"No problem!"
Of course Cysper would not refuse. Although the discovery after the wind boosted his confidence, the situation was still not optimistic enough for him to act alone, so he naturally would not oppose me joining him.
And so the third exploration was decided on the spot!
Brennan and Yulanda remained guarding the cave entrance, with everything the same as before except for the safety rope. Cysper and I once again entered the mysterious cave full of the unknown.
Although this was a night operation, it made no difference inside the cave where there was no distinction between day and night. Any difficulties could be solved by a glowing magic light ball, or two if needed!
"If this was man-made, who built it?"
Along the way, I asked Cysper idly. The path before the fork was quite long, with almost identical scenery in the tunnels. To dispel the tension, I had to find some topics to chat about.
"Not sure, I've never heard of such a place..."
Although this place was near the border of the Cresthaven Papal Dominion and the Astralrealm Kingdom, it was still within the True Church's sphere of influence. Yet it had existed for thousands of years undetected right under his nose - very unusual.
"So even the Pope who's lived thousands of years isn't all-knowing, and even lost two Star Glory knights!"
I couldn't help teasing him.
"If this gets out, it'll definitely disappoint many fans and believers!"
"Who says? We're looking for them right now!"
Cysper hurriedly defended himself.
"Although I don't know its origins, judging from the erosion level, this place may have existed much longer than I have. So it's normal I don't know about it!"
I couldn't help feeling amused. In a sense, the Pope and Cyra do share some personality similarities - both love to show off.
However, all the chatting and joking didn't make things develop in a good direction. The bizarre finally happened when we reached the previous fork. What greeted us was not the expected two paths, but four!
"This...can't be! How did two more suddenly appear? Did we miss them before?"
I felt a chill rise from my feet that pierced through my entire body and head.
"Impossible!"
Cysper was also dumbfounded. The paths were so wide, we couldn't have possibly missed them even if blind in one eye.
"An illusion spell?"
Since illusions usually work by distorting light, as an angel, I had the most authority on whether what we saw was an illusion.
But I didn't detect any abnormal activity of light elements, so...
"Maybe we should head back and rethink this!"
Feeling a chill down my spine, I hurriedly suggested.
"Agreed!"
He didn't care about the details anymore and quickly pulled me to turn back.
But the situation wasn't as smooth as last time. After running back along the tunnel for a while, when we finally reached the front exit, it wasn't the familiar lakeshore that greeted us, but another fork in the path.
This time was different again - the path ahead split into three ways.
"We're doomed, this place must be haunted!"
My legs almost went soft as I trembled, "Maybe this cave is some ancient tomb, and all those grave robber stories flashed through my mind."
"What ghosts? An angel is afraid of ghosts?" Cysper looked calm, but his hand was gripping a lute out of nowhere.
"What's that for?"
I rolled my eyes that he would take out a lute at a time like this.
"To liven up the atmosphere of course!"
He flashed an ugly grin and started playing the age-old 'Castle in the Sky' without warning.
Unfortunately, whether due to his shaky hands affecting the quality or not, in this enclosed cave environment the tune sounded distorted. Combined with the distant echoes, the music took on an eerie, scary vibe.
"Stop playing!"
I couldn't stand it anymore and pressed his fingers down on the strings. As soon as the words left my mouth, that familiar
"rustle rustle, swoosh swoosh"
sound suddenly emerged from somewhere, adding an eerie feel to the silence that had just returned.
"Did you hear that?"
Goosebumps instantly covered my whole body. So the mysterious sound I thought I heard before really did exist.
"Of course! My ears aren't deaf, I definitely heard it..."
Even Cysper, the "Child of Divine Grace" who had lived a thousand years, was starting to crack under this situation.
"Maybe, maybe it's just the wind blowing through the cave tunnels!"
"Who knows whether it's the wind..."
His pallid excuse was naturally unconvincing to me. But there was indeed a light breeze blowing from the other end of the tunnel behind us, which tugged at my heart a little.
Wasn't the original reason for re-entering to find out if there was another exit? Although I didn't understand what situation we were in, the direction of the airflow in the cave should remain unchanged. Perhaps this could be used to break through our current predicament?
"The leftmost one!"
Standing before the three forked paths, after some testing, Cysper quickly came to a conclusion.
We didn't dally any longer and immediately ventured into the leftmost tunnel. But we didn't go far before hearing that bizarre sound again, as if it was following our movements.
"Never mind it, let's find a way out first!"
Looking up at the ceiling but seeing nothing, Cysper could only steel himself and urge me to keep going. I don't know if it was because we found the right path, but after passing through a few more forks the same way, the strange sound started appearing more and more frequently, and even seemed to change slightly.
"Keep going! It's been a while since we encountered any more forks, so this path may lead to the final exit!"
Cysper said confidently, even starting to run towards the end. However, the summoned magic light ball followed my movements, so when he ran ahead, he disappeared into the darkness in front.
"Hey, wait for me, don't run so fast!"
Seeing this, I didn't dare lag behind and hurried to catch up. But at this moment, the bizarre surrounding sounds suddenly changed drastically again. At the same time, Cysper's footsteps ahead abruptly vanished into thin air.
"Cysper?"
This can't be, right? Sensing something was off, I quickly stopped and called out tentatively.
"Pope?"
"Garrick?"
But there was no response, no matter how loudly I called out. It was like throwing a stone into the ocean - not the slightest reaction.
"Don't...don't scare me!"
Who could withstand this? In this ominous cave, the companion who was just walking ahead vanished without a trace, leaving only me alone in the creepy underground. The surroundings fell into an eerie silence, as if even a dropped pin could be heard.
Admittedly, I was almost in tears. But no matter what, it wouldn't change the reality. Even using the magic light balls to fully illuminate the controllable tunnel area, there was still no sign of Cysper.
"I'm doomed!"
Alright, I was truly alone now. After standing dazed for a long while, I finally had to face this fact. Mustering my courage, I could only continue forward to search for the exit.
Although I didn't know where Cysper went or if he was alive or dead, he had at least pointed me in the direction of escape. If nothing went wrong, this path should eventually lead to the exit, right?
That's all I could pray for now. Oddly enough, that eerie sound never emerged again after that, as if it had never existed.
I walked alone along the tunnel, with only the light ball accompanying me. Fortunately, before disappearing, Cysper had more or less indicated the direction, so it didn't take too long before a faint white light appeared at the end of the path, shining down from the tunnel's exit above.
I finally made it! But it seemed a bit strange...
"Huh, is it daytime already?"
Counting the time, it should only just be midnight, right? I suddenly recalled a detail I had almost overlooked. So this wasn't actually sunlight?
However, the increasingly strong elemental aura of light coming from ahead showed this was no illusion, and was even higher than usual daylight levels.
In any case, having abundant light elements to replenish was undoubtedly good. Reinvigorated, I dashed towards the exit.
The exit was above, meaning I had been traveling underground tunnels this whole time. Looking outside through the cave opening, I could clearly see the azure sky and shadows of tree leaves and grass.