He looked toward the horizon — the last light of dusk fading behind the peaks.
He exhaled slowly.
"I shouldn’t get in between their tiline," he murmured again. "But if this Devil Contractor is behind the demon surge... then leaving it alone might not be an option."
He took one last glance toward the path where Elysia had vanished. For a mont, he almost followed — but then turned away.
"But all of a sudden... where did Dakin vanish?"
Then, without another word, he turned and walked away.
The ridge ahead was narrow and sharp, shaped like the spine of a dead beast.
Black stones jutted out from the ground, slick with dew, and the sky above seed darker than usual, no moon, no stars.
Kael pressed forward.
Each step echoed faintly, swallowed quickly by the eerie quiet.
As he walked, he muttered to himself, "This place... doesn’t feel right."
The air grew heavier the deeper he went, thick with the sll of sulfur and sothing else — sothing ancient, sothing that made his skin crawl.
He finally stopped when he reached the edge of a broken cliff.
Below him was a wide valley, its ground cracked open in countless places like the scars of a forgotten battle.
Strange dark mist drifted upward from those cracks, glowing faintly with a crimson hue.
Kael crouched and placed his hand on the jagged edge of the rock. It was cold — too cold.
"This isn’t a normal demon zone," he muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Sothing’s leaking from below..."
The wind howled unnaturally, and his vision blurred. A sharp ringing filled his ears, and then—
He saw it.
An image, faint but vivid — deep below the valley, a massive door of black stone stood buried beneath the earth.
It was chained by thick runes that pulsed faintly with blue light, each link engraved with sigils older than ti.
The door’s surface was cracked in several places, and from those cracks seeped the sa red mist that tainted the air above.
Kael’s breath hitched.
Then the vision shattered.
He blinked rapidly, and the world returned to normal , (the valley, the mist, the wind. The black door was gone, as if it had never been there.)
He stood there in silence for a long ti.
"Was that a secret area or?"
"...A sealed structure?" he whispered. "No... That was a binding gate."
He’d read about such things before — not in reality, but in the novel.
Beneath that ridge, sealed away by the ancient heroes, was said to be a hidden area — a crystal labyrinth that demons sotis used as a passage to the underworld.
Kael’s eyes flickered with a strange light.
"If this is really the sa place... then I’m standing where no hero has ever gone."
He looked down toward the mist-filled valley.
"In the novel, only demons entered the secret area beneath the ridge... and those who did, beca stronger demons."
"But I’m not a hero, am I?"
He adjusted the strap of his sword and began his descent.
The slope was steep and treacherous.
Loose rocks rolled beneath his boots, and several tis he had to grab onto twisted roots to keep his balance.
By the ti he reached the bottom, his palms were scraped, and his breathing ca slow and shallow.
The ground below was different — smoother, almost glass-like.
The faint red mist swirled around him.
Then he saw it.
A narrow opening in the cliffside, half-hidden by jagged rocks and thick vines.
The faint shimr of light flickered from within.
Kael hesitated for only a mont.
"...The secret passage."
He ducked his head and stepped inside.
The passage led into a vast underground cavern.
As soon as he entered, the world around him transford completely.
The walls, ceiling, even the ground — everything was covered in crystal.
Crimson, sapphire, and violet crystals jutted from the walls like frozen flas.
The air was cold and unnaturally still. When Kael took a step, the sound echoed far too loudly, bouncing endlessly through the cavern.
He stared in awe.
"This place... it’s beautiful," he breathed.
The crystals weren’t ordinary. He could feel the faint hum of energy pulsing through them.
His chest tightened slightly under its weight, and his vision swayed.
He steadied himself and walked deeper in.
The deeper he went, the stronger the energy beca.
The crystals grew larger and redder, their glow more intense. So of them even throbbed faintly, like the veins of a living creature.
At the center of the cavern stood a massive crystal formation, glowing a deep red — brighter than all the rest.
It was cracked slightly along the surface, faint threads of energy flickering through the gap.
Kael stopped in front of it.
"...This must be the core."
He circled around it slowly, observing the strange runes etched faintly into its surface.
"The novel said the demons used crystals like these to create passageways to the Nether Abyss. But..." — he placed his hand against the surface — "this one feels empty."
The crystal pulsed once beneath his touch.
He stepped back, startled.
"...Did it just—?"
Before he could finish the thought, a faint crackling sound echoed through the chamber.
The red glow brightened, lines of energy spreading across the crystal like veins of lightning.
Kael’s instincts scread at him to move, but his curiosity anchored him in place.
The sound grew louder — crack... crack... crack!
A long fissure split across the crystal’s face, and with a sharp burst of light, a fragnt shattered and fell to the ground.
The glow flared blindingly for an instant, then dimd completely.
Kael shielded his eyes and waited for the light to fade.
When he looked again, the crystal stood silent and lifeless.
It had cracked open entirely — and inside, it was empty.
No core, no energy essence, no relic — just a hollow space where sothing once was.
Kael frowned.
"Empty...?"
He crouched, brushing away the shards on the floor. The inner walls of the crystal glimred faintly, as if recently vacated.
"...So sothing was sealed here," he murmured. "But it’s gone now."
His eyes drifted toward the deeper shadows of the cavern.
He felt a faint tremor beneath his boots — a distant pulse, like the heartbeat of the earth itself.
Then, faintly, from sowhere deep beyond the crystal chamber, ca a whisper — soft, almost inaudible.
Kael froze.
"...Who’s there?" he called out.
There was no response.
He waited for a mont.
Then, shaking his head, he muttered, "Must be my imagination."
But the unease didn’t fade.
He glanced once more at the empty crystal core, then slowly turned toward the tunnel from which he ca.
His hand rested on his sword hilt instinctively.
"...If the seal’s been broken," he whispered, "then whatever was inside might already be free."
The thought lingered in his mind as he walked back toward the narrow passage.
"But wait... am I lacking in ti? Did soone co here before ?"
"That shouldn’t be possible"
"At least i will take all these pieces of red crystal"
Then Kael picked all the red crystal pieces into his pocket and left the area.
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