“This is the place,” Ketal said.0

Ketal and Rakuza arrived at the location Ketal had detected earlier, on the outskirts of the darkened plain. 0

Rakuza looked around, puzzled. “Are you sure something’s here? I don’t sense anything.”0

Indeed, the area appeared completely empty. As a holy knight highly sensitive to the presence of evil, Rakuza felt absolutely nothing unusual here. He couldn’t help but question whether Ketal’s perception had been correct.0

However, Ketal nodded confidently. “It’s definitely here.”0

He knelt down and thrust his hand directly into the ground, as effortlessly as if pushing through soft cake. Then, with a powerful upward pull, the ground split open dramatically.0

It revealed a hidden passage descending underground. 0

Rakuza’s eyes widened in shock. “What is this place…?”0

He quickly tried sensing again but still detected nothing. The tunnel was so perfectly concealed that without seeing directly, he’d have never believed it existed.0

“Interesting,” Ketal said with a pleased smile, clearly enjoying the discovery. “Shall we take a look?”0

“Y-yes, of course.”0

Together, they began to descend into the hidden passage. As they proceeded, Rakuza murmured uneasily, “It’s quite deep.”0

The passage seemed intentionally constructed to keep whatever happened within completely secret from the outside world.0

They...0