Then they heard a loud voice coming from inside the waterfall.
"Don’t co any closer or your young lady will die!"
Aiden and the others froze when they heard Kael’s unmistakable voice filling their ears.
"Don’t co any closer, unless you want your precious young lady to die." Kael’s voice was being amplified with sound magic.
Aiden, who was the first to recover, made imperceptible gestures to the others and also spoke in an amplified voice.
"Why are you doing this? Young Kael, we welcod you into the mansion and did not mistreat you, and this is how you repay our kindness."
"Kindness? HAHAHA, what kind of kindness are you talking about, putting people to spy on my movents? Or are you coveting my clan’s assets? Do you think I’m too stupid to notice? Who do you take for, Aiden?"
Despite how emotional his voice sounded, Kael, who was inside the cave, hadn’t changed his expression in the slightest; he remained just as expressionless as ever.
Michel, who was watching this, couldn’t help but shudder at Kael’s performance, causing the danger level in his mind to rise to its maximum.
"..." Aiden fell silent at those words, because they weren’t lies. From the beginning, his goal had been to get so of the things Kael had.
And when he heard about that strange tree, his greed only grew. He believed that this hunting competition was solely to gain Kael’s trust and then take everything away from him.
"Why did you stay silent? So you really were after my belongings. What could I expect from a fake nobleman?" Kael’s voice rang out again, although the last part was laden with contempt.
Several veins stood out on Aiden’s forehead. He didn’t like being called a fake nobleman at all. It was a term used by the nobility to refer to people who bought their titles.
However, the concern that sothing might happen to his daughter cald him down considerably.
"Young Kael, how can I be sure you haven’t done anything to my daughter?"
Kael’s voice quickly rang out again. "Don’t worry, I’m not as sneaky as you to put people on to watch your guests."
Aiden could tell he was pretty upset about that. If only he knew that it was all just an act on Kael’s part, he would have shouted furiously that he was a dirty bastard from the demonic path.
Kael, who had stopped talking, approached Elizabeth, who was lying unconscious on the floor, and a dark glow appeared for a brief mont, but he controlled himself—it wasn’t ti to kill her yet.
Bang!
A loud thud echoed through the cave, and Elizabeth woke up with a start and growled in annoyance.
"Damn it! Why the hell are you hitting so hard?! I’m the daughter of a nobleman, and I can have your head on a platter tomorrow..."
She couldn’t finish her sentence before Kael knocked her out again.
"This proves your daughter is alive, right? Aiden."
Outside the cave, Aiden stood silently for a mont, relieved that his daughter was okay, but he had several questions on his mind now that he was much calr.
"What do you want in exchange for my daughter?" His question was direct and to the point; he didn’t beat around the bush.
"Pretty smart. What I want is simple. I want you to retreat a kiloter so we can leave this mountain. Simple, right?"
"Impossible," Aiden’s response was instantaneous. He wasn’t stupid enough to give his enemy enough space to escape so easily.
"..." Kael remained silent, watching Michel, who was still searching for the entrance to the inheritance.
"You haven’t found anything yet," he asked without using his voice-amplifying magic.
Michel didn’t answer because he had found sothing unusual in the cave. It was a spike, shining like a star, but for all this ti, it had been covered by debris and more.
Michel’s eyes lit up, and he pulled out the spike.
Instantly, the cave began to shake slightly while at one end, a door began to move slowly, revealing its interior.
Aiden, who was outside, unaware of what was happening in the cave, began to worry. Kael’s lack of response quickly alard him. He wanted to send his n, but he felt that he was being watched.
"What should I do? Accept his absurd deal?" Aiden didn’t know what to do. From the way he spoke, Kael would not hesitate to kill his beloved daughter.
Ever since he first saw her, she had the scent of those who walk the demonic path. And he didn’t know how she would react if he didn’t accept his terms.
After much thought, he let out a resigned sigh; he couldn’t put the life of his beloved daughter at risk. So he decided to accept this absurd deal.
"Kael dici, I accept your proposal..." He didn’t finish speaking until he heard Elizabeth’s loud voice.
"FATHER, THERE’S AN INHERITANCE!" She could only say that before her voice was abruptly cut off.
"What?!"
Aiden thought he had misheard. His face imdiately hardened, but within seconds, he understood why Kael had insisted on keeping his distance and had shown such a sudden change in just a few hours.
The answer was clear, and it hit him like a thunderbolt: he had found an inheritance!
"Shit! Quick, go after the waterfall! Kael and Michel found an inheritance!" Aiden’s roar echoed urgently as he sprinted toward the purple crystal waterfall, his body moving like an arrow.
The others stood frozen for a mont, their minds caught between surprise and doubt. But as they recalled Elizabeth’s earlier words, their thoughts fell into place like pieces of a puzzle.
Panic and greed ignited their hearts in unison, and without further hesitation, they rushed after him toward the waterfall.
The water imdiately engulfed them, pounding their bodies until they were completely soaked. The curtain of water parted and revealed the hidden passage. One after another, they erged into the cave, gasping for breath, their clothes clinging to their skin.
The first thing his eyes found was Roberta’s lifeless body, thrown like a piece of trash on the damp floor. Above them, the ceiling stretched out like a night sky.
The contrast between the beauty of the vault and the rawness of the soulless body created a suffocating silence.
But the most terrifying thing was the absence. There was no sign of Michel, Kael, or Elizabeth.
The feeling that they had arrived too late pierced their hearts.
"Quick, find the entrance chanism!"
Aiden’s voice echoed through the cave, filled with urgency and concern, but also impatience and a hint of contained rage. His words jolted the others into frantic movent, frantically feeling the damp walls and desperately searching the floor.
At that mont, the air in the cave grew thick, heavy with anxiety.
...
Once they had passed through the entrance, Kael quickly closed it; he knew it would be difficult for the others to find the entrance again.
"How can he be so incompetent?" Kael’s annoyance was evident; he couldn’t believe that Michel’s carelessness had now put them in a race against ti.
Everything was about to go perfectly, but that annoyance quickly disappeared. He knew that everything wasn’t going perfectly as he had planned.
"Who would have thought that he would suddenly wake up?" Michel grumbled, even though he knew it was his fault.
Kael didn’t pursue the subject because it was a waste of ti, sothing he hardly had now, so he focused on what was important.
Before his eyes stood a corridor that seed to be made entirely of the firmant.
The walls were rivers of nebulae burning with shades of purple, blue, and gold, spreading like living clouds that exuded a solemn glow.
The floor was made up of constellations joined together in lines of silver light, which vibrated with every step. The ceiling was a deep ocean dotted with millions of twinkling stars, so close by like burning lanterns, others far away like forgotten mories.
"Let’s move on, we don’t have much ti," Kae said as he began to advance.
The hallway truly lived up to the na of the 5th Circle wizard of the Tower of Babel, who held the title of Lord of the Stars.
It felt as if he were walking through the galaxy, filled with nebulous stars and more. It was truly astonishing—how long did it take to create an inheritance of this caliber?
That was what Michel thought as he carried Elizabeth on his shoulders; he had only seen sothing similar when he ca across a certain inheritance where everything was black and white.
They continued down the starry hallway, their footsteps illuminated by the constellations on the floor, until they reached the first chamber.
The room, its walls and ceiling, were the sa as the hallway, except that several manuals and scrolls were lying around.
Before he could enter the chamber, a huge creature appeared. It looked like a monkey, but it was made of stars, its body traced by threads of silver light and nebulae. Its eyes were two tiny suns that sparkled mischievously, and its tail curled around itself.
"What do we do now?" Michel asked, his eyes shining coldly.
The monkey made of stars began to move and said with a smile.
"If you want to pass, you must first answer three of my questions."
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