Mixed Blessing System

After some time, Lothur and Elke arrived in front of what seemed to be only one of the shores of the lake, where land vegetation was mixed with some algae.

There were a few spots without vegetation where points of dirt could be seen, looking like the typical scenario one would find in any place similar to this.

But Lothur knew this place was not so ordinary, and something else was undoubtedly there.

"What are you looking for?" Elke asked as she saw how her partner looked at the ground.

"I think there is some secret entrance here..." He commented to her, still looking at the ground as if he was trying to uncover a mirage in front of him.

Elke opened her mouth in surprise and started to help her man.

After a few moments, she pointed in the direction of something glowing. "What do you think of that? I can see something metallic there."

"Oh?" Lothur looked in that direction from a different angle than Elke, through which he could not see that glow. But with her hint, he focused his senses on that small area she indicated and noticed something.

"That doesn't look common!" He ran over there and tried to rummage through the area, quickly finding the lock on what appeared to be a hatch.

"That..." Elke saw a large circular lid below the dirt where Lothur had rummaged with his ax.

After a moment, he used his strength to slowly open that thing that, despite its fragile appearance, was heavy in a way he could not even understand.

Fortunately, his strength was no longer so insignificant, and after almost two full minutes, he fully opened that entrance.

"Hah... Hah... That's truly heavy!"

Seeing Lothur's situation, Elke rushed to his side and supported her man by giving one of her arms for him to lean on. At the same time. She took a water bottle from her spatial ring and helped him drink.

Glub! Glub! Glub!

"Ahh, thanks, Elke." He said, making her smile at him.

After that situation, he entered through that hatch before her, finding a ladder leading down a tunnel that should be at least a hundred meters long.

He discovered this after dropping a stone, using some of his knowledge from his former life to determine such a thing.

After dropping a small device with a formation that produced light in that same place, he realized there was nothing of concern on the way down and began to descend.

"Come on, Elke. It's safe to go down this ladder."

Then, Elke started down the ladder along with Lothur, taking some time until they reached the lowest point in that area.

When they stopped descending, Lothur used a formation to lighten the darkness of the surroundings, revealing a large rectangular area. In that place, there was a single corridor that stretched tens of meters and seemed to have many roots in its walls.

"That..."

"What is this place?" Elke unconsciously asked, surprised to find such an area in the middle of nowhere.

"Maybe it's an old outpost..." Lothur tried to guess, noting that besides this being a relatively hidden place, the quality of this construction was not to be ignored.

There were several symbols on the surroundings that he did not understand, while drawings that seemed to portray a battle were on the ceramics on the walls.

"That must be written in the Ancestral Language." Elke could not understand what was written there either since, like Lothur, she was only a Sector-1 student.

"Well, let's go ahead and see what's in here." He took one of her hands and used his free hand to hold his ax before walking ahead of her down that tunnel.

As he did so, Lothur moved forward carefully, looking at the surroundings for any suspicious signs or traps.

But other than the roots in the tunnel walls, there were no traps there, so they soon arrived in another chamber.

In this place in question, there was a large circle with various symbols in the middle of that area, and on the opposite side of the tunnel that Lothur and Elke went through was a human statue.

This statue seemed to be looking toward the circle with symbols on the floor, while a small black crystal on its forehead seemed to shake gently.

"What is that?" Elke wondered when suddenly sounds of footsteps came from the tunnel they had just passed.

Hearing this, Lothur turned to see who it was, quickly coming across a face he knew well.

"You? What are you doing here?" He asked in an irritated tone as he looked into Elise's eyes and checked her status.

​ Unfortunately, just as in the past, Lothur could not see anything, indicating to him that she was just a mortal.

"Scumbag, I want to see where you're going to run off to now!" Elise smiled as she saw Lothur's annoyed face, noting that there was no escape route for him to run from her.

With that, she slowly walked toward him and Elke, as a dark red-bladed sword appeared in her hands.

"You don't know how annoying it was to put up with you for all these months, worm!"

"The worst, when you kissed me, it was the worst experience I've ever had in my life!" She made a disgusted expression, shocking Elke with this information.

"Lothur... Who is that? What is she talking about?" Elke asked in an unsure tone, sensing that something was not right.

"That's one of Viktoria's servants... Anyway, the story is long, but from what she just said, she is the person who poisoned me a few days ago when I was having dinner with the person who posed as my wife." He said as he cautiously looked at Elise.

Lothur then clenched his fists in anger. 'I knew it was you!'

'A pity Viktoria didn't allow me to take the proof that day. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here anymore...'

He then said to Elise. "You are truly bold... Aren't you afraid of what will happen to you when the Frost family finds out about this?"

"Humph!"

"Because of you, scumbag, I'll have to run away and hide." She angrily said but then laughed. "In any case, even if I am hunted, it will be worth it if I can eliminate you!"

"That..." Elke felt fear upon hearing that blonde's tone.

She then built up the courage and said. "You'd better leave us alone! I am the young miss of the Becker family, and if anything happens to Lothur, not only House Frost will be after you!"

"Oh?" Elise laughed upon hearing that. "Do you think I don't know who you are? You think I didn't come prepared?"

Gulp!

As Elke swallowed her saliva in fear, Lothur said to her. "Elke, stand back a little. I don't know how strong she can be, so it might be risky for you to stand too close to me."

"But..."

Lothur did not let her question him. "If she is stronger than me, I will try to hold her off and create a chance for you to escape."

Gulp!

"Lothur..." Tears appeared in this young redhead's eyes, and her little heart began to move in her chest frantically.

But Elise was not interested in the drama of those two. So, she ran at Lothur, intending to paralyze him before dealing with Elke and then torturing him. "Worm, your time has come!"

Jumping toward him, she made a diagonal motion with her sword, aiming for his arms with the intention of slashing them mercilessly.

However, Lothur was not much weaker than her, and as soon as he realized what she was doing, he activated his techniques, making a counterattack with his ax.

Clang!

A second after the fight started, the blades of the two's weapons clashed, letting sparks fall into the air as the two stopped their movements.

"What?" Elise cried out in surprise as she realized that Lothur had a strength almost equal to hers. 'How can that be? Isn't he just a mortal? Shouldn't he have a seal preventing him from cultivating?' She wondered as her eyes opened wide.

As for Lothur, he took several steps back, feeling his hands shaking given the weight of Elise's attack. 'This bitch's attack power surely comes from attributes comparable to level 5 people!'

'She was hiding the whole time!'

The two then looked at each other momentarily, knowing what was on each other's minds. So, no words were needed, and soon the two set off against each other, intending to fight to achieve their goals.

Elise still wanted to defeat Lothur and felt confident about it since she was a bit stronger than him. As for this silver-haired man, he wanted to tire out his opponent to have a chance of Elke taking him from this place while he still had a remnant of life.

He could already sense that she was more substantial than him, so he had no hope of defeating her. At most, he could achieve a draw.

That would be enough for him anyway, and soon he exchanged a few dozen blows with that woman, shocking Elise even more. At the same time, Elke watched this all from the sidelines, frozen with fear at what might happen to him.

"Lothur..." She muttered in a low voice, feeling terrible.

But her voice was not low enough to be unnoticed.

When Elise was distracted from Lothur, she momentarily looked at Elke and thought of something. 'This bastard is managing to defend himself very well.'

'At this rate, I won't be able to paralyze him!'

'However, he has a big weak spot in this place!' She jumped back, moving away from the range of Lothur's weapon.

At that instant, she focused on Elke and said, wickedly smiling. "First, I'm going to kill your little girlfriend in front of you, worm!"

Hearing this, Lothur tried to run in front of Elke, but unfortunately, his opponent was faster than him.

"ELISE, NO!" He shouted in desperation as he saw the blonde coming in front of Elke.

Puff!

"Lothur..." Elke felt something icy through her left chest amidst the terrifying cold approaching her.