Chapter 185 Canyon (4) - Mysterious Door
The group left the cabin, doing exactly what they intended to do when going to the canyon, uncovering its truth.
A stronger desire is born within, a desire to uncover the truth about the fog and get their hands on all the treasures of the old dark elf.
They did not know it was a setup from Arthur, but why would they know? After stabbing him and throwing him inside that canyon to die, Arthur would not be merciful to those people.
He was already visualizing their faces of disappointment after finding out there was no such thing as treasures. Well, if they reach that far.
Arthur learned from their conversations that it was not the first time they had gone to that canyon. They had more information about the mysterious fog than most people.
Would this information lead to the truth? Arthur did not know, but he would try to help them in the background if things got too dangerous.
That group of adventurers had to use the things they knew to uncover the mystery of that canyon, so for that reason, they could not die randomly while traversing through the canyon.
“If only I could steal their memories… Is there a spell like that?” Arthur regretted not learning that if there was such a thing.
While he observed the group, he noticed how they had a destination already set in their minds, walking towards a specific part of the canyon, far from where the cabin was.
Just like before, magical beasts constantly attacked them from all sides, and Arthur had to pull a few strings so that they would not perish, like interfering with the movements of those beasts using his magic.
It was hard to see anything inside that place, with the surrounding dense vegetation and the almost inexistent light source.
“The border of the canyon?” Arthur thought.
He had followed them since they left the cabin, using his flight spell not to make noises and his invisibility spell so they would not see him.
The effect of the poison which messed up with his mana was long gone, but the weakened state after fighting with the Bone Lord did not, and Arthur wondered if there was a way to recover faster.
There was a tunnel in the rock wall of the canyon. One needed to touch a few specific rocks for the place to open up; as such, Arthur guessed it was information only that group of adventurers had.
Arthur had a better understanding of the canyon after reading the diary of the previous owner of that cabin. It turned out that the canyon was the home of a small tribe, the creators of the tattoo magic Arthur saw in the desert.
But these were different from the desert people. The tribe that lived inside the canyon was not from that realm, but a higher one, just like the dragons.
Perhaps they had come to the realm Arthur was in at the same time as the dragons, or maybe they did it long before or after. The specific time was still unknown to Arthur.
The person who lived in that cabin was also someone from that tribe, yet he rebelled, leaving the canyon, leaving their home. Arthur had a feeling that was the reason why the people in the desert had some understanding of tattoo magic.
“He probably shared some information with them.”
Arthur also knew that the former tribe that man belonged to was not the reason for his death. It was stated in the diary that he returned to the canyon after countless years, only to find his tribe long gone.
Some members were dead, while others managed to flee that realm, returning to where they came from.
As for how they died, Arthur felt it had something to do with this fog. The fog was not there when the diary owner left the canyon and only appeared afterward.
Arthur followed the group of adventurers into that tunnel, which was narrow and devoid of light.
They kept moving forward until finally stopping in front of a door, which was locked. The door had a strange symbol on it. It was weird for them, but Arthur had seen it before.
“The Doom Order? Here? How?”
It was the symbol of that strange cult that worshiped demons. Arthur had a deep hatred for them at first, but now that he was slowly discovering that he had a few demonic parts inside of him, he wished to learn more.
“Were they the ones behind the fog? I don’t know if the cultists had enough power to kill an ancient tribe from another realm, but… a demon could!”
“This fucking door. We could not open it the last time, and after searching for a long time, we found out about the Doom Order, and even infiltrated inside of it, yet….”
“Calm down, Luvon. We can try out the key first, and if it does not work, we will stay here and think more about it,” Michael said.
Luvon stepped forward with a key in his hands. Arthur remembered it looked like one of those keys the Doom Order used in those doors. Yet, before they tried it, Arthur knew it would not work.
The door in front of them was different. It had a keyhole, but that was only to fool people. Whoever found the door would keep trying to find a key that fits in, which meant they would never open it.
“The key does not work, fuck!” Luvon tossed the key at the wall, almost breaking it.
He was frustrated. They had done quite the research and had spent lots of time and effort to get their hands on that key, only not to work.
Arthur saw all that and could not even figure out how to open the door.
“If a demon is supposedly trapped there, then maybe only another demon can open the door?” Arthur thought.
It was only a guess, but it did not hurt to try, so he appeared to them right in front of the door.
They jumped for a second, scared after the sudden appearance, but when they saw it was that older man from before, a hint of hope flashed through their eyes.
“I see you found my grave… How did I lock this door thousand of years ago? My old mind can’t seem to remember….”