Chapter 162 - 88: Demon

Chapter 162: Chapter 88: Demon

They had arrived.

Surprisingly, they hadn’t encountered any danger along the way.

Lilia’s heart, which had been in her throat, finally settled a bit, and she even had a moment to observe her surroundings.

For the past ten minutes, all they had seen were chiseled tunnels. There was stone above, below, to the left, and to the right; the scene repeated itself with the dull monotony of a copy-paste job.

If it weren’t for the glowing Magic Stones embedded at regular intervals—each with a different number marked beneath it to prove they were indeed moving forward—Lilia would have thought she was trapped in some kind of endless loop.

Now, they had finally emerged from the tunnel.

Before them was a stone chamber of a moderate size.

She roughly estimated the area to be about one hundred square meters, with a ceiling around ten feet high—a very livable size.

’That’s right.’

’Livable.’

Lilia strolled through the room.

There wasn’t much inside, but the arrangement was cozy and full of life, just like an ordinary living room in an ordinary house.

They had broken through one of the living room walls. Across from the opening were two sofas, one long and one short. A potted green plant sat in the corner next to them. It was a species Lilia had never seen before, with broad leaves and a beautiful flower blooming from its top.

As they had advanced through the tunnel, Lilia could clearly feel the concentration of Magic Power in the surroundings steadily increasing.

But here, the concentration of Magic Power was so abnormally high it felt like bathing in Elemental Particles.

In an environment with such a high concentration of Magic Power, ordinary building materials would have long since decayed. Thus, everything here was crafted from a special type of crystal, which glowed a fantastical ice-blue under the light of the Magic Stones.

’It was as if someone had used a special kind of magic to freeze a past memory and move it here, perfectly preserved.’

Aside from Jennifer, it was clearly the first time the others had seen such a sight.

They were all experienced, well-trained Knights and Mages, but upon seeing such a fantastical scene, they couldn’t help but look around.

Lilia scanned the room before turning to Jennifer behind her. "Did you find anything of value here?"

"Everything here is incredibly valuable!"

At the mention of her research subject, Jennifer immediately became serious and stern.

She pushed up her glasses. "Take this stone furniture, for example. It’s so lifelike, it looks real. To achieve this, you’d either have to commission the most skilled stonemason to slowly carve it, or you’d have to use magic."

"But as far as I know, magic, since its inception, has always leaned more toward practical combat. Almost no one would use it for this sort of thing. If these items truly were shaped by magic, then the creator’s magical prowess must have been at its absolute peak! They would have to be a Grandmaster-level Mage, capable of creating their own magic!"

"And even setting that aside, these things have been steeping in the center of the Spirit Vein for who knows how many centuries. They’ve long since been imbued with the aura of Magic Power, making them a special type of ore. They can be used not only as a main component in magical rituals but also for crafting Magic Devices or weapons..."

Lilia listened for a moment before she had to interrupt Jennifer’s eloquent lecture. "I’m not talking about that kind of value. I mean, have you found any text? Or any special markings? Can you determine who the owner of this... um, this room was?"

"Well..."

Jennifer shook her head. "Logically speaking, if this room is a perfect replica of someone’s past residence, there should be some writing or special markings left behind. But our people searched every corner and found nothing that could prove the owner’s identity."

"However..."

Jennifer pointed to a corner of the room. "That is the very center of the Spirit Vein, and also the central area of all the Magic Circles. If there are any secrets hidden here, or any Treasure... it’s most likely hidden there."

Lilia had said she wanted to explore with them and learn the truth of this place firsthand, so Jennifer hadn’t opened that door in advance.

For them, everything inside was unknown.

The unknown could mean danger.

But it might also hold the answers Lilia had long been searching for.

Under Jennifer’s direction, two Knights stepped forward together.

They were layered with several Defense Techniques, including Jennifer’s magic and blessings from Nokes’s Divine Arts.

Even so, Jennifer was still uneasy. She stood in front of Lilia, the two of them taking cover in the tunnel leading out, and kept a close eye on the situation.

Based on a normal room layout, that area should be a sitting room or a study.

And it was from there that Jennifer had detected that faint, yet distinct, wisp of Demonic Qi.

In the stone chamber.

It was dead silent.

After confirming that Lilia was safely hidden, the two Knights exchanged a glance. With sword and shield in hand, they advanced toward the sealed door.

The door was carved from stone and had originally been covered in multiple layers of Defensive Arrays, which had taken Jennifer and her team a full five days to dismantle and break.

Now, the only thing blocking them was a single, heavy stone slab.

Taking a deep breath...

The Knight on the right gave a sudden, forceful push.

The stone slab scraped against the ground, producing a grating sound.

The moment he pushed it open a crack, the equilibrium between the inside and outside of the room was shattered. An incredibly thick wave of Demonic Qi billowed out from within!

Jennifer instinctively moved to act but was stopped by Lilia.

One second, two seconds... maybe even longer.

Aside from the sound of the Knight pushing the stone slab, there was no other movement.

The "sitting room" was unnervingly quiet.

Jennifer held her breath.

BOOM!

With a tremendous crash, the door was thrown wide open by the two Knights.

They glanced inside, then shook their heads at Jennifer behind them, signaling that there was no danger.

"Your Highness..." Jennifer still felt something was wrong. Just as she was about to add another word of caution, Lilia walked right past her and headed for the room.

Jennifer: "!"

She reached out to stop her, but...

’Damn it!’

She completely understood how Lilia felt, because as the door opened, her own curiosity had also reached its peak.

Jennifer gritted her teeth and followed Lilia.

One after the other, they walked into the room.

The furnishings inside were even simpler, almost crude.

There was no desk, no window, no wardrobe, and certainly no bookshelf.

All that was there was an enclosed bed that looked like...

A coffin.

’It made sense.’

’A Demon, fallen into a deep slumber, with no telling when it might awaken... wasn’t that just like being dead?’

Lilia stepped forward.

"Your Highness! Please be careful!"

Jennifer couldn’t help but shout, "If there really is a sleeping Demon inside, it could wake up at any moment!"

Lilia didn’t respond.

She stood by the "bedside," her head lowered, staring intently at the sight before her.

Jennifer frowned slightly.

She felt that Lilia’s expression seemed a little off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong.

She took a deep breath and also stepped forward.

She walked to the opposite side from Lilia and looked down.

Jennifer’s gaze froze instantly.

The sides of the "bed" were made of solid, airtight stone, but the top was made of a transparent crystal.

So, from Jennifer’s vantage point, she could clearly see the face of the Demon inside.

It was an exquisitely beautiful face.

Black hair, snow-white skin. The figure wore a light-colored velvet gown. The expression on its delicate, near-perfect face was serene, like a doll displayed in a shop window.

It was...

Lilia’s face.