Doomsday Pillars

The little girl was the person Alex desperately searched for several days. 

She swiftly ran out from the trees. Looking at her pale contenance, Alex thought she probably had been hiding there for a while, observing everything that had been transpired.

From the woods across the river, Tiffany once again shouted, as she was afraid that Cerri didn't hear her, "Stop Stop! Please don't hurt my dad!" She said, while moving next to Cerri and grabbed the hem of the mysterious girl's clothes.

To Alex and the others' complete surprise, his daughter was able to make the legendary beast stop its charge, even when Cerri didn't give the order yet.

Seeing that his gamble was working, Heinrich appeared to be extremely glad, "Hahaha, I knew it! The little girl is the key."

Heinrich's ambiguous words made Alex extremely irritated. After all, it was his daughter that he was talking about!

"What are you planning, Heinrich?" Alex said firmly. He once again tried to channel his spirit power and move his body, but he was still unable to do so. Turned his head around with great difficulty due to the wounds and poison, Alex asked, "What did you do to me?!"

"I am truly sorry, Mr Alex. But don't worry, just follow along and we all will be alive at the end of this." 

Alex of course would not willing to play along, especially when the situation involved the safety of his daughter. He sneakily took a glance at the danger. At first, it only looked like a rusty dagger made of bronze. However, Alex knew it must be an artifact as there was no way a 'rusty' dagger could inflict debuff on him.

He assumed the dagger had the ability to inflict some sort of negative effect, such as [Poisoned], [Paralyzed] or any other effects, to his body, which then made him unable to channel his power properly.

Alex knew this type of ability etched in an artifact would have some sort of time restriction, just like his Silver Dagger's ability [Haste] that could only last for 10 minutes.

And for this kind of ability that affected him, Alex estimated the time should be the same, or at most would only be 30 minutes. Hence, he decided to play along for now, until he found another solution or the debuff wore off him.

Across the river, Alex could see Tiffany appear to be talking with the mysterious girl. Apparently, Cerri also seemed to be listening to what she had to say. This made Alex even more confused about the situation.

After a few minutes, Cerri turned around and looked at them across the river with a disgruntled face. She then floated up into the air and flew above the river, shocking everyone. She then said, "You all should be grateful. I have decided to let you leave from here with your life intact. Now, go away!"

Unfortunately, Heinrich, as the leader of Ahnenerbe organization, would never let his sacrifices and those of his men be in vain. Hence, he replied to Cerri with determination, "Dear Supreme Being, I have been living for more than a hundred year, looking for the origin of humanity. All the evidence I have collected through my lifetime finally led me to this place. Therefore, please let me come along and see this magnificent place with my own two eyes!"

Without even hesitating, Cerri replied Heinrich with the same amount of determination, perhaps even more, "No! You certainly cannot! This is no place for a thief like you! Leave now or die in this place!"

Heirich appeared to be disappointed, but it was just for a moment. The next second, he swiftly said, "Dear Supreme Being, I am willing to die in my journey to search for the truth! So yes, I am not afraid of death! Supreme Being, please listen to my reason... I have evidence to believe I could do something about the obstacle inside this place. So please! We can help you face it together."

Upon hearing that, Cerri turned silent and seemed to be deep in thought. After a while, she finally moved from her position.

While still floating in the air, Cerri moved towards the barrier which separated the two areas and touched it with both of her arms. Slowly but surely, everyone who was still alive could see a gap was opening in the barrier.

Heinrich didn't think much anymore, he quickly beckoned everyone to follow him. He swiftly led everyone as he walked through the gap inside the barrier and touched the other side first.

Naturally, Alex and Ardeth followed the group. Especially the wounded Alex, who was supported by the other Iron Eagle fighters.

As Heinrich's feet touched the lush grasses, he suddenly turned so excited Alex thought for a second he was on drugs. Being in the mythical garden in person and seeing the wonderful sight around him made so Heinrich didn't care about anything else anymore. He even let go of Alex and Ardeth.

Meanwhile, Tiffany quickly ran towards Alex and dived to his embrace, hugging him tightly. For a moment, Alex ignored the pain he currently felt and hugged his missing daughter tightly as well. He also did not forget to pat her head with affection, as he tried to calm her down.

"I am sorry, daddy. I… I was just helping out a friend. I... am sorry." Tiffany said, crying in Alex's embrace.

"It's alright. The most important thing is that you are safe. But you still need to explain it to your mom." Alex said, continuing to pat her head." Now daddy needs to talk to your friend."

Carefully released his embrace, Alex beckoned Ardeth to guard Tiffany. He then walked towards Cerri, nearly stumbling to the ground during the process, and sternly said, "Let us go now and I will consider this never happened."

"Human.. Your love towards your offspring is really fascinating. But no, I can't let Tiffany go. After all, I need her."

Alex, of course, unconvinced by her words, "She is still too young and this place is very dangerous. I will help you with whatever it is. Just let her go."

"No. You definitely can't help me, only she can. But I understand your concern. Don't worry, I will definitely protect her. She, after all, is my friend as well."

Realizing that Cerri would not budge on her decision, Alex could only helplessly shake his head. He then returned to Ardeth and Tiffany and beckoned them to follow.

The group finally walked together toward the center of the garden, led by Cerri. As they made their way through verdant grassfield, abundant trees and lively small rivers, each and everyone of them couldn't help but be amazed by the stunning sight.

Alex also found that Snowy, the Garuda that always accompanied Tiffany, was also here. But he just flew around the place, playing around.

After a while, they finally arrived at a place that was completely different from what they had seen before. A ruin with a dozen of snake statues erected around it.

As they walked closer, they discovered a large staircase heading downwards to the depth of ruin. They proceeded to walk through the staircase until they could only find a stone bridge at the end of it.

The stone bridge was only around 5 meters wide; at first glance, it looked like a normal stone bridge, one could find in many cities. However, Alex and the other couldn't see the end of the bridge as it was completely shrouded in darkness.

Looking at the unknown before them, Cerri gestured something to Heinrich and he seemed to understand what her intention was. He ordered two of his fighters to walk in front, scouting the path ahead.

And just as expected, when the two fighters only walked a few dozen steps, a large snake-like creature suddenly rose from the pitch-black darkness and quickly devoured the two poor fighters.

Seeing the gruesome fate of the fighters, the expression on Cerri's face didn't seem to change. Meanwhile, Alex had swiftly blocked Tiffany's line of sight with his body the moment Heinrich ordered his fighters to 'scout' the way.

Cerri then opened her mouth and said, "This is the time to use your ability, Tiffany."

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