Chapter 201: Two hopeless fools

Vlad barely managed to keep himself from showing any reaction as he read the words at the bottom of the screen.

’P-pending? But why?’

"Commoner."

’We have already removed the root cause of the monster surge. What more does the system want me to do?’

"Commoner," Seraphina called him again, tapping his arm.

He finally pulled himself out of his thoughts and asked, "Yeah?"

"Could you still feel the Umbra Mana?"

He nodded.

"Try pinpointing its location," she suggested.

"O-oh, why didn’t that come to my mind?"

He immediately closed his eyes, sensing the direction of the Umbra Mana. After a few seconds, he pointed toward the opposite wall from the one through which they had entered.

"There."

The squad followed the direction of his finger, but they couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The wall, like every other part of the cave, was formed of grey stone, with moisture and moss spreading across its surface.

"Should I try breaking it open?" Seraphina asked. That was the method they had used to enter this dungeon, after all.

"Brute force could be risky," Raphael suggested.

He moved his finger toward his face to press the monocle, but stopped halfway, remembering that it was already broken.

"First, we should analyse the wall closely."

Following his suggestion, the squad approached the towering wall on the large fire rose that Seraphina had materialised.

Now that they looked at it closely, the wall seemed to have an entrance, just like the one through which they had entered. It was completely blocked by piles of stone debris that had been placed so perfectly that no one could tell from a distance that there might be a path behind them.

Vlad clenched his fist and slammed it into the stones, the thud echoing through the wall.

"O-ouch, what was that for?" Alisha asked, feeling a pain in her own knuckles from how hard Vlad had punched.

"The stones are covering around five metres," Vlad revealed, retracting his hand. "There is a path beyond them."

Nobody asked how he knew. They were simply flabbergasted.

"Alright," Seraphina sighed, moving the rose platform backward. "Explosion it is, then."

With a wave of her hands, she materialised a magic circle above her head.

"Three Ring Pyro Spell: Explosion Beam!"

A red-hot beam of fire erupted from the magical circle, striking the stones on the wall ahead.

The collision bathed the entire cave in a golden glow that had grown dim after the removal of the Artifact.

In just a few seconds, the beam pierced through the stones, melting them away. When it vanished, a path through the wall was revealed by the gaping hole in the stone debris.

"There really is another part of the dungeon," Hugo gasped, his eyebrows rising.

They didn’t rush in. Seraphina turned toward the group and stated in a firm tone, "Our mission was already finished when we claimed the Genesis Artifact. Whatever lies at the end of that tunnel doesn’t concern us. Moreover, if we heed Vlad’s earlier warning about the ominous darkness, there could either be a huge opportunity or a dangerous tragedy waiting for us beyond the tunnel."

Her pink eyes stared at the squad with considerable intensity as she continued, "Do you want to explore this dungeon further or turn back?"

She saw a mixture of reactions on her teammates’ faces. Alisha and Raphael seemed reluctant. Meanwhile, Hugo’s eyes were already burning with excitement at the prospect of exploring the unknown. Vlad, as usual, carried an unreadable expression.

"I think we should explore the dungeon," Vlad was the first to speak up. "Although the radiation of Umbra Mana from this tunnel is still as ominous as ever, it feels quite similar to the radiation of the Eye."

All eyes snapped toward Vlad, shock palpable on their faces.

"You understand what your words mean, right?" Seraphina asked for confirmation.

Vlad nodded without hesitation. "There might be another Genesis Artifact in this dungeon, containing the nature of Umbra."

A brief silence followed as everyone tried to digest his words. The emergence of a Genesis Artifact was a highly rare phenomenon. Some would argue that it only happened once or twice in a century.

The number of Genesis Artifacts in the Argentum Continent could be counted on the fingers of two hands.

What were the chances that two Genesis Artifacts would appear in one dungeon? Absurd as it was, the possibility alone convinced the squad to explore further.

"If Vlad’s words are true, then it means our mission hasn’t ended yet," Raphael stated, pulling himself together. "We should explore the dungeon."

Alisha also seemed convinced now. And Hugo had been ready even before Vlad revealed the possibility of another Artifact.

The squad drank their mana recovery potions and entered the tunnel.

’They are coming because of me,’ Vlad muttered inwardly as he walked beside them. ’I will make sure that their lives aren’t endangered. I only needed around eighty percent of my Sword Aura to behead the oni. Even if we face a monster of Middle-Stage Rank Five, I’m confident that I can beat it with my team’s help.’

"Why are you so tense?" Seraphina’s voice came from beside him as she touched the back of his palm. "Is everything alright?"

He looked at her serene face, which carried a hint of worry for him.

"I’m fine," he said with a reassuring smile as he grabbed her hand. "Just thinking about something."

’AAAAAAA!!!! HE IS HOLDING MY HAND! HE IS HOLDING MY HAND!’ Seraphina screamed inwardly. ’What should I do? Everyone must be watching from behind. Would I come across as rude if I remove my hand?’

She looked at his shoulders with her trembling pink eyes. She dared not raise her head to look at his face.

’But I don’t want to remove it. I want him to hold more than just my hand—Stop with the shameless thoughts!!’ she scolded herself inwardly. ’I-I will just enjoy this moment.’

She moved her soft fingers within his firm ones and kept walking silently.

Only if she had raised her head and looked at Vlad’s face would she have realised that his face was equally red.