Dragon Master: The SSS-Ranked School Belle Asked Me To Contract Her

After consoling Aurora for some time, Veer also took some rest while observing his surroundings. Since the darkness was too much for him to see, he took out an Illumination Artefact.

They were pretty cheap and just needed Mana to light up, so everyone always carried them.

'Hmm, the Corrupted Mana is still too much here.'
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Veer thought, feeling the oppressive madness around him. He could still hear screams but on much smaller scale and they were also very low.

[ MP: 12/6400 (inaccessible)]

Glancing at his status, Veer sighed, as he thought, 'Damn that took much of my mana. I don't know how long it'll take to replenish it.'

He also noticed how the Mana regeneration was low in the hall because of the Corrupted Mana and that meant he would have to wait before he could fight at his best condition again.

Shaking those thoughts off, be looked around the hall, though he couldn't see far as the light from artefact wasn't strong enough.

What he saw left him confused, as the hall was pretty empty with marble floor, dark walls with intricate patterns that seemed to glow when the light shone on them. There was also a torch but it wasn't lit up.

'I guess we can only find more by moving forward.'

Since it would take forever for his mana to regenerate, he didn't see any point in resting in the hall. After all, the Corrupted Mana was still there.

So, he stood up and said, "Let's go and check what is at the end of the hall. There shouldn't be any danger but still, keep your guard up."

Aurora nodded in agreement and Veer took a step forward. In the next second, twk torch on his side lit up, taking him by surprise.

Understanding shone in his eyes, as he took one more step forward and began walking. One by one, all the touches began to lit up as the further as he moved in the hall.

However, there was still nothing in the hall. It was completely empty.

Confused and wary, Veer moved forward with his sword in his hand. It took a couple of minutes before he finally saw something and stopped.

On a pedestal before him, a small iron cage was placed and Inside of it, there was a dark, pulsating stone that sent outburst of dark waves. However, the dark waves never left the cave, as if the metal was trapping everything in it.

Veer was stunned, as he muttered, "Did all of that Corrupted Mana came from this stone?"

Aurora peaked from behind and said, "It's possible. I don't know what that is but I have a very bad feeling about it. That metal cage is different, though."

"To trap something of that calibre, of course it's different," Veer shook his head and looked around, finding the hall as empty as ever.

His confusion grew as he said, "I don't understand why would anyone place this here? It shouldn't just because they wanted to keep the Corrupted Mana away, right?"

After observing the metal cage and the dark stone properly, the duo began to move past it. They didn't want to deal with Corrupted Mana at any cost so it was better to just find another exit. Since the hall had an entrance, there should also be exit.

They continued to walk for a couple of minutes, finding nothing except the torches that continued to light up. Just when they thought that there was no exit, they chanced upon something.

Aurora's eyes lit up as she pointed forward and said, happiness clear in her voice, "V, look there."

Following her Direction, Veer found an entrance in the wall to a similar tunnel they had come from. He didn't know where it led, but it was worth exploring. So, they didn't waste any time and entered it.

Veer expected to meet the same oppression from Corrupted Mana and was working on finding a plan to endure it. Fortunately though, the oppression never came and they even began to feel the Corrupted Mana lessening the further they walked.

This gave them confidence as they increased their speed even more. As long as they could get away from the Corrupted Mana, they would be happy.

However, the tunnel was as narrow as ever. They couldn't even walk side by side and were forced to keep an eye on each other's weak spot.

They also noticed something interesting in the terrain. They were descending for the most part before entering the wall but now, it seemed like they were passing through a artificial tunnel with proper ups and downs.

This filled them with hope and dread as they didn't want to have any battle in their current condition. They could only hope that if they find someone down there, they wouldn't be hostile.

At one point, Veer stopped to drink water as he was growing thirsty, but just then his instincts flared up as threw the water bottle at his front.

Something pierced the bottle at breakneck speed, and came directly at Veer without slowing down. But that momentary pause gave Veer enough time to draw his blade and deflect the arrow.

There wasn't enough space to move, after all.

"Whatever may happen, will happen."

Veer shook his head and got readied for a battle, even though it was going to be difficult due to the limited space to move.

He shouted, just to be sure if he could convince the other side.

"Hey! Can we talk this out?"

Another arrow came flying towards him but instead of hitting him, it landed before his feet. Confused, and a little hopeful, he once again shouted, "I know you can hear me so can we talk it out?"

There was a deathly silence, as the atmosphere turned tense. Veer waited with his sword drawn, as he didn't want to risk getting his head skewed.

He also kept his stance in check, so that no arrow could go through him to Aurora. She had weak defences and wouldn't be able to handle such arrowes.

After some time, he heard footsteps getting closer to him as he raised his head to look there. Under their careful eyes, two Creatures emerged from the other side of the narrow cave.

Veer was stunned, as he looked the beings before him. He recognised them, as he had spent quite some time learning about history and extinct races. The one he was seeing before them was one such race.

The Aethryms.

They were slender, graceful humanoids with nearly transparent skin, so pale that faint veins coule be seen beneath the surface. Their eyes were large and reflective—often silver or pearly—which helped them see in the dimmest light.

Their hair were thin and silky, ranging from white to soft lavender, flowing around their tall, willowy frames. Each movement they made was quiet and fluid, hinting at their long adaptation to narrow caves. They wore simple but elegant garments woven from shimmering cave silk.

One of them came towards Veer, with it's hand raised before him. It's large eyes blinked, as he examined Veer from head to toe.

Then, it nodded and opened it's mouth to say something, which came of as a foreign language for Aurora. But Veer understood some of it.

"You two shelw similar lekwk to her!"

Veer lowered his sword, as he tried to remember the Aethrym language he had once studied. It was hard, considering he had studied multiple languages of extinct species.

But then he remembered something and asked, 'Hey, can you help me with this? It's in my memory and you just need to highlight it.'

[Affirmative!]

Soon, familiar memories flooded in his mind, as he instantly recognised the words the being before him spoke. He smiled and replied in the same language, though his ascent was way off and came as weird.

"Hello, we didn't came here to harm you. We are a peaceful group."

The Aethrym before him flinched, as it looked at him deeply for a moment before asked, "You can understand us?"

"Yes, I once studied your language so I can understand you, but speaking is very difficult," Veer tried his best to sound the same as them, but it really came of as he was mocking them.

Fortunately, the Aethryms didn't mind it and seemed to be happy about the fact that he could understand them. The one in front began to laugh, "Haha! We finally have an outsider who can understand us."

Veer nodded, and hoped they wouldn't take him as captive. Aurora was also prepared for any attacks as she didn't trust them one bit, especially since she couldn't understand what they were talking about.

"Hello, and welcome. My name is Brando and he's Sando. We're brothers and this was our time for the watch," Brando, the one in front laughed and said.

He lowered his hand which was ready to attack Veer, showing his stance on the matter which eased Veer's heart. He didn't trust them completely but atleast, he wouldn't have to fight right away.