The resulting cascade of stone and dust filled the air, the impact of Lyrian's Shock Fist echoing through the cave as the dust gradually settled. As the haze lifted, a previously obscured opening emerged from behind the shattered wall. The group stared in astonishment at the unexpected development.
"Holy... what just happened?" Rylan exclaimed, his eyes wide as he took in the scene.
Alten chuckled softly, shaking his head in a mix of disbelief and amusement. "Seems like Lyrian's punch was more effective than any key we could have found."
Lyrian, standing amidst the aftermath, looked at his fist with a mix of surprise and pride. "I didn't expect that to be so powerful," he admitted, still marveling at his newfound ability.
Leon's grin grew even wider. "Well, looks like we're not locked out anymore."
The group cautiously entered the newly revealed passage. As they ventured further, the narrow corridor opened up into a cavernous space beyond. The interior of the spire was not what they anticipated at all.
The walls of the chamber were adorned with intricately textured stones as if they were inside of the halls of a castle, with pillars near the sides and carvings in some of the walls depicting scenes of ancient battles, creatures, and landscapes.
The ceiling stretched high above them, revealing a stunning building of medieval architecture. It honestly looked like it was made by humans. A cathedral of sorts.
Lyrian approached one of the carvings, studying it with fascination. "This... this is incredible. It's like a glimpse into the history of this place."
Alten nodded in agreement. "Definitely not what I expected from a mere rock tower."
As they continued exploring the large hall, the group stumbled upon a platform at the center of the chamber. A pedestal stood atop it, holding an ornate key with a unique design. The key seemed to resonate with faint energy, giving the impression that it held more significance than a simple door opener.
"What's this?," Rylan remarked, a touch of confusion in his voice.
Alten picked up the key, feeling its subtle vibrations in his hand. "This key feels... special. Like it's connected to something important."
Lyrian examined the key with a keen eye. "Given the level of craftsmanship and the engravings on it, this must have been made by skilled artisans. This place might have held greater importance than we thought."
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm After receiving the key from Alten, an odd wisp of magical energy suddenly appeared from out of nowhere before slowly floating toward the group, and even closer to Lyrian who was holding the key.
The teal aura finally stopped moving after reaching mere inches from the key in Lyrian's hand, before suddenly forming into a transparent keyhole floating in the air.
Everyone was slightly taken aback by what just happened, "That's odd. It only did that when you took it," Alten exclaimed, slightly puzzled.
Looking at the key clearly buzzing to enter the hole, Lyrian put it in and heard a subtle click, before rotating it to the left.
Another click sounded, and with that, a teal light began summoning from beneath the feet of everyone there. As it got increasingly brighter, the group members looked at themselves in slight confusion and concern, as they all suddenly were engulfed by the bright light and disappeared into thin air.
Now, all that was left in the black stone cathedral were the ostriches. For Lyrain and the others, as soon as they were engulfed by the light, it felt like only the blink of an eye before they appeared in an entirely different room.
Looking around, everything was dark, darker than the room that they just came from. As they all stood up in unison, looking around the room that looked like it was nearly abandoned, similar to some sort of prison with hanging chains and cracked/scratched walls, they tried to look at each other, but realized... they were all alone.
That's right, they had all been transported to different rooms. Lyrian crew was slightly concerned, not knowing that fact.
"Did we all get transported to this type of room? Or was it just me?"
He tried to stand up from the floor but realized something odd. His feet seemed to not want to move, and that's when he looked down to realize that both his hands and feet were chained up.
"What the hell?" He said, as he suddenly heard a quiet roar of cheers from somewhere as if there was a giant crowd in the distance.
Looking up, he noticed that a few hundred feet away from where he sat in the cold, dark room, there was a hallway that led to a hole of light. However, since his surroundings were so dark, he couldn't discern what was at the end of that light, it just looked like the sun gleaming at him.
"I have to figure out what's going on and get back to them. I can't afford to waste time here."
Lyrian dug his toes into the ground and stood up, causing the shackles on his feet to crack slightly.
"Oh?"
He forced his feet apart in one swift motion, causing the shackles to break instantly. With a slight smirk on his face, he tried to do the same with the ones on his hand, but they didn't budge at all.
The ones on his feet were of a darker metal, but this one was a silver-colored metal that had a slight hue of purple. For some reason, it wasn't budging even an inch. Just from his initial effort of trying to break it, he knew he wasn't going to be able to, so he didn't try any longer.
With his feet now free, he decided to walk toward the light, the cheer from the crowd in the distance still quietly ringing in his ears. He wasn't too concerned, since he seemed to still have all of his items, but it was a worry nonetheless.
The shackles especially were concerning, since his main attacks couldn't be used without his hands.
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