Though they prepared, there wasnât anything that came out.
The kid that had been pushed back looked at Ikkiâs group with a confused look since all he saw was them stopping all of a sudden.
He had heard the beep, but he didnât think anything of it.
Seeing that they werenât planning to move, the kid asked, "Is something wrong?"
Ikkiâs group calmed down a bit when they heard this, but they didnât let their guard down.
After all, what had reacted was the Holy Stone compass.
Since that compass reacted, that meant that there was something related to the Black Tide in front of them.
"Is your hideout in front of us?"
"Eh, how could you tell?" The kid was genuinely surprised to hear this.
Seeing this, there was a wry smile that appeared on Ikkiâs face.
Kids like this really didnât know anything, but that was a good thing as well.
"Itâs dangerous up ahead, so we canât bring you with us. Weâll have to take you back first."
The kid looked disappointed when he heard this, but he could see the seriousness that was on Ikkiâs face when he said this. Since Ikki was being this serious about it, the kid knew not to cause any trouble and agreed with this.
Of course, they didnât leave this place alone.
Since they had triggered a reaction in this place, they had to keep someone here to make sure that everything was alright.
"Itâs fine. I can watch over this place by myself and if it gets dangerous, I can always run." The archer said this in a non-chalant tone, but everyone knew what it meant to be left alone in this place.
Which was why Ikki just said, "Weâll be back as soon as possible."
In just thirty minutes, they had come back with others.
But it wasnât just a single group that had been gathered, it was all of the other heroes that came.
The main reason was because they didnât find anything else in this area.
They were following up on the only lead that had been found so far.
Once they arrived, Percival was the one that took the lead by pulling out a scroll that he ripped apart.
As soon as he did this, there was this barrier that appeared around this place.
This was a special barrier that was made of holy magic that would be able to contain anything related to the Black Tide. Though if it reached a certain level, then it wouldnât work since this was only made for regular containment.
Once it reached a threshold, it would shatter.
After deploying this barrier, he didnât hesitate to turn around and give orders to everyone else.
There were some that followed his orders and there were some that were less willing, but still followed his orders in a begrudging manner in the end.
They all spread out across the area and raised their guard, waiting for whatever was inside to reveal itself.
But no matter how they acted, it didnât seem like it was going to come out.
All of them had the same compass that allowed them to see that there was some kind of dangerous thing related to the Black Tide inside of this cave. It was just that without knowing what it was, it was dangerous to go in.
Which was why they had been hoping to use holy magic to lure this thing out.
"Since itâs not working, Iâll lead the party going in." Percival said as if he was taking the lead.
However, Ikki suddenly said, "Iâm leading the party."
Percival narrowed his eyes to look at Ikki when he said this.
Until now, he hadnât really paid attention to Ikki as he had been focused on the cave itself. But now that Ikki spoke up like this, he finally took notice of him.
It was just that it didnât seem Percival was that interested in him.
After a long silence, Percival finally asked, "Why?"
It was a simple word, but everyone around them felt like there was a pressure that appeared in the air. It was as if this single word had created some kind of force that was now pressing down on them.
Ikki narrowed his eyes to look at Percival.
He did feel a bit of pressure from Percival saying this, but it wasnât as if he felt it as strongly as the others. In terms of strength, it wasnât as if he was that far behind Percival.
After another moment of silence, Ikki finally said, "I was the one that found that kid and I made a promise to help him find his friend. Itâs my responsibility."
The others looked at Ikki with doubtful looks as if they couldnât understand why he would be acting this way.
However, it didnât seem like Percival thought the same thing.
There was a smile that appeared on Percivalâs face before he said, "It seems like youâre finally learning to take responsibility. Alright, youâll be the one that leads the party in."
Ikki couldnât help being taken aback when he heard this before looking at Percival with a strange look.
After all, he had regarded Percival as an enemy the entire time.
For Percival to suddenly back down like this, it really didnât seem to make any sense.
Only it didnât seem like Percival was planning on explaining himself as he started making preparations to enter the cave. It seemed like he was just going about this as if it was a normal matter.
In the end, it was the result that Ikki wanted to see.
So instead of provoking Percival any further and making him take back his words, he just accepted it and made his own preparations.
Everyone else also made their own preparations, but it was clear that they were curious about what had happened between them.
Even if they were curious, it wasnât as if anyone had an answer to give them since they had no idea what happened either.