Chapter 286 Second Lock

He nearly fell over against the door once reaching it, catching himself with his hand against the shiny, silver door. What was troublesome before him was that the door was kept shut by multiple handles around the threshold.

It was a problem due to his absent stamina, forcing him to lean against the door and slowly pry the handles from the exit.

"Come on..." He weakly mumbled.

Each time he squeezed one of the rocky handles, having to twist them to unblock the door, he felt his muscles ignite as if being torn and burnt.

Finally, he unlatched the final handle, completely unsealing the door as a "pop" sounded out, causing the exit to slowly creak open.

At last, he was free from the deathly chamber of titanium, finding a peculiar room waiting beyond.

"...This is..." He said out loud.

It was a singular room with another door at the back, but what caught his attention was what existed in the center of the room: an ominous fountain made of opulent, black crystal. There was a shape to it; a faceless angel of crystal stood over the fountain.

What's this...? He questioned.

There was something mystical about it; a vapor rose from the water within the fountain, flowing from the statue's hands which were held together.

The chamber wasn't metallic like the last, but instead built of snow-white, smooth tiles of stone.

It was the gentle vapor that rose up from the fountain that produced a refreshing aroma; like warm flowers in spring, the sweet smell brought the wounded Dragonheart closer.

The water was crystal clear; as he swept his hand through the liquid, it felt brisk and refreshing just by the touch.

Weird...It feels so "lively"—I can feel a distinct mana within it; kind and benevolent, he thought.

Parched with a dry mouth and throat, he leaned down to take a sip of the brisk water, though he overestimated his own stamina as he slipped forward—

"Wah!"

—Straight into the fountain, he fell, sinking into the mystical water as he became engulfed in it. It didn't take long for him to sink deep into the bowels of the fountain, embraced in its refreshing nature.

This is...nice? He thought, the water...it feels like the pain and fatigue in my body is washing away.

It was surprising to him just how vast the fountain was; how deep it stretched down in order to fit him as if an entire pool existed beneath the circular bowl of water.

He didn't attempt to resist sinking down, not feeling any anxiousness from his own lungs as breathing didn't seem like a problem. In fact, it felt as though there was no urgency for oxygen in the depths of the mystical fountain; he didn't feel the need to breathe, yet was perfectly fine persisting within the water.

...Nice...this is nice...He tiredly thought.

The deep-purple coloration of bruises washed away like stains from his body, having the pain aching in his limbs wrung out by the benevolent aqua.

As he grabbed the handle, he winced and withdrew his hand after finding a sharp prick against his fingers–

"Yowch!" He let out.

Shaking his hand a bit with a confused look, he stared closer at the stone handle of the door, finding it secretly enveloped in thorns, which were snuggled against the material with clingy vines.

"Come on, give me a break," he exhaled.

It was a simple annoyance, though hard to work around as he tried to yank the vines away from the handle, but they didn't budge.

"Fine then."

He was forced to grasp the handle, twisting it as the thorns stabbed at his hand as an unavoidable flash of pain.

"Ghh—"

In a quick motion, he yanked the handle to swing the door open, stumbling past the threshold right away as he found himself in a new corridor.

"...Hm."

The walls were made of a sort of glass, holding back black water that surrounded him, only held inches away by the seemingly fragile, see-through material.

It was like an aquarium he found himself walking through; he looked around as he slowly marched forward, looking at the sable water. There was nothing that could be seen in the ominous depths of the aqua; a somewhat unnerving truth as he kept moving through the corridor.

Still, he swore he could hear something swimming through the dark aquarium, though there was no way to confirm it with his eyes.

Is anything about this place normal? He thought.

It wasn't more than a couple minutes of slow steps before he found himself at the door at the end of the hall—wooden with silver decorations etched into the material.

As he grabbed the handle and turned it, opening the door, he walked through to find himself surprised by the fact it led him straight back into the room with the locked cube.

"Huh?"

It didn't make any sense. From the way he entered, he came through the same way he initially discovered the room, yet he had come through an entirely different corridor this time.

There wasn't much sense in trying to apply the logic he was familiar with to the nebulous realm; he knew that.

He fidgeted a bit as he walked through the room, feeling a bit on edge after realizing there were indeed malicious fiends to look out for, though he settled down once reaching the sable cube laid on the glass stand.

"Alright, here's the second one," he mumbled.

Holding the black key between his fingers, he lifted the locked cube in his left hand before sliding the key he fought tooth-and-nail for into the lock on one of the four sides. Once again, the mechanism seemed to pull the key into itself, twisting it and settling it into its form completely.

Two days, two to go.

...Well, there's nothing else to do but go to the next room, I suppose, he thought.