Chapter 552: Treasure Hunt
Aluren had expected that place to be some dessert or some big group where nothing could obstruct their battle. At Least what he thought when he was given the letter which contained the coordinates of this place.
Only when he reached her did he realize that it wasn’t anything like that. Instead, it was an abandoned neighborhood of the city.
Not a single person could be seen here.
"Welcome, Aluren. I’m amazed that you came alone. I guess you’re not a coward, at least."
As soon as Aluren stepped inside the neighborhood, he heard a voice. Even though he hadn’t listened to the voice of Ryder before, but he was sure that it was the voice of Ryder.
"I’m not hiding, but you are. Don’t worry, let me bring you out of the hiding place," Aluren said as he started walking in the direction that voice came from.
It wasn’t as far as it seemed. The voice seemed to have come from a nearby house.
"You’ll bring me out? Do you really dare to?" The voice came again as Aluren reached near the door of the house. He was certain not. That voice was coming from the other side of the door.
He kicked the door open as he barged inside.
"I wonder how you’ll drag me out without knowing where I am. But still, this seems fun," Ryder’s voice came again.
Aluren looked at the speaker that was placed before him as he punched the wall. Ryder wasn’t here. Instead, he was using the speaker to talk to him.
Aluren still believed that Ryder was still nearby.
"Why are you hiding, Ryder Flynn? You called me a coward but aren’t you a bigger coward? I came where you wanted, all alone. But you still can’t dare to show me your face? Is this the dignity of that a god-son should have?" Aluren asked as he picked up the speaker before he left the house.
Ryder was standing in an unknown location, wondering what this guy was talking about! God-son? Did he mean son of a god?
’ Is this guy thinking that I’m a son of a god? Wait a minute, don’t tell me he’s the son of a god himself? This... Ah...’ Ryder didn’t know how to process the information.
He was actually against a divine being? The son of a god? So it wasn’t that this guy received his powers from a god as he did. Instead, he himself was a mini-god? So he had distributed powers to the kings like Janus gave him?
"This makes it a bit complicated," he muttered as he frowned. He didn’t forget to turn off the speaker as he talked to himself.
"Janus! Tell me the truth! Is this guy the son of a god?" He asked.
"He is," Janus replied.
"You! Why didn’t you tell me before?" Ryder asked.
"Would that have changed anything? They would still be coming to take your life, and you’d still be fighting back. Isn’t that the truth?" Janus asked in return, stunning Ryder. He was right.
"Fine, don’t disturb me now. Even if he’s the son of a god, I’ll still take care of things my way," Ryder muttered before he got back to talking to Aluren.
"My dear Aluren, as you know, I defeated your dogs from right under your nose. It was clear to me at that moment that you’re too weak. If I come out now, you’ll be defeated in a few seconds, and that would be boring."
"So I’ve decided on a new game. I’ll give you a few clues. If you can find me, I’ll not only tell you my identity, but I’ll also do whatever you say. How’s that?" Ryder asked, suggesting a game.
"I don’t want any games now! Come out and fight me like a god!" Aluren retorted, enraged.
"You’re not the one in charge here, mister Aluren. I’m incharge! You either agree to my rules, or you leave. In any case, a two second long battle would be boring. I should find someone else since you’re weak," Ryder said, laughing. "Goodbye, Aluren. I hope you’re stronger the next time I see you."
"Wait, don’t go! You can’t run away after spoiling my trial! Come out and die!"
"Not happening, Aluren. You either play by my rules and find me, or I’ll leave. The choice is yours."
"Fine! I’ll listen to you! Give me clues!"
Having no choice, Aluren could only give up. No matter how many times he tried to use his powers to find Ryder, nothing worked. This seemed like the only option.
"Give me a clue! Where are you?" He asked.
"Alright. Your first clue to my location is pretty simple. Black under the green, Seven to the three." Ryder told Aluren, grinning.
"Black under the green, seven to the three? What does it mean?" Aluren asked.
"If I were to tell you, would it still be a game?" Ryder asked, laughing. "It’s pretty simple, though. I feel like even a kid can solve it."
"Another hint, you need to know maths to solve this puzzle," he further said.
"I need to use needs? What kind of maths can be in Black under the green? Black is five letters, and blue is also five letters. What could I do with them? Five under five? That’s one. What can I do with one?"
Aluren tried to solve the puzzle while still keeping Ryder’s speaker in his hand.
"You’re really an idiot, aren’t you? Even after this clue, you’re still focusing on the wrong part of the puzzle?" Ryder asked, mocking Aluren, making him even angrier.
"Shut up, and don’t disturb me!" Aluren yelled in response to Ryder’s taunt, but he didn’t ignore his words.
"Focusing on the wrong part? Should I focus on the second sentence then? That’s right, seven to the three. It should be about multiplication. That’s twenty-one. Twenty-one what? Twenty-first house?" Aluren muttered as he started looking around before he soon noticed something.
A small black box was placed under a tree near him which felt out of place.
"Black under the green? As for twenty-one, that’s twenty-one steps, it seems. That box is exactly twenty-one steps away from me!" Aluren exclaimed as he walked to the box, counting his steps.
As expected, this was twenty-one steps.
"Well done, you solved the first clue. Open the box, and you’ll find the second clue," Ryder told Aluren, congratulating him.
Aluren opened the black box to find a key inside it.
"A key?" He muttered in confusion.
"It’s the key to one of the houses here. Get to searching. Which house does it belong to? You have thirty minutes," Ryder told Aluren, who started running to test these keys in the houses. He went from one house to another, testing the key on the locks.
He tried over fifty houses, but the key seemed to belong to none of them. He kept trying the key in different locks.
....
In a different place, Ryder seemed to be enjoying this view.
’Good. Aluren, keep searching. The more you play this game, the more you’re going to fall into the trap. Every door you touch, every item you touch in this game, they’ve all been poisoned. All the items are modified with different poisons that will keep weakening you without you even realizing.’
’Moreover, the speaker you keep carrying in your hand, that’s also a treasure of Janus. By the time you realize what’s happening, it would have been too late.’
...
Unaware of Ryder’s plans, Aluren kept trying all the doors until he finally found one which the key matched.
"Good work. Inside that house, you’ll find something special—the next clue. Go and find it," Ryder told Aluren.
"What the heck? Is this a joke? I’ll keep finding clues all day with this. Stop it now! I already solved two clues. Come out!" Aluren said firmly. "Enough playing around. It has already been close to an hour!"
"Don’t worry; you solved two clues. After you solve the fifth, you’ll be standing right before me. But it’s fine if you want to stop. I’ll just think you’re defeated and leave," Ryder said.
" Stop! If it’s only five clues, I’ll do it! To kill you, I’ll solve the next three clues too!" Aluren said as he stepped inside the house, still seemingly upset.
"That’s better. Good boy," Ryder complimented, and thus, the treasure hunt continued.
Aluren took another hour to solve the third clue, which seemed to be a bit tougher. As for the fourth clue, he solved it within Twenty minutes.
"Last clue! If I solve it, you can’t give any excuses! You must show yourself before me!" Aluren said firmly.
"Of Course. I’m a man of my words. I’ll show myself to you without any delay," Ryder replied innocently.
And thus, the fifty clue was given, which was a puzzle. Aluren had received a map of the neighborhood, which had a few X Marked on it. The X was the location of puzzle pieces that he needed to find and finish the puzzle.
