The moon above our heads shone silently. After the incident, there were still some knights who hadn’t woke up from their sleeps. We could sneak around easily as the result.

Above the wall, Gyllena glanced at her mansion once before she followed me down. With Levitation casted on her, she could land safely.

We then entered the alley, looking for a desolate drainage cover. We need about a whole ten minutes to find one.

"I know that I should’ve asked you earlier, but... why do we have to enter a drainage?" Gyllena asked. She pinched her nose the moment I opened cover.

I tugged my lips up, showing her a melancholic smile. "Well, when the world saw you as a lunatic, even the drainage would become a safe haven."

"Lunatic?" Gyllena frowned.

I didn’t explain. I stepped onto the steel ledder, entering the drainage first. Clank, clank, the ledder sang everytime my heels stepped on it.

Gyllena hesitated. She looked like she was experiencing nausea. But after a long breath passed, she followed after me and began entering the drainage cover. I had to stop looking up. Manner was important.

Her face became green the moment her heels landed on the stone paving. The rotten smell coming from the blackened water was too much for her.

"Are you okay?" Worried, I asked her.

She raised her palm in response. Still manageable, she gestured while covering her nosetrils with her handkerchief.

"Say it if you can’t handle it anymore, okay?" I said, before raising and igniting the lamp I brought from her mansion. I only need to channel my mana into the machanism to Ignite it. The fire gem inside the lamp reacted immediately, producing moderate light. "There’s some places with more bearable smell, so we can rest there from time to time."

My eyes could adapt to darkness after I experienced the deeper floors of the Dungeon. However, Gyllena clearly needed this lamp, so I grabbed it back then.

Following my memory, I led Gyllena into the drainage. Our steps echoed through the cramped and damp tunnels. Sometimes, we would encounter some rats. Which would freak Gyllena out everytime. She looked like Sirry when she was about to pass out now, with her pale face.

"Was it still far?" Gyllena coughed, her forehead soaked with cold sweat.

I scratched my cheek. "Well... We’re almost there," I asnwered, before asking her back. "Are you sure you don’t need rest?"

Gyllena shook her head stubbornly in response. "Your concern is needless. I can handle at least this much."

I am not convinced. Her steps looked too heavy for me, as if she was about to fall anytime soon. But I shut my mouth since she said that she could handle this.

Finally, after several more minutes of walk and turns, we arrived at the familiar dead end tunnel. Like the last time when I visited the place, I placed my palm on the wall. I channeled my mana into the wall, knocked onto it three times, before sending the last pulse of mana.

The wall ’melted’, became a wall of massive fungal bodies. Gyllena backed off, gasped at the sight. But the spectacle hadn’t finished. The fungal bodies then parted away, opening a small path just enough for us to traverse into.

"Wh-what in the world is... this?" Gyllena muttered, her eyes widened as wide as possible.

I turned around and smiled at her, feeling proud of my favorite witch’s might. "Come, Gyllena. I’ll introduce you to the only person who was aware of great threat know as the Abyssal New Gate, even fight against them for tens of years."

With that, I started walking into the opened pathway. Gyllena gulped, hesitated, then followed after me. Once we passed through, the mushrooms slid back into their places, tranforming into the wall.

What greeted us the first was the bioluminescent light of the tiny mushrooms that grew on the walls. Their lights were bright enough to make our lamp lost its purpose.

Then there was... Her. The Umbrella Witch, Dorita.

She was mixing something inside of multiple vials she was holding when we entered the room and she froze.

I showed her my best smile and bowed gentlemanly. "Good evening, Lady Dorita. Your hat is as spacious as ever."

Dorita frowned. She immediately put the vials into a wooden box and stored it inside the drawer.

"Why are you coming again?" She hissed, looking at me warily.

I nodded. "Actually," I said, gesturing toward Gyllena. "I have a friend here that might be able to shelter you."

Gyllena took a deep breath. Her face was still pale, but she had her determination back now.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Gyllena Layver. I am the current head of the Layver family. It was a pleasure in my behalf to meet you tonight, Lady Dorita."

However, Dorita’s reaction was not what I expected.

The light of the mushrooms flickered before back to normal. With a dark face, Dorita sighed.

"Go out."

The voice was not the one I ever heard. It sound deep, inhumane. Her lips didn’t even move. It were her mushrooms that produced the voice.

"Now."

...

From the corners of the room, new mushrooms started to grow. The growth rate was slow, but they grew in a constant speed. If I counted it correctly, they would only need 5 minutes before they filled the whole room.

"Lady Dorita?" I asked her, but what I got was not words, but her dark stare.

’What happened? What do I do wrong?’ I thought, my legs stepped back without me realizing.

’Why was she angry for? Was it because I visited she without asking her first again, or...’

My eyes turned at Gyllena, who had became even paler than before.

Mana was an invisible force. However, all of this world’s inhabitants were born with mana inside them. Naturally, they would be able to detect mana to some extent.

And now, we were currently being envelloped by mana so thick that it felt ridiculous to be true. It was Dorita’s mana. She could easily made Jahreon and his ritual looked cute just by spreading her mana.

’Terrifyng,’ I thought.

"As expected!" I yelled out unconsciously.

Which made both of them frowned at me. I coughed, calming myself.

’Okay, calm down.’

I took a deep breath to slow down my heart rate, my eyes scanning their faces. One was dark, the other was pale, but determined.

’This situation is bad. I need to do something...’

I resisted the pressure and approched Dorita. Standing before her, I erased my smile. "The Abyssal New Gate attacked us. And sent one of their apostle."

Finally, Dorita’s face softened a little. She looked at me. "Are you certain that was an apostle, not just a Half-Demon?" She asked me back, this time, it was her own voice.

I nodded, my face grim. "Yes."

Dorita’s question was normal in this situation. For someone who didn’t know about the game like me, differentiating between Apostles and Half-Demons was like trying to identify twin babies you had just met.

There were two reasons for that.

1.Most of the Apostles were insane. Not like Jahreon, who could still maintain his sanity to some extent after he used his body as a home for Demon, most of the Apostles were practically Demons with human’s face and physique.

2.There was a slim chance for Half-Demons to learn Dark Magic and increase their intelligence. Thus, if that was the case, then their power were already comparable to the Apostles.

Dorita widened her eyes for a moment, her hand scratching her head. A sigh coming out of her plump lips. "So they moved first, huh..."

The mushrooms that grew up at the corners of the room stopped growing. With her usual nervous, wary looking, Dorita looked at us. Her gaze still sharp, however.

"You said that she could shelter me... Was it because both of you wanted to use me?"

I smiled and raised my hands in response. "Of course not. We had something better in mind."

My reply piqued her attention. I gestured to Gyllena that it was her time. Gyllena nodded and stepped forward. Her hands were still trembling, the lingering fear of what she had just experienced, but her determination was not less formidable than the pressure.

"Lady... Dorita," Gyllena almost stammered her words due to the trembling. "Once more, I am glad to meet you tonight."

"This man, Theo, had told me," she said, glancing at me, before looking at Dorita back. "That you are the only one who had battled against the Abyssal New Gate for years. That you can help me."

Gyllena took another breath, the color returning to her face. She placed her palm on her chest, looking at Dorita with her most sincere look.

"I need your help, Lady Dorita," Gyllena said, but it felt more like she was pleading. "They had invaded my mansion, and I don’t know what I should do to expell their influence off of my life. Without him, I would’ve been dead by now. I..."

Gyllena didn’t finish her words. She couldn’t. Her tears flowed faster than her words.

The sobs filled the small, hidden room.

A silent cry,

Of a proud lady.

A plea,

Of a desperate girl.

Years of lonely struggle,

Goes to waste,

By the unseen darkness.