Chapter 107: Trapped in the Current

"I don’t see anything there." Chris scratched his cheek as he looked at the mountain peak below them.

"It’s there, I’m sure." Amara added from the side.

"If you say so... Azreon, land down."

*ROAR!*

Once they landed, they all jumped off Azreon’s back and looked around.

Amara started walking toward a boulder that stood between the trees. It looked like a regular boulder and was covered with moss.

Chris watched her with interest as he followed her.

She approached the boulder and extended her hand to wipe the moss from its front. As soon as some of the moss was removed, Chris could clearly see symbols etched into the stone.

"I have never seen such symbols before." He shook his head. He was sure they weren’t written in either Elven or Demon language.

"Aelia, do you know anything?" He looked at Aelia beside him.

"No." She shook her head. "I have never seen such symbols either."

He looked at Amara.

"Don’t look at me." She shook her head. "I have no idea."

He raised an eyebrow. "Then what’s this about?"

Amara didn’t answer. She just pulled out a golden key and extended her hand, inserting it into a small slit in the stone.

*Click.*

Chris squinted his eyes. He would have never thought that the slit was meant for the key. It didn’t look like it at all. It looked like just a normal crease in the stone.

Amara slowly turned the key.

*Click.*

Another clicking sound was heard, and the stone boulder started to vibrate. In the next moment, the boulder started moving to the side, revealing a narrow staircase beneath it that led down into the earth. It was wide enough for only one person to squeeze through at a time.

"Now that’s new." Chris was surprised. "Whoever made this entrance made sure to conceal it very well."

He then looked at Amara. "Planning to enter?"

She nodded as she stepped onto the first step. "Yes, but I assume you won’t let me go alone."

"Good thinking." He chuckled as he followed behind her.

After stepping down a few steps...

"Ehm... Chris..." He heard Aelia’s voice from behind.

"Hm?" He looked over his shoulder.

"I can’t seem to enter." Aelia said in confusion as she lifted her leg, intending to step down, but her leg seemed to be stopped by an invisible barrier at the entrance.

"Let me try." Astra stepped forward, intending to pass through. "Eh? What is this thing?" However, she was also stopped by the invisible barrier.

Chris turned around and approached the entrance again.

Extending his hand, he touched something invisible. His eyebrows raised as he pushed against the barrier with all his strength, but it didn’t seem to move in the slightest.

He became annoyed as he turned to Amara. "What is this?"

"...I really don’t know." She shook her head as she looked at the entrance with interest. "Maybe only two people can enter at a time?" She deduced.

"And now what? We’re trapped inside?"

"It seems so." She nodded. "We might need to find another exit."

"I refuse to believe that this barrier can hold me." He swung his fist, intending to punch it.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Amara jumped forward and grabbed his hand tightly. "Are you stupid?!"

"Huh? Who are you calling stupid?" He looked at her in annoyance.

"Do you see how narrow this passage is? And what if you punch it and it doesn’t work? What then? Do you intend to bury us alive?" She knew very well how much force Chris’s punch could carry.

"Sigh... You’re right." He retracted his hand. "I guess we have no choice, then."

He looked at the girls outside. "Aelia, take the twins on Azreon and stay safe. We’ll try to find an exit as soon as possible."

"Okay, I will." Aelia nodded.

"Hey, isn’t this actually good?" Astra’s eyes suddenly widened as she looked at Stella.

Stella was having the same reaction. "Yes, yes! Now we can go and play with beasts without the big bad guy stopping us!"

They both turned to Aelia. "Big sister, let’s go hunt!"

"Okay, okay. Let’s go." Aelia chuckled at their reaction. She knew they were having fun hunting the beasts, but Chris didn’t let them do it anymore because he didn’t want to waste time while the booster was active.

Both twins turned to Chris in the next moment and stuck out their tongues. "Bleeee."

A vein bulged on his forehead as his eye twitched. "Is that how you want to play? Fine, fine. Just wait until I get out of this place. I’ll be sure to spank you harder than last time."

"Meh... Big bad guy, you can threaten us as much as you want, but first you’ll need to find an exit!" Astra happily took Aelia’s hand as she pulled her back.

"Yes, yes! Don’t act so high and mighty. Consider your situation first!" Stella joined her as she grabbed Aelia’s other hand.

Chris watched them retreat with narrowed eyes. ’Fine. Fine. You’ve brought this upon yourselves.’

In the next moment, he sighed and shook his head before turning around. "Let’s go."

Amara nodded before they both started descending the staircase, going deeper into the ground.

...

Fifteen minutes later.

"How long is this staircase?" Chris raised his eyebrows in wonder. They had been going down for so long.

"How should I know?" Amara shook her head as she led the way.

"It’s good that we’re not claustrophobic." He shook his head.

After a few more minutes, they finally saw some light below them. It was faint.

They approached it, and as they stepped down the last step, they looked ahead.

"A boat? Here?" Chris raised his eyebrows at what he was seeing.

In front of them seemed to be some kind of underground lake or river, with a small boat docked right in front of them.

On the boat was a single candle, placed in a holder in the middle.

The candle barely illuminated a small area around the boat, allowing them to see the dark water beneath it but nothing further.

Chris extended his hand, intending to conjure a fireball to light up the place.

"Hm?" In the next moment, however, he was stunned to realize that his fire mana didn’t respond to his call at all.

He was sure he still had mana inside him, but he couldn’t use it.

"What is it?" Noticing his reaction, Amara looked at him.

"I... I can’t use my mana here." He looked at her in confusion.

She raised her eyebrows as she extended her hand. In the next moment, her eyes widened slightly too. "I can’t use my mana either."

"How fun is that." He chuckled. "It seems we have no other option..." He stepped onto the boat before sitting down.

Amara nodded as she took a step, intending to climb onto the boat.

"Kyaa!" She screamed as the ground beneath her foot seemed to crumble and sink.

Chris quickly leaned forward, catching her before pulling her onto his lap on the boat.

"Are you alright?" He asked while holding her.

She took a deep breath before nodding. "I’m fine." Then she looked at him in annoyance. "How long do you intend to hold me?"

He gave her an awkward smile as he released her. "Sorry."

She quickly moved away and stood up, but in the next moment, her leg stumbled as she lost her footing.

"Hey, be careful." Chris stood up and caught her before she could fall.

Amara raised an eyebrow as she sat down on the boat and looked at her high heel.

"What in the world..." Her eyes widened slightly as she saw the state of her high heel. The entire bottom part, together with the heel, had melted.

She quickly took off her high heel, revealing her delicate foot, before taking another identical one from her storage ring and putting it on.

Then, taking the ruined heel, she carefully extended it toward the water and dipped the end into it.

Pulling it out, her eyes narrowed as the end that had been dipped had completely disappeared, as if it had melted.

"This is not normal water." She looked at Chris as she tossed her ruined heel onto the ground beside the boat. "We can’t allow it to touch us."

He nodded, having already reached the same conclusion himself. "Let’s be careful."

Chris looked around. "At least there’s a paddle." He crouched down and took out what looked like a wooden paddle before dipping it into the water.

When he pulled it out, it wasn’t damaged at all.

"This is getting more and more interesting." He shook his head as he sat down.

"So what should we do now? I can’t see anything in this darkness." He asked as he looked around the boat.

"I... I don’t know. Let’s just try to move in a straight line." She suggested.

Chris nodded before dipping the paddle back into the water.

Their boat started moving. Chris paddled once on the left side, then once on the right side.

He repeated the process over and over again, trying to keep the boat moving as straight as possible.

After paddling for a few minutes, he suddenly felt something pulling on the paddle he had just dipped into the water. He raised an eyebrow as he pulled the paddle back, and it came out of the water.

"What is it?" Amara asked.

"Something just pulled on the paddle." He shook his head. "It’s probably nothing."

She nodded as he continued paddling. The candle on the boat continued to burn silently, illuminating them and a few more meters around them.

After paddling for a few more minutes, he finally saw something. His eyes narrowed as he looked into the distance.

"That... that’s a shore." He said, pointing ahead.

She squinted her eyes and nodded. "That’s a good sign."

As they approached the shore, however, their expressions changed.

They could clearly see the remains of a melted heel lying on the ground. It was the same high heel Amara had tossed earlier.

"We’ve gone in a circle." She narrowed her eyes as she brought her hand up to her chin, thinking.

Chris nodded, as it didn’t take a genius to figure that out. He also started thinking. He was sure he had been paddling in a straight line.

Amara suddenly looked at him. "You said that something pulled on the paddle in the water?"

"Yes." He nodded. Then he realized something too. "Do you think something in the water changed our direction? Like... some kind of creature?"

She nodded. "Most likely, but we can’t be sure it’s a creature."

"Then what do we do?" He scratched his head.

"We test it out. Let’s try again."

He nodded before paddling in the same direction as earlier, trying to keep a straight line.

Soon, he felt the same sensation as earlier. Something was pulling on the paddle.

He nodded at Amara.

"Keep the paddle in the water. Try to feel it. What does it do?" She looked at the paddle.

"It’s... it’s trying to spin it..." He raised an eyebrow.

"Spin it?" Amara started thinking. "It must be a whirlpool." She nodded in the next moment before standing up. "Give me the paddle."

Chris released the paddle as she grabbed it.

He looked at her curiously. "What are you doing?"

"I’m trying to feel how fast it spins. Be silent." She replied impatiently as she loosened her grip on the paddle, letting it spin in her hand.

"Fine... fine..." He sat down and observed her.

She stood still for a moment before starting to paddle slowly. Chris stayed silent as he watched her.

After a few minutes of paddling, she stopped and grabbed the paddle with both hands. It seemed to spin in her hands again, slowly.

’Another whirlpool?’ Chris raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.

Soon, Amara started paddling slowly again, changing direction.

Chris’s expression became awkward. ’Is she... Is she actually trying to calculate the direction based on how fast the whirlpool is spinning?’

He felt that it sounded ridiculous, but he didn’t have any other idea.