Alex and Silveria looked smaller than specks of dust when compared to the gigantic mountain range. They were like the iron sword carrying them, tiny and minuscule. Yet, the minuscule existences flew as if they accepted the challenge given to them.
They endured the intense waves of gusts and the chilling low temperature. Alex and Silveria regulated their breathing. With the wind's violent whispers in their ears, the duo flew up toward the clouds.
Stopping somewhere above the cloud, they looked around to find the peak.
Terrifyingly enough, the mountain range still stretched higher into the heavens.
If there is a space beyond this sub-space then surely the summit must be near the end of space.
Silveria felt dizzy. Meanwhile, Alex's eyes lit up, and he pointed in one direction.
"Look, over there!"
Silveria looked and she saw it.
There was a big hole near one corner of the mountain range. It looked like a giant mouth waiting to devour unsuspecting visitors.
In the clouds, somewhere near the mountain range that looked like it wanted to devour the heavens. Everything's green here, the clouds, the land, the air, it felt surreal being in a place like this.
With Silveria in his arms, Alex flew towards the giant opening near one of the mountain ranges. He hovered fifteen meters away from the opening. His green eyes narrowed slightly.
This cave was huge!
He was just standing at the entrance but it felt like he was an ant staring up at a wall dozens of meters tall.
The other objects here are green, however, the cave was dark in color. The cold wind blowing outwards from within made it look like the cave's entrance was an open mouth. Like a beast waiting for prey to deliver themselves to its mouth, that's how scary it was to stand in front of it.
Luckily, this cave was dark and its immense size made it easy for Alex to spot it from some distance away. Even Alex's sharp senses would be hard-pressed to find a normal cave among mountain ranges like this.
Alex and Silveria examined the cave entrance. The two watched in astonishment.
They finally understood the general geography of this green subspace. It's like a continent surrounded by a mountain range.
With the center surrounded by the green fog, this mountain range served as the outer bound beyond the green fog.
If one could even call this a mountain range anymore.
Normal mountain ranges can't surround everything as this one did.
Living in this type of place was no different than living in an extra-large prison cage.
To break out of this jail, one must scale the tall mountain ranges here.
Looking at the mountains that pierced the clouds above, really does curb one's motivation just thinking about climbing this thing.
This kind of geography was probably something unique to this named dungeon.
With a huge cave entrance like this, it was as if someone was telling them to go inside.
"I feel like… it's inviting us inside?"
Alex snickered with amusement. It was amusing he thought.
Meanwhile, Silveria also nodded. She looked into Alex's emerald eyes.
"We don't have a choice."
This was probably their only way out.
"So…"
"Let's go inside…"
They shot into the dark cave after another verbal confirmation.
Alex and Silveria got accustomed to the green color. Now, they have to get used to this bleak darkness.
If the green place only gave off a weird but serene vibe then this dark space gave an eerie vibe.
The temperature around them also dropped a notch. They couldn't help but tense up as they kept their gaze fixed in front. The wind assaulted their faces, ruffling their hair.
Even so, they never lowered their guards or looked away. After about half an hour of flying, they saw light at the end of the tunnel.
They exchanged a look. They didn't say anything but sped up toward the light.
They went past the source of light.
They stopped when they passed the door.
Yeah, they just passed a 5-meters tall door.
For them, doors should have been a most welcomed sight. Yet, when they saw the door, they bitterly laughed at the same time.
These doors…
There are countless sets of doors here.
The duo stood in a wide opening within the cave.
In this semispherical area, there are stairs built into the walls, this array of stairs all had doors lined up along the sides of the wall. It looked like they just entered an underground crypt.
Alex looked at the nigh-infinite sets of doors. His shoulder sagged down as he floated a tired look.
"Look, is the Guardian seriously telling us to find the door that leads to the last floor?"
Silveria thought about it, and she answered him.
"If that's the case then one of the doors here must lead there!"
"Sure!''
Alex sighed.
"How does it expect us to find it? One week won't be enough to check the doors one by one!"
A rough estimate in his mind told him that there are just too many doors here to do a rough calculation. What a terrifying array of doors.
To find the true door would be easy if Alex could use his tracing skill. However, that was not a viable option right now.
"At least, I am certain we will fail if we try to search one by one…"
Alex floated a weak look.
Silveria also looked like she wasn't fazed, even her tone sounded chill as a cucumber.
"Again, the Guardian won't set an impossible trial, there must be a clue somewhere, maybe an indicator or something like that."
"I hope it's kind enough to give us a hint."
Alex's lip twitched.
"I don't think we can spot a difference with this many doors in front of us."
Silveria nodded. She was still very calm despite the time pressure at hand. This piqued Alex's interest.
"Are you not worried that we won't make it to the core palace?"
Silveria replied.
"I don't expect much from this named dungeon."
Alex was surprised to hear this from her.
From the rumors, this named dungeon is like a cultivating heritage spot the past gods left behind for their descendants. There are treasures here that could change a person's life.
Even a cripple can find the chance to once again soar in this place rumors had it.
This is the reason why the imperial families don't bully their members.
Nobody can be certain that the one being picked on wouldn't find a treasure to transcend.
In any case, anything's possible.
It's laughable for a genius to walk away without any gains.
However, Silveria was saying she was not expecting to get anything out of this trip.
She probably saw the astonishment on Alex's face.
"Even if I lost my power, I am still Silveria. Even if I lost a chance to advance, I am still me."
She said with a resolute look. Alex revised his perception of this silver-haired princess, she's a tough nut, and nobody could deny that.
Maybe he was underestimating this girl too and didn't completely understand as he previously thought.
''Let's continue.'' He said while taking the lead and Silveria nodded. She was looking at Alex's back lost in thoughts.
Time slowly ebbed on.
It was hard to tell the time when everything was green in color. It was even harder to tell the time inside a dark cave like this.
The couple spent an entire day looking for something in this vast cave.
They were looking for clues that will shed light on the door to the core palace.
Alas, they found nothing at the end of the day.
Rather, it was more accurate to say they are far from achieving anything significant. This place was simply too big so they only searched about 20% of this place even while doing their utmost.
In other words, searching this entire cave will take more than one week.
A week that they don't have.
The couple was already in this place for 2 days now. They have 4 days left.
They were in a race against time.
"Ugh…"
Sighing for the nth time. Alex rubbed his aching temples.
"The Guardian is seriously… Does it want us to waste our Seven days? It keeps throwing so many distractions at us…"
"And that's why it's called a trial."
Silveria looked around despite explaining. It seems she is still focused on finding a clue.
"If it were that easy to get the treasures inside this named dungeon then we would have exhausted the treasures here over so many generations."
"You do have a point there…"
Alex nodded. He scanned his surrounding, the identical doors made him feel dizzy. He decided to call for Nyx's assistance, maybe she'd help like always
'Like always? Almost as if we knew each other since a long time ago, going through a lot together. However, I simply remember that we meet one year ago. Something doesn't feel right, why do I keep having these weird feelings that something was not right? Even after escaping the green mist, what's going on?'
Alex stopped, lost in thoughts when Silveria's voice reached him.
''Alexander what's the problem?''
''No, nothing!'' He said shaking his head, if something was not right he would eventually find out, maybe he was simply too tired why he was this sensitive Alex thought.