Silveria didn't mind the situation. She looked at Alex and his bleeding hand.
"Don't worry, I did that on purpose…"
Alex pursed his lips when he noticed Silveria staring at his wound. He showed her his recovered palm to assure her he was fine.
"Looks like we are facing dreams and illusions not unlike the one we faced back in the land of green mist…"
"But…"
Alex pursed his lips, he waved the blood off his hand.
"We can't treat them like normal dreams or illusions…"
He suffered damage from both dreams and illusions.
They were faced with illusions and dreams on another level.
"Real dreams and real illusions…"
Nyx mused out loud, only Wu Yan can hear her though.
"Things have just gotten troublesome…"
Nodding, both of them exchanged a glance. They opened the door in front of them after the doors stopped shifting. They could only continue.
???
Meanwhile, in the outside world, no more accurately in a private world belonging to a certain silver-haired beauty. In one of the many gardens she created.
A fresh field of grass is framed by joined hedges, flower bushes, and shrubs. A lone ornamental piece stands near the right edge, neatly interwoven with the garden and nature itself. The flower beds are trying to take all the attention in this garden, and succeeding to a large extent too; they're a unique, miniature world. The hedges, flower bushes, and shrubs reach 1.2m/4ft high, but this is about as tall as they'll reach. A path of marble stones loops around the garden, leading visitors to the best spots. Plants, grass, and roots try to claim every part of the garden as their own with every chance they get, held back only by sheers, trimmers, and mowers.
The ornamental piece is generally the biggest eye-catcher in the garden. The flower beds have no hard time getting their share of the attention, and the hedges, flower bushes, and shrubs are surely a sight to behold, but nothing can challenge the ornamental piece.
Standing in the middle of this garden was Silveria.
''Sigh! Sister said to just observe the situation because we can't do much. We must believe in our master and let him overcome whatever he was experiencing which has put in out of cold since we entered the abyss. I'm really curious about what Master is going through. Hopefully, there's someone beside him so he won't feel lonely.'' Silveria mumbled before lowering her body to tend to a flower that caught her eye. She soon forgot her worries about her master but she knew it was only temporary.
Recently, more and more she had discovered that she couldn't stop thinking about her master, worrying about him which was unusual. Maybe entering the abyss created by the powerful enemy Mysthia ever faced might have affected her as well she thought.
????
Back to Alex's location.
Against the literal parade of doors, the two tried opening doors for an entire day.
With a single day as the cost, they opened hundreds of doors.
As a result, they went through hundreds of dreams and illusions.
Any other group would have succumbed by now.
With magic power sealed, who in their right mind would willingly subject themselves to attacks from impostors taking the looks of loved ones?
If they weren't careful, getting hurt was another possibility.
Although the severity will not result in death, the time wasted here would be too great.
Nyx also helped him out by waking him from dreams. Even so, Alex's competence still didn't stop him from hesitating when opening those terrible doors.
As for Silveria, she opened doors while taking turns with Alex like she didn't value her life. If he was in her shoes, he was not sure he could do something so gutsy as Silveria.
In a way, the two were reckless in their ways. They were similarly crazy as well.
After the day ended, Alex lost count of the times he got sent into a dream state only to be woken up by Nyx or Silveria. He also blocked countless attacks from illusions. It was a dangerous and tiresome task. But as the only male present, he didn't hesitate.
Alex didn't stop, he used his powerful physics regenerative ability and resilience to push through the trials. Maybe he could analyze the door movement patterns to determine the correct door.
Silveria also did the same thing. She opened doors while relying on Alex to wake her up. Alex also blocked various illusory attacks for her. She focused entirely on opening doors and minimizing wasteful moves.
Her cold expression also made it look like she was just a puppet fulfilling her creator's design.
Alex heaved while glancing at the moving doors near her. He rubbed his aching temples.
"Silveria, have you noticed anything different?" He raised this question.
Unfortunately, Silveria didn't it was why she shook her head. She didn't show it on her face but her eyes were tired.
"There are also no set patterns in the dreams and illusions, they are all different."
Alex felt another wave of headache assaulting him. His head was throbbing hard.
At first, the characters in the dreams were familiar people. Sometimes the illusions even took Alex and Silveria's forms. Then, the dreams and illusions morphed more and more, distorting and becoming very troublesome in the process as if they were progressing.
In the end, Alex couldn't help but ask for Nyx's help as he was overwhelmed.
"Nyx? Any clues?"
"None."
Nyx replied curtly. Unlike Alex and Silveria, she was relatively calm which was why she could come to this deduction.
"It's either dreams or illusions. The doors will close automatically after resolving the dreams or illusions. The doors will also shuffle. From this, it's fair to surmise that the wrong doors are those that will spawn dreams or illusions."
"Entering these doors."
Alex frowned.
"Say, is there a chance that a special condition needs to be met before one can find the true door?"
"Hmm?"
Nyx was curious.
"What makes you say that?"
"The compass said any of these doors might be correct, no?"
Alex pursed his lips.
"If we rush into the doors before they close?"
"I don't think that will work."
Nyx raised her opinion.
"It won't be a trial if the solution's that simple. Plus, that doesn't sound like the difficulty the Guardian would install for Saint and Demigod participants…"
"You're right, that would be too easy."
Alex grumbled, massaging his arching temple.
"Seriously, why must the guardian come with the ability to manipulate space? Can't the guardian just make the doors stay in one place? Why did it have to make all the doors possibly correct?"
"Who knows? That's your conjecture."
Nyx replied nonchalantly.
"The guardian of the dungeon can open portals in space, maybe the doors are all fake?"
"All the doors are fake?" Alex murmured and suddenly had an idea, his eyes lit up.
"Silveria!"
Alex called Silveria out ordering her to do something for him.
"Open the door one more time!" He said with a smile. The smile of a winner.
Silveria felt puzzled by his sudden request, she thought maybe he had an idea so she didn't dawdle around, she opened a door as she was told.
Opening a door, the same intense light struck Silveria, forcibly hypnotizing her. He dashed towards Silveria, covering her and backing away.
He slapped her cheeks, waking her up. Alex also scanned the moving doors.
Soon, the doors stopped moving. Silveria also woke up from her dream. She saw Alex's confident grin.
Silveria's eyes rippled.
"You found something?" She asked, hoping that it was the case.
Alex lowered his head. He started chuckling.
"Perhaps!'' Alex responded before heaving a sigh.
"Rather than saying we found something, it's more like a realization that we are being fooled."
"Fooled?"
Silveria furrowed her brows.
"The doors will shuffle every time we open one door, correct?"
She nodded. He started laughing again.
"I focused on the doors and found out that the doors aren't the ones moving."
"Not the doors?"
Silveria gasped at this realization.
"Correct."
"The walls are moving, not the doors."
"Huh?! What?''
Silveria took another look around her. She finally noticed it.
She looked at the tunnel that led them here.
"If I am correct, the tunnel wasn't there when we first started, right?"
Alex gasped, he praised her.
"Outstanding memory, you remembered."
"Yes, the walls are moving."
Silveria was too busy and didn't notice Alex's comment. She continued thinking about the matter at hand.
"What does this say?"
"It means you've still got more to learn in the department of memorization."
Alex teased her.
"Look closer, you see it? The walls are moving and that moved the doors. Ignoring the horizontal alignments, focusing on the vertical alignments will reveal a disorderly pattern in every door…"
"Except this row!"
He pointed in a certain direction.
"This column of doors is very neat, it's like they never shifted positions."
Upon seeing this Silveria's eyes lit up too.
"You're saying."
"Yes, I am saying-"
Alex beamed at her while staring at the set of doors neatly stacked there.
"The correct door is over there."
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