My physics masters couldn't possibly be grand mages.

"Victor...

A trembling voice echoed in the underground tunnel.

The speaker was Raymond, a member of a collateral branch of the Vilvia family. At this moment, his face was pale, and he was clutching the hem of his clothes with both hands.

"Where are we going?" Raymond's voice was almost choked with tears. "There are monsters everywhere outside, and we can't use teleportation. Shouldn't we be running outside?"

Viktor did not answer.

Laurent, another follower, also caught up. Although he didn't lose his composure like Raymond, a fine layer of sweat had formed on his forehead, and his gaze kept drifting towards the darkness behind him.

“Victor, Raymond is right,” Laurent lowered his voice, “the family’s mission for us is to ensure your safety, not…”

"If it's not your place to ask, then don't ask."

Viktor's voice wasn't loud, but it was as cold as ice.

"This is the core area of ​​the magic-forbidden zone; there will be nothing you need to worry about here."

Raymond immediately shut up. Laurent also wisely kept quiet.

The three continued walking forward.

The tunnel becomes different here.

The rock face began to become smooth, showing obvious signs of artificial excavation.

A strong smell of sulfur began to fill the air, and the air grew increasingly hot and dry.

Viktor finally slowed down.

He stopped in front of what appeared to be an ordinary rock wall, carefully observed its features, and a barely perceptible glint of excitement flashed in his eyes.

He pulled a dark red ether crystal from inside his robe.

"Step back," he said.

Raymond and Laurent quickly took a few steps back.

Victor pressed the crystal against the rock wall. At first nothing happened, then the rock wall began to "melt".

The gray-black rocks seemed to come alive, contracting and rolling outwards from the center to reveal a narrow entrance.

Looking into the cave, you can see a stone staircase leading downwards, with each step engraved with dense runes.

Scorching air rushed out of the cave entrance, carrying an ancient and heavy aura, like a tomb sealed for thousands of years being opened for the first time.

Victor put the crystal back into his robe.

"Let's go."

Raymond swallowed hard and followed. Laurent brought up the rear, couldn't help but glance back at the way they had come, then gritted his teeth and squeezed in as well.

The three of them walked down the stone steps for about two minutes. At the end of the steps was a stone door with no handle, no keyhole, only a palm-shaped indentation in the center.

Victor placed his right hand on it.

The stone gate slid open silently to both sides.

Behind the door—

It is a huge underground space.

The lantern's light couldn't reach the top at all; all that could be seen was a thick darkness pressing down on it, concealing something unknown.

At the end of the space stood a door.

It was thirty or forty meters high and at least ten meters wide. It was a single piece of dark red metal with irregular patterns flowing across its surface, resembling blood vessels, tendons, or some kind of flattened, multi-layered skeleton.

Raymond tilted his head back, his mouth involuntarily opening wide.

There are carvings on the door.

Or rather, the door itself is a sculpture.

It was a giant chained up.

The giant was fixed to the door panel in an almost suffering posture. His arms were bound by thick iron chains and pulled to the sides, as if he were nailed to an invisible cross.

The giant's head hung low, obscuring its face. One of its horns was broken off, the break jagged and uneven, as if it had been forcibly snapped off by something.

Directly in front of the gate, about ten steps away, stands a stone statue.

That's a woman.

A kneeling female statue, pulled up from the ground by chains. Her hands are suspended above her head by chains that rise straight up into the darkness above the door panel, with no end in sight.

Her knees were on the ground, the hem of her robe torn into strips, revealing her thin, stone-like calves.

Her hair was very long, hanging down and covering most of her face, revealing only her pointed chin and slightly parted lips.

Victor stood before the stone statue, raised his head, and gazed up at the massive gate.

A dark red light shone through the crack in the door, casting an ominous hue on his face.

"Victor..." Raymond's voice had completely changed, "Where...where is this?"

Viktor did not answer.

He held the dark red crystal up to the woman's statue.

But in the next moment—

"boom!"

Blue and white fireworks exploded behind him, the terrifying energy sending Raymond and Laurent flying.

Viktor's clothes were clearly made of alchemy. Although he was also thrown into the air by the shockwave and rolled several times on the ground, he was still able to get up, only suffering some burns on his face.

He looked sharply toward the source of the explosion.

Char was standing there, with Sylvia behind him, watching him intently.

Viktor's facial muscles twitched slightly as he suppressed his anger.

"Char! Are you insane!?"

"You're crazy." Xia looked around the huge space and focused his gaze on the kneeling woman and the door behind her.

In a game, he would at least need to max out his buffs and equip himself with the best gear before daring to enter a place like this.

Sylvia took a few steps forward, staring blankly at the door in front of her.

The door was so big that the few of them standing under it looked like tiny insects.

As she gazed at the door, Sylvia's mind involuntarily drifted back to the legends she had heard as a child. As her memories and the scene before her completely overlapped, her expression gradually darkened.

"Victor, do you know what you're doing? I won't stop your Vilvia family from dying. But don't drag us down with you."

"If I didn't know, I wouldn't have come."

Viktor dusted himself off and looked at Sylvia, teasing her.

"Sylvia, when did you become so close to this sixth-tier disciple? Even your old fogies in your family aren't good enough for you anymore?"

During the conversation, Viktor silently reached his hand into his robe...

Just as she was about to say something, she realized that Char was no longer by Sylvia's side.

A dark figure suddenly rushed over from the side.

Then he saw the sole of a boot.

"Bang!"

The sole of the boot landed firmly on Viktor's face. The crisp sound of his nose breaking mingled with a muffled groan.

Viktor was thrown to one side as if he had been hit by a truck, sliding two or three meters before coming to a stop.

Blood gushed from his nose, flowed down his chin, and dripped onto the dark red ground.

The space was quiet for a while.

Sylvia was also stunned.

But Char completely ignored the silence, grabbed his hands and pressed him to the ground, while searching his body and pulling out an exquisitely designed musket.

The magic-suppressing zone has a suppressive effect on both sides, so even Victor cannot use magic.

"Villains die from talking too much." Char turned to look at Sylvia. "Sometimes, even the heroes do."