many people await our return.
Moreover, we can’t stay in the Soma Alliance for long, since it’s not exactly safe for us. If anything unexpected happens, it will all be ruined.
Thus, if the opponent truly holds the indispensable Blood Seal, collaborating is harmless. As long as we ensure the most important relic is in our hands, giving him a piece is inconsequential. After all, I am not a petty person.
Soone once taught that sotis you must share benefits with others to achieve greater success."
"But..." Still, soone hesitated to speak.
With a commanding look, the Long-haired Woman declared, "No buts, this is an order!"
"Yes!"
All present straightened their expressions, no longer hesitating, replying in unison.
...
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