"Is it the beast's lair?" Atoris looked a little surprised when she saw the scene in front of her.
"There are no traces of man-made excavations. It looks like a natural cave, but there is also the possibility of being occupied by beasts." After a brief exploration of the structure outside the cave, Elena analyzed it, and some doubts arose in her heart. .
"I suddenly thought, is there a possibility that this is the entrance to the fourth floor?" After thinking about it, Artolis chose to express her guess.
"It's a bold guess, but according to what you said, why didn't Barong, who provided us with the location information, choose to leave here?"
Elena revealed Artoris's unrealistic fantasy with one word, but the other party was right. Now that he had discovered the entrance, Balong had no reason not to step inside and choose to continue wandering here.
"Then there must be some other mystery hidden inside." The magic essence flowing out of the cave is no richer than the outside world. Even if this was once the lair of some kind of monster, the other party must not be in it at this time. After thinking for a moment, Artolis He decided to set off and walk into the cave.
As a result, before walking a few steps, there was a muffled sound as if his head had hit something hard.
"It hurts, it hurts~"
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" He was about to leave, but the next second he saw Artoris staggering back while covering her painful head. Elena, who didn't know why, asked with a hint of vigilance.
"Over there..." Following Elena's doubts, Artolis gritted her teeth and pointed forward in embarrassment.
"Is there an enchantment?" Based on the scene just now, Elena was stunned for a moment and then doubtfully approached the depths of the darkness. As expected, before entering it, her outstretched hand was blocked by an invisible barrier. .
"It seems that the previous inference will be completely overturned. This hole is indeed the passage leading to the fourth floor!"
"Are you serious?" Listening to Elena's surprised and delighted answer, Artolis suddenly escaped from the pain in her head.
But soon she had a new question: "Since this is the dividing line between the third and fourth floors, what is this barrier that blocks us?"
"Atoris doesn't even know this?" Meeting Artolis's confused gaze, Elena showed an expression of disbelief.
"That is to say, you can regard Tianyu Xia Corridor as a layer of trial levels. Each layer has one or more powerful guards at the bottom of the level. Only after the guards are defeated will the boundary of that layer be liberated. You can enter the lower level of Xia Corridor here.”
"So is it because the guards have not been defeated yet and the barrier guarding the exit has not been released?" After hearing this, Artolis looked surprised: "Then where are the guards on this floor?"
"Perhaps what that boy is fighting against is the guards here..." Elena said, her expression gradually becoming serious.
"ah--!"
"What did you scream suddenly?" Atoris's voice really startled Elena. When she came to her senses, she hit the opponent's head with a knife.
"It hurts~" Covering her head, which had been traumatized a second time, Artolis slapped Elena's hand away unconvinced.
"Barong is always a maverick. That guy definitely wants to fight against the guards alone!"
"What, you still plan to go back and help him?" Elena put her hands on her waist and straightened her waist: "Why do you think that kid gave such instructions?"
Elena took a deep breath as she spoke: "Isn't it because he thinks he already has a chance to win?"
Just as Elena finished her words, a black shadow "swooshed" out of the forest. Seeing this, Artolis was about to shout "be careful", but suddenly realized that the shadow's trajectory was not on her at all. expected range.
At that moment, Artolis's perception was fixed on the twisting wind whirlpool beside her, as if she had seen something incredible. She couldn't help but be stunned and forget herself. She moved her eyes upward to look directly at the scorching sun rising in the distance. The unwilling ambition that invaded his ears was broken and scattered in the other side of the sky along with the violent explosion and the black mist floating in it.
Looking back, the unrecognizable black shadow was nailed to the boundary of the cave entrance by the spear that penetrated the chest.
It was like a heretic who was burdened with sin, being restrained on the cross of condemnation, receiving the baptism of the sun, burning the sin along with the decaying body, and finally turned into ashes under the eyes of the girl.
However, this was not over yet. The barrier guarding the entrance of the cave began to crack from where the long blade had penetrated. It only took a moment for the cracks to cover the entire barrier.
Immediately afterwards, a loud noise came, and the barrier guarding the entrance of the cave broke in front of their eyes, like petals swept by the strong wind, withering miserably.
"So is this all what you expected?" With her back to the sun, Artolis didn't want to look back, she just listened to the tired footsteps coming towards her, nodded and sighed with a smile.
"I know that if it were you, you would never ignore your companions."
"Isn't that natural?" A mysterious figure not far away stepped into the sunshine with difficulty. The visitor smiled slightly and confirmed Artoris's speculation.
"Artoris staked her life to protect the nobility, so I will take over. Because this is the mission that should have been left to me." The voice that responded revealed a bit of weakness.
Even though he was dragging his broken and embarrassing body, the man still felt that his choice was worthy of his conscience.
On that day, he took over the weight of the girl from the world with great care.
He vowed that he would never go astray again this time.
He vowed that he would never forget this time.
He swore that he would never let go this time——
This is the result of Baron Bokar's implementation of ego, just silently confessing the longing that has been hidden in his heart for more than a thousand days.
However, with such an answer, what followed was destined to be the expected silence from both parties.
Baron understood that if he was the kind of guy who could confess his feelings, then this reunion after a long separation would not end in this way.
After a moment of imagining the scene that seemed like a fantasy to him, Barong smiled, chose to suppress all his thoughts in his heart, and slowly stretched out his hand towards the girl who had her back turned to him. .
Although he was not good at words, at least he had to say that sentence.
"Welcome back, Artolis!"
"You guy..." Turning back to meet Baron's sincere gaze, Artolis shook her head with a slight headache.
"It's because of this stubborn attitude that I feel embarrassed. But - you and I are both at peace with each other. This is the best result. This encounter after a thousand days has not left me with a bad feeling. ." The sunlight cast from the distant sky shone dullly, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of Artolis's mouth when facing the other party's sight that overlapped with the morning light.
"Then, Artolis Grandpup will respond to your expectations. As your reliable companion and powerful fighter, I am back!"
