Chapter 700 The Treasure Beneath Elaris

Irina remained standing for several seconds, her arms folded across her chest as she stared toward the entrance of the cave. The information they had uncovered should have answered some of the questions surrounding Elaris, yet somehow it had only created more. Eldric had been one of the two cultivators who had fought over the village fifteen years ago. He had survived the battle, disappeared for five days, and then returned shortly after an enormous explosion had occurred beneath the town. From that moment onward, nobody had been able to leave Elaris. He had eventually become the village elder, while secretly possessing a strange fire-based suit similar to the one Voss had discovered. The pieces were beginning to connect, but Irina could not shake the feeling that there was still something fundamentally wrong with the story.

She finally turned toward Liam and Voss. "I still don’t get it, though."

Both men turned toward her.

Irina’s expression was serious. "Why kill the villagers?"

Voss frowned slightly.

Irina continued before either of them could answer. "Eldric is here for the treasure, right? That’s what started everything. People came here fifteen years ago because they believed there was some treasure hidden beneath the village. Eldric fought another cultivator over control of this place because of it. So why would he kill the villagers? Why hunt them? If his goal is the treasure, shouldn’t he want the villagers alive? They could be useful. They know the land. They know the village. They could know something he doesn’t."

Voss’s expression became complicated.

He slowly shook his head. "I don’t know."

Irina stared at him.

"I genuinely don’t," Voss admitted. "That’s one of the biggest questions I’ve never been able to answer. Everything I’ve discovered points toward Eldric being connected to what is happening here, but I still don’t understand why he would go this far."

He looked down at his hands, his fingers slowly tightening.

"It is either Eldric is a psychopath who genuinely enjoys watching people suffer, or there is something more behind all these deaths."

The cave became quiet again.

Irina’s eyes narrowed as she considered the possibilities.

Liam, however, remained silent.

His mind had already returned to the first time he had met Eldric.

He remembered the village elder’s warm smile, the polite tone, the carefully chosen words. He remembered how quickly Eldric had welcomed them, how naturally he had presented himself as a helpful man who only wanted the best for his people. Liam had noticed something wrong almost immediately, though he had not been able to identify it at first. Eldric did not move like an ordinary village elder. He watched people too carefully. He measured reactions. His words were always placed exactly where he wanted them, and whenever a conversation approached something uncomfortable, he redirected it without making the other person realize he had done so.

Even the way he had spoken about the supposed witch and her sons had felt rehearsed.

Now Liam understood why.

Eldric had spent fifteen years building that story.

Fifteen years creating an identity.

Fifteen years making sure everyone around him believed the same lie.

A man like that would not kill hundreds of people simply because he enjoyed it without some deeper reason. At least, Liam didn’t think so.

He had met violent people before. He had met people who killed because they enjoyed power, people who killed because they were angry, people who killed because they were afraid. Eldric felt different.

He was calculated.

Manipulative.

Patient.

That was what bothered Liam the most.

A man who simply enjoyed killing could be predictable. A man driven by anger could be provoked. A man driven by fear could be cornered.

But someone who carefully controlled his emotions and spent fifteen years maintaining a false history was much harder to understand.

Liam finally nodded slowly.

"Then we’ll find out."

Irina looked at him.

Voss raised an eyebrow.

Liam’s expression became calm.

"If we want to catch Eldric, we have to make him panic."

Voss stared at him for a moment.

Then he laughed.

Not a small chuckle either. He actually laughed, shaking his head as though Liam had just suggested something ridiculous.

"Good luck with that."

Liam looked at him.

Voss’s smile faded slightly as he leaned against the cave wall. "I’m serious. That man is as calm as still water. I’ve followed him for years. I’ve watched him in situations where anyone else would have lost their temper, but he never does. He doesn’t shout. He doesn’t become reckless. He doesn’t show fear. Even when something goes wrong, he simply adjusts."

Voss’s eyes narrowed.

"I’ve spent ten years trying to understand that man. You can’t get a reaction out of him, much less make him panic."

Irina glanced between them.

Liam, however, had a smile on his face.

A small one.

Confident.

Almost amused.

"Trust me," Liam said. "We can."

Voss stared at him.

Irina’s expression softened slightly, though curiosity immediately replaced it.

She had known Liam long enough to recognize that smile.

It was the smile he wore whenever he had already found an answer but had not yet decided how much of it he wanted to reveal.

"How?" Irina asked.

There was no doubt in her voice.

She wasn’t questioning Liam because she doubted him. If anything, she was asking because she knew he had a reason. There had been countless moments where Liam had seemingly walked into situations with nothing but a strange idea and somehow uncovered something everyone else had overlooked.

Liam exchanged a glance with Irina.

Then he looked at Voss.

"If we want to make him panic," Liam said softly, "then we need to find the treasure before him."

Silence.

Both Irina and Voss stared at him simultaneously.

Voss’s expression was almost comical.

He blinked once.

Then again.

"You can’t be serious."

Liam’s smile widened.

Voss shook his head. "I’ve been looking for years."

"And?"

"And if there was some treasure hidden beneath this town, don’t you think I would have found something by now?"

Irina’s expression also became questioning.

"He’s got a point," she said. "Eldric has supposedly been searching for it for fifteen years. If he hasn’t found it, why would you think we can?"

Liam didn’t immediately answer.

Voss continued, "I’ve explored this mountain. I’ve explored abandoned buildings. I’ve searched places people haven’t visited in decades. I’ve used the suit to move through areas without anyone noticing me. I’ve watched Eldric. I’ve followed him underground. I’ve even searched places he seemed interested in."

He spread his hands.

"Nothing."

Irina nodded slowly. "And Eldric has been searching for fifteen years. If the treasure really existed and was somewhere obvious, he should have found it already."

"Exactly," Voss said.

"There was never anything to begin with," Irina concluded.

Liam looked at both of them.

Then he slowly stood.

He brushed the dust from his clothes, taking his time as though the answer were so simple that he couldn’t understand why they hadn’t seen it yet.

"There was."

Voss’s expression changed.

Irina’s eyes narrowed.

Liam looked toward the ground.

"Fifteen years ago, Eldric was close to finding the treasure."

Neither of them interrupted.

"But he unfortunately activated something he wasn’t supposed to."

Voss’s eyes widened slightly.

"The explosion."

Liam nodded.

"The result was him losing his powers and this deceptive dome covering the entire town."

Voss slowly stood as well.

Liam continued, "Whatever he activated wasn’t supposed to be activated yet. It was probably some kind of defense mechanism, security system, or ancient protection system connected to whatever is hidden beneath Elaris. Something powerful enough to isolate this entire area."

Irina listened carefully.

Liam’s voice remained calm.

"And after that happened, Eldric probably assumed whatever he had found was useless."

Voss frowned.

"Why?"

"Because he lost his powers."

Liam looked at him.

"Imagine spending years searching for something because you believe it’s a treasure. You finally find a mechanism hidden beneath the village, activate it, and suddenly your power disappears. Then the entire town becomes sealed inside some strange barrier. You don’t find any treasure. You don’t gain some incredible artifact. Instead, you lose the abilities that made you powerful in the first place."

Liam’s eyes sharpened.

"What would you assume?"

Voss slowly understood.

"That I found the wrong thing."

"Exactly."

Liam nodded.

"He must have thought whatever he came across was a fake, a trap, or simply unrelated to the treasure. And if that happened, he wouldn’t necessarily return to the same place."

Voss stared at him.

Liam continued, "But he was very close."

The cave suddenly felt much smaller.

Irina’s eyes widened slightly as the implication settled in.

"He stopped searching because he thought he had failed," Liam said. "But he didn’t fail."

He looked toward the ground beneath their feet.

"He simply didn’t know what he had activated."

Irina’s mind began racing.

"But there’s something I don’t understand," she said.

Liam turned toward her.

"If Eldric activated the mechanism, why did the dome trap everyone inside instead of stopping people from entering?"

Liam smiled.

"Exactly."

Irina froze.

Liam stepped closer to her.

"Think about it."

His voice was calm, almost conversational.

"Why would a defense mechanism allow outsiders to enter but prevent anyone from leaving?"

Irina stared at him.

At first, she didn’t understand.

Then her eyes slowly widened.

She looked toward the cave entrance.

Her thoughts began connecting the pieces.

People could enter Elaris.

People couldn’t leave.

Travelers who came searching for missing relatives became trapped.

The village remained isolated.

The dome had not been designed to keep something outside.

It was designed to keep something inside.

Irina’s eyes lit up.

"It’s not a prison."

Liam’s grin appeared.

"It’s a container."

Voss’s eyes widened.

Irina continued, her voice becoming faster as the realization took hold. "It’s a defense mechanism set in place so that even if whatever is inside was taken, the mechanism would make sure it never leaves the area."

Liam’s grin widened.

"Now you’re thinking."

Voss looked between them.

"So the dome isn’t protecting the village from something outside."

"No," Liam said.

He looked toward the ground.

"It’s protecting something inside the village from leaving."

The silence that followed was heavy.

Voss slowly turned toward the cave entrance.

"If that’s true..."

"Then the treasure really exists," Irina finished.

Liam nodded.

"And Eldric activated the mechanism fifteen years ago."

Voss’s expression became increasingly serious.

"But he never found the treasure."

Liam’s eyes gleamed.

"Exactly."

He turned toward the two of them.

"Eldric activated the defense system, lost his powers, and probably assumed he had stumbled upon a useless trap. But whatever he was searching for was still there."

Voss stared at him.

Liam smiled.

"Which means all we need to do..."

He paused.

"...is find out where Eldric stopped."