The Fallen Hero Reincarnates as the Demon King's Son
Chapter 73 - 72 - Visiting the Tunnel Alone

Chapter 73: Chapter 72 - Visiting the Tunnel Alone

And with that, days began passing by very quickly.

Their routine was now pretty similar every day.

Caliste and Rachel would wake up and research the Space and Time Magic runes for the better part of the day, eat, do the same thing, and then sleep. They were only working every day and, as of now, around four days had passed since they had visited the Molten Core.

Nothing seemed out of control just yet as they were now patiently waiting for the one-week counter to come to an end, wondering what would happen then.

They had also tried to find a way to speed up the counter, but there were a lot of protections that made this utterly impossible to achieve. Rachel had said it more than once, but whoever had made this was definitely one of the most talented people ever.

Rachel was one of the most talented people the world had seen, and even she was unable to comprehend how such a thing was even possible in the first place. Every single rune that had been drawn held a different meaning and added complexity that was beyond impossible to solve in a single week. It was honestly quite troubling to even think about.

Because for all they knew, there could be a giant monster coming out of that tunnel in a few days.

They all hoped that nothing would happen, but everyone knew that this was just wishful thinking. There would be something happening three days from now. The question was only what.

A part of Caliste wished that Liana would simply walk out of that portal with a smile on her face, telling Caliste that he had done a good job following her tracks. However, knowing her, it would never be so easy. This portal was a small step forward on a long quest to find more clues about her.

"Just where are you..." Caliste thought as he swiped the pages before him.

Caliste hadn’t told anyone just yet since... he basically couldn’t. But he was starting to feel that Liana was not in their world anymore. He was beginning to believe that she might be stuck in a place where space and time didn’t exist. That’s why he had said those things back then in the Molten Core. He was almost sure that she was the one absorbing the energy from it.

He wasn’t sure why, but there had to be a reason.

"I’ll go on a stroll," Caliste suddenly said to Rachel as he stood up.

"Where are you going?"

Caliste shrugged. "Not sure, I’ll just take a look around, take a breath of fresh air."

Rachel didn’t really care as she continued to read on the runes.

Caliste came out of the castle and immediately headed toward the tunnel. He had gone there often ever since the first day they had arrived, thinking that they might have missed something, but every time he went, he had always been with someone else.

He wanted to see what would happen if he were to go alone. He thought that maybe Liana had prepared something only for him.

He had honestly no clue.

On the way there, he continued to curse Liana in the back of his mind for making him go through all this instead of giving him a straight answer.

He quickly arrived at the tunnel as he greeted a few miners on the way, and right as Caliste took a step inside the tunnel, alone, the runes on the walls, which were mainly white with a tint of blue, began changing colors instantly, going from white to red in a flash.

"S-Sir!" one of the miners shouted from behind, prompting Caliste to turn around as he saw the dirt on the ground beginning to lift itself up, forming a wall behind him.

’What the hell is happening?’ Caliste thought.

Never in a million years had he expected something to actually happen while coming to this place alone. However, it had. And now, it seemed that he was stuck inside this place surrounded by magic runes that he had little clue about.

Caliste heard pickaxes working against the wall of dirt; however, it kept regenerating much faster than they were breaking it, making it impossible for them to get in.

Rachel would be arriving soon, and with her magic, getting through such a wall would be very easy, which meant that Caliste had a few minutes to figure out what Liana wanted him to do.

’Red runes... a timer, getting energy.’

Caliste began looking around himself.

He wasn’t sure what he was looking for.

He just wanted to find something different, somehow.

He began looking around at the red magic runes. There were so many of them that Caliste could barely keep track of them all. He gave them a quick glance, passing them one by one, thinking they might have missed something, and after some time, around one minute, Caliste found a rune that was indeed different from the rest.

Out of all the red runes inside the tunnel, there was only one that shone differently. There was only one that had stayed white with a tint of blue.

Caliste began walking toward it mindlessly, slightly bending before approaching his hand toward it, scared of what could potentially happen. He approached it slowly and carefully, and then... he finally touched it as he felt a current of electricity pass through his body, waking him up before hearing a metallic noise from the system.

-Ding!

[You have touched a Magic Rune that wants to teleport you to an unknown destination.]

[Do you wish to be teleported?]

’Teleportation?’ Caliste thought, as it seemed to fit based on what they had learned about the runes. ’Were the rest of the runes fake? Was this rune the only real one?’

Nevertheless, there was only one answer that could be given in this situation, and Caliste gave it without a moment’s thought.

"Yes. Teleport me."

A strong light began illuminating from the rune as a small portal began to form below Caliste’s body, and then one moment later, he disappeared from the tunnels as if he had never been there in the first place.

***

While that happened, Rachel, who had been reading in her room, heard what happened and immediately ran toward the cave as fast as she could. There was a chance that they would be able to make a breakthrough. She wasn’t sure what Caliste had done, but it seemed that he had figured out something on his own and had decided not to tell her.

Once she arrived at the cave, right before the tunnel, she noticed that the entry to the tunnel was now blocked by a wall of dirt at which dozens of miners were trying their best to destroy. However, every time they hit it, the dirt that had bounced off came right back to its place, making it impossible to get through.

’Did he cast a spell on this?’ she thought for a moment before shaking her head. ’There’s no way that’s possible. His affinities aren’t related to Earth. It has to be something else. Did he understand how to activate the runes inside? Is that what caused this?’

Rachel had no idea. However, she knew there was only one way to find out.

"Can you all move out of the way, please?"

The dwarves all looked back and noticed the presence of the mage and immediately moved away.

Rachel waved her hand as she formed a small fireball in her hand that grew slightly in size before she launched it at the dirt wall. However, just as it was about to reach it, a mana barrier formed before it, completely nullifying her attack.

She tried a few other spells, but all of them had no impact against the wall.

Rachel didn’t want to admit it, but it seemed that there was no way to get inside. Magic failed, and there was no one strong enough to break this dirt wall in one strike.

It seemed that whatever Caliste had figured out, he would have to manage it on his own.

***

"Argh... where am I?" Caliste muttered, his field of vision finally returning as he began looking around himself.

However, as he did so, he started to realize that... there was nothing around him.

It was pure darkness. Only night was around and everything seemed the same.

"Just where did I end up?" he murmured as he quickly remembered why he was here in the first place. "LIANA! Where are you!"

But... the only thing he heard in return was the echo of his voice.

’Don’t tell me that I need to walk around this place until I find her...?’ Caliste rubbed his forehead.

This place was bigger than anything he had ever visited in his life. It would take days, maybe even weeks, to find someone in this place. However, as Caliste began to walk forward, he noticed something interesting...

His heart had stopped beating.

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