"May the eternal light shine and holiness be born in the light..."

Joining her hands, Anna recited the prayer with devotion.

This was how she interpreted those ancient spells.

However, only part of what she recited was faithful to the original text, the rest was a mix of her own guesses and assumptions.

Although it sounded relatively coherent, in practice, it had no effect.

"Ah... I failed again..."

Anna lowered her hands, and her body relaxed.

In fact, this was not the first time she had tried, she had previously combined various versions of the prayer's words, but none had been effective.

"Alice, I failed again..."

She said this while extending her hand to hug Alice, with a look of pleasure on her face.

Alice's body was cold and soft, and the embrace was very comforting.

After they had grown closer, Anna had come to enjoy hugging Alice like this.

Alice did not object, and perhaps, beneath her cold expression, she also enjoyed being treated this way.

"May the eternal light shine, and holiness manifest in the light."

Somehow, Alice suddenly said this.

"Eh? What did you say?"

"May the eternal light shine, and holiness manifest in the light."

Alice repeated it again.

"Is that... a prayer?" Anna asked, confused.

"I don't know, but I suddenly thought your earlier words should be said like this," Alice shook her head and said softly.

"Then, I'll give it a try."

Although Alice had no memory, she had been in a place full of light spells.

Perhaps Anna's prayer had awakened part of her memory.

Anyway, it was just another attempt, and it was fine if it didn't work.

Thinking this, Anna knelt again, joined her hands, and after a few deep breaths, her expression became extremely solemn.

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"May the eternal light shine, and holiness manifest in the light—"

As soon as the last syllable was pronounced, changes began.

Small glimmers of light appeared around her body, three bright rings of light formed at different angles, and the faded spells on the ground started to glow around her.

The crystals, which had previously shone softly, became dazzling, and the entire environment was flooded with intense light.

This light...

Alice covered her heart with one hand, with a pained expression on her face.

Although her body did not actually feel pain, she had the sensation that her heart was "aching."

However, the light soon dissipated, and her expression quickly returned to normal.

Anna did not notice Alice's anomaly because she was completely focused on the prayer.

Alice did not know what she was thinking and did not tell Anna about her feelings now.

"This phrase seems to be right!"

Anna said joyfully.

The facts proved that reciting the correct spell did indeed have some kind of reaction in the environment around her.

If she could decipher all the words of the spell, she might really find a way out.

"Then, let's try the next part of the spell!"

The previous success reignited Anna's enthusiasm, and she stood up, ready to continue deciphering the spells she had organized.

At that moment, something strange caught her attention.

"What is that..."

Looking in that direction, her face showed surprise.

Directly behind where they were, the wall had actually disappeared, forming a dark rectangular hole.

The room's light did not illuminate this hole in any way.

"Alice, there’s a path over there."

She said this, but her expression was not as animated as before.

In fact, it was good to have an exit from that difficult situation, but the darkness of the path made her cautious.

What could be hidden in that darkness?

Anna had avoided thinking if Alice could be a bad person.

Being bound to a cross with light spells was a punishment reserved for sinners.

Could the lovely Alice be a great villain, merely appearing harmless due to memory loss?

Anyway, Anna preferred to believe that Alice was good, and even if she had been a villain, she hoped Alice would change for the better.

However, if there were any creature sealed behind the dark passage, she could not guarantee it would be as friendly as Alice.

Alice stood up leisurely, walked over to Anna, looked at her, and tugged at the hem of her clothes.

"Don’t be afraid; I will protect you."

Alice's serious look made Anna feel a bit embarrassed about her previous thoughts.

She patted Alice's small head and then held her hand, heading toward the passage.

To be sure, Anna used her illuminated staff to check.

She found that as soon as she entered the reach of the hole, even up close, she could not see what lay beyond.

Fortunately, the staff was withdrawn without issue.

If the staff had disappeared when withdrawn, it would have been quite frightening.

"Let’s go in."

Anna and Alice looked at each other, gathered their courage, and stepped into the hole.

As their eyes adjusted, what appeared in front of them was a long, narrow, and dark passage.

It did not lead up or down but went straight ahead.

On the tunnel walls, there were torches burning with a yellowish flame.

It was unknown why these torches could burn for so long or if they had only started burning when they arrived.

Looking back, all they saw was a misty darkness, not capturing the light that was so near, as if they had entered a different space.

Thus, they could only proceed through the tunnel.

Alice did not seem afraid, and each step was firm.

But Anna was different.

The ground beneath her feet was made of bricks.

She was afraid of accidentally stepping on some mechanism.

It felt like her feet were wobbly, and at a particularly awkward moment, she almost fell.

The tunnel could not extend indefinitely.

Just as Anna thought she was about to exit, a force came from her side, not very strong but enough to make her fall to the ground.

She looked confused to the side but only saw a black, robust arm and Alice being thrown away..."