"What should we do now?!" Rose Dahm's original plan had been foiled by Garen, and now he didn't know what to do.
Dalier looked back and didn't say a word. His eyes were clearly filled with complicated intent.
"Continue running and don't panic. I still have another backup plan."
"Alright." Rose Dahm nodded.
Compared to the two who had extraordinary stamina, Cohen was greatly exhausted after these ten minutes of sprinting. He was already on the verge of collapsing; both of his eyes were rolling up despite his legs maintaining a surprising pace.
As one looked closer, one could see a black aura glowing on his legs.
Even so, he was so exhausted that he couldn't even speak but panted all the way.
The tunnel was pitch black and only the Best Book Page was faintly glowing.
The tunnel became more and more narrow until the distance between the stone walls had shrunk from five meters to just a meter.
The stone ball appearing in front became thinner and thinner to the point it should be called a stone wheel instead of a stone ball.
The hefty footsteps from the trio kept reverberating in the tunnel. Seeing Cohen was at his limit, Rose Dahm turned around and patted on his shoulder.
"I can temporarily lend you your energy from the next day. However, you will need to rest for a week to fully recover. Remember that."
Cohen nodded and he suddenly felt very energetic. All the tiredness from before had completely disappeared and what replaced it was invigorating energy.
"This feels great!!" He couldn't help but comment.
"To the right!!" Dalier shouted.
The trio turned to the right and went into a corner which appeared before them. After that, they turned left and went into a pitch black nook.
Boom boom boom…
Three stone wheels rolled past them, filling up the whole passageway.
They could still faintly hear the old man shouting at the very back.
"Fate…"
The trio didn't dare to stop moving as they climbed out from the nook and continued running. After they climbed out of the small nook, it disappeared and reformed into the stone wall, as though the nook had never been there.
"This is very mysterious!" Cohen replied energetically.
"The Best Book Page's power is endless. Dalier used its power to pull us into a space that no one but us could enter to evade the stone wheel." Rose Dahm explained.
"What logic is that?"
Boom!!
A huge explosion could be heard from the back, breaking his sentence.
"Quickly!!!" Dalier shouted "In another hundred meters just jump as far as you can! Ignore whatever is about to happen! Jump! With all your might!"
The trio's speed was extremely fast, just like lightning shooting through the tunnel. In that instant, it was as if their bodies were stretched as the trio became a black line and traveled a hundred meters in an instant.
Pew!!
It was a dead end at the front and there was no path left.
As the trio turned here and there in the passage, Dalier was the first one to jump and climb against the stone wall.
Sizzle!!
A sound could be heard similar to of the noise emitted from a radio or television.
She jumped and as she was about to collide against the stonewall, she entered the stone wall and disappeared just like one would jump into a pool.
Without any hesitation, Rose Dahm too jumped into it as if the stone wall was just an illusion. However, in reality, that was just a mirror instead of a stone wall.
Cohen couldn't even react in time as his legs didn't even listen to his commands and he was propelled into the stone wall.
Ahhhhh!!
He shouted as he disappeared through the stone wall.
In an instant, the golden-haired man arrived the scene and stopped moving.
Garen looked around but he didn't see any trace of them. He moved the tip of his leg here and there and found the trio's footprints.
He then looked at the dead end in front of him.
He then instantly appeared in front of the stone wall and gave it a good punch!!
Boom!!
The tunnel trembled greatly as countless stones and clouds of dust filled the air. As the wind blew and the clouds of dust settled, a web-like crack appeared on the stone wall.
At the center of the crack was a clear hole of unknown depth.
Garen pulled out his hand which had a leather glove on out of the stonewall and exercised his shoulder. His whole right arm was inside the stone wall, right up to his shoulder.
"It's solid?" He muttered skeptically.
He looked at his surroundings.
His gaze was filled with immense power in the dark. It was so terrifying that even the few mice present were so frightened they were petrified.
Boom!!
He punched the stone wall once again.
Boom boom boom boom!!!
Fist after fist.
Explosions could be heard and the tunnel kept trembling.
Garen kept punching the stone wall with both of his fists. His hands were as hard as a drill as he created holes on the stonewall with every punch.
Suddenly, he stopped moving and looked at the back.
Thud, thud, thud.
The sound of a crutch hitting the floor appeared behind of Garen.
The mysterious old man slowly appeared at the corner of the entrance. He had the skull of a mountain goat on the top of the wooden crutch in his hand, and he was staring calmly at Garen.
"Are you… a mortal?"
The old man used a rather strange international English to ask him.
He seemed to be surprised, skeptical and astonished.
Hehe.
Garen smiled as he pulled out his limb from the stone wall. As he turned around, huge pieces of rubble fell out from the stone wall.
"Tell me, where did they go?" Garen stared at the old man like a lion staring at its prey.
"I do not know." The old man shook his head. "Although I don't know where they have gone to, I know they will be back here eventually."
Once again, he analyzed Garen from head to toe.
"Mortal, you have an unbelievable great physique and will. Do you mind telling me how you obtain such strength?"
His body was filled with a mysterious power that couldn't be seen.
"As an exchange, I will teach you my source of strength."
"Oh!" Garen patted the dust on his hand and gave a strange looking smile. This was the first time that he was in contact with a person with strong power. Compared to the Blood Breeds from the past, this old man in front of him was constantly surrounded by a mysterious force field. It looked like some sort of flowing aura yet it looked like lava. This made the person even more mysterious.
Garen wasn't able to determine what it was.
"Isn't your power only usable by women?"
"You seem to know it well. Frankly, regardless if it's the witches or us males, we are able to use the power of our ancestors. The only difference is that the success rate for a female is much higher as males have a lower tendency to attain peace due to their greed for power, affecting the fate of the ancestral power." The old man explained. "Hence if the women have a strong desire to obtain the ancestral power, they wouldn't be able to contain it."
"Are you sure they'll be back here?" Garen repeated his question once more.
"Of course. This is the leaping point so they won't be able to escape here." The old man nodded.
Garen believed him as the old man's objective was obviously the same as his. He was after the book the trio had. Since the opponent wasn't panicked at all, he must be telling the truth.
"What is that black book page item?"
The old man listened and was slightly stunned.
"Are you chasing after something that you do not know about?" He looked at Garen in disbelief as if he couldn't believe there was such a person in this world.
"Aren't you afraid that item would be harmful towards you?'
"Something is only harmful when it excites more than your body can resist." Garen shrugged. "As long as one is strong enough, then a harmful item can only be a nutrient to a stronger self."
"That would require you to deplete your life force. Even the Blood Breeds wouldn't even dare to grow in such a manner." The old man said.
"That's my issue." Garen smiled. "Now, tell me. What is that black book page?"
Both of them stopped talking as they stared at each other.
After a long while.
The old man finally opened his mouth and this time, his mood was much better.
"That is the Best Book Page. It is said that it contains records and knowledge of an unknown world."
"What effect does it have?"
The old man didn't reply immediately as he stared at Garen.
"Your greed will lead you into the abyss."
"The abyss won't be able to stop me." Garen smiled and his white teeth flashed in the darkness.
"You're too crazy." The old man held his crutch tightly.
"Between you guys and the Blood Breeds, who's stronger?" Garen suddenly asked a very sensitive question.
"Hmpf!" The old man scoffed as his eyes turned black. He held his crutch high and slammed it to the ground.
It looked slow but in that instant, the crutch seemed to touch the ground like an illusion.
Thud!!
Amidst the clear sound.
Garen's body was reacting to it.
Items like black snakes or sharp arrows were shot towards Garen.
Garen gestured his hands into a claw shape and waved around in the air as sharp whistles could be heard with every strike. Multiple white lines could be seen as a vacuum was created.
Within the darkness, his eyes were glowing red as if there was something beaming it out from the inside of his eyes. The red eyes were horrifying to watch.
Boom!
With a deep collision sound, the claw stopped short, less than a meter away from the old man.
"Entanglement!" The old man shouted. There was neither light nor movement.
Within the darkness, only the sound of the crutch hitting the ground could be heard as it reverberated in the tunnel.
It was as if everything was an illusion for there was no light, no abnormality. The old man took a few steps back as he looked calmly at Garen.
He had no additional movement as he stared calmly. Unknown to Garen, this stare had created a strong power.