The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 396: Tower Climbing is not just a game

Chapter 396: Tower Climbing is not just a game

Stepping over a portal did not take long; just as long as it took for someone to cross a door. One, or two seconds at most. Just blink and it was over.

But during the time it took her to blink, Zarfa felt something was wrong. The warmth in her hand was gone. And when she turned her head in curiosity, all she could see was Aina, who also looked at her in confusion. Their hands were similarly stretched out grasping into empty air.

"What?"

"Valen?"

They blinked and for a few seconds, just turned left and right to look for the half-druid. As they did, they realized that not only was Valen not there, but they also couldn’t find Jin and Fatia who were supposed to be in front of them.

Instinctively, they shifted closer and held their outstretched hands instead. They waited for a while and when Ian, who should be following them after, did not come through the closing portal, they realized they were getting stranded inside the stone tower.

"I don’t think this is where we ended up last time," Aina said quietly, looking around the room where they were at.

The last time, they were in a foyer leading to a reception room, but right now, they seemed to be in an empty room. The wall was made of stones and pretty cold. This, and the fact that there were only the two of them told them that the group was being scattered all around the tower.

"Wait... does this mean Valen is alone right now?" Zarfa widened her eyes and Aina gasped.

"Oh, no!" the inventor immediately ran toward the door. "He had never been here before!"

She grasped the door handle, but when she tried to open it, she failed to do so. She yanked the handle and realized that the door was locked.

"What the hell?" Zarfa knocked on the door hard in annoyance. "What’s wrong with that old hag?"

"Get back," Aina suddenly said, and when Zarfa looked back, she was the girl taking out something from her tool belt.

"Lock pick?"

"A girl needs a lot of skills," Aina shrugged and started to work on the door.

"Teach me that next time."

"Got it!" Aina grinned and after about a minute, she exclaimed again. "And got it!" she could hear the sound of a click and pushed the door open. "It’s good that it wasn’t locked with magic."

"If that’s the case, I’ll just use an explosive magic scroll on the wall," Zarfa shrugged. She might be scared of the magician, but separating her from her best friend is a big no-no!

Aina raised her thumb before looking at the corridor. "Left or right?"

"Left is always right," Zarfa said as she made her move. "Let’s just try to go up; I’m sure everyone will do the same."

After all, it was a tower. Surely, the magician would be somewhere up there. Zarfa felt fortunate that she wasn’t left alone. It was too bad that both of them were non-combatants, but it was better than being alone. Aina had her little trinkets, and she had the magic scrolls she bought for self-defense--the good thing about having money.

But the tower was big, and even though they didn’t meet any enemies, there were traps in some pathways--even the stairs. Sometimes, the floor wouldn’t have any stairs or doors but portals, and only after trying five different portals did they manage to move to different floors.

"This is like a maze," Zarfa grumbled as they climbed their third stairs. "How much time had we wa--mph!"

She bumped into a hard, cold surface when she reached the top of the stairs and would have fallen back if a pair of hands didn’t grip her arms.

"Whoa!" Ian pulled the girl forward and looked at Aina at the back. "What, it’s just the two of you?"

"Yeah," Zarfa patted her chest which was still pounding in surprise. "Are you alone?"

"As you can see," the paladin shrugged. "I heard something from upstairs though, so the other was probably there. But wait..." he blinked and gasped. "Does this mean Brother Valen is alone?!"

Zarfa let out a heavy sigh. "Let’s just hurry up and find him."

Ian nodded and readily took the vanguard as they searched for another stair--because for some reason, the tower put the stairs separately. But the girls breathed in relief; they could relax a bit now that someone actually capable of combat had arrived.

The sense of relief, however, didn’t last long. The more they heard the commotion from upstairs, the more they felt anxious. It sounded like a battle, and when they arrived, they could see Jin and Fatia fighting some golems protecting an unactivated portal. And it wasn’t the nice, friendly-looking serving golems in Valen’s Lair, but a big, burly, automaton-looking, hammer-wielding three-meter giants.

Wordlessly, Ian jumped right into the battle, shielding Fatia--who was in the middle of chanting--from a stray boulder as one of the golem’s arms shattered by Jin’s strike.

"What the hell? This is becoming like a game, now!" Zarfa groaned. And what--did the magician become a dungeon boss or something?

She didn’t remember this kind of prompt appearing in her dream, but then...it had been long since the prompt deviated anyway. Her so-called foresight was nigh useless right now. As far as she knew, there should be no problem when they took the Elixir to the magician, but...

Was it because of Valen’s presence?

"Are you worried?" Aina held Zarfa’s trembling hand.

"Shouldn’t I?" Zarfa smiled wryly.

"He’s strong," Aina said. "And he’s with strong friends too."

Zarfa bit her lips. "I know that," he gripped her cloak nervously. Of course, she knew; this Valen wasn’t the Valen that was bedridden and couldn’t even stand a bit of cold.

She could hardly believe it two nights ago; she found herself keep staring at Valen these past two days. She couldn’t help it; Valen was healthy, with chubby, blossoming cheeks. His eyes had always been pretty even when he was sick, but now without the sunken skin and protruding bone, they looked like a pair of jewels upon velvet ivory plush.

The resigned boy who found it hard to express himself clearly now spoke his mind easily, laughed freely, and smiled relaxedly. The boy who always told himself he should be strong and shouldn’t whine was now capable of sulking and demanding things.

And more importantly, Valen was now strong enough to go outside, powerful enough to protect himself from anything.

And he wasn’t alone.

It was so beautiful she wanted to cry.

"But I also know he’s kind, too kind..." she exhaled heavily. "See what he did to us when he could just throw everyone to his fiance’s jail. He didn’t even tell on the nurses who treated him horribly. If I didn’t tell his grandfather about it..."

Zarfa stopped. Haa...just remembering it made her blood boil.

"So you’re worried that Valen will lower his guard because he doesn’t want to hurt the magician?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I understand," Aina nodded. "But don’t worry, his companions are vicious enough."

Zarfa laughed as she recalled the little bird who was angrily shooting water balls at Ian and Jin. The Salamander also seemed to be fairly protective of his master.

Still, she couldn’t feel calm until she could see Valen was alright with her own eyes.

Thankfully, with Ian guarding Fatia, the elementalist could churn out bigger spells, stiffening the golems’ limbs so Jin could easily strike them, and blasting the golems’ cores with elemental arrows. The battle was over soon, and Jin approached them with a frown while Fatia tried to activate the portal.

"Valen’s not with you?"

They shook their head, and a flash of concern appeared in his dark eyes.

"It works!" Ian told them, then, as they could see the vibration of mana in the portal. "Let’s go."

"This should lead to where she is, right?"

"Seeing how it was guarded..." Jin nodded and walked to the portal without sheathing his blade. It seemed like he was expecting another fight.

Or perhaps, he was planning to cut down the magician--who knows? Personally, Zarfa wouldn’t object. Separating them like this, putting on obstacles...it was clear she wanted to delay them somewhat. Perhaps, she put the teleportation point in the lake so she could observe them first.

At any rate, it didn’t show goodwill, considering she had sent them on a dangerous mission.

Sure, they went through it smoothly, unscathed, and even comfortably had their rest. But if Valen wasn’t there, they would have to either fight the Demon Lord of Greed or one of the elven Kings. Worst case, they would trigger yet another inter-realm conflict.

All of them seemed to come to the same conclusion, because they looked at each other with firm, alerted gazes, and drew their weapons. This time, Ian entered the portal first with Jin and Fatia following right after while holding his shoulder. Aina and Zarfa held hands and grabbed the elementalist’s arm, gritted their teeth, and prepared for the worst when they felt their body go through the portal.

"It’s a hallway."

Zarfa could hear Ian’s voice, and in relief, they realized they were together this time.

"Let’s hurry!" Jin swiftly took the vanguard and proceeded quickly through the long corridor until they arrived at an intersection. "This way."

He turned left and they could see a huge double door at the end of the way. The sight of the door made them run, and Jin pushed the door open impatiently.

But he stopped abruptly, prompting the other to stop too.

"What--"

Zarfa was about to speak, but the words were stuck to her throat.

"W-what should I do? Please! Please tell me! Please!"

Because in front of them, in the middle of a circular hall surrounded by pillars of climbing roses and creeping ivy, was the beautiful and arrogant magician on her knees...

Begging on Valen’s feet.