-[Be careful.]
As risky as it was, Claire tried to pull open the broken wooden door leading inside the café. Even though she was using all of her strength, it didn't bulge.
The café was left unattended for the past three months. The rusty iron lock put on its latch was impossible to open without a key.
Bang bang
Claire tried to hit the door open by crashing on it with her shoulder, but it turned out to be pointless. A while passed, and Claire finally decided to give up.
The veins near her jawline became visible as her right hand rose up in the air. The wind began collecting above Claire, who was smiling despite being pissed off.
-[C-calm down! Do you plan to blow away this whole place?!]
If not for the voice, Claire would've ended up using her strongest wind attribute magic. She tried to get herself together and looked at Aliana.
At some distance, Aliana and Jaden were sitting on two chairs quietly. Had Claire allowed Aliana to take the lead rather than asking to let her handle it, the door would've been opened by now.
'It looks like she can't open it... Won't she help her now?'
Jaden glanced at Aliana, who sat with her eyes closed. She was waiting for Claire to ask for help by herself.
It was already late at night, and they hadn't made much progress. Jaden looked towards Claire and spoke lightly.
"Shouldn't we help her already?"
Aliana didn't respond for a while. Jaden's gaze shifted towards her.
"I won't be doing that yet."
A cold sweat formed on Jaden's forehead after seeing Aliana's smile. She sounded serious about what she had said.
Claire could hear the two people whispering but couldn't figure out what they were talking about because of the distance. She sighed and slapped her own cheeks.
"I can do this!"
She said that while moving closer to the door, trying to find any small clue available. Because of the darkness, she couldn't perceive anything properly.
Claire slowly moved her hands across the floor, trying to catch anything lying there. Sadly, there wasn't anything like that there.
Now that Claire wasn't acting rashly, the voice in her mind was silent and calm. Rather than giving Claire advice, she watched her like the other two, who were sitting at a distance.
It wasn't that it didn't have any advice, but Claire wouldn't follow it. She had already come too far to accept others' help.
Sigh
Jaden stood from his seat and let out a sigh while walking towards Claire. Aliana's lips curled up, slowly seeing Jaden's sudden actions.
He felt like they were just wasting their time sitting there without helping. Not to mention, he wanted to return to the inn and go to sleep.
The robe he was wearing fluttered as the wind blew past it. A voice filled the silent atmosphere for a second.
Snap
The blue blade reflected the white moonlight, and the red hilt looked blue in the dark. He walked towards Claire while speaking.
"Get aside."
His dark blue eyes glowed as he lifted the sword above his head. Claire's face went pale as the person behind her came into her field of view.
Quickly standing up, Claire moved aside. Jaden's lips formed a smile while his gaze shifted towards Aliana.
"This is how you do it."
Clank
The already rusted lock was cut apart in half and fell to the ground. Claire clapped her hands with her mouth open.
Aliana had said that she wouldn't be helping her. But she never stopped Jaden from doing it.
"You really are interesting..."
Aliana mumbled to herself, watching Jaden. Jaden was bound to her through the soul contract, but despite that, he had managed to act on his own.
Aliana had expected nothing less from Jaden. Jaden could feel chills run down his spine. The sword vanished as Jaden began scratching his head while yawning.
Creakk
Claire pushed the door with all her might. The door opened half way, and it didn't move further. As she wanted to find out what was hidden within the café as soon as possible, Claire kicked the door hard, making it open fully.
Thud
The door crashed into the wall by the side while making a huge sound. Jaden flinched and turned around.
He wasn't ready for that one. As he was about to open his mouth, someone whispered in his ears.
"What are you even doing?"
He flinched and spun around again. First Claire, and now it was Aliana. He bit his lips with a bitter feeling.
Aliana walked past him, saying that, and then had Claire behind her. She was the one taking the lead to go inside the café.
Jaden watched the two walk inside the run-down, small building while standing at his spot. A chilly breeze blew past his nape, which made Jaden turn around.
There was no one there. But Jaden could feel someone's gaze on him and shook his head vigorously.
"T-that must be my imagination."
Muttering that, Jaden ran after Aliana and Claire. He had no idea that someone was actually watching him from the bushes nearby.
The pair of eyes continued to shine in the darkness. Something was moving within the bushes, unbeknownst to the three people who entered the small building.
Kyuung
A shadow moved at a fast speed while letting out a sound. Its black colour glistened as it went past the door that led inside the café.
-----------------------
"W-what is this place?!"
Jaden's voice echoed throughout the wide space. They were standing in a room ten times larger than the training grounds at the Brimstone residence.
Gulping down his own saliva, Jaden looked at Aliana with a confused look. Claire was staring at the huge room with her mouth open, astonished.
"It's space magic."
Space magic. A type of magic that allows you to alter space within a place or item. It was the same magic that was the basic principle behind Aliana's storage magic and Tower Master Blaise's storage ring.
The café looked small from the outside, but when the door next to the counter was opened, a staircase would become visible. The path down the stairs led to a huge room that didn't fit the outer appearance of the place.
Aliana tried to use her magic to find any signs of life inside the building. Aside from her two companions, there was no response to it.
Jaden stared at her face with a blank expression. He had no idea what she was doing standing in one place with her eyes closed.
"You two, be on guard."
The voice in Claire's mind had taken over her body as soon as they stepped into the café. They had no way of knowing what was waiting for them.
Claire pulled out three vials of potions from under her robe. Passing two over to Aliana and Jaden, she drunk it.
It was a potion that made it possible to see in the dark without any problems. It had not been named yet since it was still in the testing phase.
"...!"
Jaden and Aliana were shocked as their view became clear. There were some stone steps in front of them that led to a huge altar.
Jaden's face turned pale as his gaze shifted towards Aliana. He had never seen her that furious since they first met.
Snap
A ball of fire formed above the altar and kept growing in size. Seeing that, Claire didn't waste a moment.
Clinging onto Aliana, Claire tried to stop her from using her magic any further. If she had used that magic, the building would've collapsed along with them, buried inside the rubble.
"Stop! Stop! Stop! You can't be serious right now!"
She yelled while her body continued to tremble. But Aliana didn't stop. She continued to feed the fireball her mana, making it grow even bigger.
Claire wasn't the only one panicking. Jaden pulled Aliana close to him by her wrist and shook her vigorously.
"You are always like this! At least explain it before you act!"
The ball of fire vanished into thin air as soon as Jaden said that. Claire was feeling so relieved that she fell to the ground on her knees.
Aliana sighed to calm herself down. She had let her mana run on rampage just at the sight of the ominous altar in front of them.
It was a monument that Aliana would never bring herself to forget. The drops of blood trickled down from her palm, which had her nails piercing it.
"It's an altar to offer sacrifice."
Aliana healed her wound while talking. Claire's lips were left gaping for a moment.
"Demon God worshippers?"
Claire said it out loud by mistake. Aliana's furious frowning eyes turned towards her. She didn't hate that word.
"I loathe them."
Aliana said this while trying to hold herself back from burning down the place to crisps. Jaden looked at her while trying to arrange his own thoughts.
'She must've had a bad experience with them.'
He was aware of exactly who the Demon God Worshippers were. Even though their role was regarded as useless by the end of his novel, they were the worst bunch of people one would prefer getting involved with.
Aliana began walking towards the altar. She continued speaking as she marched forward.
"We need to check what they are up to this time around."
Snap
The shadows of two people appeared as they walked up the stairs towards the altar. Aliana had used one of her magic spells to view the memories that the place held.
Sadly, the spell wasn't able to show them what happened a long time ago. The scene they were witnessing was something that had happened a few weeks ago.
The three moved closer to the mysterious shadow. They could hear them having a conversation.
[Is it going well?]
The shadows had reached the altar and stood at their spot while talking. It seemed like they had something going on.
[That man hasn't given up yet. We can't proceed with the ritual until he gives up.]
Aliana had a vague idea to whom they were referring. In the most likely case, it was John who didn't give up looking for Ricky.
[It will be fine, I believe. For our ultimate goal!]
Those were the last words they heard from the shadows. It wasn't that Aliana's magic wore off, but the two shadows themselves vanished into thin air.
Aliana was deep in her thoughts as Jaden tried to look around the altar. Claire had returned to her senses, and the voice in her mind didn't say another word.
It was a pure coincidence that Jaden placed his hand on a statue's feet near him. He had no idea what was about to happen.
Gwaaaaar
The monster made up of stone's eyes glowed red. The wings on it's back began to show movement. Jaden stood at his spot for a moment before sprinting away from the statue.
Hiding behind Aliana, he noticed the smile on her lips. Jaden recognised the monster in front of them. It was a stone gargoyle that Demon God worshippers mostly kept for guarding their hideouts and other important places.
But why was it that Aliana was smiling at the creepy appearance of the monster? She mumbled while glaring at it as if it were her prey.
"I'll have this bug lead us to wherever they are hiding."