//Author's note: From here onwards, I will be using Evelyn's POV, to show how the 'perfect run' went. Obviously Adam made quite a lot of mistakes and did a lot of restarts, but overall, the final result got him to where he was.
Though I will switch back to Adam in the end, especially because there was a reason why this arc was present here in the middle of nowhere, when the journey would have been a smoother without Adam getting involved in this mess at all.//
[Evelyn's POV]
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"Oriel. Stop!" Adam shouted at Oriel, making him halt his attacks. I do not know what prompted him to do it, but now all our attention was on him.
"I…" he paused a little as he looked at me before looking at that dark mage and them back to Oriel as he continued slowly," I have an ability to differentiate between truths and lies."
My eyes widen as I look at him. An ability to tell lies and truth? It is rare even among the mages of highest order… Does Adam possess such a powerful ability?
Oriel seemed to be having the same thought as I did. He looked at Adam before turning at me and then back at Adam. Though something clicked in my mind as I spoke out first,
"Is that how you were finishing the quests so fast?" I asked.
It was all making sense now. No wonder he was able to complete those quests so fast all by himself.
"Yes," he spoke awkwardly as he looked at me. Though it wasn't anything to be shameful about. It was quite an excellent ability, in my opinion.
"If you don't have any problems, Adam… can I test that ability of yours?" Asked Oriel, as he seemed to be thinking about something. With Adam's affirmation, he nodded and proceeded to ask questions that seemed to be connected to him.
Oriel asked about a dozen questions and Adam told which were lies and which were true, before he turned to me," You should ask questions with him as well," and thus I too began asking a bunch of random questions.
It wasn't long before we confirmed that Adam could really tell the difference between a lie and a truth. And it made all of us, including the Dark Mage, even more baffled than before.
"All right. Thank you for cooperating… now… why did you stop me from attacking him?" Oriel asked as he brought us back to the main topic. So why did Adam stop Oriel from attacking? Was it related to his ability?
"Yeah, about that… he isn't lying… at least when he said that it would be difficult to do so," Adam turned at the Dark Mage.
Huh? What does Adam mean?
"Adam," I called Adam out of reflex as I looked at the Dark Mage," what do you mean by that? Clearly, all the mana is pointing at the thing he is holding in his hand."
Adam looked at me with an even more surprise before turning to the Dark Mage. The Dark Mage, too, looked at the keys in his hands before looking at me as he asked," what do you mean by that?"
"Are you saying that you don't know what you are holding in your hand?" Oriel spoke out as he moved closer to that dark mage once again. His eyes seemed really concentrated on the keys.
"I do know about it. But how is this connected to escaping out of here? I do not know of that," the dark mage seemed even more confused than the rest of us. While Adam, who was standing there, murmured that he was telling the truth.
"Give us the key and I will show you how to," Oriel spoke out, moving even closer to the Dark Mage with his expression turning more dark as he moved closer.
'Sir Oriel is really brave to stand toe to toe against such an entity on his own,' I admired him for his bravery… and also not feel disgusted as much as I would have.
"Why should I? What are the chances that you won't steal it away from me? Tell me how to do it and I will follow your instructions," the Dark Mage demanded.
And then a silence covered as both Oriel and the Mage looked at each other for a few minutes before Oriel clicked his tongue as he spoke," I will kill you afterwards. But for now, show me the key. Surely you are strong enough to keep it within your grasp, right?"
Oriel gave a deep look to Adam before he muttered," If I were to die, I will haunt you to the very end of the world, Adam," before turning back to the dark mage who seemed to be contemplating about something.
Though after a few moments, he moved his hand forward with the key grasped to his finger. The Dark mage was even more concentrated than before at the key while Oriel pressed at the key before pouring a bit of light magic in it. Copying him, even the Dark Mage did the same.
'Huh?!'
My eyes opened up wide as I looked at the mana converging within the key before coming to a balance. The Key began shining brightly, moving out of the hands of that skeleton and Oriel before slowly a tremor appeared from the ground.
-Rrrrr
The ground shook heavily as a strange door erupted in front of us from the ground making us all take a step back. I happened to peek at Adam, who was silently watching the door and even though it was hard to say… he seemed to be relieved now.
"So… this is how it was?" the Dark age spoke amazed as he looked at the door before moving closer to it. His eyes seemed to be a bit glowing before he pushed the door open and walked inside it.
"Let's hurry… " Oriel spoke as he turned to me and then to Adam. Both of us nodded as we went into the door hurriedly, while I wondered what exactly was the deal with that Dark Mage? It felt a bit too odd…
'Let's just pray that it's not something ominous,' I prayed in my heart as I moved into the door, following behind Oriel and Adam.