“S-Serenity?” Layla backed away from the angry-looking young woman. She had never seen their leader angry before, so seeing her in such a state was a shock like no other.
“Oh my, Alice.” A red-haired woman appeared behind Serenity and put her head on her shoulder. “Why the sour face? Did Cerberus steal your little toy?”
“Redheart…” Serenity coldly looked at the red-haired woman and said with a venomous tone, “What are his intentions?”
“How should I know?” Redheart giggled and poked Serenity’s soft cheek with her long nail. “What about you? Why are you so angry?”
“You guys haven’t changed a bit. I was foolish to think otherwise.” Serenity slapped her hand away. “Rotten apples will always stay rotten.”
“You are making me sad, Alice!” Redheart wiped her imaginary tear. “Remember, you were one of us for a reason. We might’ve not changed, but I bet you haven’t changed either.”
“I…” Serenity struggled to answer.
“Heh, I suppose even you are not sure.” Redheart threw her arms up in the air and giggled. “I wonder what Cerberus is planning to do to that young man. His intentions are always mystery.”
Serenity bit her upper lip and clenched her hands into fists. She was trembling in anger, but she was too hopeless to do anything about it.
‘I am sorry, Jesse… I have to ensure the future of Silver Heart…’
…
“I suppose we are about to arrive at the first challenge.” Cerberus said while sensing wind picking up in the tunnel.
“Hmm?” Ambrose looked straight ahead and still saw nothing but an endless tunnel. However, seconds later, a bright light appeared from the end of the tunnel. They also heard the sound of running water.
After stepping out of the tunnel, they came across a fascinating sight.
They entered a miniature forest inside the room. There was a small waterfall cascading from the metal ceiling and landing on the river, which snaked across the room. The rest of the room had natural-made trees with green leaves and grass with blooming flowers.
Ambrose narrowed his eyes and looked through the gap between two trees and small hills to see another arc-shaped entrance. They would have to cross those small hills, the river, and pass through the trees to reach it. However, they were still on their toes.
“This might be an obstacle, even though it looks easy.” Cerberus said and pulled out his steel shortsword. It looked different from Ambrose’s because the blade looked higher quality.
‘His sword is definitely better than mine.’ Ambrose thought and unsheathed his right-handed sword. ‘I could purchase better ones, but I have already become comfortable with these, and they are working fine.’
“Let’s move.” Cerberus exited the tunnel and walked down a stone path that snaked past the trees and small hills. Ambrose followed in tow while looking around the room with a sword in hand.
After reaching the river, they used the floating rocks as a way to cross it. Once they reached the other side, they already saw the entrance to the tunnel clearly.
When they began thinking that it wasn’t a challenge, the room started shaking like it was suffering from a severe earthquake. The room started shrinking, with both walls and ceilings starting to move towards Cerberus and Ambrose.
The hills got crushed, trees were unrooted, and everything was slowly disintegrating.
“Move!” Cerberus shouted and lunged forward. His acceleration speed had already increased his distance from Ambrose by several dozen meters.
Ambrose ran, but because of his low agility, he was vastly slower. He still didn’t think there was any need for him to focus on agility.
‘Slowpoke, you are slow, Jesse!’ Children’s innocent laughter echoed in his thoughts.
Ambrose shook his head and saw that Cerberus had already entered the tunnel. He gritted his teeth and saw with his peripheral vision that the walls were falling apart next to him. The broken trees fell apart and blocked his path to the entrance.
Cerberus looked behind him and saw that the walls were about to crush Ambrose. There was also a wall of trees in front, blocking him from reaching the tunnel.
At first, he touched the handle of his sword, but after a second of thinking, he moved his hand away and watched with an emotionless gaze.
“Hmph!” Ambrose scoffed loudly at the trees and brought his sword down powerfully at the broken trees. The trees exploded from the sheer strength of his attack.
He didn’t need speed when he had strength!
Ambrose quickly rolled inside the tunnel while the walls closed behind him. He slowly stood up without a single sweatdrop on his forehead. He then sheathed his sword and turned to Cerberus.
“Let’s continue. This must be just a warmup for what is to come.” Cerberus said and continued walking down the tunnel without showing any emotion in his face. It was unclear whether he was happy, sad, angry, or displeased or indifferent.
“Right.” Ambrose followed behind him with an indifferent expression. ‘I don’t need speed to become strong.’
“By the way, I have a question.” Cerberus suddenly spoke from the front.
“Hmm, what?” Ambrose turned to Cerberus and couldn’t see his expression as he walked behind him.
“Do you know Alice in reality?”
Ambrose frowned and wasn’t sure whether he should be honest. ‘He obviously knows her, but does Alice want others to know that we know each other? I am not familiar with Zahhak like others, so I don’t know what my answer should be.
‘However, they hadn’t treated me like a stranger, and Alice wouldn’t have accepted their invitation if they were bad people.’
“Yes, I do.” He decided to answer honestly. 𝑶𝓋𝐥xt.𝗇t
“I see.” Cerberus stopped walking and looked into his dull blue eyes. “You two are close?”
“Not really… Just friends.” Ambrose said with a hint of hesitation in his voice. He didn’t really feel like they were close.
“I see. You two must have met recently.” Cerberus continued walking down the straightforward path. “Old Alice wouldn’t have become friends with you. No offense.”
“Eh?” Ambrose walked in tow with a strange expression on his face. He didn’t really understand what he meant by that.
“Old Alice was one of the strangest people I knew, and I was leading a team of twenty people with eccentric personalities. However, her strangeness still stood out like a sore thumb.
“I was surprised that she quit Ember Online suddenly, not telling us why. Now, she had returned with a completely different personality. However, is that personality a facade or the real her?”
Cerberus turned to Ambrose with a smile.
“Maybe she had changed, but she still has the fire in her, which she cannot suppress even if she wants to.”
Ambrose stopped walking with his head hanging low. There was a dark expression on his face.
Cerberus stopped and looked at him with his deep green eyes.
“Why did you want to pair with me?” Ambrose raised his head and looked directly into his eyes. “I thought it was strange, but I didn’t think much of it.
“However, now you are trying something, I don’t know what. You want me to cut ties with her? What is it that you want?”
“No, what I want has nothing to do with her.” Cerberus chuckled. “She must have her reasons for keeping you around. You should ask why; maybe she will give an honest answer, maybe.”
He then turned around again and carried on walking. “We should arrive at the second challenge soon.”