CHAPTER 109 MYSTERIOUS PAINTINGS (PART TWO)

As he started to analyze the patterns, he tried to recall some of the details he found.

When the war began and up until it became more and more violent towards the end, there was always NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

a group of mysterious men who wore black robes that kept appearing in every corner of the paintings,

but their faces were always not shown clearly.

Darren closed his eyes to think. A copious number of paintings flashed through his mind.

Eventually, an idea popped up in his mind and his face lit up in realization.

"The rule cultivator…" he quietly murmured.

He opened his eyes and suddenly started to roughly skim through the paintings again.

"Although these black robed men had never actively participated in the battles, they must have been an

indispensable part of the war. They must have been rule cultivators and were absolutely much more

talented than Mr. Wan," he added. As he looked through those patterns again, he knew that he was

right.

Darren was shocked when he was able to kill a competent fighter of the Wonder Realm with the rune.

The fact that a rule cultivator had such extraordinarily strong powers to create the powerful rune still

had not ceased to astonish him. From that point onward, he became determined to find the truth behind

the enigma. However, since Wayne had passed away, he still had not been able to figure it out.

While Darren was deep in thought, he suddenly recalled something, the memory rushing to him.

He remembered that when he had walked into that mysterious bronze coffin, he was bewildered by the

number of tombs he found inside and the compellingly powerful auras he felt emitting from inside of

each tomb made his blood run cold. He remembered seeing some words inscribed on one of the

tombs, "I died in this divine coffin when I went on a campaign with the lord of martial arts to fight

outsiders who committed aggression against the land..."

It was possible that those few words were a recounting of the same war that was in the paintings.

Since Demon King Andrew's tomb was just one of the first ones that he was able to reach, he was

certain that there were still a great number of tombs and countless unsung heroes deeper inside the

coffin that he was not able to look at.

"Hey Darren, you still there?" Elsa jokingly said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Darren shook his

head as he came back to his senses.

"What were you thinking about?" she asked.

Darren turned to look at her. "It might be immensely difficult for us to escape from this maze. This maze

was created by a rule cultivator and we don't know a thing about rule cultivators," he gloomily replied.

Elsa furrowed her brows in confusion and asked, "Rule cultivator?"

"Yes. A rule cultivator that was exceedingly more powerful than Mr. Wan." Darren paused and let out a

deep sigh.

"And even if we do find a way out, since we're in the forbidden area of the Holy Land, our future is

uncertain. I honestly don't know what to do," he continued, plopping down to sit on the floor.

Darren's brows furrowed in frustration and a worried frown creased his forehead. He was starting to

lose hope.

"Hey, it doesn't matter if we won't be able to get out of here. In the worst case that we do die in here, I

feel happy and content just to have been able to spend my time with you," Elsa tenderly reassured him,

following him down on the floor. Her face then broke into a bright smile as she reached out her hands

and wrapped them around Darren's waist with her chin propped up on his shoulder.

Darren was paralyzed once he felt Elsa's warm breath against his neck. 'How could a simple hug easily

make me feel so much better?' he thought. He gently pressed his cheek to her forehead and returned

the hug as he said with a smile, "I'll always be here for you and I'll always protect you. We won't die

here, and maybe, in the future, we could have a child together."

The words made Elsa's face flush with warmth. "Since when did we become so intimate? Is it somehow

my destiny to meet you and fall in love with you?" she whispered softly into Darren's ear.

Darren also could not figure out how they ended up falling in love with each other. He gave her a barely

audible chuckle and replied, "I don't even know when I became captivated with your beauty."

"Humph! Are you saying that I tried to seduce you or something? Why don't you just admit that you

were already attracted to me from the start," Elsa flirtatiously protested, slightly pouting her lips. She

leaned forwards and softly laid a kiss on Darren's face.

"All right, I admit it," he said, now fully grinning.

"Admit what? That you're only interested in my looks? You jerk, I'm going to kill you!"

Elsa then playfully threw herself into Darren's arms and her scent overpowered his senses.

He felt her silky smooth skin touch his. Her tender movements made his blood boil with desire. His

breathing became more and more erratic. He swallowed hard.

"Elsa, how about we–"

Before he could finish, they accidentally touched one of the black iron chains. A seemingly infinite

number of runes suddenly flashed across their eyes then the whole palace shook violently.

"Shit!" Darren cursed. He swiftly stood up from the ground as he berated himself under his breath, "I

knew those chains were dangerous. I'm so careless!"

Once Darren was on his feet, the entire palace was suddenly pervaded by a strange smell and the

numerous runes flew into his body.

Elsa was left aghast by what had just happened, and Darren, shortly after his body absorbed the runes,

went deathly pale and looked as if he might faint.