But just as Lawrend was relaxing in relief. The ring suddenly stopped glowing. The light covering his body also disappeared.
"W-What? Is this thing broken?"
Lawrend stared at the ring in disbelief.
"What do we do now!?" Daisy exclaimed in panic.
"Relax, Daisy! If you panic first, how can I calm down??" Lawrend said to her in rebuke.
"..."
Daisy went silent.
"I'm sorry," Daisy said.
"This is definitely not a coincidence. Someone is watching us."
The exit wouldn't close so suddenly when he was about to exit if no one was watching them. Only a rational thinking being would do that.
"It should be West. That traitorous bastard! He definitely wants to kill me!" Daisy replied in anger.
She had already vowed to kill him the moment she was killed under his hands. But he wasn't able to extinguish her soul. He was only capable of splitting them into multiple pieces as she can easily recover if she has her full soul.
"I'll proceed carefully. Tell me if you feel that something is wrong," Lawrend said.
"Okay," Daisy replied.
And so, Lawrend waited in silence. The sunlight slowly fell on top of the pedestal.
Once it was at the very center, the pedestal rose. A small chamber leading down appeared.
"This… It's still working after so long?"
Lawrend was impressed. Whoever made this deserves praise. Considering that the Undrasil Kingdom was founded 10,000 years ago, that meant that this temple existed for more than 10,000 years.
Every day, it would always open the same pedestal. A normal mechanism would have already broken from the number of uses.
Lawrend walked towards the chamber and walked down the flight of stairs. It was very dark, but with the lightning ball, Lawrend was able to see the steps.
He walked down for about a minute before reaching the end. It was a long hallway.
There was a long line of realistic statues on the side. They were all beautiful women and handsome men, and they gave off valiant auras like heroes.
"Do you know who they are?" Lawrend asked.
"I don't know them," Daisy replied.
Her memories weren't complete enough for her to recognize them.
"Alright."
Lawrend walked through the hallway and nothing happened. It was oddly normal for his comfort.
At the end, there was a huge door. It was covered with writing that went around in a circular ring. In total, there were three rings with writing on them. One was an outer ring, middle ring, and an inner ring.
"Can you understand this?" Lawrend asked.
"I do. Each symbol means a single word. Can you pull me out of your pocket? I can't sense them that clearly," Daisy said.
Lawrend pulled her out of his pocket and opened his palm. Her soul shard floated in the air and hovered in front of the door.
"So far, there hadn't been any danger. This is really creepy," Lawrend muttered.
According to the Venerated White Roc, many had failed, and their companions died. But what could the reason for their failures be?
Lawrend waited for five minutes, but Daisy still wasn't finished.
"This is hard. I can understand the words, but I don't know what sequence they should go on," Daisy said in frustration.
"What do they mean?" Lawrend asked.
"They mean…"
Daisy explained them to Lawrend one by one. There were too many to list, but he tried to remember them all.
"Wait, it's Star-View-Mountain, right?" Lawrend asked.
"What does that… Giyaahhh! Look behind you!" Daisy screamed
Lawrend looked behind him in panic. The statues had disappeared from their usual places. They were all staring at Lawrend intently as they blocked the way back.
"What the…" Lawrend murmured in shock. He felt a shiver run down his spine.
He didn't even sense any of their movements. They moved so silently that they could have killed Lawrend a thousand times over without him realizing it.
"I think we're safe for now. They aren't attacking, Lawrend," Daisy said.
"W-What were you saying again?" Lawrend replied.
He tried to calm himself down. He finally realized what the threat was. These statues must be the reason his predecessors failed.
"Why do you think Star-View-Mountain works?" Daisy asked.
"Stargazing Mountain. It could also be called Starviewing Mountain. Thus, I chose that answer," Lawrend explained.
"Isn't that too simple? If that worked, the creator of this puzzle must be very stupid," Daisy replied.
"...Then what is your answer?" Lawrend asked her, slightly irritated.
"I… whatever! You win!"
Daisy felt her head starting to hurt by staring at the puzzle. If it was that easy, she would have solved the puzzle already. But all of the possible combinations made sense in her eyes which is why she was having trouble finding an answer.
"Heh," Lawrend snickered after seeing her reaction.
Lawrend touched the outer ring and moved it so the word 'Star' was selected.
Lawrend suddenly saw red light reflect on the door and turned around.
"Ah!" Lawrend shouted in shock.
The eyes of the statues were glowing red. He quickly realized that he would die if he was wrong. A doubt formed inside him about his answer.
What if he was wrong? That would be the end of him. He wouldn't be able to see Aleshia, Ella, Elena, Aezel, Humility, Amene, and Grape… Aezel's baby would die, and Aleshia would become a single mother.
These quickly formed a shadow inside Lawrend's heart.
"N-No… I can't do this… I-I can't die here," Lawrend muttered with crazed eyes.
He stared at the puzzle in a daze. Daisy was right. This puzzle shouldn't be that easy. Otherwise, his predecessors would have solved it.
If they did, the Venerated White Roc would have known what's after this, but she didn't. That only points to the fact that they never passed this place.
"Lawrend, are you okay?" Daisy asked him in concern.
Lawrend hurriedly poured mana into the ring once again. But still, nothing happened.
"This stupid ring! I bet that bird lied to me! This ring doesn't even work!" Lawrend shouted in frustration.