"Drip..."

Tie, walking with her breath held, flinched and hunched her shoulders.

When she looked up, cold water was dripping from a crack in the ceiling with a soft "drip, drip."

Tie’s face immediately fell.

"Kkamani, we got lost, didn’t we?"

Lucarion, walking ahead of her, slowly nodded.

"...Looks that way."

Tie’s brows drooped pitifully.

It happened right after they found the staircase beneath the fountain.

Tie had gone down after Lucarion.

There was no longer any sign of anyone outside, and even the bone friends who had constantly warned her to be careful because something was nearby had suddenly gone silent.

But the real problem began when they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Well? Is it still quiet?"

Tie nodded gloomily.

It turned out the bone friends had not gone silent at all.

The moment she descended underground, Tie simply stopped hearing their voices.

"It’s probably because of this."

Deep in thought, Lucarion muttered under his breath.

A moment later, he took Tie by the hand and led her toward the edge of the narrow passage.

"Look. See how something is faintly glowing purple here?"

Tie parted her lips slightly.

Purple crystals had been embedded here and there within the walls of the corridor.

Whenever the minerals dimly flickered, thin cracklike patterns spread around them.

"So it wasn’t fire...?"

Until now, Tie had thought the stones were simply being used as lights.

Lucarion shook his head.

"No. Now I can tell they’re blockade stones."

At first, Lucarion had also assumed the crystals had been installed in place of lamps.

But the deeper they went inside.

The farther down they descended.

The stronger the feeling became that something here was wrong.

"At some point, even I stopped being able to sense what was happening outside."

Unlike Tie, who relied on the help of the bone friends, Lucarion personally spread out his magic to investigate the surroundings.

But ever since they descended underground, he could no longer sense the footsteps above them, nor even Luciano’s holy power.

"That’s how blockade stones work. Once they’re built into an area, it completely cuts it off from outside energy flows."

Tie’s eyes widened in surprise.

"People outside can’t sense what’s inside, and people inside can’t sense what’s outside. More than that, even the people trapped inside may not be able to sense each other. As far as I know, places like this were usually used to isolate traitors... But then what exactly is hidden here?"

Tie swallowed hard and looked around.

The air in the passage was damp and heavy.

Everything inside felt stagnant, and every breath carried the smell of mold into her nose.

Suddenly, she remembered Lucarion saying that Papa’s unstable holy power had seemed to leak somewhere into this place.

'So that’s it. Now it makes sense.'

The power wandering outside flowed in here and then became impossible to sense.

That was why, from the outside, it looked as though something was pulling it in.

After thinking for a moment, Tie clenched her fists tightly.

"...No, Kkamani. Maybe this is actually a good thing."

The little girl looked at Lucarion.

"If the people inside can’t sense each other, then it’ll be easier for us to hide, right?"

Lucarion stayed silent.

"Let’s keep going. We have to see what’s inside."

Tie started walking forward again.

Reluctantly, Lucarion followed after her.

To be honest, Tie was right.

They had already come far too deep while putting themselves in enormous danger.

They couldn’t turn back empty-handed now.

'...With the blockade stones, this place is actually more convenient.'

If magic could no longer be used to investigate the surroundings, then they would have to rely entirely on sight and hearing.

Lucarion had already been on guard, but now he sharpened his senses even further.

And then, after they went a little deeper inside—

"Wait."

Sensing something, Lucarion stopped Tie.

A second later, muffled voices drifted from around an unseen corner ahead.

"Which number is this one?"

"The fifth among today’s sacrifices."

Tie immediately clapped a hand over her mouth.

The two children quickly backed away and hid behind a recessed niche in the wall.

"And the previous four?"

"The first was damaged. After that, two silences. The fourth... no reaction."

"Hm. This one might’ve lasted longer."

"I don’t know. Judging by the eyes, it’s probably better to use him as experimental material."

Two priests passed directly in front of Lucarion and Tie.

They were probably carrying lanterns, because long shadows slid across Tie’s feet.

Only after the footsteps completely faded away could Tie finally breathe again.

Her eyes were full of fear.

'Scary.'

Sacrifices. Damage...

The moment she recalled the priests’ conversation, goosebumps crawled down her back.

It was exactly then, as the little girl cautiously peeked out to check where the priests had gone—

Tok—

A small pebble flew toward her feet and rolled across the floor with a soft clack.

Startled, Tie quickly jumped back.

But there was no one in the darkness across from her.

Tok—

The next moment, another pebble struck near her ankle.

Tie froze.

This time, she saw where it had come from.

"K, Kkamani."

Tie tugged on Lucarion’s clothes.

"T, there..."

Tie pointed ahead.

It was the corner where the wall and floor met.

But if one looked closely, there was a small hole there, just large enough for a person to crawl through.

Its structure resembled the roadside drains Tie had seen every day while living in Jongno.

Tok—

Another pebble came flying out.

Swallowing nervously, Tie cautiously stepped forward.

Lucarion tensely watched the surroundings.

Tie slowly lay down on the floor.

Carefully stretching her neck forward, she peered into the opening.

"...Ah."

And immediately met a pair of eyes staring at her from the darkness.

"K, k..."

Tie’s lips trembled.

At that same moment, a quiet hurried voice came from inside.

"Listen carefully. If you don’t want the Dark Spirit Squad to catch you again."

Dark Spirit Squad.

The moment Tie heard the name of the people who had tried to kidnap Bale’s younger brothers and sisters, she fell silent.

"The ones who just passed by here are going to circle around and come back. Right to where you’re standing now."

At the same time, Lucarion approached Tie from behind.

"Tie. I sense a presence. From the opposite side."

Tie froze, and the voice inside the hole continued.

"On the count of three, run around the right corner. As soon as you turn, there’ll be a hole on the lower left side that’s slightly bigger than this one."

A dirty hand emerged from the darkness and pointed right.

"Go, now! Hurry!"

There was no time to hesitate.

Light from a lantern was already slowly approaching from the opposite corridor.

Tie and Lucarion exchanged glances.

Then, without a word, they both sprinted to the right.

The moment they turned the corner, there really was a hole low on the left side—not too big, not too small.

Tie hesitated in front of the dark opening whose depth she could not see.

And at that moment, Lucarion grabbed her and jumped inside.

"Who’s there?!"

Before they could even finish tumbling across the ground, a cold shout rang out from above.

Clinging tightly to Lucarion, Tie landed at the bottom of the pit.

Her backside hurt a little, but she was otherwise unharmed.

The real problem was that the Dark Spirit Squad was already rushing this way.

However—

"Damn it, you again?"

Along with the sharp clang of metal, the Dark Spirit Squad came to a stop directly above Tie and Lucarion’s heads.

Looking up, the children saw something near the entrance to the pit they had just crawled through.

The legs of the Dark Spirit Squad members and the swords hanging from their waists faintly reflected the light.

But there was no time to wonder about it.

"...Sorry. I fell off the cot."

This time, a calm voice came from the opposite side of the pit, directly in front of them.

Looking carefully, Tie noticed another small crack in the wall across from them.

Someone was crouching there with their back turned toward them.

"I won’t make noise."

One member of the Dark Spirit Squad growled threateningly at him.

"You were told to stay quiet today. If you cause trouble again, you’ll only make things worse for yourself."

Right after saying that, he turned around directly above Tie’s head.

The heavy footsteps of the Dark Spirit Squad gradually moved farther away before finally disappearing completely.

And at that exact moment—

The person sitting with his back turned slowly looked over his shoulder.

Quietly approaching the pit, he dropped down without hesitation and pushed the upper half of his body inside.

His overgrown shaggy bangs covered his forehead.

But between the tangled strands, amber eyes gleamed brightly even in the darkness.

"You can come out now. They won’t be back for a while."

He looked at the children.

"Were you brought here as Luciano’s test subjects too? Your reactions seem pretty good if you’re both still alive."