The Cunning Treasure Hunter-Chapter 134: The Dark Corridor

The moonlight was obscured by clouds, and the sky was pitch black.

Only the starlight scattered across the night sky, shining brightly, but that light was far too insufficient to illuminate the ground.

Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Vera found the stairs hidden in the hazy shadows and began climbing upwards.

Her room was on the upper floor.

The corridor was still supposed to be dark and black.

After all, the sun wasn’t about to rise suddenly.

But from the room where she had been staying, from between the door...

A warm light leaked out.

"...Dylan?"

There was only one person who shared the room with her.

But would Dylan still be waiting for her, keeping the light on and not sleeping?

Probably not.

Even the lights in the other senior disciples’ rooms were off.

Then, what was that light...?

Vera walked closer, unable to understand the situation.

She slowly opened the door.

"Did you come? Good job!"

Everyone was gathered in the room.

The room was brightly lit as if it were noon, all the candles glowing warmly.

Vera stood there, frozen, staring in a daze…

Ethan grabbed her and patted her back.

"You’ll have a handprint on your back!"

"Hah. It’s just that I’m so happy, just so happy!"

Noah calmed Ethan, and Vera was grateful to him.

Jace and Dylan had bright smiles on their faces, but they were standing a step behind.

And Marcus shrugged his shoulders.

"I gathered them here. After all, the youngest is coming, so we should at least welcome you."

"...senior brother is really something."

"Don’t cry."

"Oh, I’m not crying."

Vera rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her robe.

Then, awkwardly stretching her arms out, she hesitantly walked over and embraced Dylan.

Dylan’s face also brightened.

"I’m so glad you’re back safely, really!"

"Not safely... but I’m back."

At Vera’s bitter words, everyone tilted their heads.

Except for Marcus.

To the outside world, Vera looked perfectly fine.

But inside, it wasn’t the same.

There was a heavy and dark burden left in her heart.

A burden that pressed down painfully on her fragile shoulders.

"As long as your body is fine!"

Ethan blew away everyone’s worries with a shout, then rubbed Vera’s head.

Her hair was immediately messed up and tousled, but she didn’t mind.

It felt... good.

Just being surrounded by people she could rely on.

She didn’t dislike it.

The brief welcome party ended quickly.

It was to avoid disturbing the other disciples who needed sleep.

Vera and Dylan lay side by side, staring at the dark ceiling of the unlit room.

At the rustling sound, when she looked to the side,

Dylan was staring at her silently.

A hand poked out from under the blanket.

"Vera. Shall I hold your hand?"

"Yeah."

Vera smiled lightly and also stretched out her hand.

She took Dylan’s hand.

Dylan realized once again how small Vera’s hand was.

And with this small hand, she had overcome such terrifying events.

"By the way... were you scared of the Dark Emperor?"

"...I was extremely scared."

Vera answered honestly.

An expert in the middle stage of Kingdom of Harmony, someone who seemed invincible, who could bring out true sword power.

In comparison, Vera had just crossed the threshold of the very beginning stage of transcendence.

There was no way a fight could have been formed.

"...You really did a lot."

Dylan knew the fear all too well.

To someone who hadn’t even reached the Kingdom of Harmony stage, both the great master and the master were terrifying.

She couldn’t even think of opposing them.

Yet Vera, although stronger than herself...

Had faced the legendary figures of the previous era, those in the middle of Kingdom of Harmony.

Simply drawing her sword without collapsing was impressive.

But Vera shook her head.

That was not a fight she had won.

Nor was it a fight she had endured.

It was just a fight she had thrown away.

"...The hard work, it was done by great master."

" Great Master Thorne...?"

Dylan had heard that Great Master Thorne had taken Vera after she had exhausted all her innate energy and collapsed.

But beyond that, personality had no idea, so he hadn’t heard anything more.

"Yes."

"Well, you did say you ran all the way to Celestial Sword Sect carrying me."

Dylan seemed to have understood that much.

That was enough.

Vera nodded slowly in response.

"Still, you worked hard too. In the end, you won, right?"

"...It’s more like..."

Vera paused, carefully selecting her words. Read new chapters at novelbuddy

There were many precise and sharp expressions she could use, but...

She didn’t want to.

Not with someone who cared for her, someone who tried to understand her.

"...I chose to lose together."

Dylan blinked a few times, trying to understand her words, then nodded.

It seemed like he understood in the end.

Since Vera had lost her life, the Dark Emperor had lost.

But Vera would have surely met a fate worse than death.

So, in a strict sense, she too had chosen defeat.

A simple and accurate term for it would be a mutual death.

Killing the opponent with one’s own death.

Vera had chosen such a tragic method.

But Dylan understood her heart.

"...There was no other way, was there?"

"...No."

"Yeah. I believe you."

Dylan wriggled out from under the blanket and crawled into Vera’s blanket, hugging her tightly.

Even though he was taller and bigger than her, somehow, he acted like a child, holding onto Vera...

Vera patted Dylan’s back gently.

Dylan also stroked Vera’s head.

"If it’s uncomfortable, just say so."

"I’m fine..."

A response different from usual.

The only thing she had done for Dylan was believe in him.

It seemed that Dylan had grown quite fond of her.

Vera accepted that affection.

Gradually, her eyelids began to droop.

It had been a tiring day.

She had fought a terrible and miserable battle, seen her benefactors in danger, and watched as her own master burned his life away for her.

It was a time when both her mind and body needed rest.

Vera fell asleep, as if losing consciousness.

**Underneath Southern Peak, in the underground secret chamber.

Normally, this place should have been empty by now.

It was originally the place where they kept the left arm of the demonic sect’s minor sect leader.

But the strange object that had been there had already been moved.

For some reason, however, thick dark magic still lingered in the air.

The reason for this...

Was because Aetheris was here.

"Seems like it’s gone completely wrong."

Gideon grumbled, clicking his tongue.

Magnus, who stood beside him, sighed.

It was pitiful that someone like this had been raised as a disciple.

This was the Greatest Disciple, the one who would eventually inherit the position of the Chief Sect Leader, yet he had been consumed by something as trivial as the left arm of the minor sect leader, losing his sanity.

But Gideon didn’t seem to think that way.

In his eyes, there was pity and regret, but not contempt.

This was something Magnus couldn’t understand.

"Why don’t we just dispose of him and find another host?"

"Another host, you say?"

"Yes. A host who is stronger, more resilient. Someone who could be the master, not just a mere host."

"Hah. You’re saying some interesting things."

Gideon was the Chief Sect Leader of the Suncrest Sect,

And at the age of sixty, he was an old master who had experienced the peak of the demonic sect. He was one of the few martial artists left who had witnessed the prime of the demonic sect.

From his point of view, there was no such thing as a "master" who could fully endure the left arm of the minor sect leader.

Even if he cut off his own arm and attached it...

How long could he last?

It would only be a matter of how long it would take before he crumbled.

No one could ever truly become the master of that strange object.

If such a thing were possible...

It would only be someone who had long since been consumed by dark magic.

Someone extremely powerful, like the guards who served the Minor Sect Leader.

"If we’re going to handle that thing properly, you have to be a demonic sect practitioner."

"...Then why did you use it on Aetheris?"

"Because we can’t become demonic sect practitioners, can we? So we’re testing how much we can suppress it with these treatments."

Gideon reached out and pulled out a Silver Needle from Aetheris’s body.

It had become so blackened and corrupted that when he tapped it with his fingers, it crumbled away helplessly.

This wasn’t just regular silver.

"...Did the silver just crumble? Pure silver?"

It was an astonishing sight.

Pure silver, like pure gold, is a soft metal that rusts easily, but its original properties are difficult to lose.

Yet, the dark magic flowing through Aetheris’s body had corroded the silver, turning it to dust.

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"It seems so. Do you finally understand now? What kind of object that is? Magnus, no matter how strong you are, that thing will slowly eat away at both your body and mind, and eventually, it will shatter you."

"...Is that so?"

But deep in Magnus’s heart, the greed twisted and coiled.

Looking down at Aetheris, whose mind had already melted, he thought quietly to himself.

He was different from that weak fool.

He had reached a fundamentally different level.

But Gideon could not understand his disciple’s thoughts.

Magnus didn’t realize that the hold of the strange object was already beginning to affect him.