Whispering Shadows

Somewhere outside the Wailing Vault, a group of people were breathing heavily. They looked as if they had run a marathon. 

"Hah..., Hah..., Damn, you and your treasures and that shitty intuition. How the heck one can find treasures in such a place? Stupid shit." Sophie cursed while pointing a finger at Heizen. 

Everyone stopped breathing and looked at Sophie in bewilderment. Heizen was the most affected as he wondered if he heard it wrong. Was this truly Sophie he knew? 

"Ok... You girl finally show your color. Your cold appearance outside was all false, right? And, why are you cursing me when you are so scared." Heizen thought as he looked at the trembling finger in front of him. 

However, he still asked as he was very confused, "Are you really Sophie? You aren't possessed by spirit, right?" 

Sophie also realized her gaffe. So, she snorted in disdain and maintained her cold appearance almost immediately. 

"Hehe, don't bother her. She is quite afraid of ghosts or unknown things." Sarah giggled and tried to remedy the situation. 

Heizen rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to pay attention to this girl who was cold outside and sinister inside. However, he still needed to defend himself. 

"Who said there wasn't a treasure inside?" Heizen asked as he took out multiple translucent crystals from the ring. 

[Ethereal Crystal: Consumables by-product of spirit crystal.]

[Effect: It can be used to create a defense barrier that can stop certain attacks from the spirit or magical entities.]

Looking at the translucent crystal that was between the illusion and reality, everyone was mesmerized.

"Wow, Ethereal Crystal. Though they are less valuable than Spirit crystals, there are so many of them." Sarah exclaimed.

Heizen was proud. "See, I didn't lie about my intuition. There were treasures inside." He looked at Sophie while talking. 

 "Hmph," Sophie didn't give him a good look. Heizen was embarrassed. This girl was as fiery as her scarlet hair. 

"Let's divide them equally. Everybody has risked their life, so there is no need to favor anyone." He said. 

As for SoulStone Shard, he wasn't going to show them as it was very important to him. Moreover, he was afraid that even taking it out would bring danger. What would he do if that entity decided to follow him?

Heizen divided the pile into 5 parts and distributed them to everyone. While giving them to Sophie, he was looking intently at her. 

He was thinking that maybe this girl would reject her share due to anger. However, she accepted everything generously and even managed to give him a look that seemed to say "stupid." 

Heizen was so mad that his teeth ached. Why didn't he know before that this girl had a bad temper? 

Sarah was giggling beside them. She was having fun in his misery. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Bernard and Bowen were holding their laugh. Even that mute was laughing. 

After everyone recovered from their exhaustion, they returned to the groove Bernard had said before. It was already dark as there was no light entering the catacomb from the crack and wandering along the path wasn't an option. 

The temporary camp location was somewhat perfect to spend the night. They just needed to clean and set up everything. Since they were quite exhausted, they just prepared everything haphazardly. 

After eating the dried food and drinking some water, it was time to sleep. Bernard and Bowen volunteered to guard for half the night. 

Heizen was also tired so he wasn't going to complain. However, he suddenly saw a shadow flicker through the wall a hundred meters away. It disappeared just as it appeared in his vision. 

He immediately opened his divine sense and became alert. Seeing his unusual behavior, the group came towards him. 

"What happened?" Bernard asked. 

"I just saw a shadow flickered in that wall. But it quickly disappeared. There was also sound which I couldn't understand." Heizen said seriously. 

Just then the shadow flickered at another location two hundred meters away from them. Along with it came an unclear voice. 

Seeing everyone being so serious, Bernard explained, "Don't worry, that was Whispering Shadows. They are the manifestations of dark energy around the labyrinth. They are just mass of energy and pose no threat." 

"The Shadowveil catacomb is a part of the fallen realm. So, there are many unexplainable things here. Many people believe that these Whispering Shadows as manifestations of catacombs will."

"The deeper you go to the catacomb, the more you will see such things. They don't have any tangible power. However, their whisper can easily pollute your mind if you aren't careful."

"Just don't pay attention to their whisper and you will be fine," Bernard warned and began to prepare his camp. 

Heizen beathed a sigh of relief. As long as it was nothing outrageous. 

Come to think of it, the cry from the depths of the Wailing Vault was also unusual. That place was already cleared by the adventurer. So, what was that entity? 

Moreover, the cry stopped suddenly when it was almost behind him. There was so much suspense, Heizen didn't know what to think. 

"Coward." Just then he heard a faint voice from behind. It was so faint if it was not directed at him, he wouldn't hear. 

He looked behind and saw Sophie going inside her tent with Sarah, who was silently giggling. 

"Is she still angry?" Heizen was puzzled. She seemed really scared at the previous chase. 

He quickly put those thoughts aside and went to sleep. He was exhausted from all the fighting and running and also had to guard the last half of the night. 

Though there were some twists and turns, the first day of his adventures on Shadowveil catacomb was rewarding. Furthermore, he also got to know someone's true face. 

While thinking randomly, his body began to rest and he slowly succumbed to the darkness comfortably. 

Unbeknownst to him, a faint green light was flickering on his hand within the sleeve. It seemed to be competing with something. After a while, the light drilled into the insignia again as if nothing had happened.