Teaming Up With System 225

Hero Helping... Again? (11)

Edited by Kuro and Lille

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The energy in the mountain was incredibly dense to the point it made everyone's legs feel heavy. Thankfully, it wasn't as dry as it was outside of the mountain, so they were all able to take off their damp towels.

As soon as they entered the cave, they were greeted with a spiral staircase. There were no demons or monsters in the mountain, steering clear from the mountain because of the intense magical energy from the Demon King. When they got to the bottom of the spiral staircase, Grey looked up and tried to see the top but the stairs seemed to go on forever.

After walking for an hour, the stairs continued with no end in sight.

"We have been walking for so long and we haven't even reached the lair yet!" Faylan couldn't help but complain. She was an elf! They could swing from vine to vine, use magic to fly, and even climb trees, but these stairs were just too much!

"Let's rest," Grey suggested while sitting down on the steps.

They all sat up against the wall because there were no railings. If they fell, who knew how far they would fall until they splatted on the ground.

Vincent gave everyone some sandwiches that he had packed earlier for them to eat. Grey also made water out of magic and poured it into everyone's cups.

They decided to talk about what they observed while they walked up the stairs.

Grey was the first to point out his observations. "Thirty minutes into our trek, I decided to scratch a part of the wall to see if we would come back to it, and we did about five times. That's why, I've concluded that the stairs are looping due to magic."

"I agree with this," Azul backed up Grey's statement, "It's the only plausible reason."

Vincent scratched his chin. "If that is the case, there must be a way for us to break this cycle, right? Has anyone seen anything out of the ordinary that may indicate a way out?"

Evelyn and Faylan did not pay attention to something like that, but Aeneas did.

Aeneas put his hand on the wall and closed his eyes. "If you pay attention to the wall, there's a strange magical energy coming from it. I can't tell where it's coming from, but if we can find the source of the energy, we may be able to escape this loop."

Grey also put his hand on the wall and closed his eyes. In the group, he and Aeneas were the most proficient with magic. Grey even graduated at the top of the magic department in the Royal Academy.

"If I can track the flow of magic, I should be able to find the source..." Grey injected a small portion of his attributeless magical energy into the wall and followed one of the flows of magic.

There were four pathways, each going in random directions, so instead of getting overwhelmed, he decided to follow one and see where it took him.

After about 20 minutes of searching, he realized there were three magic seals. One in the wall, one on the staircase, and one floating in the center of the stairwell.

"Well, I found them but the magic seals are pretty strong. I should be able to break them but it seems I have to break the three seals at the same time or it will not work."

"Do you have enough energy?" Azul asked a bit worried because Grey was the only one who used offensive magic and it would be difficult to fight the Demon King without his magic.

Grey nodded. "I should have enough energy to break the seals and for the fight with the Demon King. The fairies haven't been using a lot of magical energy, so I should be fine."