Chapter 103: Hidden Cave 1

"It's the color of your eyes."

".. ." A flush of pink sprinkled across Seraphina's face, and her eyes dropped onto the Moonstone. Clutching it closer to her heart, she flashed a sweet smile.

She shook her head and took in a deep breath before she went after Ryu. "Wait for me!"

Seraphina caught behind Ryu and snatched a look at the laid-out mark that Ryu left on the seafloor. There were pebbles and shells that he dropped every twenty or so meters, and Seraphina imbued it with a spell so it would remain in its spot. 

By doing so, she didn't notice that Ryu had stopped walking, and she bumped her nose against the hardness of his back.

"Ofgh." Seraphina rubbed her nose and looked over at Ryu. Come to think of it, Ryu was just a boy, but he towered over her. His back looked solid and dependable—broad shoulders, leading to a lean waist and long slender legs.

Seraphina shook her head and viewed the cause as to why Ryu took a pause.

"Is something the matter?" Seraphina asked and followed Ryu's line of sight.

A hundred meters from them, behind the rows of coral reefs and sea plants, there was a commotion going on.

"What have you got there?!"

"Give it all to us if you don't want to get hurt!"

There was a group made up of mortals, and they seemed to be extorting another group which made up of Halfbreeds.

"Why? We found this first?" A half-elf, half-beast said. 

The humans drew their weapons and grinned. "If you don't want to cause a commotion and wake up the Leviathan, then hand all you've found to us."

The Halfbreeds looked at each other. A girl in their group was crying, and a boy with fluffy ears was holding her. The two males in their group were barely twenty years old, and both were skinny.

Clenching his jaw, the Halfbreeds all gave up the jewels they found inside the Clams, and the human laughed in glee. 

"You should have done this in the first place. Saves us both the time," a human snickered.

"So that little creatures said is true. This place is full of treasures! You just have to know where to look."

The human laughed as they picked the jewels while the Halfbreeds couldn't do anything but stay quiet at the side. They were more cornered about making a ruckus and waking the Leviathan than the jewels.

They were just servants, and though they were separated from their masters, their seals weren't activating. It was like the servant master seal doesn't work here. But once they reunited with their masters, all the items they acquired would just end up in their master's hands. 

So what was the point in resisting? They'd just get in trouble or, worse, killed.

Seraphina sighed. "It's a common thing here, and it will not be the last that we will see this kind of event." She then forced a smile. "It's a good thing that no one saw you finding that Mother Clam, huh?"

Ryu didn't hear what Seraphina was saying. He was thinking about what that girl with the golden pigtail said. He couldn't just blindly went in there like he used to. Though that was all, he thought about.

What if he made the situation worse again? What if he caused a disturbance and woke the Leviathan?

Ryu took in a deep breath. He was about to move away and change direction when a gust of water swallowed the humans and flung them hundreds of meters away.

Argh!

"W-What's going on?!" The human's cries were contained in the torrent of waters as they were swept away into the darkest part of the ocean.

The Halfbreeds looked at each other in confusion before their leader nudged them out of it. They took the jewels that were scattered on the sand and made a run for it.

Ryu looked at Seraphina beside him. She was holding her staff, and he was sure that it was her doing. She then reciprocated his gaze and beamed.

"I hate bullies," she said with a toothy grin.

This put a smile on Ryu's face. The first-ever since Ferris's death. It felt like he could do anything, and Seraphina would be there supporting him. What an odd feeling.

Unlike Ferris, who kept nagging him.

Ferris. .. Ryu sighed, and his mood plummeted. Even so. .. he still preferred if Ferris was here.

"Should we resume our exploration?" Seraphina asked.

Ryu was about to nod when a warm sensation pulsated on his back.

"What's wrong?"

Ryu didn't answer. It was not like he could just ask Seraphina to take a look at his back. But the pulsating heat was bothering him to no end. He wanted to scratch it.

Ryu shook his head and ventured forward. The heat was thumping on his back much more rapid now the more he walked along. And whenever it radiated lessened, he would take another path.

It was like something was leading him somewhere.

Seraphina looked at Ryu, confused. He was walking in circles like he was trying to find something. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Ryu didn't answer. He was close. He could feel it. The heat on his back intensified the more he walked towards an area full of rocks and reefs, hidden by mosses, weeds, and other plant forms.

Ryu checked every nook and cranny to see if anything was hiding on the corners of the rock or inside the tight little spaces of the reefs.

"What are you looking for?" Seraphina was beginning to get wearied. Did Ryu lose it? Maybe he was hungry, and the hunger was making him behaved like a crazed half beast.

Seraphina was about to call Ryu's name again when the latter swam over the giant wall of reefs and jumped to the other side.

"Ryu." Seraphina immediately went after him.

On the other side of the giant reefs was a barren little land with nothing but sand. Gigantic reefs and rocks formed a circle around it, but there was nothing there to protect. Not even a single stone or jewel.

The heat in Ryu's back was resonating with something, and he wanted to scratch it when the sand under his feet pulsated hard.

Thumped!

Thumped!

"W-what's going on?" Seraphina felt it too. The vibration was minimal, but under her feet, it felt like a quake.

Rumble. .. Rumble. . .

The ground shook, and with it, a hole appeared, swallowing the sand in its deep.

"What is it?" 

Both Seraphina and Ryu hovered around that newly formed hole enough to fit a single person. They couldn't see past the dark waters, but something inside was calling for Ryu.

His nerves were tingling every time he looked at that small cave on the sand. His back was burning, and his heart was thumping hard against his chest.

Something was calling him to enter.

----

A/N

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