Legendary Architect of Apocalypse

Five people had been here before Elias arrived. Four of them had already become victims of the test. Only one remained. It was a girl who belonged to the Creator Class.

Elias met her gaze, finding suspicion in her eyes.

"I never thought," the girl in white said, "that you, of all people, would be the one to survive."

After a moment of silence, she asked, "Who did you pair up with?"

"I don't know her name," Elias replied, carefully constructing a lie that was masked by his innocence. He chose to go for a physical description instead.

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Her? How did you manage to defeat that cunning vixen? Don't lie to me!"

"I didn't do anything," Elias said, maintaining his harmless facade. "I just told the truth. Every time. But she was so suspicious, she kept insisting I was lying. In the end, she defeated herself."

The girl's lips twitched.

"Hmm? Her own overthinking brought her down?" she mumbled, tapping a finger against her chin, seemingly lost in thought.

She visibly struggled to suppress a laugh, her shoulders shaking slightly, the corners of her mouth betraying her amusement. She was desperately trying to maintain her composure and her dignity before a junior.

Elias noticed the barely-contained laughter.

'Does she really have to try so hard not to laugh?' he thought, but wisely kept the observation to himself.

"Senior Sister, where should we go from here?" he asked the girl after another moment of silence, to bring her out of her amusement.

"Cough, of course we go forward." The girl quickly recovered herself and pointed toward the six arm statue. "Just wait a second, and the opening will appear."

The statue looked identical to the ones in Taimut's Domain, but all six of its hands were perfectly fine. Moreover, five of his hands were holding the objects that were previously taken from it.

Even the Bloody Rose was back to its original place. The only thing that was missing was the pocket watch in Elias's hands.

He wasn't certain if it wasn't taken because he hadn't used it, or if it had something to do with the reward for passing the test with bonus points.

Instead of the pocket watch, another item appeared in the sixth hand, taking its place.

As they watched, a low rumble echoed through the chamber. Dust and small pebbles rained down from the ceiling as the massive stone statue began to shift.

It didn't swing open like a door, but instead slid sideways with a grinding sound that made the girl close her ears. Behind the statue, a passage was revealed, filled with darkness that seemed to absorb the light.

"Well, Junior Brother. I will graciously allow you to take the lead since you have managed to impress me," the girl told Elias. Her voice was filled with kindness, but her intentions couldn't be clearer.

She didn't know what kind of traps might be ahead, so she was simply trying to use him as a shield and a pawn. There were no other seniors to keep her in check or make her feel threatened.

The only reason she didn't kill Elias, was because she wasn't sure if there was another test ahead which needed more than one person.

"Thank you, Senior." Elias didn't argue with her either, and entered the dark passage. In this place, he could only hear the sounds of footsteps that belonged to the girl behind him.

Even with his heightened senses, he couldn't see anything in this darkness. He tried to light up a small flicker of his flames to brighten his surroundings. Unfortunately, even the flame wasn't able to remove the darkness.

The light coming from the flame was devoured before it could even move past a few inches. It doesn't help anything.

"There is no point in trying to use your abilities. In this place, there won't be any light. I have already tried," the girl behind him said, having tried the same thing a few seconds after entering this passage.

"Not even the abilities, but even treasures that could emit light are useless at this place," she continued. "If I came across the crazy person who made this tomb, I would have loved to beat him up."

"If she came across that person, do you think she would even be able to open her mouth?" Astralious asked Elias, scoffing at the arrogant words.

There were only a handful of people who could beat up the owner of the Ice Phoenix Flames even in his own era after all.

"In her dreams," Elias answered in response, his voice barely growing louder than mumbling.

"Did you say something?" The girl tilted her head, trying to catch Elias' words. "Speak up, I can't hear you clearly in this cold and desolate tomb."

"I just said that I agree with Senior. You are very wise."

"That, I am. Even if you are in the Destroyer Class, it seems you're not a complete nutcase like the others there."

"I am unworthy of Senior's compliment."

"It's good to be humble." The girl nodded, growing pleased with the way Elias treated her. She truly felt like an elder sister, who was accompanying a kid that looked up to her.

"Senior, I think I see light at the end," Elias increased his pace, noticing a small speck of light in the distance that was even more visible in this darkness.

The girl also increased her speed. "Finally we are at the end. Fortunately, there were no traps here."

She grew relieved, being worried throughout the time that there might be a trap.

"Huh?" Elias suddenly exclaimed in shock, watching the light getting closer to him instead.

Within a second, the light was right before him, still being the same size as a small wooden arrow. He abruptly ducked, barely missing the arrow of life that came straight for his head.

"Aaaah!" Unlike him, the girl wasn't so lucky as the arrow pierced through her heart. Her painful cry went silent within an instant, and there were no further movements from her within the darkness.