"I can't explain it clearly… but there seems to be unknown energy blocking our investigative skills. Be careful."

Sir Castillo warned as he watched Stella lead the way.

​​

"I understand. I'll be careful."

Stella solemnly replied but she already realized that the Life Detection skill that she used was actually quite effective in this place.

Unlike the other arcane magic that the others used to investigate everything in this path, her Life Detection only focuses on one thing and it seems to be related to soul energy…

It may be the reason why it wasn't being blocked by the unknown energy that Sir Castillo mentioned.

While Stella and the Knights were all wary of what may appear in front, the Hunters and Arcanists behind were all studying the construction of this passage.

In truth, considering the history of this place, some of them already have an idea about this cave.

Their guess only strengthened after observing the structure of the place.

However, none of them mentioned it yet since it wasn't the time to discuss that.

The important thing here is to learn the true objective of the elite tamers that have gone ahead.

"It's getting cold..." Stella muttered but it was enough for everyone to hear.

"Ready your cold resistance items." Hendrick acknowledged and he reminded everyone.

Stella found this feeling very familiar but she ignored it for now. She felt life's presence ahead so they must be on the right path.

She held her two shinais in her hand as she remained ready for any sudden battle.

'Stop!'

Thud…

Stella didn't ask any questions as she obediently stopped walking after Reiji commanded.

'Master?'

'It seems that you're about to enter a different place. Remember to use your Magic Items to protect yourself.'

'A-Alright...'

"Stella, are there any problems?"

Hendrick asked after seeing Stella's sudden stop.

"It's alright… I'm not sure what's ahead but we're about to face something. Be ready…"

"I understand…" The Knight Captain said but everyone was already prepared so there shouldn't be any problems.

Soon, they found themselves in a wide space inside this cave…

Reiji observed the surroundings and noticed several pillars surrounding the area…

There were no signs of stalactites or stalagmites in the area as the ceiling and walls seem to be made of flat stones.

"Urggh…"

"W-what's happening?!"

They suddenly felt a huge pressure weighing down on them as some of the Knights and Hunters almost kneeled on the ground…

There was also a couple of Arcanist who got surprised by the sudden pressure as they quickly activated their defensive magic items.

'This again?'

Stella was familiar with this as she already experienced something similar in another cave, the Crypt Crawler's Lair to be specific.

She then poured her Spiritual Energy into one of her rings to activate another skill.

'Arcane Wall'

As soon as she used this, the suffocating feeling disappeared as she observed the surrounding.

There was no altar similar to what she had seen before. The place was empty aside from the pillars and some marks from the tamers who came here first…

'Just how far did they go in this cave? Wait—There's no longer any path ahead! Where are they?!'

She wanted to ask the other's opinion but she noticed that many of them were still struggling with the pressure.

"This is Spiritual Pressure. There must be a strong creature not too far from here or perhaps---"

Lord Castillo trailed on his words as he analyzed the situation.

As far as he knows, this level of Spiritual Pressure can only be used by very strong magical creatures like dragons, genuine evil creatures, and last but not the least, powerful items reaching the level or perhaps even above Mythical-Rank Arcana, the Divine Items.

But that should be impossible considering the place where they are located.

Divine Items wouldn't just pop out of nowhere. Every one of them would make itself be known throughout the world and would not be hiding in this creepy place.

He'd rather believe that there's an evil creature deep inside this cave…

He looked around and noticed that including him only eight people could ignore the pressure.

Three of these eight are from the Arcanist Association and looking at their expression, it seems that even if they can ignore the pressure, they wouldn't be able to move as well.

The 3rd-Class Arcanist also looked at Stella who seems to have no problems at all…

"Hmm… For those who can move, we need to stop or cut off this Spiritual Pressure. Any suggestions?" He asked after noticing that the pressure was not going away.

"As long as you have strong Spiritual Energy, you can ignore this pressure. So, if you have a potion that could increase your energy, you can consider consuming it. You'll be able to at least move for a while to escape here…"

Because of the suffocating feeling, the others couldn't think properly so Stella made a suggestion.

"Oh… That's a good idea…" Lord Castillo nodded and saw the others reaching for their bags…

"Very well… I'll be investigating the walls… There must be a secret passage here somewhere… If some of them can't take the pressure even after controlling their Spiritual Energy, they need to go back and consider going on another path that we saw a while ago… "

The man said as he held his wand. He approached the walls and pillars supporting the huge cave and cast an unknown Arcane Magic to investigate the place.

The pillars weren't made in a sophisticated manner. If one observed it for a while, people will notice that the stone pillars seem to be naturally connected to the ground and ceiling like they were chiseled like that in the first place.

There were some protruding silvery rocks on the walls and Lord Castillo was about to touch them.

"Wait… Be careful. Avoid touching any suspicious things for now." Stella suddenly said as she remembered how Orga just suddenly died inside the arachnoid's cave.

"Hmm… Do you know anything about this place, Miss Stella?" The noble arcanist said as he looked at her.

"Not really… But it may be dangerous to touch something here… Just use your arcane magic to investigate… However, if you think that there's really no problem, then it should be fine."

"Very well… I'll follow your instinct."

Stella didn't want to act smarter in front of the 3rd-Class Arcanist but Orga was also a 3-Star Hunter, yet, he died after getting in contact with something he shouldn't have.

It would be a huge blow to their party if something happened to this noble Arcanist.

***

After about half an hour of investigation, Lord Castillo found a secret passage.

"Where is this path leading to?" Hendrick muttered after noticing the new path that the Arcanist has discovered.

It seems like they were just going deeper and deeper without knowing what truly inside this cave.

Anyway, he already instructed the other members of the party to turn back as they couldn't handle the spiritual pressure… They were to wait for further instructions until they learned the whereabouts of the tamers.

"I'm not sure… But my skills can now work inside. However—" The Arcanist answered but he suddenly noticed Stella picking something up. It was a small stone that was hidden behind a stone pillar.

He saw her nudge that particular stone using her wooden sword before she picked it up.

Stella noticed his gaze but she just smiled at him before explaining herself.

"I'm just taking a souvenir." The young girl said as naturally as possible before she pocketed the stone.

She truly had no idea about this stone but her master just told her to pick it up. But looking at it closer, it seemed to be similar to what she picked up in the lair before.

However, what bothered Lord Castillo was the fact that the Spiritual Pressure had also vanished at the same time she nudged that stone…

"What's going on?" Hendrick was confused as he also noticed the disappearance of the Spiritual Pressure.

"Err… I think it was because we discovered the secret passage… That may be the one that's causing the Spiritual Pressure." Stella said as she scratched her head.

"Is that so? Very well… I think we resolved the problem." Hendrick nodded. He then glanced at the other Knights and Arcanists who stopped investigating the place.

"Right, I'll go and call the others so we can all move forward now…" Stella said before she left to call the others.

Sir Castillo nodded as he scratches his chin.

He's thinking of what just happened a while ago but remained silent about it…

As everyone gathered and prepared to enter the secret passage…. Another rumbling noise was heard and everyone became very worried!

They're all deep inside a cave and if this place truly collapsed, no one would be able to save them!

"Do we have something to protect ourselves from the collapse?"

"Captain, we left our Fortification at the village…" Misha replied after hearing Hendrick's question.

"That's fine… This place should hold out…" Sir Castillo reassured everyone as he remained poised even with the current situation.