The staircases felt endless. At this rate, I would be left with no stamina when I reached the surface.
'I don't want that.'
I did not want to feel helpless once I arrived back at the ruin's surface. There would be a lot of villains waiting for me up there.
Knowing that fact because of my Pathfinding skill, I slowed my pace, which almost looked like a leisurely walk.
Taking deep breaths, I tried to regulate my breathing and conserve my energy as much as possible, this also considering that I was holding Lumi like a princess.
"She's so heavy!"
I was glad she fell asleep and was unconscious right now so she couldn't hear what I just said about her being heavy. If she was to hear it, I did not want to imagine what would happen to me.
Humming while climbing the stairs, I took my time to reach the surface.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I reached the top of the staircase.
I was back in the area with a broken pillar and a monument.
And to my surprise, I didn't find any villains up there. Even after scanning the area, I found no signs of life around.
"Where are they?"
Though I was glad there were not here, I still felt uncertain about this.
At that moment, I had realized how dependent I was on my Clairvoyance. I felt like if I didn't check my surroundings with the Clairvoyance skill, something undetected by a normal vision that lurked in the area would jump at me.
I closed my eyes for a moment just to make sure.
Using my Clairvoyance to scan for anything undetected by normal vision, flashing images projected in my mind.
The reason why there weren't any villains around here was that they were busy fighting the Octagram students and the four heroes.
'Looks like it's only those five who managed to slip away from the fight.'
Feeling relieved, I approached the monument. Carefully examined the engraved words on its hard and cold surface.
I couldn't read those unknown alphabets, but I didn't need to know how to read them as I already knew what did the engraved words meaning.
Narrowing my eyes, I began to read it out loud.
"Behold!" I began, already feeling cringe.
"The Frostheart, a monument to the great civilization that once flourished in our world of eternal snow…"
The first paragraph basically told about how the people of that world were hardy and resilient. They adapted to the harsh and unyielding environment that surrounded them. And despite the challenges they faced, they built a magnificent civilization, with cities of ice and crystal that shimmered in the pale light of their world.
"Yet, we knew that our world was not meant to endure forever. Our seers and sages had long foretold of a great cataclysm that would bring about the end of all things. And so, we built the Frostheart, a sacred place of remembrance and warning to all who might come after us."
I frowned upon reciting the second paragraph from my memory, especially when it mentioned the great cataclysm that would bring the world to its end.
That somehow does ring a bell.
A familiar, the same meaning as the third catastrophe of this world.
'Let's finish it first…'
