“Those magical guards have completely secured every entrance to the castle,” Ye Chu said gravely, looking at the map on his iPad spellbook.
The others beside him stared at Ye Chu with some surprise. Green asked, “Don’t tell me your spellbook has dark magic too…”
Dark magic was ideal for exploration. For example, Edel from the Goddess’s Kiss Magic Guild had previously used shadow magic to locate the crystal sealing the demon.
“It’s not dark magic, but something close,” Ye Chu replied ambiguously. Apart from the spells downloaded from the app store, the other spells in his spellbook didn’t seem to belong to standard attribute magic. A thoughtful look crossed his face as he switched screens to track the demon’s location, noticing it had appeared at the western edge of the garden.
There was another small red dot there.
Red indicated someone hostile to Ye Chu. This small red dot must have slipped away earlier. Ye Chu saw a large red dot quickly appear near it, and soon the small red dot vanished, likely drained of blood by the red demon. After a brief pause, the large red dot moved on. On the map, Ye Chu could easily spot Bilis and Edel, who had left earlier, as two red dots side by side.
“With magical guards at the castle entrances, how do we get inside?” Mayor Cass, carrying Debbie on his back, asked Ye Chu with concern.
Ye Chu thought for a moment before deciding, “We walk straight in!”
“Walk straight in?” The others were stunned by his response.
To their greater shock, they realised Ye Chu meant literally walking past the magical guards.
Ye Chu led the way, the others following nervously. They reached one of the castle’s main gates. In the corridor hall beyond, a group of magical guards, armed with swords and shields, stood in a defensive stance. Ye Chu hesitated briefly, then walked forward, passing right by them.
The magical guards stood like statues, unmoved, but their radiating killing intent showed they were still active.
“What’s happening?” Green caught up to Ye Chu, asking in astonishment, his eyes fearfully glancing at the still guards.
“They’re fully activated now, and their enemy was never us, but the demon that broke the seal,” Ye Chu explained. If someone was hostile to him, they would appear red on the map, but the guards remained white dots. Their earlier clashes with adventurers were merely instinctive vigilance. Now, their sole target was the red demon.
Ye Chu had also confirmed that everyone with him appeared as white dots, showing no hostility. If anyone had been hostile, he would never have helped them enter the castle.
Bypassing the guards, the group ventured deeper into the castle. Its intricate, vast structure truly surpassed a mere mansion, a divine residence. Ye Chu checked the [Map Navigation] while monitoring his iPad spellbook’s remaining magic. Soon, they reached a corridor fork, where he stopped.
“Keep going this way to find the portal to the ruins,” Ye Chu said, turning to Cass, Green, and the others, his mind made up. “Mr. Merlin is still maintaining the portal. You should leave from here.”
“What about you?” Cass asked, startled.
“Debbie and I will go this way,” Ye Chu said, pointing to another path leading to the dragon egg. “I’ve decided to stay and explore further. Having come this far, I can’t just leave.”
Cass and the others looked utterly shocked.
“The Demon Emperor’s curse, this place is dangerous, and you want to stay?” Cass exclaimed, thinking Ye Chu was courting death.
“I’ve made up my mind,” Ye Chu said with a smile. If there was a chance to obtain the medium to summon the Black Gold Flame Dragon, he couldn’t pass it up. His personality had always leaned toward recklessness. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken a shortcut under a cable car, only to be hit by an iPad and transported here.
“You say you’re with Debbie, but she’s unconscious. How do you know her intentions?” Cass tried to dissuade Ye Chu.
However, Debbie’s voice rang out, “I agree with Ye Chu. An adventurer’s life must be fearless.” As she spoke, the girl slid off Cass’s back with a whoosh.
“When did you wake up?” Green asked, surprised.
“A while ago,” Debbie nodded.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“How could I let someone carry me if I was awake?”
The girl spoke without a hint of embarrassment, then stood by Ye Chu. “We’re continuing the adventure. You lot leave from here.”
Cass, Green, the old swordsman, and the others exchanged glances, looking at the reckless pair. For a moment, Cass felt a surge of his old adventurous spirit, tempted to stay. But the thought of the terrifying, magic-immune red demon brought a pang of fear, and he gave a self-mocking smile.
After learning about the divine ruins, he once thought dying here would leave him no regrets, believing he was still the bold swordsman who led mercenaries into danger. But now, he realised that since that incident three years ago, when he compromised and became Stan Town’s mayor, he had changed. His passion and courage were gone.
His lips moved, wanting to muster the courage to say he’d stay, but what came out was, “Then, take care.”
Cass prepared to leave with the others.
But then, Green, the spatial magic mentor, suddenly said, “I’m staying.”
Everyone looked at Green in surprise.
“I don’t like adventuring or using my magic for fighting, but… when she was hurt earlier, I was powerless. She was injured by Thorne because of me. I want to change,” Green said quietly.
The “she” was clearly Valkyrie Jiji. If Edel hadn’t held Green hostage, Jiji wouldn’t have been distracted, gravely injured, and forced to become a spirit (Jiji: Excuse me?). This weighed on him.
“Are you sure?” Ye Chu looked at Green with interest. “It’s dangerous here, and you don’t know attack spells.”
“I’m sure,” Green nodded firmly. “Even if I die here, I have no regrets.”
“Well said.”
Debbie slapped Green’s shoulder hard. “You seem like great cannon fodder material.”
“What!?”
Green trembled, his hard-won courage nearly shattered by Debbie’s words.
In the end, Ye Chu, Debbie, and Green decided to stay, while Cass, the old swordsman, and the others chose to leave.
The two groups parted at the fork.
Unbeknownst to them, outside the divine ruins at the goddess temple in Stan Town, old magic mentor Merlin, maintaining the summoning portal, suddenly frowned, his face showing utter shock. “What’s happening? The ruins are generating a repelling force, erasing this coordinate…”
With a boom, the portal’s location exploded, and the portal vanished instantly.
A white light flashed in the distance, revealing Merlin’s dishevelled figure, his aged face filled with horror.
“What happened in the ruins? They’re… they’re all trapped inside!”
