Skyler sat behind a tree trunk, his eyes narrowed in contemplation as he watched Zack. His clothes were slightly damp from his recent dip in the water, but they were drying thanks to the wind.
"I can tell he is talking... but I can't hear what he is saying from this distance."
He sighed. If only 505 could spy on Zack's conversation with the higher being, it would have been so much easier. The evening sky darkened above him as he sat there.
An hour stretched into two, and then three, the silence broken only by the soft rustle of leaves and the distant roars of monsters.
Just when he was about to leave, thinking Zack was wasting his time just sitting there doing nothing, the man suddenly jumped to his feet and rushed toward his location.
'Did I get caught!?'
Skyler gripped his handgun, prepared to fight or make a run for it. However, to his surprise, Zack didn't appear to notice him. Instead, the man paused a short distance away, and like him, concealed himself among the trees to observe the cave.
'Huh?'
Confusion washed over him as he shifted back away from Zack's location, careful not to be seen or sensed. What happened next only deepened his bewilderment.
Max, Austin, Jenny, and Elena emerged from the trees, their figures commanding attention and radiating undeniable charm, even against the backdrop of the night sky.
The four were clad in the familiar purple uniform, pristine and unblemished, a stark contrast to Skyler's disheveled appearance. He looked as though he had just escaped a harrowing ordeal, and in truth, he had. He had barely managed to get rid of the horde of monsters that was hot on his heels.
Skyler quietly observed Zack watching the group of four as they discussed something in front of the cave before deciding to enter.
'What's going on?'
Now things were getting even weirder.
Why the heck did Zack look like he already knew they would come here?
Skyler couldn't see Zack's face due to the dark space, but he knew, for some reason, that the latter was smiling.
"Damn... I feel like I am getting into something I should stay away from."
He whispered, and 505 agreed nervously.
("Host... then how about we leave? We shouldn't get involved with what the higher being and that man are planning.")
Skyler's lips curled into a smirk.
"No. Where's the fun then?"
He watched as Max and his teammates vanished into the cave at the base of the mountain. Then, Zack leaped out of his hiding spot and followed after them.
Skyler emerged from behind the towering trees, his gaze fixed on the cave entrance.
He had noticed that orbs of light element were floating in front of Max and his team, illuminating their path. Zack, however, didn't use such things and, despite the darkness, simply entered the cave after them.
"Should I use my phone flashlight?"
He muttered, and 505 was speechless.
("Host, you have a spell called 'Glimmering Spark'. It could be helpful. Why don't you try tweaking the spell and form a spark of light instead of a burst that floats before you?")
505 was about to follow up with the words that tweaking the spell wasn't easy and that Skyler should buy an illumination spell from the system shop, but Skyler's eyes lit up.
"You are right. I will try that."
He quickly channeled the Evol in his light elemental crystal, and a faint burst of light erupted from his fingertips. The spell faded the first time because he couldn't maintain the flow of Evol constantly. But he got the hang of it the next time, and a few sparks of golden light danced around him.
"Done. Let's go."
505 was dumfounded at what it had just witnessed and could only watch as its host strolled into the cave. When on earth did tweaking the spell become so easy??
Skyler paid no attention to the stunned system and hurried deep into the cave. The ground beneath his feet was a bit damp, but at least he could see the interior thanks to the sparks of light floating around him.
From the outside, the cave looked very small, but now that he was walking inside, he couldn't believe how enormous it was.
The ceiling was covered in sharp, jagged rocks that hung precariously, threatening to plunge down at any second. The walls were filled with strange markings and symbols, seeming to writhe and shift as if alive.
"505, what is this place? This doesn't look normal from any direction, and you wanted me to rest here? Wow, just wow."
Skyler's whisper echoed in the cavernous space, and he clamped his mouth shut.
("Host! 505 doesn't know either! I just scanned the area and saw a cave in the mountain base. So, I guided you here thinking it was just a normal place.")
After walking for a minute, Skyler finally stopped, facing a series of passageways lined up within the dark cave.
"505, can you scan the place? Which passageway is right?"
The system hesitated. This was a blatant violation of the rules. Due to Skyler, 505 had already broken so many. If the main system found out, it knew it was finished.
But recalling how upset its host had been when it rejected his request a while ago, it decided to take these secrets to its grave and nervously scanned the surroundings, but the results were disappointing.
("Host, the cave is too dark. I'm unable to scan anything beyond your vicinity. Now we won't be able to follow that man who went after the group. Should we go back?")
Skyler scoffed at the system. Why does it feel like the system was scared? Only if he knew that 505 had a very bad premonition about what this place actually was. But it just wasn't sure if its deduction was right.
"No. I only asked you to scan this place to see if you could find the right passageway, since my luck is bad. Now that you can't, we follow their footprints. The land is damp so I can see the footprints quite clearly."
505 watched as Skyler followed the footprints into one of the passageways. The system was in a full-blown panic. It shrieked internally.
Should it tell its host its deduction? Or not? It had heard whispers of such a place from other systems in the system chat group.
So, the thought that they were potentially heading straight toward a funkin' dragon's lair was making it go crazy with panic!
Unaware of 505's turmoil, Skyler noted how many traps were dismantled in the passage he had entered. His lips twitched upward. It seems his path was safe thanks to those who entered the cave ahead of him.
A sense of satisfaction filled him as he hummed a happy tune, quickening his pace. At least Zack and Max were useful in some way. A while later, he stopped, a flicker of light in the distance drawing his attention.
Skyler hurriedly extinguished the sparks of light floating around him and quietly tiptoed closer to the source. As he reached the end of the passageway that opened into a large chamber, the first thing he saw was Zack's familiar figure hiding behind one of the large rocks scattered in the chamber.
'Oho... found you!'
Next, his eyes landed on the massive golden gate, filled with a dazzling array of intricate symbols and glowing gems, each pulsating softly, opposite the passageway. Max and his team were trying to open that gate, its sheer size and intricate details dwarfing everything else in the chamber.
Skyler froze in his tracks. Immediately, everything around him faded as his gaze zeroed in on the gleaming gate.
505 was horrified to see the gate. Its deduction was correct! As the system turned its gaze toward its host, it was even more horrified to see the familiar crazy look in his blue eyes! It blared warning alarms for Skyler to retreat at this instant! Yet, who was it kidding? How could its host, who had again and again shown he would put his life on the line for gems, leave when in front of him was a gate embedded with gems! 505 was sure he was probably thinking how to dig out each and every one of them!
What the system didn't know was that Skyler's brain was racing to find a way to take the entire gate, not just the gems.
How could he leave such a dazzling gate behind, especially after he had already set his eyes on it? He wanted to go ahead and do what his mind was telling him, but the thought that there might be more gems behind that gate rooted him in place.
Skyler completely ignored 505, who was telling him to retreat. His gaze was fixed on Max, Jenny, Austin, and Elena. One of his fingers tapped impatiently against the wall.
'Why can't they hurry up? It's just a simple puzzle they need to solve to open the gate! Why the heck are they so slow?!'