Chapter 145

A few more days passed.

Having received instructions from the General, Taewoon acted with even less hesitation, continuing to gather information and paying close attention to the situation at the camp and the movements within the Sanctuary.

‘There isn’t anything that seems like an immediate problem, but…’

The fact that the fox’s whereabouts had still not been found was quite unusual.

At first, he thought it was simply a matter of bad timing, but perhaps in this Cycle, the fox itself did not exist.

It was clear that Yerin’s actions, having arrived on the island first, had caused various changes throughout the island, but he had no inkling as to what exactly could have affected the fox’s existence.

‘…Things have become quite troublesome.’

In effect, this meant Yerin’s party had reached the Sanctuary through a method other than the fox’s help; perhaps they, too, were in a state where they could not freely roam outside because access to the Sanctuary was restricted.

Having roughly summarized the overall situation, Taewoon let out a light sigh and headed straight to the General’s office to request a conversation with Kaira.

“What brings you here today?”

“…I wish to be absent for a few days to attend to the task I was assigned last time. Would that be acceptable?”

“That is not difficult. Do as you wish.”

Neither Kaira nor Taewoon trusted each other. And that, ironically, made the constraints they placed on one another looser.

After openly obtaining permission, Taewoon left the exploration team and began his individual activities, passing through the forest region and heading toward the depths of the lake region.

If he could not receive the fox’s help as originally planned, Taewoon needed to step forward himself and find a way to enter the Sanctuary.

“I thought it was about time we met, but is it really alright for you to wander around so freely?”

“Yes. Things just happened to turn out this way. However, we need to be cautious, as I don’t know how the General might be monitoring my movements.”

Taewoon’s Qi Sense picked up nothing, but his opponent was the ‘General.’

There was no telling what bizarre method she might be using to monitor his vicinity even now.

“I can’t postpone what needs to be done just to be wary of the invisible… so it can’t be helped.”

“In the end, you couldn’t find the fox’s whereabouts?”

“No. As you probably expected, it’s likely not on this island right now.”

He could no longer delay contact with Yerin. Thus, Taewoon and Biryeong decided to seek another method, passing through the depths of the lake region toward its far edge, arriving there after two days.

“I remember all the entrances we used last time… but no matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t head beyond them.”

“Since things have turned out this way, we might have to come up with an entirely new method. My companion succeeded in reaching the Sanctuary, so there must be more than one way.”

Taewoon wondered if he, having moved between the interior and exterior of the Sanctuary several times, could uncover the rule using his Qi Sense, but it seemed things would not go that simply.

Taewoon and Biryeong then took turns testing the methods they had each thought of, continuing their tests for several hours.

“I feel like there will be no end to this if we keep going like this.”

“….”

Since this was the 2nd Cycle and not the 1st, he thought there would be some way, but eventually, every method failed, and he found himself in the same situation as during the 1st Cycle.

‘Damn it, should I have found a way in advance instead of relying on the fox’s help?’

There were moments of relative leisure in the 1st Cycle. If he had prepared another way to find the entrance to the Sanctuary back then, this wouldn’t be happening, but regretting the past would solve nothing.

‘…Let’s admit it. It’s impossible with my current abilities.’

If possible, he wanted to find a method that could be used without a high cost, but since that had failed, the only remaining means was the Apostle Transformation of the Red Wax Mask.

Eventually, Taewoon brought the mask in his hand to his face, concentrated his mind, and recited the spell for Apostle Transformation. Soon, Taewoon’s presence blurred, and he began to fall into a familiar state of Awakening.

‘Just like when I observed the underground facility… I will bring the entire surrounding space into my sight and analyze it.’

Crimson Mist filled every direction, and Taewoon continued to raise his Qi Sense while staring at the edge of the lake region and the space beyond.

‘…Good, I’m starting to get a feel for it.’

Maintaining a calm state, Taewoon circulated the Magical Power within his body and cast Thousand-League Perception. A massive amount of information was injected into Taewoon’s mind, as if everything in the vicinity had been rendered into a blueprint.

‘So this is how it was… What on earth is this space?’

To be honest, there was much he couldn’t understand, but he felt he knew how to observe the entrance and open the passage.

As Taewoon drew upon the power of The Red Man and reached out his hand, his senses clearly perceived the space beyond, accompanied by the sensation of grasping something.

“…Did it work?”

“Yes. I won’t be able to maintain it for long, but crossing over once should be no problem.”

Confirming the entrance that had opened before them, Taewoon and Biryeong passed through without hesitation, and soon, a familiar natural landscape unfolded before them.

“It seems… we’ve crossed over properly.”

As Biryeong said, that familiar scenery was the Sanctuary itself, where Taewoon had stayed throughout the 1st Cycle.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Taewoon dispelled the Apostle Transformation and scanned the surroundings, but he could not find anyone’s presence yet.

What was particularly strange was that, although a large number of people should have stayed here, there were no significant traces of habitation.

“What happened? According to the journal, Miss Yerin should have definitely reached this place.”

“The interior of the Sanctuary is quite wide… perhaps they’ve settled elsewhere. I think it’s best to search the surrounding area first.”

As he expanded his radius and searched various nearby spots, Taewoon was soon able to confirm human traces left within the Sanctuary.

The problem was that they were quite faint, not appearing to be traces left recently, and the fact that he couldn’t find any human presence even nearby.

‘What happened? Could they have been forced to leave the Sanctuary for some reason?’

That was the only thought that immediately came to mind, but no matter how much he thought about it, nothing seemed to fit.

Furthermore, if Yerin’s party had left the Sanctuary, they would have inevitably had various frictions with the Imperial forces, and Taewoon would have been able to confirm that fact in some way.

‘Is the General erasing all traces and hiding the truth? I can’t be sure, but it didn’t seem like that…’

While Taewoon was immersed in confusion and deep thought, Biryeong, who had left to check another direction, returned and spoke to Taewoon with a somewhat stiff expression.

“Could you come this way for a moment? It’s hard to convey in words, so I think it’s better if you see it for yourself…”

“What is it?”

Tilting his head, Taewoon followed Biryeong and saw the sight she had discovered with his own eyes. He could only trail off, frowning as the situation began to give him a headache.

“What in the world is this…”

The surrounding landscape had turned into shining crystals, as if struck by petrification magic.

And scattered here and there were a total of eight human-shaped statues.

Looking at the statue of a woman with a familiar face, Taewoon uttered his question with a confused expression.

“Since there’s no way someone suddenly erected jewel statues here, this is probably…”

“The members who arrived here first must have turned into statues. Though the reason remains unknown.”

No wonder they hadn’t made any move to contact him even after he arrived on the island; it seemed Yerin’s party had become incapacitated as jewel statues due to some incident after reaching the Sanctuary.

“I can feel a faint life force… but can we even consider this being alive?”

“I don’t know. As for a way to reverse it… I can’t think of any at the moment.”

After that, Taewoon and Biryeong thoroughly explored the surrounding area and discovered the place they had used as a shelter and a journal that appeared to have been left by one of them.

‘Dominico? A member of the exploration team that accompanied Yerin?’

The journal contained detailed records of their journey searching for the Sanctuary and the events that followed. Reading it, Taewoon was able to grasp that after Yerin’s party arrived smoothly at the Sanctuary, they were focusing their efforts on researching the ‘Seed’ while planning for the future.

“Then… did something go wrong while they were researching the Seed?”

“It seems highly likely. There are no records of intruders within the Sanctuary.”

But just what was the Seed that caused several experts of the exploration team to end up in such a state without being able to lift a finger?

Taewoon had only heard from Seoyoon that such an object existed; since he lacked detailed information, it was difficult to conclude anything.

Regardless, the only thing that was clear was that the plan had become seriously twisted.

“Then where is that ‘Seed’ now? If it’s still inside the Sanctuary, we can’t be at ease either.”

“Certainly…”

Of course, Taewoon and Biryeong were confident they wouldn’t be defeated easily, but they wouldn’t have engaged in research without any safety measures.

In other words, it meant the Seed was that dangerous of an object, and they needed to determine its whereabouts quickly.

‘No matter how I think about it, I feel like it’s still somewhere here…’

Of course, the possibility that the Seed had vanished could not be denied, but for some reason, his intuition told him that wasn’t the case.

Maintaining a state of vigilance and raising his physical Qi Sense even further, Taewoon began to concentrate his mind while staring at the surrounding area.