Contrary to his expectations, Erik found the temple calm and dark, with only a few points of sunlight piercing through some holes in the layer of earth covering the window. After looking around with a serious expression, Erik prepared to take a step toward the temple, at which point Ebonique's voice echoed in his mind.

[Don't let your guard down.]

[I know, don't worry. This stillness just makes me more cautious.] Erik replied in a serious voice through his contract with the dragoness and finally set foot inside the second temple.

With a serious expression, Erik took a notebook from behind his pants and began to inspect the temple while taking notes at the same time. After a few minutes, Erik put his notebook away and walked to the temple door, but as he opened the heavy stone door slightly, he hesitated. After looking at the door for a few seconds, Erik glanced at Tiberius by his side and gave an order through the contract.

[Let's go to your shadow.]

Tiberius let out a suppressed howl and soon turned into liquid darkness, which engulfed Erik completely. While inside the shadow, Erik focused entirely on his contract with Tiberius, then ordered him to move through the small hole in the door. Taking advantage of the temple's shadow, Erik emerged, which allowed him to "see" the situation on the island.

The place looked as if it had been devastated by a hurricane: many trees lay on the ground, the roofs and some walls of the shelters had collapsed, and the ovens no longer existed. But one strange thing was that the earth covering the temple was more or less intact, while in the sky there appeared to be serpents made of greenish air.

After analyzing the surroundings for a few seconds, Erik ordered Tiberius to move toward the shadow of a fallen tree. But at that very moment, several air serpents turned to look at him, and immediately after, they lunged at him, baring their fangs.

[Erik!] Alarmed, Ebonique "shouted" in Erik's mind, who quickly reacted and gave an urgent command.

[Let's go back!]

At full speed, Tiberius's shadow rushed back to the temple, allowing Erik to witness a strange scene. As they got within about five meters of the temple, the air serpents vanished into nothingness, as if they were mere illusions.

[The temple is actually designed as a fortress or something similar...] Near the stone temple door, Erik commented through his contract with Ebonique. The dragoness replied in a solemn tone.

[Erik, look at the sky.]

Confused, Erik turned to look at the sky, where, thanks to Tiberius's sharp senses, he was able to see a great number of air serpents crashing repeatedly against an invisible dome. Surprised, Erik quickly closed his eyes and focused on the Myst in the area, wanting to enhance his perception skills, but within seconds, his expression grew solemn.

[It has a crack…] Ebonique said, her voice incredibly serious and heavy. Erik replied in a similar tone.

[So it's a crack… I could sense Myst with different levels of 'weight'... So it's Myst from outside the barrier…]

[What are we going to do…?] Ebonique asked with frustration. Erik took a deep breath, then replied in a calmer tone.

[For now, let's go back. This doesn't seem like something a devouring basilisk would do. There's something very strange going on here, and if we don't figure out what it is, our days are numbered.]

[We have to run.] Ebonique said seriously, which inevitably brought a bitter smile to Erik's face.

[Where could we run to? Even though the temples seem safe for now, we still need food and have to find the exits. Even if we wanted to, we have nowhere to go.]

[…]

Ebonique fell silent, watching the serpents attack the dome with a heavy expression. She could sense the aura of a spirit bound to an Eternal she knew within those serpents—a different one from the collector bastard.

Although the spirit was a weakling she could kill with a mere breath, she was already feeling pressured by the collector; getting another opportunistic bastard involved was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

[You're right, all we can do is move forward…] After a moment, Ebonique said with a heavy voice. Erik nodded and said.

[Let's go back.]

Quickly, Erik ordered Tiberius to enter the temple. Inside, Erik emerged from Tiberius's shadow and closed the stone door. Without saying a word, the star-haired young man walked down the long hallway and reached the first temple, where he was greeted by a cheerful Kaiser. Meanwhile, Elara, Frank, and Zoe noticed the serious and contemplative look on Erik's face, which sent a chill down their spines.

"We have to move quickly. Things just got more complicated."

With a solemn expression, Erik explained what he had seen while petting the wolves, which brought dark expressions to the faces of the others. Gripping the handle of her katana tightly, Zoe quickly spoke, full of gravity.

"We need to find an exit as soon as possible! If the temple has such strong defenses, the exit shouldn't be far. We have to secure one before the basilisk escapes, or we'll be trapped in here!"

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"It seems like our only way out. We have to do everything we can from now on. We're literally in a race against time!" Elara quickly added, just as solemnly. Erik nodded and added firmly.

"To save time, we're going to split into two teams. Ebonique, Zoe, Tiberius, and I will go capture the careless leader to try to get information out of him as quickly as possible. The rest of you will stay to pack, secure the most critical resources in the temple, and finish embroidering the pseudo-armors."

"""Understood!"""

The whole team, including Hiyori and Ebonique, replied in unison, so Erik quickly approached Zoe and conjured a magic circle beneath them. It summoned a yellowish barrier of light that lifted them into the air, and soon after, they began to move through the earth as if it were some kind of liquid.

When they were about to reach the surface, Erik reached into the woven bamboo pouch at his waist and took out two potions, then tossed one to Zoe. Catching the potion in the air, Zoe noticed the X drawn with charcoal on the bottle and immediately understood the star-haired young man's intentions, so she nodded in response.

"We're going to move as fast as we can." As they reached the surface, Erik said this and immediately downed the potion in one gulp. Zoe drank her potion in the same way, then replied seriously.

"Understood."

Hearing her response, Erik shot forward at an astonishing speed, his skin beginning to turn slightly translucent and his presence nearly vanishing altogether. Although surprised by Erik's speed—since he was supposed to be a mage—Zoe didn't fall behind. She quickly kicked off the ground and launched herself after him.

At that moment, the black wolf leapt to merge with his contractor's shadow, which soon almost disappeared completely, giving Erik the appearance of a ghost. After running at full speed in a straight line for some time, Erik began to sense the hunters from the first temple, so he quickly changed direction while sending a sound transmission to Zoe.

"We're going to circle around the first temple. Things seem to be the same as before."

"Understood." Zoe replied seriously and followed the young man, moving so quickly that even without the concealment potion, she would have been hard to detect.

Not long after, Erik was able to sense the hunters from the second temple, so he began to slow down, then stopped completely about 30 meters from the nearest hunter. Turning to look at Zoe on his left, Erik spoke seriously as a platform of Myst formed beneath them.

"We've arrived. From here on, we'll move through the air."

Before Zoe could say anything, the Myst platform rose at least several dozen meters into the air and then advanced at a moderate speed. Although it wobbled a bit at first, Zoe quickly managed to steady herself and gripped the handle of her katana firmly. At that moment, the Myst platform came to a complete stop, and a sound transmission from Erik reached her ear.

"We're going to land."

Zoe quickly nodded, and in that instant, the Myst platform vanished into nothingness, causing both of them to fall due to gravity. Taking a deep breath, Zoe quickly brought her index and middle fingers together in front of her, causing a subtle layer of air to surround her, allowing her to stop her fall without drawing attention.

At that moment, Zoe turned to look at Erik with curiosity, wanting to see how he would stop his fall. To her surprise, a subtle gust of wind, very similar to her own, was swirling around him, slowing his descent in the same way.

Although she was slightly surprised to see Erik suddenly use a spell from the Zazen discipline without a single hand sign, Zoe refrained from asking questions and kept her expression focused, looking toward the building they were falling onto. Soon, the two young people landed silently on the roof, at which point Tiberius emerged from Erik's shadow and turned into a kind of dark liquid that fell to the ground and engulfed them.

As she was swallowed by the darkness, Zoe quickly took a deep breath, wanting to hold it, and soon found herself completely surrounded by shadow. At that moment, Zoe channeled mana to her eyes and strengthened them, which allowed her to see that she was floating in a dark space, where Erik was also present.

The star-haired young man had his back to her, his right hand resting on Tiberius's head, who was floating beside him at about a meter tall. In that instant, something very much like a sound transmission echoed in Zoe's ear.

"I'm going to pull the guy in here, so stay alert and help me take him down quickly, but not lethally. The goal is just to drag him into the shadow."

As Ebonique emerged from Erik's hair and began to grow in size, Zoe wanted to send a sound transmission back but quickly realized she couldn't, so she simply nodded, hoping Erik could see her somehow. To her surprise, Erik nodded back without turning around to look at her.

For his part, Erik, who was connected to Tiberius's senses and could perfectly 'see' everything happening both inside the shadow and outside, quickly ordered the wolf to slip into the building. Inside, the man they had previously seen drinking tea was now holding what seemed to be a small book, reading casually while occasionally glancing outside.

"We're going to come out of the shadow, stay alert, and be stealthy." Through Tiberius, Erik made the shadows move close to Zoe's eardrum, allowing her to hear his 'voice,' while at the same time guiding Tiberius to slip behind the man.

With a solemn expression, Zoe quickly gripped the handle of her katana tightly and prepared for battle. After a few seconds, Zoe felt the darkness around her fluctuate strangely, and soon, her head somehow emerged from the space, allowing her to see the back of the careless man.

Still holding her breath and keeping her presence as subtle as possible, Zoe turned her head and saw Erik's head emerging from the darkness. The young man looked at her and nodded with a solemn expression, then extended his hand out of the shadows, showing her all five fingers before slowly beginning to retract them one by one.

Understanding the signal, Zoe turned to look at the man and quickly noticed that he had a short sword strapped to the back of his waist, with the hilt pointing to the left side. At the same time, Zoe also saw that his left leg was wrapped with bandages holding needles, and even his storage pouch was on his left.

Knowing where to strike, Zoe turned to look at Erik, who now had only two fingers extended, and quickly signaled with her eyes, indicating the man's left hand. Erik nodded right away and soon retracted all his fingers—the moment in which both of them burst out of the shadow at once.

Instead of looking scared or surprised, Zoe's gaze was cold and sharp. With a fluid motion, the beautiful young woman drew her katana at an absurd speed, making a strategic cut on the man's shoulder and then stabbing his hand in a single, seamless movement. Simultaneously, a dark electric bolt struck the man's back.

Meanwhile, Erik appeared to the man's right and quickly covered his mouth with his hand, using his machete to cut his neck and prevent him from making anything more than low, gurgling sounds. Although it was a serious wound, it wouldn't kill him immediately, and Erik had healing potions and several spells, so he wasn't afraid the man would die.

Without wasting a single moment, Erik pulled the man back, trying to drag him into the shadow. But at that instant, a faint light shone on the man's chest, causing Erik's eyes to narrow.

Immediately, arcs of dark electricity collided with the subtle light, counteracting it and preventing it from activating. With a dangerous glint in his green eyes, Erik cut even deeper into the man's neck as he forcefully dragged him into the shadow.

***

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