BOOM
As several strings around Aiden glowed, the one that was specifically going through his heart exploded first.
Aiden let his hesitation get the best of him as his whole body was engulfed in flames.
'Huh.'
He had anticipated burning to ashes without even getting a chance to regret his decisions, but as he was engulfed in the flame, he felt a sense of warmth from the flames.
This warmth was different than the searing pain that the orange flame gave as Aiden looked around in confusion.
'This is?'
As he looked around, he realized that it wasn't an orange flame but a blue flame.
He felt his pain from the wounds he got from the previous burn fade away as he looked towards the girl in confusion.
'She looks confused to-'
Aiden fell unconscious as the image of the girl's confused face stuck on his head.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The other strings exploded with the orange flame as the blue flame disappeared from the room with Aiden.
The girl, who was indifferent this whole time with the existence of Aiden, looked at the blue flame with a confused look as an emotion started to grow in her heart.
…
'W-where am I?'
Coming back to his senses, Aiden found himself standing in the middle of a pitch dark place as he tried to figure out his location.
Ding
[Careful host. An even dangerous entity detected.]
'…What?'
Reading the message, his memory started to recover as he remembered what happened.
'…An even dangerous entity? What do you mean by that?' Aiden asked as he froze in his place.
Clang Clang
As he stood still, he heard chains being dragged from somewhere.
He felt a shiver run down his spine as he wondered what it was.
Everything was just pitch dark for him to see anything. Not being able to see was taking a toll on his mentality.
'…Maybe if I use my skills.'
Aiden thought as he immediately activated them.
Ding
[Energy eyes and energy sense activated.]
"AHHHH."
As soon as he did, he was overwhelmed by a sharp surge of brightness attacking his senses and vision from everywhere as he screamed in pain and immediately deactivated them.
'W-what was that?' He thought as the brightness burned him like a fire.
'Shit. I made a noise.'
He thought in panic as he crouched down. The effect of using [Reflection] was still lingering on his body as he found himself unable to use it again.
Tap
Whoosh
As he crouched down, he felt a light tap on his head as a fire engulfed his body.
'…This is?'
This time, he didn't feel threatened by the fire, since he felt the familiar warmth sensation from it. It was the blue flame.
Whoosh
Opening his eyes, the burning sensation on his eyes went away as he looked around.
The blue fire spread around as it lightened up the space around him a little, allowing him to finally see.
As the blue fire spread around the space, the place lightened up as Aiden looked around himself in confusion.
He was in a place surrounded by black fire from every direction.
Looking at the fire, Aiden felt raging emotions from it as he felt threatened for his life by it.
'I should stay from it.' He made a mental note to not mess with it.
Clang clang
As Aiden was deep in his thought, figuring out where he was and what was happening, he heard another sound of chains dragging as he relucantly turned his head forward and looked at the source.
The light from the blue fire wasn't bright enough to make the whole place visible, but it was just enough to see at least a silhouette.
'Huh.'
Looking at his front, he saw a dark, wall like figure as a shiver ran down his body.
Whoosh
Just then, the blue fire's intensity increased as the place lightened up.
'…This is…'
Just as his vision fully returned, he saw the source of the dark silhouette, who was staring back at him.
…
Back at the third chamber,
Deep within the forest, the party had decided to set up a camp since it was the middle of the night.
"Sigh. Even though this place is artificial, the day and night system with the wild life living here is too real." Blake said as he sat beside a campfire.
"It's a dungeon; anything is possible here." Kate, who was sitting opposite to Blake, replied as she extended her hand to take the warmth from the fire.
"Man, but I'm glad that this dungeon didn't turn out to be one of those strange dungeons." Blake said as he laughed out loud.
"Don't make a noise. The monsters might get attracted." Kate warned as she looked at the fire.
"We will have to get rid of this fire soon, so just take up as much heat as you can." She said as Blake nodded his head.
Turning her head towards a tree beside them, Kate looked at the green haired girl as she opened her mouth.
"Noi. You come too." She said as Noi turned toward them and nodded her head as she walked towards them.
"G-guys, do you think Aron made it out safely?" She said as she sat on the log and started to warm her hands.
"Hmm? You are worrying too much about him. What happened?" Kate asked as the two of them looked at her.
"…It's nothing. I'm just worried about how the city lord will react to it." She said as she avoided their gaze and lowered her head.
'I don't know how to tell them, but Aron might still be inside the dungeon.' She thought as she wondered if she was just confusing things.
'…But if he wasn't inside the dungeon, how did I feel my spell that I cast on everyone trigger?' She thought as she grabbed her
Thud
"Oh. Grandmaster Ben… Is that the hunt?"
As they were chatting, they heard a sound from behind as they turned around to see Ben placing down a deer-like monster.
"Yes. This one seemed the most edible." Ben said as he took out a knife and started to butcher the monster.
"I will help." Kate stood up from her seat as she walked towards Ben to provide her help.
Noi also stood up as she took out some bowls and utensils from her pouch.
'Let's not think about it. Aron must have already reached the city by now.' She thought as she handed over the bowl to place the meat on it.
…
'…This is…'
Staring at the source of silhouette in front of him, Aiden felt a strange feeling rising in his heart as it started to hurt.
'…A dragon?'
A black dragon was lying in front of him, all chained down.
The dragon was towering over him as Aiden had to raise his head to properly look at the dragon.
'…It's staring at me.'
He thought as the two of them made eye contact.
The dragon's head was big and looked fierce, with two threatening horns extending out from it.
But strangely, the feeling rising in his heart wasn't a fear.
The dragon had black scales, making it look terrifying. It's wings were not spread but looked magnificent. It's arms and legs with huge claws that were chained down, and the snake-like long tail.
The black dragon looked like a painting.
But, out of every feature of the dragon, what stood out the most to Aiden was it's eyes.
'…Blue eyes.'
He thought as he found himself just staring at the eyes. He felt familiarity from them.
Thump thump thump thump
'C-can't be.'
As his heart started to go town, his mouth shuddered upon trying to speak as words were refusing to come out.
His mouth was becoming heavy.
He was getting scared. He was scared that he was wrong.
'S-speak.'
His eyes started to get soggy as tears started to form. Please don't let it be a lie.
Forcing himself to make the words come out, Aiden finally managed to mutter a word.
"Leo"