The massive Blumar door stood in front of them, unwavering in its splendor. There were no engravings, decorations, or fine plating work that would tell some mysterious story, no, it was just a plain, gigantic door of dark blue stone that swallowed both light and Mana.

Glenn could only understand this structure was a door thanks to the small opening at the end of it. The Blumar door reached for a dark stone wall a hundred meters away, barely noticeable under the light the young man's arm cast.

'By the way, I call dibs for the name,' Diamanes suddenly interjected in Glenn's contemplation, '...let's call it the Hand of the Sun. No, it's a bit too wordy... Sun Touch, then.'

The young man listened mindlessly, still admiring this massive gate that seemed to have been built to seal the worst horrors or most incredible treasures away from human hands.

'Who could have possibly built that? There is no way a human could have...' Glenn frowned and stared a little more at the Blumar door. For some reason, there was something that felt familiar to him in this massive chunk of stone, but he couldn't pinpoint it exactly.

"Don't you feel like we've seen something similar already, Sahro?" asked the young man with a hushed tone. The Black Heir rubbed his chin thoughtfully and sneered silently.

"I don't see many giant doors every day, you know. Truly, something this massive could only be compared to King's Rise ramparts..."

Glenn's mouth opened widely as did his eyes, and he slapped himself on the head.

"Shit, I know where I got that feeling from!"

He stared at the gate, trying to compare its size to King's Rise's ramparts. Awe soon decorated his face as he stared blankly at the wall.

"The two are of the same size," he mumbled, before turning toward his friend, "...This can't possibly be a coincidence, right? I mean, the chances for them to be built so close to each other both in size and look..."

Sahro nodded with an enlightened gaze, and he quickly observed the wall to compare on his side.

"Crap, you're right. The two are of the same size... God, what did we stumble upon?" Sahro trailed off, his head leaning back as he tried to catch a glimpse of the ceiling, failing to do so. It was so high the light from Glenn's Sun Touch wasn't enough to disperse the darkness lurking so far up.

Glenn gulped, before heading off for the opening. Sahro followed behind him while studying the Blumar door a little more. The Black Heir then suddenly froze, and glanced at their surroundings, frowning.

"Hey, did you realize there were practically no sleeping golems here?" He asked, prompting Glenn. The latter looked around as well, his eyebrows creasing.

"...Indeed. I suppose the Blumar is too strong for them, even if they are made of it. Still, it's strange," he replied while walking, occasionally aiming his arm at darkened spots to try and find any hidden golems or traces, without much success. The two soon arrived at the opening, which was a large passageway that could probably fit a few hundred people passing at a time.

"I hope they brought Maron in there because if they didn't, we might be entering the boss room accidentally..." Glenn muttered through his teeth. Sahro raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"The hell is a boss room?"

"Whatever man, let's just go in."

And so, they entered. Well, it took a few solid minutes just to pass the threshold, but they passed it nonetheless. They silently walked in, using the light from Glenn's Sun Touch to navigate their way in. There were no traces of human passage, nor any sleeping golems, but the more Glenn explored the place, the more he believed the kidnappers brought Maron there.

The most notable thing they noticed once they entered was that the ceiling was much lower than in the cave, similarly made out of Blumar.

'Maybe this whole place is encased in Blumar, like a gigantic safe technically immune to spells. But why the hell would someone build this...? What would they need so much Blumar, no, protection against magic for?' Glenn pondered silently, observing the best he could the place. It was bare; in the same style as the massive stone door, there were no decorations, no light to show them the way, nothing at all. It was just a titanic Blumar room.

Well, that's what Glenn thought until they found a new structure hidden away in the darkness. The young man's eyebrows creased as he showered his discovery in warm light. Lost in the middle of the Blumar's vault was an immense bronze dome made up of thousands of thick metal plates. Glenn's light reflected off the bronze, creating a mystical golden-brown hue as he approached the structure.

"...What is this place?" Sahro asked with wide-open eyes. His fingers were still tightly wrapped around his sword's hilt, not letting go of it for any price. Glenn shook his head slowly, similarly taken aback.

"I have no idea...It seems like it's entirely made out of bronze, or at least a metal of a similar color. Damn, how tall is this thing...?"

The two young men proceeded to scout out the surroundings of the bronze dome, finding only one thing that could serve as an entry. On one side of the dome was a circular opening that led straight into it. Glenn and Sahro exchanged a glance, before slowly entering the dome. The entry was wide enough to let a few grown men walk side by side, and everything there was made out of bronze-like metal, be it the walls, ceiling, or even the ground.

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'It's an extravagant attempt at steampunk style...Crap, how did they even get that much bronze to begin with? This is industry-level of quantities here...And I'm not even sure we'd be able to get so many bronze plates in the modern age,' Glenn pinched his lips, carefully proceeding inside. The walls gleamed under the Sun Touch's light until they finally arrived at an intersection. There were no indications as to which path led where, so Glenn arbitrarily decided to go left.

"Shouldn't we split up or something...?" Sahro asked hesitantly as he sheathed his sword and pressed his hand against the bronze wall. He frowned and took his hand back, wiping it off on his clothes.

"It's greasy and warm...Disgusting..."

Glenn shook his head and continued to walk.

"Splitting up is the best way to get picked on individually. We'll take more time, but at least we won't be dead. Now, stop touching stuff, and let's go," He dryly said, strangely irritated. There was something about this place that rubbed him the wrong way, but he couldn't pinpoint the exact reason.

After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at the end of the hallway, a dead-end. Well, the big triangle-shaped hole in the wall let them presume there probably was a need for a key to continue, but sadly, they didn't have anything that fitted.

"...Nice choice, as always, Glenn," Sahro taunted sarcastically, awarded with a light snort. Glenn rubbed his chin as he studied the keyhole, before trying to summon Mana and fit it into the hole to try and create a magical key, but his Mana dispersed as soon as it left his body.

"Seems like we're still under the Blumar's influence. I thought all of that bronze might have allowed us to use magic or Aura again, but my bad I guess..." Glenn mumbled, rubbing the back of his head with an annoyed face. Sahro looked at the door, then at Glenn, then back at the door, before grinning and unsheathing his sword. The Black Heir lunged forward with an Aura-powered slash as he tried to cut through the door.

His sword bounced away like a kid's toy, pushing Sahro away. The sound of the attack echoed through the hallways longly, a sharp metal sound that rang through their souls. The Black Heir looked at his sword as if the weapon had betrayed him, a shocked expression on his face. Glenn passed his tongue over his teeth, pensive.

"And it seems like a blinded wall. My best guess is that either the kidnappers have the key, or they went the other way. I'll bet on the second option," He concluded, smiling at his grumbling friend. Sahro sheathed his sword as he held his arm out weirdly.

"...I still feel the shock through my arm...I'm sure I would have sliced right through had I been able to use both my arms..." He mindlessly said, not remaking Glenn's smile dying out, replaced by a dark expression. The young man led the way back to the intersection, choosing the remaining path to explore.

"ARGHHHH!!!" A pained scream rang through the bronze structure, coming from the way Glenn and Sahro were going to explore. The two froze, one unsheathing his sword and the other looking at his glowing right arm weirdly. Without the ability to use spells and without any weapons to spare, Glenn was pretty much left with just his fists to fight with.

The pained roar rang once more, sending shivers down the two men's spines. Glenn opened his mouth, before suddenly realizing he recognized the voice of the scream's owner. He looked at Sahro with a panicked expression.

"Shit, Maron is getting tortured!" He dashed forward, not giving Sahro a second to reply. The two ran through the bronze hallways as more screams rang, again and again, making their worry grow heavier at each instance.

'We might get there too late!' Glenn couldn't help but think, his fists clenched as he ran. Sahro suddenly cursed to the side, before an electrical current covered his entire body. A second and a blue flash later, Sahro had disappeared, leaving behind an electrical trail. Glenn felt a jolt of electricity shot through his body, making his limbs shake uncontrollably. He mentally swore at the careless Black Heir as he took back control of his body, before sighing.

'This idiot can't know that most metals are conductors of electricity. It's my fault for not telling him not to use his electric power. Shit, did he transform himself into a railgun, then?' Glenn shook his worries out of his head, focusing on the important matter at hand, which was stopping whatever was torturing the hell out of Maron. He kept on running at full throttle, jumping over a half-opened bronze gate, his eyes widening when he arrived in a new massive room.

The first thing that caught his attention was the massive silver ball floating in the center of the room, spinning slowly. Surrounding it were multiple bronze rings, attached to a complex bronze structure covered in pipes and valves. Situated under this whole mess were a dozen stainless vats of different sizes filled with a dark liquid that seemed to swallow light itself. If there were things in the vats, Glenn couldn't perceive them at all.

Finally, standing above a crude operating table while holding a gleaming scalpel was a handsome man with blond hair that flowed until his neck, blue eyes that shone in the light that the silver ball projected, and a firm jaw to compliment his already well-designed face. He was wearing a white coat over a red shirt combined with similarly crimson pants. A fine golden ring was hanging on his chest, tied to a similarly fine silver chain.

"Oh, but it seems like we have guests. You should be Glenn, right?" The handsome man asked pensively, a charming smile drawing on his lips. He looked behind him, where a gasping Sahro was standing, his sword unsheathed and covered in dark-red Aura, "...and you Sahro, the Black Heir. My, oh my, but what a ravishing company!" The handsome man chuckled warmly, before tapping with his hand on the chest of the person resting on the operating table.

Glenn squinted, grunting when his fears were confirmed. Lying there entirely devoid of clothing was Maron, bloodied and unrecognizable. If not for the pained grunts and whimpers, Glenn could have never guessed that this disgusting corpse was Maron.

'...He's still alive.' Glenn held on to this thought, his fists clenched tightly as the handsome man suddenly smacked himself on the head.

"Oh, but how clumsy of me, I didn't present myself!" The handsome man bowed slightly, pressing his hand against his chest politely without caring much about the fact that he was tainting his immaculate white coat with blood.

"You may call me Doyle Malory," the handsome man smiled, "...but Doyle is enough for friends."

Doyle Malory's nose creased as the man shook his head, squinting his eyes as if an unpleasant smell had found its way into his nose. He licked his lips, before grabbing Maron's finger violently, holding it tightly. Maron, completely strapped up to the operating table, looked at Doyle and then at Glenn with a terrified face. Doyle hummed as he flicked his fingers.

"Yes, so where was I? Ah, of course, I needed to get rid of all the subject's excess. Thank god you're blessed by Plutus, am I right, my dear Maron?" Doyle lightly whispered, a gentle smile decorating smile. And a second later, with that same gentle smile, he ripped Maron's finger off, ignoring the scream of his patient and instead staring at the finger with fascination.

"...Bon appétit," He bowed his head toward Glenn and Sahro, before putting the finger in his mouth and swallowing it. Glenn gulped and clenched his fist even harder. His Sun Touch disappeared as Mana rumbled around his arm, unstable due to Blumar's disturbance. Sahro drew a deep breath, his eyes and mind focused on a single task: splitting this asshole in two.

Doyle sighed in satisfaction, before licking his lips.

"...I really can't get enough of this taste. What do humans call it already...?"

The man raised his finger as a happy smile hung on his face.

"Oh, I remembered!" His smile twisted widely as pure evil shone in his eyes.

"...That's the taste of reality."