Chapter 180 : Chapter 180

Each bottle had a small label pasted onto it, and the handwriting on the labels was neat and careful: Healing Potion, Antidote, Mana Recovery, Explosive Potion.

Allen’s eyes widened.

Any one of those potions, taken outside, would be enough to live on for a month. As for that Explosive Potion, it was the sort of thing money could not buy. Who in their right mind would put something that could blow people to pieces up for sale?

He looked up.

Ryan had already stood. He turned and walked back toward Lillian and Rex without looking back.

Allen lowered his eyes to the potions in his arms and stared at them for a long time.

The handwriting on the labels was careful, every stroke written with attention. The edge of the label on the Healing Potion was slightly curled, which meant Ryan had probably been carrying it for his own use before giving it away.

A faint smile touched Allen’s face.

It was a soft smile, a real one, completely different from the bitter, bleak, self-mocking smiles he had worn earlier.

“Damn,” he muttered under his breath. “This friendship was worth it.”

He wrapped the cloth bundle up again and tucked it into the innermost place against his chest.

Then he crouched back down in the corner, hugging his knees and waiting for the ten minutes to pass.

Ten minutes passed.

There was almost no movement in the hall. Most of the people were still sitting by the walls with their eyes closed, resting.

It was not that they did not want to move. It was that they did not dare.

No one knew how long they would have to survive in this cursed place. More than anything else, stamina was precious.

Everyone had brought dry rations and water for more than ten days, but those supplies had been measured out one day at a time. Take one extra step, expend one extra mouthful of strength, and later on, that meant one mouthful less.

The injured were even less willing to move.

Ryan leaned against the wall and watched them.

No one spoke.

Allen got to his feet from the corner.

The way he stood up was almost comical. First he braced himself against the wall with one hand, then slowly straightened, then shook out the leg that had gone numb from squatting too long. It trembled once as if it had cramped. He bared his teeth in a pained grimace, but quickly smoothed it away.

The other man rose as well—the retainer from the southern noble house, dressed in dark combat clothes, with an unremarkable face. He was far more decisive than Allen. After standing, he merely brushed at the nonexistent dust on his clothes and gave Allen a nod.

The two of them looked at each other.

Neither spoke.

Then they walked toward the great door, their boots making soft sounds on the stone slabs. In the stillness of the hall, those sounds were unnervingly clear, one after another, like some unseen thing tapping in the dark.

Everyone raised their heads and looked at them.

Those who had been leaning against the walls stood.

One.

Then two.

Then three.

Slowly, all of them rose. Some straightened their clothes. Some tucked loose strands of hair behind their ears. Some simply stood upright and watched the two men off.

It was a strange feeling.

Everyone knew those two were very likely walking to their deaths. A moment ago, they had all still been relieved that they themselves had not been chosen. But now, as they watched the pair approach that door, all those noble lessons in etiquette surfaced again.

Respect, where respect was due.

Courtesy, where courtesy was due.

Those things had been taught to them since childhood. They were carved into their bones. They could not simply be discarded.

Allen and the other man stopped before the door.

It was enormous, more than ten meters high and several meters wide, the black stone surface covered in carvings. Dark red light pulsed faintly through the crack between the doors, like a heartbeat.

Each of them raised a hand.

Allen raised his left hand. The other man raised his right.

Both palms pressed against either side of the door at the same time.

At that instant, the carvings on the door lit up.

Those lines that had only seemed to be etched into stone now began to glow, one by one. The light was a vivid crimson, red as blood, as if dried blood had been reignited. It began beneath their palms and spread through the carved patterns, slithering along them like countless tiny red snakes.

Faster and faster.

More and more lines lit up.

Until the entire door was covered in crimson light. The glow layered over itself, dense and blinding, like some ancient incantation awakening, like something behind the door stirring to life.

The light spread to the two crystals set into the door.

The two fist-sized crystals had been dull and gray before, but now they lit up as well. First faintly, then brighter, then brighter still, until they shone like two burning stars.

Rumble.

The door moved.

The sound was deep and heavy, like thunder rolling up from the depths of the earth. The gap widened and widened, and dark red light came pouring out, washing over the two men and painting them the color of blood.

The door opened fully.

Nothing could be seen inside.

There was only darkness.

Thick, impenetrable darkness, the kind that looked capable of swallowing everything whole.

Everyone watched the two of them.

Allen stood in the doorway with his back to the hall.

He paused there for a second.

Then he turned his head.

His gaze passed over the others and landed in the corner.

On Ryan.

He smiled.

It was a familiar smile, the corners of his mouth lifting, white teeth showing, his eyes curving in that easy way they always did when he was chatting over roast suckling pig. That carefree, slightly foolish smile that made other people want to smile too.

He tilted his mouth at Ryan.

Then he turned back around.

With his back to everyone, he lifted a hand and waved behind him. It was casual, the sort of wave that said, I’m off, or See you around.

But as he waved, his head tilted very slightly.

The angle was small and quick, as though he had glanced at someone in the crowd.

At who?

No one knew.

The other man moved as well. He looked at Allen, then at the crowd, and gave a small nod.

He said nothing.

The two of them stepped into the darkness together.

The door rumbled shut behind them.

The crimson lines dimmed.

The light disappeared.

The two crystals darkened again, turning back into dull gray stone.

Only that thin seam of dark red light remained.

Flickering.

Like a heartbeat.

The door had been closed for a long while.

Ryan was still staring at it.

Dark red light leaked through the crack, pulsing just as before. The two crystals had gone dull again, set into the door like a pair of dead eyes.

The others were staring at it too.

No one said a word.

The hall was so quiet that the sound of vines growing could be heard, rustling softly along the dark stone walls like something crawling in the shadows. Some explorers remained standing. Some leaned against the walls. Some still held the posture they had worn while seeing the pair off, unmoving.

Ryan let his gaze leave the door and sweep over the room.

Parker had gone back to leaning against the stone pillar, his eyes closed, his face expressionless.

The others were scattered throughout the hall. Some leaned against the walls in a daze. Some sat on the floor with their knees drawn up. Some paced back and forth, their footsteps light, as though afraid of disturbing something.