Vol. 6 Ch. 119

After photographing all the ancient script on the stone wall, Elusa marked the spot to ensure they wouldn’t lose their way if they regrouped with the archaeology team later and needed to return here.

Once the marking was done, the three of them left the site.

But after more than another hour of exploring, they still hadn’t discovered anything new.

Safina sighed.

“Walkin’ and walkin’—it’s either rocks or busted caves, and the most useful thing so far is a bunch of writing we can’t even read. I’m just sayin’—hey, is there actually any… treasure here?”

She deliberately paused before the word “treasure,” and of course Leon understood what she really meant.

Safina wasn’t a shallow person. She knew Leon wouldn’t follow an archaeology team into a dump like this just for a joyride—he had to be here for something related to the Spirit Core.

But after wandering for so long under this ancient tree’s root cave, without finding any valuable clues…

Safina couldn’t help but start suspecting whether Leon really was just here to pass time.

“If a treasure was easy to find, it wouldn’t be called a treasure, would it.”

Leon had both hands stuffed in his pockets, strolling forward at a slow, casual pace.

Elusa echoed the sentiment.

“Maintaining a healthy mindset is important in archaeology. If you place too much hope on every dig, repeated failure can really damage an archaeologist’s motivation and mental state.”

Safina flapped her hand dismissively. “Yeah yeah~ Mr. Leon, Professor Elusa, whatever you say.”

Elusa smiled, then turned to Leon, about to suggest they take a short break—but she caught the gloomy expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Elusa asked gently.

Leon shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Really? If something’s wrong, you can talk to me.”

“I said it’s nothing.”

“But I see that you—”

“Oh please, like this needs guessing.”

Safina strolled over, one hand on her hip and the other tossing itself over Leon’s shoulder like they were old drinking buddies.

“Anyone can tell you’re thinkin’ about your wife.”

Leon gave her a sideways look. “You’re so clever. You’re the only one who noticed. You’re the only one with a mouth that just had to say it.”

Safina grinned and stuck out her tongue.

Elusa quietly watched the exchange. “So he’s worried about his wife…”

In her years of archaeological work, Elusa and her team had been separated plenty of times. Each time, they had pulled through safely, so she wasn’t too worried about Javier or the others.

But it was different for Leon.

Separated in a weird underground tree cave, of course he’d be thinking about his wife.

“Was I just being too oblivious…” Elusa asked herself.

Even someone as composed as she was couldn’t help but pour all her focus onto Leon, instead of examining herself.

This kind of one-sided love made it difficult to really stand in the other person’s shoes.

Elusa had poured all her energy into trying not to be consumed by this love she could never have.

She let out a soft sigh, shook her head, and stopped dwelling on messy emotions.

Since Leon was worried about his wife, then the best thing Elusa could do was figure out this area’s layout as soon as possible—and help lead him to Rosvisser.

With that in mind, Elusa picked up her pace and quickly walked ahead of Leon and Safina, who were still exchanging banter.

Seeing Elusa’s determined figure, Safina asked,

“What’s up with her? She suddenly looks all fired up.”

Straight-man General Leon shook his head. “Dunno. A woman’s heart is deeper than the sea.”

Though they didn’t understand what had changed, both Leon and Safina followed after her.

They continued along the river for another thirty minutes.

Until a stone wall blocked their path.

Elusa crouched beside the river, examining it.

“The water flows out from behind this stone wall, and there are very clear distortion marks along the wall’s base and edges. That means there’s likely an enclosed space behind it.”

“I see it too.”

The one who spoke was Safina.

Leon glanced at her. “You can tell? You studied archaeology?”

Safina withdrew her gaze, the purple glow in her pupils gradually fading.

“My Mirror Abyss Eyes can see residual energy on the surface. Judging from the traces, someone used magic to attack this wall not long ago—tried to break it. But clearly, they failed.”

As she spoke, Safina took several steps back, then raised her right hand. A purple lightning orb formed in her palm.

“Then let me see how hard this wall really is.”

Leon crossed his arms, three exasperation lines sliding down his face.

“You don’t have your own moves? Gotta use my Thunderbird again to break a wall?”

“It works. I like it.”

Safina grinned and charged the wall.

—Boom!

Purple light exploded. Dust filled the air.

Once the smoke cleared, the stone wall stood perfectly intact. Not even a flake had chipped off.

“Did you even try?” Leon asked dryly.

“Stand right there and let me punch you. Then you’ll see if I tried.”

Safina rubbed her slightly sore wrist and frowned at the wall.

“Seriously hard. No wonder everyone else failed.”

Elusa wasn’t good with offensive magic, so after Safina’s brute force attempt failed, she started checking the wall and surrounding area for any hidden switch or entrance.

But after combing every inch, she found nothing.

“Looks like brute force won’t get us anywhere…” Elusa sighed with disappointment.

Leon stood silently, gazing up at the impenetrable wall.

Breaking it wasn’t impossible—his skillset included plenty of high-burst, high-penetration attacks beyond just his bow.

But once the destructive force passed a certain threshold, he couldn’t guarantee he’d be able to control the blast radius.

To break this wall, he’d need to go all-out.

And if he couldn’t control the force precisely… even if the wall broke, it might cause a collapse of the entire internal space of the tree cave.

Then it’d be ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) even harder to find Rosvisser or the rest of the team.

But the thing behind this wall…

What if it was related to the Mirror Abyss Core?

Damn. What a dilemma, Leon thought.

“Aren’t you gonna try?” Safina looked at Leon.

Leon thought for a moment and said,

“I could, but finding the others comes first. I’ll come back here on my own later and try breaking it then.”

“But you might not be able to find your way back after that,”

Elusa warned. “Even though we’ve been marking our path, the terrain is complicated. And with all the earthquakes, even the markers might not lead you back here.”

“So if we want to know what’s behind this wall, we’d better figure out a way to open it now.”

Safina turned to Leon. “Come on, use that smart little head of yours. Think of something to break this thing.”

Being separated from the truth by a single wall—this was unbearable.

Leon didn’t want to waste the chance either.

“Damn it, what should I do—”

He muttered as he stepped forward, coming to stand right below the wall.

Leon slowly raised his hand and pressed his palm against the cold stone.

And the moment his palm touched the wall, a faint bluish glow flared between his skin and the stone’s surface.

Startled, Leon quickly pulled his hand away.

“What the—did something just flash?”

Safina rushed over. “I think I saw something too.”

Leon looked down at his palm—nothing unusual.

Safina blinked and pressed her hand against the wall as well.

Nothing happened.

“Elusa, you try.” She turned to her senior.

Elusa stepped up and mimicked Safina’s motion, placing her hand on the wall.

Still no reaction.

“Looks like only you can trigger whatever that was,” Safina said.

Leon nodded, then raised his hand again and pressed it to the wall.

As expected, the ghostly blue light flickered again.

Centered on Leon’s palm, the glow slowly spread across the entire surface, like ripples deep within the stone.

“Feel anything strange, Leon? Like magic being drained or something?” Safina asked sharply.

Leon shook his head. “No. It’s not absorbing my magic… it feels more like it’s… recognizing it.”

“Recognizing?”

“Yeah.”

As they spoke, the blue glow dimmed.

And then, the stone wall trembled—and slowly began to rise.

Elusa’s eyes lit up.

“Whoa! Leon, your magic actually opened the wall!”

Leon lowered his hand and murmured,

“The question is… why can the wall recognize my magic?”

As far as he could remember, he’d never been here before. Had never taken part in the design of any hidden chambers.

So if this wall truly opened by recognizing magical essence…

When had Leon become connected to this place?

With that doubt heavy in his mind, the three of them stepped into the sealed chamber behind the wall.

The river continued forward, like it was showing them the way.

And there, in the very center of the sealed space…

Was a stone platform.

Atop the platform…

Rested a transparent—crystal coffin.