Chapter 30: Edgar 2

For four days, we searched the Sia Kalt Mountains.

We checked every ice cave and rock crevice, but the rumored flower was nowhere to be found.

The knights’ faces were clearly exhausted.

“Where on earth is it?” I led the way, cutting through the wind.

I endured the cold with Hindgar’s swordsmanship and continued the search, but it was in vain.

The flower I had only heard of in rumors was nowhere to be found.

“Does this make sense?” Rowan gritted his teeth.

His red aura grew stronger.

It was because of his pride that refused to admit failure.

“The saint and the warrior gained something here… was it an illusion?”

His angry shout echoed through the mountains.

The knights just looked at each other.

We had come through this extreme cold, but we were on the verge of freezing to death without any results.

“What would my brother… have found here?” That thought suddenly occurred to me.

Seven years ago, had my brother faced such a desperate moment?

No… If that was the case, my brother would have found another way.

His words that a frontal breakthrough wasn’t the only solution came to mind.

At that moment, Rowan’s gaze turned to the huge ice wall in the distance.

It was the entrance to the Great Labyrinth of Sia Kalt.

“There it is.” His voice rang coldly.

“As expected…” I swallowed a sigh.

I had a feeling that I would end up here someday.

However, I didn’t know that moment would come so quickly.

“The Knights are heading to the Great Labyrinth.”

The knights’ faces turned pale at Rowan’s declaration.

The survivors had already experienced the fear of the Cold Cold.

The Great Labyrinth would be even more dangerous.

“Chief, please wait a moment,” a knight spoke with courage.

He spoke of a village beneath the mountains.

It was a proposal to gather information.

However, Rowan’s response was cold.

“What do those commoners know? Where is the pride of the nobles…”

I bowed my head at his words.

The pride of the nobles.

Isn’t that what drove us here?

My brother abandoned that pride and left.

And I… am here to protect that pride.

“Forward.” Rowan gave his order.

No one could object.

We all knew that this was our last chance.

Our steps toward the Great Labyrinth were heavy.

The huge entrance made of ice seemed as if it was trying to swallow us up.

There were no decorations or doors; it was just a huge hole.

This is… the Great Labyrinth of Sia Kalt.

The cold grew stronger as we entered.

But it was strange.

This coldness wasn’t just cold.

As if… someone was watching.

The wind blew.

A strange echo mixed with the cold air current.

Was it a warning, or an illusion?

I gripped my sword tightly.

There was no going back now.

We… had to find the truth.

And we walked into the labyrinth of ice.

The night on the upper level passed in uneasy peace.

The frost flowers on the ice walls emitted a soft light, and the ice crystals on the ceiling scattered the moonlight.

“Isn’t it strange?” said the knight on night watch.

He was examining the ice walls.

“What do you mean?”

“Traces. There are too few traces of monsters. As if…”

“As if?”

“It’s as if someone cleaned it thoroughly.”

He was right.

This place was too clean.

It was more like an ice palace than a great labyrinth.

Even though it was clearly an upper level, it was the Great Labyrinth of Sia Kalt.

It was normal for there to be at least a minimum of monsters.

The next day, we headed to the middle level.

The narrowed passages continued like a maze, and the icicles on the walls became sharper.

“It’s the same here.” Rowan examined the ice floor.

There were traces of monsters, but they were nowhere to be seen.

“Someone is managing this place!” I knew it intuitively.

This wasn’t a simple coincidence.

“Someone…” A chill ran down my spine.

Unseen eyes were following us.

I turned my head, looked into the shadows, but I couldn’t see anything.

But it was definitely there.

That night, we camped in a wide space on the middle level.

After passing through narrow passages, we found this space that looked like a circular plaza.

“There was a place like this…” The knights were amazed, but I was anxious.

The ceiling was so high that I couldn’t see the end, and the walls were engraved with unknown patterns.

And I could still feel the unknown gaze…

On the third day, it took a while to find the way down to the lower level.

The maze-like passages became more complex, and the patterns on the walls became more and more bizarre.

“Do you see it over there?” One knight pointed to the wall.

Faces that seemed trapped in ice.

Their expressions looked like they were screaming.

“Don’t worry about it,” Rowan said firmly, but his voice wavered.

The nights downstairs were even more unsettling.

Shadows rippled between the ice pillars emitting blue light.

The invisible gaze became more persistent.

“Who is it?” The knights shouted every night, but there was no answer.

It just felt like countless eyes were watching us in the darkness.

On the fourth day, we finally found the entrance to the depths.

A place where the dark blue ice deepened like the deep sea.

Only a faint blue light pushed away the darkness.

“Let’s rest here for a while.”

Everyone sat down as if they were tired at Rowan’s words.

The journey lasted four days.

There were no battles with monsters, but the endless tension was exhausting us.

‘Why is it so quiet…’ The answer was clear.

Someone was managing this place.

And that being knew of our intrusion.

“Let’s go.” Rowan’s voice wavered.

No one pointed out his anxious expression.

Because we all felt the same anxiety.

The passageway leading down to the depths continued endlessly.

The ice walls gradually turned darker, and the icicles on the ceiling became sharper.

Only the sound of our footsteps echoed in the empty space.

There’s nothing here either.

If it was the depths, there should have been powerful monsters.

But all we saw were traces embedded in the ice.

It was as if someone had already cleaned everything up.

“Stop.” Rowan suddenly raised his hand.

The passage ahead branched off into several paths.

Each path led into a different darkness.

“Which way?”

Before anyone could finish speaking, I felt it.

A scent wafting from one passage.

Sweet and mysterious.

As if calling us.

“This… this is…” The knights’ eyes wavered.

What we were looking for.

The flower from the rumors might be in front of us.

But why?

I felt a strange sense of danger from this scent.

Like… a predator luring its prey.

That was when I saw something passing by in the darkness.

It was so fast that I couldn’t see it clearly, but…

Small things, countless small things, were watching us.

My spine went cold.

This was… a place we shouldn’t be.

That intuition enveloped my whole body.

“Forward.” Rowan’s order came.

He was already walking in the direction of the scent.

But I… couldn’t move my feet.

It felt like every cell in my body was screaming.

Suddenly, my brother’s voice rang in my ears.

“Edgar, fear is a signal from your body.”

When I was young, whenever I was scared, my brother would hold my hand.

Even now, that warm hand was vivid.

“Hyung… am I wrong?”

In the darkness, invisible eyes were watching our end.

A corner of my heart felt strangely bitter.

I sighed while leaning against the inn window.

It felt as if someone was calling me.

And then suddenly, I remembered.

The image of my brother who had followed me around since he was five.

“Edgar…”

When I was young, that boy always wanted to hold my hand.

Whenever he was scared, whenever he was anxious.

Now, he must be walking his own path.

The path of a nobleman.

“Brian, you don’t look well.” Kevin said with worried eyes.

Normally, his voice would have been playful, but today, it was strangely serious.

“That’s right. Are you sick?” Marianne also asked worriedly from the side.

“No, it’s nothing.” I answered with a light laugh.

There’s been so much going on lately.

The mysterious flower found on the mountainside, Licorice, and its amazing power.

The encounter with the Silver Warrior and the Saintess.

And… that person.

I shuddered.

The true ruler of Sia Kalt, Prostia.

The being that appeared in the form of a giant ice dragon, and then transformed into a silver-haired woman.

The overwhelming sense of intimidation at that time was still vivid.

It was the greatest fear that a human, or even a living being, could feel.

It felt like a miracle that I had encountered such a being and survived.

‘Did I get caught up in a flow that was too big…’

It was too much for us, C-class adventurers.

We barely managed to fend off the attacks of trolls and goblins, and now, as if we were the guardians of the sacred flower, we were still staying in this village.

And on top of that, we were witnessing a being that was like a legend.

“It’s okay.” I muttered to myself, but Edgar’s face kept coming to mind.

The eyes I had seen the last time.

They were filled with anger and contempt.

The Sia Kalt Mountains outside the window were faintly hidden in the clouds.

Seven years ago, I walked toward that mountain range.

I abandoned the path of nobility and sought the path of a true knight.

The path you are walking now…

My heart tightened at the sudden ominous feeling.

This was the first time I felt this kind of anxiety.

I hadn’t felt it when I fought the troll, when I met Lycoris, or even in front of Prostia.

“Brian?” I came to my senses at Kevin’s voice.

“Are you really okay? Just sigh… Hasn’t it been too much lately?”

“Don’t worry. It’s just… I was thinking about the old days.”

However, a corner of my heart kept calling out to Edgar.

It was as if my brother was looking for me from somewhere far away.

And he was very desperate.