Ena quietly scoffed, refusing to acknowledge what Haruo had just said.
"That can't be true."
"What, did I say that was wrong?"
"As that asshole said: this planet was claimed two hundred years ago. And you expect ME to believe we were the first ones to find this place, by COINCIDENCE!?"
Haruo only tilted his head slightly, turning it to the side created by the unlit darkness of the corridor.
"For once, you're making sense, but you're still in a tomb either way."
Scratching the back of her head, Ena looked around, but due to the darkness, her view was quite limited, with only a fire as their light source. Only the same old carvings and pillars they first saw when dropping down the whole.
"For someone who can 'hear' conversations from trillions of miles away, it's hard to believe that he hasn't found this place yet."
"Why is this your first time in a tomb? It's really not that hard to navigate through tombs. The majority of the time, we only really have to solve puzzles and escape traps."
"Just because I'm a noble doesn't mean I have enough resources to venture in one! Usually, we were the ones who sat back while others got our artifacts for us!
"If you're that tense, then just be quiet and follow me. I've had enough migraines for one day."
With Ena finally shut, Haruo began to investigate the corridor more clearly. On the walls were pillars that sprouted out, slowly arising to the top, creating a support system over the heads.
Stepping closer to the walls, Haruo found many runic carvings in the walls. With this discovery, he knelt on one knee and stretched his hand forward just inches away from the runes. But before he could touch the surface, the runes reacted quietly, emitting a faint blue glow, which slowly changed into an orange hue.
Click
A sudden click echoed within the dark corridor, though it was faint, the duo heard it as clear as day.
"There's light over there…"
After hearing Ena's comment, Haruo redirected his view and stared straight toward the dark corridor. From there, he saw a singular orange light. It was far in the distance, making it seem like it was the sun, surrounded by a space that had no stars.
Haruo slowly arose from his kneeling position and stood just beside Ena. A sense of unease took over Ena's entire being. Yet, despite that, not a single hint of worry was etched in Haruo's face, only calmness.
"Hey—"
"Just wait."
With Haruo cutting her off, she was left with no choice but to do what he had said. Ena slowly contemplated to herself, why was she so tense all of a sudden? She had experienced many things before, but even near death, she didn't bat an eye. But now? She felt like her entire body was warning her.
While thinking about the reason, she noticed that the light from afar began to grow larger by the second; as it got bigger, more clicking sounds echoed, becoming more apparent than the last.
"…!"
A massive gust of wind ran through them. Ena's eyes widened at the sudden gale that passed them, though the wind wasn't enough to move them—not even by an inch—that didn't stop it from surprising Ena overall.
Their clothes danced with the wind, swaying intensely, especially Haruo's coat, waving as if it were a flag.
After a few moments, the pressuring wind finally came to a halt.
Suddenly, the light became clear, and the darkness around them was swallowed up. It was fire; the torches on the wall were lit, creating a clicking sound whenever they were activated.
And wasn't long for the torches beside them to light up as well.
Now, the fire they held was no longer as reliable as when they first entered. Realizing this, Haruo dropped the stick on the quartz tiles and crushed the flame with his foot, extinguishing it completely.
"Why do I feel so tense all of a sudden…?"
"Don't think too much of it, it just means your sensitivity in mana is good. Tombs use an excessive amount of runes; because of that, tombs are packed with mana.
People like you, who have great sensitivity, can feel mana with great precision just by being around it. But due to the excessiveness of it, your body tenses up because it can't keep up with the amount of information."
As she listened, she hugged herself as if she were warming herself in a cold area—shaking stiffly like a washing machine.
"…Then how come you aren't tense?"
"I wasn't born with many privileges. And since this IS your first time…"
In a swift motion, Haruo sprinted toward Ena, leaving her quite stunned. She held her arms to her head, preparing to crash with Haruo. Yet, no matter how long she waited, Haruo didn't crash into her whatsoever, only passing her completely.
As he flew by, Ena's eyes trailed Haruo, watching him catch an arrow with his bare hands, halting it in its motion, saving Ena's skull from being impaled.
"…How about you pay more attention to your surroundings?"
"What??? Where did that come from?"
Dumbfounded, she tried to make out the direction the arrow was shot from. Amidst her thinking, her eyes flared open, rotating her body 90 degrees before catching another arrow.
"Expect more to come, now that the tomb is activated."
"I don't wanna deal with this! Let's get out already!"
Haruo quickly placed his hand on Ena's crown before dragging it down, evading it within a hair's width.
"Do you really want to die? Focus. Besides, we can't anyway, the entrance we came from is sealed off; I can't see light from above."
"Then—"
Not even a few seconds in, and multiple arrows charge at both of them at an incredible pace. Ena struggled to dodge them, some even cutting small parts of her hair.
"Is it just me, or were those arrows faster than the last…?"
"…!"
The area around them began to shake uncontrollably, the corridor began to change, and the straight corridor slowly morphed into different pathways. Dust fell from the roof and covered the whole floor.
Amidst the chaos, Ena and Haruo struggled to stay upright while the whole area around them was transforming.
Minutes passed, and the corridor started to calm, no longer shaking as it once did. While they processed what had happened, large metallic noises echoed all around the place—resembling those of large gears.
"… RUN!"
Haruo shouted, while a series of arrows was launched before them. Each one is getting faster than the last, making it harder each second.
With no time to lose, Haruo grabbed a sword from his mana storage. He could dodge multiple arrows, but to those he can't, he would use his sword to either break or deflect their trajectory completely.
"Why are they getting faster!" Ena exclaimed, following just behind Haruo while she slashed many of the arrows.
"QUESTIONS LATER!"
At the far end of the corridor was an intersection, forcing the two to choose one of the two paths. With no time to think, Haruo made a quick choice between the two.
"LEFT!"
With all their might, they twisted their body, controlling their weight to turn. But unlike Ena, Haruo was unable to turn smoothly due to being in an unnatural position during his turn, resulting in him crashing hard into the wall, making way for an arrow to wedge itself on his shoulder.
Regardless, he forced himself to prevail and continued to evade the relentless assault.
Ena, seeing him injured, tried to fall back to heal him, but was unable to get closer due to the arrows. With no other choice, she could only hope and trust that Haruo could endure before they could escape the barrage.
Blood escaped from the wound, soaking his blue coat in a crimson liquid, dampening it. He forcefully pulled it out, tossing it to the ground.
Again, at the end of the hallway, another intersection, but instead of two, it was three. Again, they made a quick choice and went right this time. But what was met in the end was a dead end, resulting in them returning to the intersection.
Going straight, the ground below Ena suddenly disappeared. "Huh…?"
Gazing down, she saw spikes at the bottom. In a panic, she tried reaching for the edge to return, but missed just by a hair's breadth. Instinctively, she cursed as she tried to figure out how to get out of the situation.
In that moment, her hand grabbed something and dragged her along in a straight path mid-air.
It was Haruo, hanging on the side of the wall, then, with all his might, throwing her at the edge of the trap, and this time, she didn't miss.
Seeing her rising from the edge, Haruo charged his legs and followed suit, jumping to the edge, with Ena catching his hand, assisting him up. With both back on track, they race through the maze-like structure, evading various traps and supporting one another.
Finally, they saw a light, different from the hallways they had skimmed through over and over again.
It was their escape, and they weren't going to lose it.
Step by step, they sprinted ahead like there was no tomorrow, then… They took the last step and escaped. Ena rolled over, crashing to the floor while she inhaled and exhaled. Their run had taken their entire stamina away.
Haruo collapsed on his knees, also collecting his breath; it would've been strange if it didn't after all that motion he had done. He had exhausted all his stamina; another second and he would've died, not just from impalement of arrows, but exhaustion too.
Amidst his rest, a whistling sound broke through the air, getting louder by the second. Haruo looked forward to the tip of an arrow, but inches away from his eyes.
With the strength he had left, he pulled his hand upwards to catch it, but it was futile; it had struck him in the end. Inertia dragged his head back as it pierced his eye.
Ena, viewing the sight, limped her way to Haruo's side
She carried Haruo's head while investigating his body. Fortunately, he was still alive, but with a closer look, blue lines began to sprout from the arrow like veins.
"W-Wait, I'll heal you, j-just take a breath—"
"Calm down first… The one who needs to take a breath is you right now…"
During this crisis, she could hardly believe he was calm. Her mind was failing to organize, and yet, he, who was nearing death's door, was calm.
"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM RIGHT N—"
"Breathe."
Looking at his expression, she bit her lips; however, she listened to him, taking a deep breath, and organized her thoughts.
"Good, now just listen to me." He said, before Ena nodded.
"Grab the arrow by its base and pull it out."
Grasping the base, steadily, she guided the arrow out of Haruo's eye socket. With the object now gone, she viewed his condition and stopped the bleeding from pouring out any more, but there was a problem…
'The wound isn't healing properly, what's…'
"Poison… There was an enchantment laid on the arrow; right now, I could feel my mana slipping away… The effects are no different from those of poison."
"What do I do…?"
"Using your mana sensitivity, locate where the leakage is and use your mana to seal it off and replenish the ones I lost."
Closing her eyes, her body tensed as the mana from the runes interfered with her concentration. Exhaling, she fought through the dense layer of energy and searched diligently until she saw an impure strand of light leaking.
Haruo observed her, his eyes flared as his body shivered slightly, feeling as if he was being invaded. Gradually, his mana stabilized and stopped leaking; the blue lines that appeared on his face began to fade.
Then, an eye started to form, bringing light to his damaged eye once more.
"Well done…"
As a result of healing my eye, the accumulated stress finally caught up to her, leaving her in a half-conscious state. She no longer had any stamina left in her; as of now, her body was no different from that of a corpse.
Picking her up, placing her hand on his shoulder, and supporting her as she stood up. She clutched her head.
"Ugh… I think I have a migraine…"
"The question you said earlier… The reason why the arrows were quickening was because of the runes. There are many uses for runes, one of them being detection and analysis.
When I got close to the runes on the walls earlier, the runes detected our presence and activated the tomb. As a result, it analyzed us and evaluated our level before sending arrows; whenever we dodged it, the tomb would reevaluate us again and send an arrow equal to that evaluation."
"So we were slowly losing the more we evaded them…"
"If we were there for even one more minute, we could've died. But not only that, but I now know what type of tomb we are in."
"What?"
"Listen carefully."
Shutting her eyes once more, she focused her hearing and heard loud metallic steel hitting each other in a sequence.
"Gears…"
"We're in a mechanical tomb. Usually, mechanical tombs would be easy to deal with, and the weakest one out of all the types, but for some reason, the intensity here is much more than I expected, making me contemplate whether it was or not."
"That aside… Where are we…?
Looking back, Ena saw that the place they came out from was sealed shut—not that she wanted to return ever.
The atmosphere in the room felt different from that of the corridor they faced, not just in atmosphere but in structure. The room was spacious, comparable to a large church.
The area was circular, with a dome-like roof as the ceiling. In the center was a large statue of a man reaching his hand to the sky. At the top, in the statues, palm, Haruo saw an orb of light, resembling the sun, shining the whole area with its radiance.
It didn't take two and two together to know that object on top…
Was an artifact.