Chapter 70: The entrance
"Meow~."
"Chirp!"
Felix could feel something strange yet familiar in the area.
It was old and ancient. It was something she had felt before but she could not put a paw on what it might truly be.
Still, she knew there was something and so, with the help of the little white bird, she started searching the area.
They were looking for something for about an hour now while I waited on the side, watching the two working together like a seasoned explorer in the middle of this dangerous forest.
They were pretty good when they were locked in, and as a result of their efforts, they were able to discover something.
"What might this be?"
"Meow!!"
{ "A gate!" }
"Chirp~!"
The three of us were standing before a simple looking rock that had some runes drawn on them as well.
They were so small that without a close inspection, you would not notice them. At least as humans, they were too big for us.
On the other hand, the two of them could see them very well.
It was only after I shared their viewpoint that I was able to see what they were trying to show right now.
"Ah..." I inspected the rock closely and found out there certainly was an energy reaction.
This wasn’t Mana, but some form of energy was concealing something here. And if this was truly a gate as they were telling me, then this must be something like a puzzle.
"Chirp~!"
"Yes, let’s get into it!"
When Nyx suggested that we get to it, I got ready with an excited smile. I even cracked my knuckles and was all excited, but, the moment I looked back down at the little bird, he was already touching the rock.
-Zup!
And in the very next moment, becoming a particle of light, my little partner vanished, eaten by the very rock that we were so excited about.
"Nyx?" I don’t know what he did but he used his energy, that much I was sure of. "Nyx? Are you there?"
I waited before the rock, even pressed my ear to its cold surface. But, there was no response.
He had vanished inside the rock, and concerned about me, Felix looked at me with a worried look as well.
{ "Should I go and see what happened to him, master?" }
"Meow?"
She was not sure what would happen to her, but she could tell I was not well right now.
I would have tried infusing the rock with my energy if I could, but that wasn’t possible.
Even when I used the Mana ore, the reaction resulted in nothing.
"Felix, go and look after him."
I don’t know what would happen to these two, but if Nyx was out there by himself, it was obvious that he would either get in trouble, or cause trouble for someone else.
If we are right and the sanctuary is truly beyond this rock, then we cannot leave that bird out there on his own.
’He might attack the salamanders and knowing that guy, he might as well anger a few.’
Someone had to be there with him. And I cannot be that one right now.
{ "Master..." }
She was hesitating.
"You are not leaving me alone, Felix. You’re just helping me." I smiled at her, at least reassuring her that this is what I want her to do.
There was nothing more concerning right now than a unique phoenix running around in the last home of the salamanders.
No one knows what that guy might do, so, this was the right thing to do.
"Meow..."
She was worried but, after seeing me nod my head, she turned around with a bitter expression.
-Zup!
Then, she infused her energy into the rock and vanished as well, going somewhere unknown like the other partner of ours.
"Haaa..." And then, I was left in this dark forest once again, the sun about to rise on the faraway horizon.
"..."
There was an eerie silence around me.
-Swiiiiiiiish...
The calm winds were misguiding as well.
"Is this it then?"
I sat there for a second and it seemed like a minute had passed. I sat there for a minute and it seemed like I was wasting hours of my life doing nothing, staring at the stone where my friends had vanished off to.
"It’s morning already."
The sun rose on the horizon, and there was no reaction from the rock.
I stared at it, grabbed it, tried my best to use any method I could think of to get inside, but my efforts were futile.
’I just have to infuse my energy into it.’
It was just that simple. It was something even a young (Level-1) tamer with a lowest level basic creature could do.
It was about the energy that was present inside of me. It was something that was mine... perhaps, it can be called the only thing that was truly mine.
"Can I do it?" I do not know whether I could do it now that I had tamed partners, but, as the last method, I wanted to burn my very own lifeforce to channel the energy inside of me.
But, theoretically, if I try that, the constitution of my body would target that new source of energy as well, and in the process... yeah. So, I don’t think that’s what I should do.
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish...
For the time being, I waited there. I could not feel either of the two so I don’t know what was happening with them, but their Essence cards were still intact so they weren’t dead.
They were in there somewhere, and I am not leaving without them.
(A day later...)
I was supposed to go home for the important meeting they were going to have, but going there without my partners would mean going there without most of what made the ’boy’ that they knew right now.
So, I waited...
(Another day passed...)
-Clank! Clank! Clank!
I don’t know where they came from, but there were now demonic beasts trying to attack the rock.
They were specifically aiming for it as if they needed to destroy it at all cost.
"No! You won’t!"
I fought against them with my flaming sword, and, by the end of the day, I fended them off.
Sadly, that was the last effort I could put to save my friends...