After the door closed behind them, Bia's grip on Kyle's hoodie tightened. She slowly gazed at the dimly lit hall in front of them.
-'Hey, are you alright.'
Kyle stopped in his steps. He did not show it before because he was in front of so many people but it seemed he could not hide it from her. After all, she could sense his emotions faintly. He would be lying if he said he was not shaken by his actions.
"They died right? Those two winged men. I thought I controlled my strength..."
-'Their hearts stopped due to extreme coldness even before you tried to control the flames. Well, they are cruel beings and they killed so many people so it's not bad for your first kill.'
Kyle's brows knitted together. He thought he would feel guilty if he killed someone other than monsters. But, it seemed he was overthinking, he did not feel anything even when he took their lives so easily. The only emotion he felt was shock because it was the first time he was not able to control the blue flames within his body properly. It was a fleeting moment but he sensed it clearly.
The moment the winged man hurled the black fireball at him, he quickly surrounded the two men and the black fireball with his flames. However, before he could control the flames around their bodies the flames went out of control and froze their hearts.
"Is it because of those dark particles mixed with the mana they used? The blue flames are like a part of me. So it's very hard to believe I was not able to act on time."
Kyle grazed his thumb over his finger with a contemplating expression. In the end, his only guess was that the black particles within the mana of those two men were some kind of impurities and it seems his flames clashed or maybe wanted to eliminate those impurities that's why they spiraled out of control.
He took a step forward to get a closer look at the hall ahead. It was mostly empty, except for the four unmoving human-size statues standing quietly in pairs on both sides.
"It's strange..."
-'What?'
Bia nestled closer to his hair, eagerly waiting for his answer. However, instead of speaking, Kyle drew his sword and briskly walked to stand between the statues.
He could see another door at the other end of the hall but he just wanted to engage in a fight to clear his mind. As if noticing his movement, in an instant, the statues came to life but they were too weak. Maybe it was due to the treasure land evaluation of Kyle and Bia's rank but not even a single statue was above (C+)-Rank. That's why Kyle did not even take a minute to finish them off.
He stood between the scattered fragments and glanced at his stats from the corner of his eyes. Below his name the word 'Celestial' was shining just as brightly as he remembered.
'It's strange that I possess it when my parents are just ordinary humans. It's also strange that I never felt competitive when I was young even though usually if someone is getting mocked they would try to become better. It's also strange that I somehow found motivation the moment I knew I had something special within my body without even questioning its origin... There are so many strange things but why is it that I never question them?'
Kyle's heart suddenly thumped loudly. His usually calm face crumbled into displeasure.
'Ugh.. I think I should talk with my father after leaving this place. Maybe I inherited this bloodline from my ancestors. Still, I don't think our ancestors are powerful or else father would have bragged about it a lot.'
He felt like he was only a step away from knowing something very very important but his lack of knowledge made it impossible for him to go any further.
-'Kyle, I think you should look back.'
Bia's voice jolted him awake, and he blinked. Darkness overshadowed his body and Kyle snapped his head back to look at the massive figure looming behind him. It was another statue, but from the look of it, the statue was reformed using the broken fragments scattered around the hall. And lo behold, it was (A)-Rank! Was the treasure land kidding with him? He just paused in the hall for a minute and now the danger increased tenfold!
'Bia fly.'
Bia had been looking at the statue for a while now. She thought Kyle would fight again because the statue did not look powerful enough to harm him. That's why it took her a while to fully grasp the meaning behind Kyle's words.
-'Huh?'
But, before she could get an answer Kyle was already gone.
-'Wahhhh You bastard!'
Her body plummeted downward at a fast speed but fortunately, she quickly unfurled her wings to regain her balance mid-air. Bia looked at Kyle who was standing at the end of the hall, opening the next door without any care of the world and her eyes blazed with anger.
-'This time I am going to pluck all your hair! Just you wait!'
Kyle pushed the door open with a tiny smile and looked back innocently.
'But I gave you a heads up didn't I?'
Bia rolled her eyes with frustration. After cursing him for the nth time in her mind she flapped her wings to follow behind him.
Kyle whistled with a smile and stepped into the next door. He narrowed his crescent eyes when he appeared in another similar hall.
At first, it was completely fine. He casually swept his eyes on the countless huge white-scaled lizards standing in the middle of the hall. The aura around the biggest lizard was slightly higher than (C+)-Rank. While the remaining lizards were all (C-)-Rank. However, after a few seconds, the smile playing at the corner of his lips stiffened because unlike before he did not spot any exit.
'Hey Bia is it only me who is unable to see the exit?'
Bia's eyebrow twitched. She knew fighting the lizards wasn't difficult but the lizards were just too many in numbers! And to make matters worse the hall was not even big enough to accommodate a fight containing so many monsters. What if in the midst the ceiling dropped on their heads?
-'I don't know why, but my gut feeling is telling me that for some reason these treasure lands know you are cheating with an artifact.'
Kyle shot her a glare.
'I wonder who is the one with (C+)-Rank evaluation because the last time I remember I was only given (F-)-Rank evaluation by the treasure land!'
After taking a normal breath he very slowly took a step back. However, it seemed the lizards had eyes on their backs because in an instant many pairs of glowing blue eyes snapped back and locked onto his location.
He wanted to curse but stopped mid-way to stare blankly at the ungrateful bird who was sitting on his head just a second ago.
Bia flapped her wings to fly up toward the ceiling before gazing at Kyle with deadly serious eyes that betrayed all the glee she was feeling inside. After all due to Kyle's strength that was increasing almost with each passing second it was becoming incredibly rare for her to get her little revenge.
-'Be careful, some of the lizards are drooling.'
