Chapter 108: Against the Wind

Amara continued paddling slowly, occasionally stopping and letting the paddle spin in her hand before changing direction.

Half an hour later, they saw something in the distance. It was another shore.

Chris’s eyes widened as he stood up and squinted, trying to see it more clearly.

This time, the shore looked completely different from the previous one, and there was no high heel on the ground.

He looked at Amara in amazement. "You... you actually managed to calculate the direction? Just like that?"

"Humph. Don’t compare me to your muscle brain." She looked to the side as if she didn’t care, but he could see a small smile at the corner of her lips.

"Sigh... Fine... You’re a little smart, I’ll give you that." He shook his head. He had to admit that he would never have been able to calculate the direction like that.

If Amara hadn’t been with him, he might have been stuck there forever.

Soon, their small boat approached the shore, and they climbed out and stepped onto the ground.

As soon as they stepped onto the ground, however, the candle on the boat started shining more brightly.

Its light intensified rapidly until they had to squint due to the brightness. When they opened their eyes again, however, the candle had disappeared from its place.

In its place was a blue crystal that looked like a drop of water. It shone with a faint blue light before floating toward them.

Chris extended his hand and grabbed the crystal before examining it.

"What’s this for?" He raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"I know as much as you do." Amara shook her head, looking at the crystal.

Chris looked at her suspiciously. "You already knew about this place. You knew how to find it and how to open it. And now you expect me to believe that you don’t know anything about this?"

Amara looked at him for a moment, remaining silent, before sighing. "I really don’t know. If you don’t believe me, that’s fine." She shrugged. "It’s complicated."

He shook his head, deciding it was useless to push her further, and stored the crystal in his storage ring.

Turning toward the passage in the wall, he took a step forward. "Let’s continue, then."

Amara followed behind him without saying anything.

The passage was, just like the previous one, completely dark. However, this time it didn’t lead deeper into the ground but continued in a straight line. Another fifteen minutes passed before they reached another opening.

"Are you actually kidding me? What’s with the candles and dark rooms?" Chris raised an eyebrow as he looked ahead.

Again, a single candle was waiting for them. This time, its holder was floating in the air, while the candle illuminated a small area around it.

Shaking his head, he approached and grabbed the candle holder.

Looking around, he saw that everything was completely dark. Just as expected, he couldn’t see anything.

Holding the candle, he walked a few steps forward, but was soon stopped by a wall.

Confused, he turned to the right and started following the wall, with Amara following behind him.

Not long after, an opening in the wall was revealed. He smiled as he stepped through it and continued walking forward.

Shortly after, he ran into another wall.

He followed the same tactic, following the wall until he found another opening before going through it.

...

Half an hour later.

"This... This is a damn maze." He shook his head as he finally realized it. He had been walking for so long, only to find more and more passages and dead ends.

"And you’ve only just realized that?" Amara sneered from the side.

He looked at her in annoyance. "So you already figured it out? Why didn’t you say anything?"

"I wanted to see how long it would take you to figure it out." She shook her head as she looked at him.

For some reason, he felt that she was thinking something bad about him.

A vein bulged on his forehead as he looked at her. "Woman, couldn’t you have said something earlier? We might be completely lost by now."

"Humph, you might be lost, but I’m not. I’ve clearly memorized every passage we’ve been through. I can easily find my way back to the start."

"Then... Miss Smartest, what do you suggest we do?"

"Just give me the candle." She stepped forward and took it from his hands.

Chris felt annoyed by her behavior, but he knew there was nothing he could do. At a time like this, he had to rely on her brain, as they seemed to have entered some kind of strange puzzle tomb.

Amara took the candle and stared at it for a moment before pointing at the flame. "Do you see how the flame is tilted to one side? I think it’s showing us the direction."

Chris squinted as he looked at the candle flame. Just as she said, it was indeed tilted to one side.

He had been walking around with the candle the entire time, so he hadn’t noticed it at all. Maybe if he had stood still for a while, he would have noticed.

"I see..." He rubbed his chin. "Then let’s follow it."

Amara turned around and started following the direction of the flame. After walking for a while, she would stop to observe the candle before continuing.

They kept moving from one passage to another, and sure enough, the flame on the candle would occasionally change direction, showing them where to go.

After roughly half an hour of walking, Chris suddenly felt that something was strange. Compared to the previous room, this one wasn’t nearly as difficult.

Sure, he might have failed to notice that the flame was showing them the direction, but he would have eventually figured it out, right? Compared to the previous room with the whirlpools, this wasn’t difficult at all.

Just as he was thinking about this—

*WOOSH!*

A strong gust of wind suddenly blew in from the right.

Chris instinctively jumped forward, positioning his body to shield the candle from the wind.

The candle was safe.

Just as he released a quiet breath, he suddenly felt another gust of wind coming from the opposite direction as the small candle flame started bending toward him.

"Amara!" He yelled out.

Amara quickly moved and shielded the candle from the other direction.

He didn’t know what was happening, but he was quite sure they couldn’t let the candle flame be extinguished.

They stood there, holding the candle between them and shielding it from the wind for a few minutes, but nothing changed. The wind kept blowing.

"I don’t think it’s going to stop." Amara shook her head. "We have to keep moving."

Chris nodded, realizing that as well, and they slowly continued forward while shielding the flame from the wind.

They went through a few more passages before the gusts of wind became more violent and unpredictable. They would suddenly change direction out of nowhere, forcing them to quickly adjust their positions.

Even while managing to shield the flame from the wind, it was still very difficult to determine which direction they should go next, as the wind would interfere with the flame and cause it to tilt in another direction.

After each passage, they would need to stop for a long time and carefully observe the flame to determine which direction to take next.

After another half an hour, they were both sweating bullets. The task seemed to be much harder than they had expected.

Constantly jumping around and trying to determine the flame’s direction turned out to be quite tiring.

They had tried many things. They had even tried shielding the flame from all four directions at once, but then the wind would suddenly blow from above or below, creating even bigger problems for them.

They had noticed that if they shielded only two sides of the candle, the wind wouldn’t blow from above or below, but only from the sides. It turned out to be their only way of protecting the flame. However, the wind passing through would change the direction of the candle flame, creating a headache for them both.

They had wanted to catch their breath and rest for a moment, but the situation didn’t allow them even a minute to relax. If they stopped shielding the flame from the ever-changing wind, they would lose it completely.

Having no choice, they continued moving.

An hour later, as they went through another passage, they finally noticed a change.

The wind suddenly stopped blowing, and the candle flame stabilized completely.

"Are... Are we finally done?" Chris asked as he looked around, still on high alert.

"I... I think so..." Amara replied as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

She looked at the candle and followed the direction of the flame for a few more steps before they saw another passage ahead.

The candle suddenly started shining brightly, increasing in intensity rapidly as they squinted their eyes.

When they opened them again, a green crystal was now in Amara’s hand. It was shaped like a gust of wind and faintly glowed with green light.

"Phew..." Chris finally relaxed his shoulders now that it was over.

Amara also released a deep breath as she sat down on the ground. "I need a moment."

Chris nodded as he sat down in front of her, trying to relax for a moment.

For a while, the room became silent, with only the faint sounds of their breathing audible.

"Do you think there’s more?" Chris suddenly asked.

"I don’t know." She shook her head. "But... there’s a good chance."

Chris sighed as he looked at her. "Can you at least tell me what all of this is about? You have to know something. We’re risking our lives here for something that I don’t even know is worth it."

He looked to the side at the next passage waiting for them. "You know..." he continued. "If this place was filled with beasts or even demons, I wouldn’t mind fighting to the death."

He then looked back at her. "But to die like this? Lost and stranded in a dark place without a way out?" He shook his head. "At least tell me what this is all about."

Amara watched him for a moment before sighing. "You’re right. I owe you some explanation." Her expression became strange. "And... I’m sorry."

"Sorry for what?" He was confused.

"I’m sorry for dragging you into all of this." She shook her head with a wry smile. "It was selfish of me to do that."

Chris chuckled. "You’re thinking too much. I knew this place might be dangerous. I knew I might risk my life. I’m used to risking my life at every step. I’m not blaming you for that." He shook his head. "I just want to know what we’re looking for."

Amara watched him for a moment before smiling. "You really don’t blame me?"

"No."

"Thank you." She nodded with a smile before looking around. "This place..."

She stopped for a moment, trying to find the right words, before continuing. "One day, I had a dream. In this dream, I saw this place... I saw the key and the entrance." Then she shook her head. "But I didn’t know what awaited me in there."

Chris raised his eyebrows as he looked at her strangely. "You... had a dream?" Then his eyes widened in realization. "So that’s your strange power, huh? You have dreams?"

Amara smiled wryly as she nodded. "That’s one part of it, yes."

"Then... just because you saw this place in your dream, why are you so sure there’s something valuable here?"

"Because it’s always been like that." She slowly stood up. "Whenever I’ve dreamed of some unknown place, I’ve managed to find something useful there."

Chris thought for a moment before nodding. While he hadn’t gotten all the answers he had expected, he had at least gotten some answers.

Slowly standing up as well, he looked at the passage. "Well, let’s see what awaits us next."

Amara nodded as they went through the passage.