Chapter 222 : Chaoter 222
Chapter 222: Ilyss Again
Behind this stone door, according to the information revealed by Serandil’s remnant, there should be the area where he stored his research records and core data—something akin to a library or a study.
Whatever lay inside might be of immense value.
Or it might conceal even greater danger.
Ryan needed to go in. Not only for a possible route out or some hidden treasure, but also to better understand the Philosopher’s Stone, the contamination, and... the truth about the Dragon Race and the destruction of the Elf Race—a truth utterly different from everything he had once believed.
“I know what kind of place this is now,” Ryan suddenly said. “And I know how to open the door.”
The other three all turned to look at him.
“You know?” Lillian asked in surprise.
“When I touched the door just now... I sensed some residual information fluctuations,” Ryan said simply, without mentioning Serandil or the spiritual space. “This is an ancient Elven research facility. The door requires a specific Mana resonance to open. I can try.”
As he spoke, he walked toward the stone door again.
This time, there was no hesitation in his steps. The newly formed twin Seals of Enlightenment rotated slowly within him, bringing with them a warm pulse and a crystalline clarity in his perception of Mana.
He could feel the complex, dormant energy channels within the door.
Once more, he pressed his hand against the icy stone and closed his eyes, sinking his awareness into the twin seals. He drew upon the newly refined Mana, imitating the natural rhythm produced by the array’s operation, guiding his power into the door with gentleness and cadence, adjusting the frequency with minute precision as he tried to knock upon that lock of the same origin.
Once. Twice...
Just as he was about to brush against some critical node—
Rumble.
A low vibration came from inside the stone door.
Earlier than he had expected.
The tightly shut door opened a crack on its own, slowly swinging outward from within without anyone pushing it.
Warm golden light poured through the gap like a flood bursting through a dam, instantly driving back the gloom before the door.
Ryan’s eyes snapped open. He pulled back his hand and took half a step backward, his gray-blue gaze turning sharp in an instant, his hand already resting on the short blade at his waist.
Lillian gave a low cry.
Rex brought his greatsword up in front of him.
Vera’s fingertips gathered wind-element Mana in silence.
The door... had opened from the inside?
Who was there?
The light was too bright to see clearly at first. There was only a soft golden haze and, within it, the silhouette of a slender figure, just lowering an arm as though she had pushed the door open herself and was now breathing a little harder from the effort.
Then a cool female voice, startled and uncertain, yet strangely familiar, came through the warm light and reached all four of them clearly.
“Ryan?”
The figure stepped forward, and her outline became sharper.
Black hair, slightly disheveled.
Amethyst eyes that narrowed faintly when they made out the people outside the door.
Within them were reflected Ryan, and behind him the three others standing there in full readiness.
Ilyss.
Ryan did not loosen his grip on the knife hilt. His body remained poised, ready to move at any moment.
The Illusion Spider’s nest. The mirror-people that blurred truth and falsehood. This ruin, where every corner reeked of strangeness.
Was the Ilyss before him real?
“Ilyss?” he said, his voice still carrying its edge of caution. “Why are you behind the door?”
Ilyss’s gaze swept quickly over Ryan from head to toe. It lingered on his face for a moment, then dropped to the little tuft of cyan fluff peeking out from the pocket at his chest.
Something flickered deep in her violet eyes.
She did not answer at once. Instead, she raised her right hand and brushed it, seemingly without thought, across an old-fashioned silver bracelet around her left wrist.
At the same time, Ryan felt a faint pulse of Mana from the inside of his own left wrist.
It was the paired locator and simple communication Magic Tool Ilyss had slipped to him before they entered the ruins. Back then, she had said that if they got separated, or needed to confirm each other’s situation, they could use it.
The pulse lasted only an instant, then vanished.
The tension in Ryan’s shoulders eased.
It was real.
At the very least, the one standing there wore the matching Magic Tool and could trigger the corresponding frequency. That was the same Ilyss from before they had entered the ruins.
He let go of the knife hilt, and some of the tension in the air loosened.
“I’m glad to see you again. Are you all right?”
Ilyss lowered her hand. Her voice returned to its usual cool clarity, but the moment she saw Ryan, the rigid line of her shoulders relaxed just a fraction.
Deep within these bizarre ruins, seeing someone familiar—even if he was only an associate—was still better than being completely alone.
Her violet eyes swept over him again, confirming that he bore no obvious external wounds and that his aura was relatively stable. Only then did the string that had been wound tight inside her loosen the slightest bit.
Ryan had also relaxed.
The instant the Magic Tool resonance confirmed her identity, he too had felt a trace of relief.
Ilyss had always been distant, but between stepping in during the ball and sharing information before the expedition, the boundaries had been made clear enough—at least within the framework of Princess Cecilia’s current mission, they were on the same side.
That limited trust felt especially precious in a place as dangerous as this.
“I’m fine,” she answered briefly, then looked past him into the dim lair beyond the doorway, her gaze sweeping over the gigantic web, the hanging gray-white cocoons, and the massive sleeping shape in the distant shadows. “What about you? What happened here?”
“It’s a long story,” Ryan said.
He shifted aside, giving her a clearer view of the nest, then quickly recounted everything they had gone through to reach this point.
Ilyss frowned slightly.
“An Illusion Spider? I avoided the main area on the way down,” she said. “I found a hidden passage through a collapsed upper archive and came straight here.” She pointed toward a spiral staircase deeper inside the room. “This place looks like a storage chamber. There’s a great deal piled up inside. I’ve already checked it. For the moment, it’s safe.”
“This is Lillian, Rex, and Vera,” Ryan said, introducing the three with him.
Vera’s gray-green eyes met Ilyss’s, and she gave a slight nod.
“Vera Lind. I am here on behalf of the Duke of Tempest.”
“Ilyss. Here on behalf of Princess Cecilia.” Ilyss returned the introduction with equal brevity. Her gaze rested on Vera for an instant, then moved away and returned to Ryan.
Or rather, to the pocket at his chest.
The small azure bird was curled up quietly there, only its tiny head visible, its eyes shut, its feathers gleaming softly blue-green in the golden light.
Ilyss’s gaze froze on those feathers.
Something surged violently beneath the surface of her violet eyes—shock, recognition, annoyance, and something even more complicated.
“This bird...” Ilyss asked, her voice softer than before. “Where did you find it?”
“Inside the ruins,” Ryan answered. “It was very weak.”
He reached out and touched the little bird’s head with a finger.
In its sleep, the bird let out a tiny chirp and rubbed its head gently against his finger.