EFB Chapter 256 : Too Close
Chapter 256 : Too Close
"Hehe, because I found the cup nearby back then." Shanie scratched her head with a silly grin. "I felt there must be some mysterious entrance nearby, just buried!"Benita rolled her eyes, not wanting to deal with her.
The two worked together, using shovels to clear for a while before cleaning away the rotten wood and rubble blocking the entrance, revealing a deep stairway leading to an unknown destination.
"Shall we go down and look?" Celitia said.
"It feels a bit dangerous," Ariel frowned. "I'll go down first, and after confirming it's safe, I'll call you over."
After saying this, Ariel was about to walk straight down.
Celitia quickly grabbed her sleeve:
"I'll go with you. I need to assess the situation inside. And if there's any emergency, we can look out for each other."
"This—alright."
Ariel thought seriously for a moment, then finally nodded reluctantly, agreeing.
Celitia's knowledge was more extensive, and her judgment was clearly more precise.
Having her along would make it easier to analyze potential problems they might encounter.
If something really happened, she could just carry her and run back—that would be fast enough.
"Then we'll leave it to you two to wait up here," Ariel said to Shanie and Benita. "If anything happens, adapt to the situation as needed."
Shanie patted her chest: "Don't worry, leave it to us!"
After making arrangements, Ariel and Celitia went down one after the other along the long stairway.
The underground passage, abandoned for a long time, had no lighting. The deeper they went, the darker it became—they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces.
Celitia then took out a gemstone from her bosom to use for illumination.
The gemstone emitted a dim silver-purple glow, sparkling brilliantly even without sunlight, clearly extraordinary.
Ariel's attention was immediately drawn to it: "What gemstone is this?"
"It's a meeting gift from Mr. Erwin," Celitia smiled. "I didn't expect it would come in handy so quickly."
"Indeed, this must be the legendary extremely precious illusion-attribute Heram gemstone." Ariel's gaze immediately became complex. "Senior Erwin is surprisingly generous..."
So generous that Ariel even suspected whether Celitia might be Erwin's illegitimate daughter or granddaughter or something.
Of course, this speculation was too offensive to either party, so Ariel quickly shook her head and cast the thought away.
Celitia didn't know what Ariel had pondered for that moment—her attention was all on what lay ahead.
"Look over there."
After coming down, they had already walked a short distance.
The pitch-black corridor seemed endless, with no telling where it led.
At this moment, Celitia felt vaguely dizzy.
Like when she had entered the overlapping dreamscape before, that dark world flickered slightly before her eyes.
The golden cup in her hands suddenly grew faintly warm, as if a door were gently opening before her.
Something was ahead of them.
"What is that?" Ariel also sensed something, incredulous. "Could there really be treasure here?"
Having suffered once here before, Ariel's first reaction to unknown things was to retreat immediately, make full preparations, bring sufficient personnel, then return to explore.
Celitia didn't quite agree.
Having been an adventurer for some time, that romantic spirit of exploration still remained in her bones.
"Let's go take a look." Celitia said.
The two locked gazes for a moment before Ariel finally nodded with difficulty.
With Ariel's combat instincts, she indeed didn't sense any danger.
She had to admit that sometimes opportunity came in just that instant—miss it and it might be gone.
Compromise aside, Ariel became even more vigilant.
She reached out and tightly embraced Celitia's waist, almost half-holding the girl in her arms.
Feeling the burning body temperature beside her and the scorching breath brushing past her ear, Celitia felt somewhat uncomfortable.
In the pitch-black underground, in a passage with only two people, and pressed so close together...
Celitia struggled a bit and pushed at her, but Ariel only held her tighter.
The arm holding her wasn't soft—the muscles were taut and ready to explode at any moment. Clearly Ariel was extremely tense.
What was she thinking about at a time like this...
Celitia couldn't help but feel ashamed.
Forget it, she'd just endure it.
Uncomfortable as it was, having Ariel beside her gave her an inexplicable sense of security.
After all, she was an opponent that some past version of herself had acknowledged from the bottom of her heart.
Unconsciously, Celitia curved her lips very slightly.
Neither spoke, only their breathing and footsteps echoing in the narrow passage.
Finally, passing through the dark corridor, the view opened up before them.
A great hall appeared—walls built of blue brick, cracks filled with moss, presenting a scene of decay.
Several eternal lamps hung on the surrounding walls, having endured countless years yet still emitting dim light, illuminating the indoor scene.
The front wall was completely buried by moss and vines, only vaguely showing some uneven surfaces.
Rubble and stones were scattered across the floor, and the few remaining tables and chairs had collapsed and broken—even more desolate than the village ruins outside.
In the corner of the hall, something was placed there, but it was completely buried under rubble, its original appearance indiscernible.
The only intact thing was the small square platform in the center of the room.
In the center of the square platform was a circular groove, with several unlit candlesticks scattered around it haphazardly.
After circling the entire hall, Ariel's brow furrowed:
"This place doesn't look like a church basement."
Church basements were either like the one Celitia had visited before, secretly used to imprison certain heretics.
Or they were just ordinary storage rooms, typically used to store church relief supplies.
But this hall matched neither description.
Instead, it vaguely emanated some mysterious aura.
"You're right—this indeed doesn't look like a church basement."
Standing in the center of the hall, Celitia lowered her head, carefully examining the only intact stone platform.
"And this stone platform somehow draws my attention."
Feeling some kind of attraction, Celitia unconsciously reached out and gently touched the groove in the center of the platform.
Her fingertip traced around the groove once. Staring at that inexplicably familiar size, Celitia suddenly realized:
"This should be..."
Celitia picked up the golden cup and carefully placed its base into the center of the groove.
With a crisp collision sound, the cup's base fit perfectly, seamlessly.