That's right, that's what adventure is like!

Chapter 106 The Search

Deep inside the mine tunnel.

Cole slumped to the ground, his back against the cold rock wall, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, clearly indicating that the monster had still caused damage to his body.

Roland tossed him a bottle of life potion and calmly said, "Tell me about what's going on below."

Cole caught the medicine, tilted his head back and drank it down. The warm liquid flowed into his abdomen, and the pain in his body finally began to subside.

He wiped the blood from his mouth and said breathlessly, "They only know that the Blue Heart is here, but they've searched everywhere and haven't found it—Celine guesses it's not the right time yet."

"There are three very imposing officers below, probably full-fledged professionals. Also, I noticed something that looks like a magic circle, but I don't know what it's for."

Roland absorbed this information, remained silent for a moment, tossed a parchment to Cole, then left after uttering a single sentence.

"Go east, there's an abandoned mine tunnel that you can use to get out. Once you're out, don't trust anyone, including me."

Cole stared blankly at the parchment scroll that recorded "Heavy Strike Slash," the ink still wet, clearly freshly written.

This combat skill is worth at least two thousand gold coins, and it's not available for purchase on the market.

This is what he wanted: a chance to become extraordinary.

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he only uttered two words: "Thank you."

Roland did not answer; he had already vanished into the depths of darkness.

After a long while, Cole finally stood up, clutched the parchment tightly, and walked toward the fork in the road.

The father was only half right.

live.

However, you absolutely cannot stay put.

Roland walked alone into the depths of the mine.

Fearing that the Imperial soldiers left behind would support Celine, he did not take the main road directly, but instead followed the path...

-

The map guides you to choose some remote and secluded paths.

This slowed him down slightly, but it wasn't serious.

The situation map left by Yogurt was slowly unfolded, and Roland quickly checked the current battlefield situation.

The area representing the fortress is now almost completely filled with black lines, with only a few key nodes still showing a faint red glow.

Considering the map's delay, the fortress shouldn't be too long before it falls, but since no one is providing support right now, he still has a chance.

The information Cole provided came back to mind, and after a moment's thought, Roland still didn't quite agree with Celine's judgment.

As a rare artifact, the Blue Crystal Heart does indeed appear only after its energy has been fully accumulated, but he currently leans towards the idea that the Blue Crystal Heart has already been created, but Celine and the others have not been able to find it.

There are three reasons.

First, the organization's requirement was to "find and seize the Blue Crystal Heart" within three days, not to "wait for the Blue Crystal Heart to appear and then seize it."

If the Blue Heart were to appear now, the window of opportunity would be extremely short, making it an impossible task for Roland.

Secondly, the locations marked on the map provided by Casper are all in rock crevices or fissures, not in any spacious areas.

According to Cole's description, although Celine and the others searched for a long time, they mostly wandered in the mine tunnels where the magic was relatively concentrated, so it was normal that they couldn't find anything.

Third, the timing of Casablan's actions.

The king's second son clearly had a very detailed understanding of the Blue Crystal Heart, yet he refused to evacuate despite being attacked three times in that passage. There must have been a reason why he had to arrive at that time.

The Blue Crystal Heart is most likely just ahead.

Roland put away the map and quickened his pace.

The mine tunnel narrowed further and further, and the blue crystal ore completely disappeared, leaving only dull black rocks. The air became heavy, as if the entire mountain range was pressing down on us.

He drank a night vision potion to avoid accidentally falling into a crevice.

After walking for five minutes, a fork in the road appeared ahead. According to the map, the left path led to a narrow crevice, while the right path was a dead end.

Roland chose the left side, his body pressed against the middle of the rock wall, his scales rubbing against the rock, making a low "hissing" sound that was almost suffocating.

After going in for more than a hundred steps, the crevice abruptly ended, leaving only a complete stone wall. He reached out and touched it; it was cold and smooth, without any gaps.

Not here.

He went back to the side road and looked at the map again.

The second attempt was on a narrow terrain that could hardly be called a path, requiring one to crawl on the ground under a huge rock.

Roland strapped the javelin to his back and moved slowly along the cold rock wall. The javelin made a faint scraping sound against the rock, which was particularly clear in the silent space.

After twenty feet, the gap gradually widened, and he was able to kneel on the ground. In front of him was a narrow natural cave that had existed for who knows how many years.

But the heart of the blue crystal is not here.

Roland clenched his fist, then relaxed it.

Back in the mine tunnel, he looked at the remaining two locations.

They are all deeper in the mine shafts, and to get to them, you have to pass through the area where Celine used to be stationed.

He had no choice.

After walking cautiously for several hundred feet along the mine tunnel, Celine's camp came into view, even more chaotic than Cole had described, practically a complete mess.

A dozen or so tents stood crookedly on both sides of the mine tunnel. Some of them had been torn open with huge rips for some unknown reason. The fires had been extinguished, and weapons, armor, wooden boxes, and several pools of blackened blood were scattered on the ground.

Roland slowed his pace, unleashing his full magical perception.

There was no sign of living people, but a chilling energy fluctuation emanated from the center of the camp.

He walked around the broken wooden box and saw clearly what it was.

A magic circle.

Intricate patterns intertwine and extend from the ground to the rock wall. Six magic energy crystals, each about half a person's height, float at the energy node, each emitting a dark blue light.

Roland did not approach.

Even from a distance of ten feet, he could feel the violent magic power inside—vast, chaotic, and dangerous—with the edges of the array patterns slowly twisting like living things.

He stared at it for three seconds, but considering the potential consequences of touching it rashly, he chose to ignore it and continued forward.

After bypassing the camp, he quickened his pace, almost jogging.

The longer he stays, the more dangerous it becomes; he must complete the trial as soon as possible.

Roland left three minutes later.

The magic circle patterns suddenly lit up, and dazzling blue light surged from the six magic crystals, instantly condensing into a pillar of light that shot into the sky, illuminating the entire cave.

The beam of light dissipated.

Five figures appeared in the center of the magic circle.

-

Leading the group was a female knight with dark red runes wrapped around her fair wrists, charred marks on her armor, and a freshly scabbed wound on her cheek.

Her gaze swept across the entire camp, landing on the extinguished campfire, on the messy footprints, and finally on the deep blue expanse leading into the depths.

"Where is Lady Celine?" someone behind us asked in a low voice. "Didn't she request that we come?"

The female knight did not answer. She sniffed the lingering sulfurous scent in the air, then gently twisted the silver ring on her left middle finger.

Click—

An invisible ripple emanated from the ring, sweeping past the nearest magic crystal.

Ripples spread within the crystal, distorting light and shadow, and condensing into an image in mid-air.

In the image, a figure quickly circled around the edge of the camp, moving at a rapid pace with almost no pause.

The female knight stared at the figure, her gaze gradually turning cold.

She wouldn't mistake that javelin, that crimson scale armor.

She still remembered how this person had mysteriously sprung out from underground ten hours ago, and how he had dealt a heavy blow to that war behemoth. She never expected him to be here now.

The four people behind her looked slightly puzzled when they saw that she didn't speak for a long time.

Finally, the female knight said coldly, "Follow him. This man killed the king's second son and has magic crystal cannonballs that can be triggered automatically."

She paused, then added, "Send two people to find Lady Celine's men first, to make sure there are no unexpected changes."

The four agreed, and two of them ran up the mine shaft while the other two stood silently behind, waiting for new orders.

The female knight glanced at the dark blue mine tunnel again, a cold smile curving her lips.

"The Chosen Ones————"

She said softly, "I hope your life will be worthy of this honor, worthy of the praise of the people of the kingdom."