Chapter 447: 16 Year Old Inglis and the Highland on Distance Sea (56)

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“Damn it—!”

In the pitch-black, shadowed space she had fallen into, Inglis landed on her feet and immediately pushed off, aiming to leap back through the hole in the Sarcophagus of Greyfriar. But just as she rebounded, the opening disappeared soundlessly, sealing the wall shut right in front of her.

“Uh…!?”

Thrown off balance, Inglis shot forward, hurtling into the vast, open space beyond the vanished doorway. She had now been completely separated into an isolated dimension.

“This… might be a problem.”

The Sarcophagus of Greyfriar, or rather, the Ravine Stone Door, could only be opened from the outside by a God or a Divine Knight. From the inside, it was impossible to reopen it.

In this isolated space, time, location, and any connection to the outside world were severed; from within, that connection could not be restored. Only when someone from outside opened the door would the link be reestablished.

No matter how much spiritual energy one might possess…

“Ether Strike!”

ZgoooOOoooOOOM!

The spiraling mass of energy launched with a roar, yet it struck nothing, fading into the distance until it disappeared.

With no clear target, it was hard to know what to destroy.

“Hmm…”

If she didn’t hurry back, Rafinha would surely worry. As her guardian, Inglis preferred not to make her precious granddaughter fret. Plus, with Tiffany, Maxwell, and Charlotte still outside, there was no telling what danger Rafinha might face.

Thankfully, time flowed differently here. Spending some time in this space would only mean a brief absence in the outside world, allowing her to return swiftly.

As Inglis pondered this, a figure passed by her.

It was a young girl with gentle silver hair tinged with a soft blue hue, her face elegant and refined. She appeared anxious, glancing nervously around her.

“Princess Meltina of Venefique…!?” When Inglis tried to call out to her, her outstretched hand passed right through the princess, revealing her as a mere illusion. “A memory of this space…?”

Come to think of it, in her previous life as King Inglis, she had seen something similar when she was training within the Rock Gate of the Boundary.

Back then, what she saw was not Princess Meltina, of course, but the image of a previous practitioner who had trained within the Ravine Stone Door before her.

In the otherwise monotonous days of training alone, such scenes served as a bit of a diversion. In other words, this was a vision of the past, a memory retained by this space.

And now, close to Princess Meltina, another figure appeared.

“Miss Eris…”

Since Eris had entered this space before Princess Meltina, it made sense that she would be seen here first. Unlike the princess, Eris walked forward with steady, resolute steps, undaunted.

Her noble, beautiful figure was striking—a stark contrast to the anxious appearance of Princess Meltina. It wasn’t Eris’ first time here, and her resolve was unshakable.

Inglis decided to follow in the direction that Eris and Princess Meltina’s images were heading.

After progressing through the dark and empty space for some time, she eventually saw two tall, faintly glowing pillars ressembling cylindrical devices.

Their central parts were made of a transparent, glass-like material, filled with some sort of liquid, and inside each was the figure of a woman.

“This is a Hyrule Menace? But… how can it be…?”

The device itself was no surprise. It was only natural that something like this would be here. After all, this was the Sarcophagus of Greyfriar, a facility for creating Hyrule Menaces.

The real issue was the person inside the device. In one of the side-by-side chambers—

“Miss Cystia…?”

With her long, crimson hair and a gaze full of resolve, it was Cystia, the Hyrule Menace of the Ironblood Chain Brigade.

But that, too, was not necessarily unexpected. Being a Hyrule Menace, Cystia had to have been created somewhere. It just so happened that her origin lay here, within the Sarcophagus of Greyfriar in Illuminas. It made sense that such a memory would be preserved in this space.

Yet, the real surprise was in the adjacent chamber. Someone Inglis never would have expected was there.

“S-Senior Yua!?”

There was no mistaking it—it was Yua. But why would she be here?

“Could it mean that Senior Yua was also a Hyrule Menace?”

But she had shown no signs or behaviors to suggest it, and Inglis had never sensed any aura of a Hyrule Menace when she was near Yua.

Though, considering her strength alone, it wouldn’t be shocking if someone claimed she was indeed one. Yet, why would Yua, who had undergone the Hyrule Menace process here, end up as a senior at the Knight Academy?

The same could be said for Cystia. Why had a Hyrule Menace created by Iluminas ended up as part of the Ironblood Chain Brigade, an anti-Highland organization?

Could it have something to do with Black Mask, the Brigade’s leader, to whom Cystia seemed devoted…?

Just then, a soundless collapse above Inglis shattered her thoughts, and debris came raining down.

“!”

Did this space connect to the outside? She didn’t know what had happened, but it might be a chance to escape.

“Wait—this is just an illusion…!”

The debris passed right through her hand as she reached out to brush it aside. In other words, this was another memory held by the space—a glimpse of the past.

Before Eris and Meltina, the princess of Venefique, entered the Sarcophagus of Greyfriar, Yua and Cystia had been here.

And, at that moment, the wall of the sarcophagus had been destroyed from the outside. Amid the rubble, a figure was visible, rising to their feet.

The person who broke through the wall of the sarcophagus from the outside must have been responsible. Though only his back was visible, he appeared to be a young man.

Only a God or a Divine Knight would have the power to do something like this. If so, then this figure with his back turned could very well be Black Mask of the Ironblood Chain Brigade.

Is this the moment Black Mask encountered Cystia? And Yua was also present here, which still doesn’t explain how she ended up at the Knight Academy.

Almost as if in response to Inglis’ thoughts, the space’s memory continued, revealing more of the scene.

The person who seemed to be Black Mask had broken in through the top of the Sarcophagus of Greyfriar, yet his force didn’t stop there—he also destroyed part of the floor.

The Sarcophagus of Greyfriar, or rather, the Stone Ravine Door, couldn’t be destroyed from within. But if an opening existed to the outside, it could physically connect and be shattered by an external impact.

A hole now opened in the wall beneath, right in front of the device where Yua was being held.

The device tipped heavily and began to fall into the opening.

“She’s falling!?”

The young man seemed equally startled, staring out through the opening.

The view outside came into Inglis’ line of sight as well.

She could see the sky and, in the distance, some far-off land. Perhaps, at that time, the Sarcophagus of Greyfriar had been positioned somewhere different from where it stood now. In the distance, a faint, shimmering rainbow-like glow was visible.

“Is that… a Prisma on the surface?”

Could it be that Yua was caught in Black Mask’s destruction of the Sarcophagus of Greyfriar and fell before the Prisma? And after that, how did she end up at the Knight Academy?

She didn’t seem to remember anything about the Hyrule Menace or undergoing the Hyrule Menace process. If her usual demeanor was all an act, she’d be quite the performer. But that seemed unlikely.

“Then… could it be memory loss?”

Charlotte seemed to have no recollection of Liselotte either. Could the Hyrule Menace process sometimes result in memory loss? Whether this was intentional or accidental remained unclear.

If that were the case, perhaps Yua, after losing all memory, fell from Illuminas, only partially awakened in her transformation due to the impact, and then, somehow, found her way to the Knight Academy.

The aura surrounding her and the trait of seemingly absorbing the power of the Prisma made it clear that Yua’s Hyrule Menace transformation was incomplete.

As for the part about her “somehow” finding her way to the Knight Academy, she might answer if asked. Though, judging by her usual demeanor, it’s doubtful she remembers it clearly.

In any case, Inglis resolved to ask her once they returned to the Knight Academy.

“That is if I can even get back.”

At some point, the memory within the space had vanished, along with the figures of Eris, Princess Meltina, Yua, Cystia, and the young man who was likely Black Mask.

“Well then, let’s get started…!”

To make an effort—to try finding a way back—

Inglis stood alone, bracing herself in the darkened space.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep