Chapter 366: The Other Side

The portal continued to glow behind the group after everyone had crossed to the other side. Irina slowly lowered her hands and let out a soft sigh after keeping the connection stable so they could pass without a hitch.

Ryan approached the elf princess and raised his right hand to gently rest it on her hair.

"Well done," Ryan said, stroking Irina’s head to acknowledge her good work with the spatial rift.

Feeling her leader’s touch, she immediately blushed and smiled happily, her long ears twitching slightly as she enjoyed the gesture.

However, from a few steps back, Karol watched them with her arms crossed and an annoyed expression at the scene they were making in the middle of the mission.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You can stop looking at each other like that now," Karol interrupted loudly to cut the moment between the two short.

At such a direct interruption from her companion, Irina quickly looked away and puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, though she stayed close to Ryan.

Ryan calmly withdrew his hand and took a couple of steps forward to inspect the place they had arrived at. The environment on the other side of the portal wasn’t much different from the previous room in Kowarre, as they were all still standing inside a closed, gray-walled room with no doors in sight.

The only thing that stood out in the underground room was a flat, table-like structure protruding from one of the walls. Resting on that rocky surface were a few ancient objects that had been left behind, like a pile of bracelets gathered at one end.

Beatrice walked toward the center of the room, silently observing the dead-end walls that completely surrounded them.

"So, are we underneath Ignis right now?" Beatrice asked, turning her face toward the dragoness to confirm their location.

Lise nodded with absolute certainty, implying that the transport through the hidden portal had gone exactly as planned.

Hearing that confirmation, Ryan looked at Beatrice for a moment as a memory from the past crossed his mind. Being in that secret chamber reminded him of the fact that the two of them hadn’t been able to find any return portals when he was transported to the demon continent some time ago.

On that occasion, they had to travel across the surface without having any idea that installations like this existed hidden underground.

Suddenly, the room’s tranquility was interrupted by the sound of very heavy breathing accompanied by faint groans. Chloe had lagged behind near the spot where they entered, leaning forward as she brought a hand to her chest with difficulty.

Ryan immediately shifted his attention to the young woman and approached her upon noticing her sudden discomfort.

"What’s wrong?" Ryan asked, closely observing her condition.

"I’m having a hard time breathing... Your Majesty," Chloe replied.

She was completely pale and breaking out in a cold sweat, leaning a trembling hand against the wall as she strained all her senses to keep from losing her balance and falling to the ground.

But there wasn’t any strange magic in the area, nor did Ryan perceive any hostility. Aside from all of them, there was no one else in the room.

Karol frowned upon seeing the brown-haired girl’s reaction and took a deep breath to check what was going on with the room’s atmosphere.

"Now that I think about it, there’s no oxygen in this place. Even though it’s just a little bit, it’s hard for me to breathe," Karol said, bringing a hand to her throat as she felt the noticeable heaviness of the enclosed environment.

Lise looked at the two humans without showing any surprise on her face, maintaining a highly relaxed posture regarding the problem they had just noticed.

"Yes, we are at least fifty meters underground. It’s normal for it to be like this," Lise said, downplaying the issue, since the chamber was completely sealed to avoid being discovered from the outside.

Irina blinked in confusion at her companions’ comments and took a couple of deep breaths to test her own lungs.

"Though I don’t notice any lack of oxygen in my lungs," Irina said, looking at the rest of the group without feeling any kind of suffocation or dizziness.

Beatrice, who was just as unaffected as the dragoness and the elf, spoke up to explain the difference.

"It’s only natural. Unlike humans, we have better adaptability to these kinds of environments. The mere fact of having mana is enough for a demon not to need to breathe. I suppose something similar happens with you since you’re an elf," Beatrice explained with her usual calm.

Lise nodded a couple of times, completely agreeing with the demon’s explanation of how their bodies utilized magical energy so they wouldn’t have to rely on ordinary air.

Ryan listened closely to that logic regarding the different races, but upon evaluating his own condition, he noticed a detail that caught his attention. He had been breathing completely normally since they stepped into the room, without feeling the slightest trace of suffocation or fatigue in his body.

’But I don’t feel like I’m suffocating either, and I don’t notice anything strange. What does that mean? I’m a human too, you know?’ Ryan thought to himself, silently questioning just how much his own body had changed after becoming a demon king and raising his stats.

While he was thinking about that, Karol controlled her breathing through her own effort and took a step toward Ryan to give her opinion on how to proceed.

"I’ll be fine, Ryan. But it would be best for Chloe to head back," Karol continued, gesturing with her eyes toward her companion, who looked increasingly exhausted.

Hearing that they planned to send her back before even reaching the surface, Chloe gritted her teeth and lifted her face with effort.

"No... I can hold on..." Chloe assured with a broken voice, refusing to abandon her post even though she could barely stay on her feet.

"Don’t be a fool. Fall back, human."

From the look Lise gave her, it was clear that she considered Chloe nothing more than a nuisance.

"But I... I can do this..."

"How foolish." Lise turned her back on her.

Irina stepped beside Chloe and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Relax. Let us handle this; go back to Kowarre."

’She’s stubborn. I don’t dislike that she puts the mission first. But...’