blueteamnovel Chapter 258 : You're Almost Crushing Me to Death
Chapter 258 : You're Almost Crushing Me to Death
Her back was covered with something like straw—not too hard, but uncomfortable and prickly.Her body was firmly pinned down by Ariel, nose to nose, chest to chest, pressing until Celitia's vision darkened and she could barely breathe.
Ariel's arms wrapped around Celitia's shoulders like iron hoops, with undiminished force, as if about to break the girl's slender, frail shoulders.
Celitia barely managed to squeeze out a few words from her chest: "Get... get up..."
Ariel panicked and sprang up from her: "Lily? Are you alright??"
This movement pressed Celitia until her eyes rolled back.
Whether she was alright or not, she didn't know—she only knew she was about to be crushed to death!
This foolish woman heavier than a pig!!
Not getting an immediate response from Celitia, Ariel became frantic.
She desperately shook Celitia's shoulders:
"Lily, Lily! Are you okay?!"
Celitia was shaken dizzy, floating out words like a ghost: "If you keep shaking... something really will happen..."
"Ah! Sorry!!"
Ariel was so scared she immediately let go, only then realizing her panic had caused the opposite effect.
With Celitia's fragile little body, how could she withstand such repeated torment?
Frantically getting off the girl, Ariel carefully helped Celitia up from the ground like handling a cloth doll.
"How are you? Is there anywhere else that hurts?" Ariel asked worriedly.
"I'm okay."
Celitia let out a long breath, her tense body finally recovering somewhat.
"Speaking of which, what exactly happened? I remember you were reciting prayers just now?"
Celitia tried hard to recall the scene.
The cup suddenly emitted golden light, and a mysterious vortex tried to suck the four of them away separately.
But Ariel had forcibly rushed over to embrace her, and the two ended up not being separated by some strange coincidence.
But Shanie and Benita were nowhere to be seen.
"I don't know either," Ariel shook her head, speculating. "We might have triggered some kind of ritual, or accidentally fallen into some trap."
Seeing Ariel's expression was quite regretful, Celitia consoled:
"It's fine—this shows our attempt was correct. It's better than having no changes at all and being stuck there staring blankly."
Ariel's tense face relaxed slightly: "You're right..."
The two each turned their heads to seriously examine their surroundings.
Four walls surrounded them with no visible entrance or exit, only a skylight overhead letting in faint moonlight that illuminated the room's interior.
Ariel said: "This seems to be a prison cell."
"A prison should have a door, right? Do we have to jump down from above?" Celitia complained.
As she spoke, she suddenly saw a bright, crystalline light flickering on the wall behind Ariel.
In the empty cell with only walls, this point of light was particularly conspicuous.
Celitia hazily remembered certain games from her past life—undead rushing toward light to collect items, then getting jump-attacked by little monsters falling from above...
"What is that?" Celitia was extra cautious.
Ariel turned around, squinting: "I'll go take a look."
Walking to the wall, Ariel carefully reached out and pulled a glowing small note from between the wall bricks.
Unfolding the note and staring at its contents, Ariel fell into long contemplation.
Seeing her motionless for quite a while, Celitia couldn't hold back her curiosity and moved beside Ariel, craning her neck to look.
"What exactly is it?"
On the note in Ariel's hand, several neat lines were written:
"Transcend illusions to light the runes.
The gift of fate lies ahead."
Celitia read the note's contents aloud.
"Transcend illusions, light runes, gift of fate?" Ariel repeated once, her brow furrowing deeply.
"Hmm... I think I understand." Based on her past life gaming experience, Celitia speculated: "This might be a game—no, an illusion. We need to clear it to get rewards."
The gift of fate should be the clear reward, but what did lighting runes mean?
Celitia was still somewhat confused.
"Whatever it is doesn't matter," Ariel's voice gradually became firm. "In any case, since we've reached this point, we can only take it step by step."
As Ariel's words fell, the note in her hand dissolved into fine particles of light and disappeared.
The surrounding scenery shook, and one of the originally solid four walls suddenly disappeared, becoming neat iron bars.
"Really is prison bars," Celitia muttered quietly. "So we need to escape from here?"
"Who are you?"
A somewhat childish voice suddenly rang out from the corner.
Both Celitia and Ariel were startled, turning toward the source of the voice.
They saw a small figure curled up in the corner, arms tightly hugging her knees, face buried between her arms, revealing only a pair of bright eyes that watched them warily.
Celitia and Ariel exchanged glances.
They were certain there had been no one nearby just moments ago.
After the note disappeared, not only had one wall become iron bars, but a girl had suddenly appeared?
Could she be the protagonist of this illusion?
Seeing the two hadn't answered, the girl asked again: "Were you captured too?"
"Yes," Celitia answered without blinking. "We were also imprisoned."
She wasn't lying—being suddenly sent to this illusion where they could only leave by clearing it, wasn't that being imprisoned?
"So that's how it is."
The girl relaxed slightly, lifting her face from between her arms.
The moment they clearly saw the girl's appearance, both Celitia and Ariel froze.
Celitia incredulously raised her hand to rub her eyes.
How could it be her?
The girl before them was about thirteen or fourteen years old, with black hair and black eyes. Her eyes were round, but the corners tilted slightly upward, giving her a particularly stubborn and sharp aura.
Celitia remembered her.
Many years ago, when she was still "Sercis," serving as castle defender at Phyllis Castle, she had encountered her first assassination attempt.
The one who tried to assassinate him was this very girl before them, named "Emily."
Could this so-called illusion be generated based on some segment of her own memories?
Celitia's mental alarms blared.
If that were the case, wouldn't there also be a possibility of encountering her past "self" here?
This was bad—Ariel was still beside her, and she absolutely couldn't slip up.
Even more unexpectedly, Ariel whispered in her ear: "I know where this is."