There wasn’t any light in the cave. The two couldn’t identify the time within this odd illusionary realm. They even thought that time passed abnormally here. More importantly, they needed to finish the challenge and get out of here.
Alex couldn’t help but think about that ax inside his consciousness. He didn’t understand why it would react so vigorously, rushing up the Heavenly Stairs and disappearing.
‘It wouldn’t have disappeared just like that, right?’
Alex didn’t know that the ax had returned. He also didn’t realize that Xienna’s soul had come here to look for her lover in the past. It was precisely because she interfered with the ax that it failed in its task, and it gave up.
In reality, that ax did, in fact, want to leave Alex’s mind. If it were to obtain that thing within the Heavenly Stairs, it wouldn’t be able to stay within Alex’s mind after that. However, Xienna’s interference helped him out instead, preventing him from losing the mysterious ax.
At the time, Maximilia had woken up from her healing state, randomly saying, “Alex, what do you think would happen to us when we fail our missions?”
Alex had thought about this issue long ago. “We’d probably be fine. Lorelei and the others had tried going up the stairs before. Even if they didn’t fail on the first step, it’s kind of the same since this flight of stairs has almost ten thousand steps. Nothing happened to them, so we should be alright.”
Maximilia nodded. “I thought so too. Everything here is illusionary, not reality. So basically, we’re in some sort of dream, pretending to be someone else. The entire process is fake.”
She sounded as if she was trying to convince someone.
Alex understood her intentions and nodded as well. “Yeah. It’s like when I used to dream about one of my female schoolmates back in high school.”
Maximilia seemed rather interested. “Who? Do I know her?”
Alex shook his head. “You wouldn’t know her. She… She was cursed, just like you.”
“The Witch Curse?”
“Something like that!”
Upon closer inspection, there were quite a few Hydrophobic Beads around the gates. Moreover, the formation itself had the ability to close the water off.
“Kroraina’s strategist is a genius too. They’re able to block the water using a Hydrophobic Bead.”
“This is probably a pond within the Kroraina Kingdom, and the gate is most likely the bottom.”
“Let’s take one of those beads then. They might be useful,” Maximilia said.
Alex immediately stopped her. “Don’t, the Hydrophobic Beads are the key to this formation. If one bead is lost, the formation might change. This life door might turn into a death door.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you!”
The two then walked into the cave. Taking a deep breath, Maximilia grabbed onto Alex’s arm and jumped into the water. The water pressure was quite strong, and Alex was simply fortunate it didn’t crush him.
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