Chapter 186

‘Last conscience.’

The text looked separate from God’s affectionate letter.

Aria traced the scrawled words with her fingertips.

At the same time, Juan’s memory leaked into her head as if it was unfolding in front of her eyes.

‘This letter was engraved by Juan.’

She saw him clumsily banging on the door with a hammer and a nail.

‘Prove your conscience?’

Juan said that conscience is the only medium connecting good and evil. And he swallowed the conscience among the pieces of God’s feelings and became a Siren.

‘If it’s the last conscience…….’

Could it be that it was referring to Ariadne herself?

‘Then did he know I was coming here?’

Even if she thinks it can’t be. Aria slowly moved her lips in front of the stone gate.

Ah- aaahhh-

Then she started a meaningless humming with no lyrics. But that alone would be enough to prove that she was a Siren.

Then, the stone gate, which did not move even when pushed, began to shake greatly in anticipation.

Rumble, rumble, rumble, boom.

Eventually, the stone gate opened.

It was different from the entrance where there seemed to be some hidden treasure. The space inside the door was completely dark, and a cold air leaked out.

Lloyd hugged Aria tighter as she curled up and trembled.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes…….”

She stared up at him.

Was the doctor right when he said Lloyd was overflowing with energy? In his arms, she was able to endure the terrible cold to some extent.

“Hold on tight.”

She was startled as Lloyd moved on with a stride as unhindered as he had been.

But suddenly quickly backed away.

As soon as he stepped his foot, the bottom of his feet almost reached an endless cliff. He almost fell right down.

It was pitch black and he couldn’t see right in front of him, so it was too late to notice.

“Gasp, is the cliff still connected to the end?”

Aria muttered in a voice full of absurdity.

“At least to the naked eye it looks that way.”

Lloyd was equally surprised.

Surely, at the entrance it felt like they were opening the way for the Siren.

“It’s probably a trap…:”

“I don’t think so.”

Aria muttered as she recalled Juan leaving a message to the last remaining siren. And she was sure of it.

“I see a faint light on the other side.”

She couldn’t see it well because it was so far away, but a light was definitely there.

“There’s something. I think we should go over there.”

“How?”

“Ah…….”

Looking down at the open floor. They had to go to the other side of the cliff, but there was not even a bridge here.

“What should I do?”

“Hmm, in the current situation, the only answer is to call Carlin.”

To have made it this far and go outside and come back with Carlin? They’ll waste a few more hours.

‘My condition is not very good to endure that.’

Lloyd knew that too, so he hesitated without being able to act immediately.

‘No, because there should definitely be a way to get there, Juan wrote those words.’

She thinks so, and it was when she was searching her memory. Aria suddenly lifted her head and looked back at the thorny vines that lined the walls.

‘That’s it.’

Aria took a deep breath.

And then, without warning, she began to sing the Song of Life.

“Tender and beautiful fronds of my beloved plane tree,”

“Aria!”

“Let Fate smile upon you.”

She persevered and sang despite Lloyd’s loud warning.

Then the thorn vines heard her song, and began to move. The vines intertwined with each other and in an instant created a bridge to cross to the other side.

“Ari…….”

“Let’s cross.”

“Ha…….”

Lloyd sighed and rubbed his forehead.

As she sang when she was supposed to conserve her energy, of course, Aria’s condition would rapidly deteriorate.

He groaned and clenched his teeth as he crossed the bridge. In an incredible momentum.

‘Oh dear.’

Lloyd is angry. She’ll get in a lot of trouble later.

Aria blinked her flickering eyes. Just when she thought it was hard to keep her consciousness because she was getting out of breath.

Lloyd suddenly drew his sword from his waist, spewing murderous energy.

‘Gasp.’

Wh, what? Aria stiffened her body.

“Are you that angry?”

“What are you talking about?”

Lloyd found it absurd.

Had he been angry with Aria and wanted to punish her, he would have kissed her tenaciously, rather than drew his sword. Until she cried and clung to him to stop.

“Again, hold on tight.”

Aria finally heard the ‘sound’. The sound of something crunching and quickly climbing up the wall.

Lloyd swung his sword in the direction of the sound. Then, the cluster of lights on the blade flew along the trajectory and collided with it.

BOOM-BANG-!!

His sword aura clashed with a pitch-black object, split it in half, and then shattered the cliff. A chunk of rock fell off the cliff and rolled down the bottomless end.

At the same time, the vine bridge swayed precariously from side to side as if it was about to break.

“Kyaak!”

Aria screamed and she tightened her arms around his neck.

Even in the midst of this confusion, Lloyd held her in his arms and kept her balanced.

“What? Why is it attacking us?”

“No idea.”

Lloyd frowned for a moment, seemingly lost in thoughts, then he swung his sword again and continued his words.

“It’s a very dirty and unpleasant feeling.”

‘Dirty and unpleasant…….’

Is this a beast’s intuition? He caught and killed the attackers before they even showed themselves.

Thanks to that, even Aria couldn’t figure out what he was killing.

‘Actually, there’s no need to see with my own two eyes when the creature climbing up a cliff makes such a strange sound.’

If possible, she didn’t want to confirm forever. Because it feels like a nightmare. Still, why does she feel like she needs to check it out?

‘Is this Juan’s memory?’

She pressed her hand over her throbbing heart.

In the meantime, they came to a cliff on the other side that seemed to never end.

And, Aria saw it.

“……what’s this?”

There was an enormous scale of thorny vines covering the cave. That too, wriggling like tentacles, was quite dirty and unpleasant.

If an ordinary person saw this place, they would shout, ‘Monster!’ and run away.

‘Could it be that all the thorny vines surrounding the cave came from here?’

Aria desperately grasped Lloyd’s hand as he raised his sword to cut the vine as he had always done.

“Wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute, Lloyd.”

She felt weird.

‘I feel sick to my stomach.’

Aria, not knowing why, felt like she was going to cry, and she twisted her eyes. Her hands were weak and trembling, but Lloyd stopped like a loyal dog and waited for her next words.

‘Oh, what am I thinking…….’

Aria soon regained her mind.

“Khmm.”

After trying to control her emotions and clearing her throat, she said.

“If the vines that make ice flowers started from here, isn’t this something like a root?”

A root is the source of life. If so, there was a very high probability that there were real ice flowers here.

“You have to eat the flower that blooms on such a nasty thing?”

Lloyd looked very reluctant. Like he didn’t want to know that the legendary flower they were looking for was the flower of a tentacle monster.

Although Aria must agree with him.

‘I feel strangely nostalgic.’

Very much.

“I’m sure there was a light here…”

Said Lloyd, who had been searching around the thorny clump.

“It must be this flower.”

The flower he pointed to was blooming alone. It had a twilight blue color, but it did not sparkle brilliantly.

Aria looked down at the flower that barely held its precarious light, then slowly raised her head.

She studied the vines carefully and said.

“Doesn’t this look like a human face?”

“Where are you looking?”

“If you look at the form again, head, neck, shoulders, chest, waist, pelvis, legs…”

Aria said something nonsensical, then looked up at the ‘face’ of the vine again.

A blue ice flower blooming under the eyes.

“It’s like tears…”

Aria recalled the phrase engraved on the stone gate.

I will give all my heart to the children who have awakened happiness in me. When the day comes when the balance of the world is at stake, wake me from sleep.

Wake me from sleep.

Don’t say this is…….

“Shadra?”