It was huge enough to accommodate the entire team walking in one group without any hindrance. And when they entered it, they were welcomed with a cold breath of air that was fierce enough to draw them back for a few steps.
"Watch out, the cold wind will come once every few minutes. Make sure to hand tightly to the ground to not get blown away," the leader casually warned, as if this wasn't something worthy to speak about.
The wind came as the leader said, once per five minutes. It was fierce enough to make them stop and struggle to keep their stance on the ground.
The deeper they walked, the fiercer the wind became, as if they were approaching the nostrils of the scary monster releasing such wind.
The hole led to a long underground tunnel, and it was lit up with many bright candles, acting as torches on the damp walls.
The deeper they went, the more humid it felt. Not to mention the weird foul smell that started to fill the air inside the tunnel after walking for an hour.
The team kept looking at each other in silence. They tried to ask more questions after walking for half an hour in the tunnel and gained no response in the end.
The leader kept ignoring giving them any real answers, only speaking about how they'd learn everything the moment they'd arrive at the bottom. Even when they asked how long this tunnel went, they got only "we are close," as an answer.
So, they walked and resisted the weird wind and didn't ask any further questions. They arrived at the bottom after two more hours of walking, and the last stretch of twenty minutes was really hard.
Each time the wind blew, they couldn't stand in their place and retreated for a few steps. If not for the earth-based masters to intervene and fix everyone to the ground, without the additional help from the wind-based masters, they wouldn't have reached their destination at all.
When they arrived at the bottom, they were surprised to see a narrow room there. It wasn't even big enough to accommodate more than a hundred, and it had many small holes at the wall opposite to the tunnel's opening, filled with tons of small holes.
It looked like a huge beehive, and some sort of white vapour was oozing out from these as if it was fluid or something. Yet after getting out from the holes, this substance would slowly swirl in the air, forming many thin pillars of fog, rising up and merging to form a unified white cloud at the ceiling of this room.
The room wasn't empty, as there were ten cloaked masters waiting inside, sitting around a small wooden table.
"Please," the leader of the guard stood by the side of the tunnel exit, motioned inside with his arm in respect, "select at most ten of yours to come inside and meet up with her excellency."
"Her excellency?!!" many exclaimed in doubt and surprise, and yet the leader didn't say anything at all. He simply looked at them, waiting for their answer.
"We have leaders for our team, vices actually," Ibra paused, turning to Lara before adding, "all of them will join, plus Lara and one of her trusted guards."
"Is this ten?"
"I don't care how many they are," a voice came from inside the room, soft and filled with a breathtaking melody of its own. It felt like the owner of this voice was someone who used to do things their way, not caring about hearing anyone out, only giving out words as orders, "let the ones they select step in."
"Yes, your majesty," the leader seemed to not agree with such words, but he got nothing in his power but to comply.
The team vices alongside Lara and a single guard were allowed to join the meeting. Ibra didn't just select the team vices, but also selected Lina, Tina, and others of William's friends.
The leader of the guards didn't leave them and entered alongside an entourage of thirty tough looking guards. They seemed ready to enter combat mode at any moment, with hands clutched over the handles of their swords.
"I suppose you don't know who I am," the first thing that cloaked lady who the leader called excellency said was these words. Then she slowly removed the hood over her head, exposing her long brown hair, with a small semi-circular crown that was placed over her head.
The crown looked simple and yet elegant, made out of ruby like gems, thin to not exceed the thickness of half a finger.
She looked young, as the age of Ro and Ibra at most. Yet her deep blue eyes gave anyone looking at them the impression of being in the presence of someone powerful, someone with boundless experience in life.
"I'm Anjie, the crown princess of the kingdom," she introduced herself. And even when she said these words in a simple way, she still caused immense shock to everyone on William's team hearing them.
They never expected to be in the presence of the princess who was going to be the queen. And when they realised her high status, they couldn't help but get more puzzled and baffled by such realisation.
"Ahem, it's an honour to meet the crown princess," Sara cleared up her throat, seemingly trying to wake up everyone from the middle of their shock, "but we are humble masters who came from far away. We have nothing much to offer, nor powerful to help in any service of the crown princess."
Sara didn't just wake up everyone, but she also conveyed a message over to Anjie. The princess looked calm, as if she expected such a response from her and others.
"I know everything about you, former Aspire academy headmaster's granddaughter. I didn't bring you here and wasted my time and safety to just speak about something you can't do."
"Then…" Ibra hesitated and didn't know how to properly speak with a crown princess like Anjie.
This chapt𝙚r is updated by fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com