It was as if there was no night in this place. After ten hours, the sky was still as green as it was hours ago.
Near the makeshift coat rack, Alex picked up his dried-out clothes. He dressed while absent-minded. He was still reminiscing about their discussion an hour ago as well as the weird feeling he kept having, if he were to describe this feeling, it would he was feeling out of place, almost as if he was not in his rightful place.
However, no matter how hard Alex thought about it he was unable to find a solution so in the end he decided to continue going forward because he was sure that eventually, he would find his way out of this situation.
A few minutes later a dressed Silveria appeared. She was still sporting that expressionless look. Although she couldn't use her magic, Silveria's icy aura didn't diminish one bit.
If it wasn't because Silveria's gaze mellowed out after the last discussion, Alex would think she was playing a trick on him.
Alex put on his serious face, he examined her from up to down.
"You okay? Don't you need to rest?"
"Nope."
Silveria replied curtly.
"My body's fine, I can move around as usual."
"I see."
Alex was well aware that any further advice was pointless so he nodded.
"We should find the exit to the next floor," Silveria suggested as a matter of fact.
Alex looked around with a bitter look.
"Where do we start looking?"
Silveria stayed silent before saying.
''Anyway, let's just think about our moves one step at a time."
"First, we need to get out of this area."
She told him.
"With magic sealed, your fighting prowess greatly decreased. As for me, I can't even fight without my magic. If we don't get out of this area soon, it will be very difficult to pass the trial."
"Really?"
Alex scratched his cheek. He grinned.
"I feel like the trial is already upon us."
At this mention, Silveria's body flinched.
"You mean the trial given to us is to make it out of this area while having our magic sealed?!"
"That's just my thoughts."
Alex narrowed his eyes.
"However, the possibility of this being true is as real as it gets."
Silveria nodded.
"Indeed, our magic wouldn't be sealed for no reason."
''Let's go,'' Alex said before taking Silveria's hand while jumping from one tree to another with a flaming sword he took out from his item box, another thing that gave him a feeling of an oddity. Still, he continued but soon the couple was forced to stop because there appeared to be no other path in front of them.
Rather, everything in front was shrouded in green mist.
The thick green smoke looked like it came down from above. Green flashes can be seen within the smoke. One can only see vague figures of trees and boulders hidden within the blinding fog.
"Fog?"
Alex and Silveria exchanged a look. They hesitated before the green mist.
'Should they go in?' They wondered.
There shouldn't be any danger inside, this named dungeon wouldn't do them dirty like that. There was only one thing to note.
The trial was given by the Guardian of the dungeon.
There was no telling what trial would be given. With no clue, there was no way one could predict a solution.
They could only be sure of one thing. If they messed around in this dungeon then they would most likely fail the test and make this trip pointless after time was up. They would have to wait a lot of time to enter once more.
The trial comes before any consideration for danger.
If there was a chance this was a trial by the guardian then both of them have to enter.
With their vision so heavily hindered, the chances of mishap increased drastically…
"Let's go in…"
Silveria said, stirring Alex awake from his thoughts.
"Don't forget we only have ten days, we wasted one day…"
Alex sighed.
"You're right, we can't waste time dragging our feet here."
Alex slowly descended to the ground.
Walking would be safer than flying around.
He grabbed the flaming sword while Sylph equipped a rapier. They held hands as they slowly wandered into the green fog.
"Don't let go of my hand when we enter…"
Alex advised.
"I don't want you to go missing, stick by my side and I'll protect you, I may not have my magic power but with this sword and my physical strength I can do much."
Silveria nodded while tightening her hold on Alex's hand.
Alex inhaled deeply after confirming Silveria's voiceless agreement. Then, the two entered the deep green mist.
Maybe it was their mind playing tricks on them, the two felt like the fog was slightly cold.
The fog also looked like it was poisonous so the two slowly moved forward with vigilance in mind. They also slowed down their pace.
The flaming sword was blazing but this didn't help with widening their line of vision. The fog didn't clear up despite the blazing temperature. Visibility was still a crippling issue.
The encroaching fog's color got morphed by the flames the enchanted sword (A/N: A magic sword with specific runes engraved on it, in the current case it was flame runes that contained fire spells) was giving off. The couple couldn't hear birds or bugs in the environment. Alex felt a certain pressing feeling inside himself.
"Silveria, is it really fine to continue like this?"
Alex said with an anxious look.
"We can't even see where we are going, aren't we going to lose ourselves in this place?"
Alex waited for Silveria to reply but she didn't say anything. Not even after minutes had passed.
Alex felt a bit helpless.
"Look, I know you're not a talker but you can at least speak a few words. Don't treat me like you would treat strangers, that's just going to make me feel bad."
Still, Silveria didn't say anything.
Alex felt a bit annoyed, he turned around.
"I say, don't…"
He was expecting Silveria's cold face but that wasn't the scene he saw.
No, he didn't see Silveria's enchanting figure. Rather it was an entity made of green fog, thick vines wrapped around the entity. It also had vipers for arms, one of which was currently being held by Alex.
Where Silveria's exquisite breasts should have been was placed by a beehive-like skull with snakes wriggling in and out of it.
Alex's hair stood on the ends as his pupils shrank.
Hiss!
The viper Alex was holding sprang to life all of a sudden like a released spring. The viper bit Alex's on his forearm.
Alex's felt a sharp pain coursing through his arm. His chaotic mind started letting its battle instinct take over. His eyes emitted a sharp glint.
The flames on his sword blazed hotter, covering Alex in an instant. The viper also got burned along with the green fog entity and its tiny viper compatriots.
Wah!
The green fog entity cried like a baby when it was engulfed in flames.
It didn't take long for Alex to burn the green fog entity into nothing, not even a scrap was left.
The flames receded, revealing Alex and his disgusted look.
"When did this thing come closer without me knowing?"
Alex wondered while suppressing the anxiety within with clenched teeth.
He had Saint realm power despite the magic power being sealed. How did he fail to notice that he was holding a viper and the green fog monster that tagged along with him?
More importantly, this is a named dungeon, one of the last floor, this much should be expected from the dungeon guardian's trial. Yet.
'Where is Silveria?!'
Alex couldn't see a single person with all the thick fog around him.
"Damn!"
Alex gripped his sword harder. He was trying to come up with a solution when a dizzying sensation hit him.
Everything started shaking in his vision, his thoughts were also clouded. A paralyzing sensation to sleep hit him like a truck. He couldn't even maintain balance as he fell onto one knee.
"This…"
Resisting the urge to sleep. Alex turned towards the two recovering bloody holes in his arm. That was where the viper bit him.
This drowsiness must be related to the snakebite.
In an instant, Alex's expression turned grim.
That viper shouldn't have been able to bypass Alex's powerful physics, high-level regeneration skill, and powerful vitality.
This means the viper's poison wasn't life-threatening. It probably had a hypnotic effect.
That viper couldn't kill anyone, it just could put people to sleep.
If that's the case then he would rather the viper came with toxic poison.
Poison's pretty much useless on him. The hypnotic effect had more effect on him. Even someone like him fell for a trap like this.
Worse yet, he couldn't dispel the hypnosis with his magic power sealed away. He also couldn't use status effect spells to resist this.
"Great…"
Alex forcibly laughed as a drop of sweat flowed down his temple.
"This is bad…"
The drowsiness took over as Alex succumbed to the Sandman's lure. He sagged down like a sack of potatoes.
Bang!
He fell face first, sinking into the sandman's embrace.
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