Born In Ashes: The Enigma

---) Ruins Key: An important key that only those deemed worthy could find.

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A deep frown appeared on Azrael's face as he read the description of the key.

"Something that could only be found by those deemed worthy…" He muttered under his breath, the frown on his face deepening even further.

Azrael was still studying the details displayed on his status window when, all of a sudden, he felt something unusual and immediately turned back, his sharp gaze fixing on the direction of the ruins' center.

"A flare…" He said, raising an eyebrow as he spotted a bright streak of light flaring high in the sky near the ruins' core area.

"It can't be Luo Bingqing or Elyara who fired the flare…" He said with certainty, his voice low.

The flare's location was far too close to the core area, while all three of them were still quite some distance away from it.

Even if Luo Bingqing and Elyara had rushed toward the center at full speed the moment they separated from him, it would have been impossible for them to reach that spot so soon.

That left only one possibility.

'There are other people inside the ruins,' Azrael thought, his eyes narrowing as his mind began to work at a rapid pace.

The first possibility that came to mind was the thousands of people the Transcendent Organization had kidnapped.

Earlier, after failing to find them in the organization's hideout, Azrael had already suspected that the captives might have been brought inside the ruins.

Since such a large number of kidnapped people would need supervision, it was only natural to assume that some of the members of the Transcendent Organization would also be present to keep watch over them.

Therefore, the first suspects who came to his mind upon seeing the flare were the operatives of the Transcendent Organization.

As for why they had fired a flare into the sky, he was not yet certain.

Of course, aside from the Transcendent Organization, there was another possibility— the security forces.

It's already been more than half a day since Azrael and the others had entered the Ancient Ruins.

In this time, it was highly likely that the security teams had also entered the ruins after arriving at the transcendent organization's hideout.

Unlike him, Luo Bingqing, and Elyara, who were focusing on killing monsters to raise their levels, the security forces would likely have headed directly toward the ruins' core once they discovered that nothing of true value lay in the surrounding areas and the reason they fired signal flare was most likely because they found something.

'I hope it's the people of the Transcendent Organization who fired the flare,' Azrael thought coldly. 'If they get in my way, I can freely kill them. But if it's the security forces and they try to stop me from entering the core area of the ruins, things will become rather troublesome.'

Azrael closed his eyes for a brief moment and when he opened them again, a cold, indifferent light flickered in their depths.

He had entered the ruins to find answers about the mysterious sound of chains rattling within his mind and to track down the traces of the Enders, as required by his current task.

For once, he might abandon the task of finding the traces of the Enders, since he was under no absolute obligation to complete every task assigned by his strange status window.

But discovering the origin of the rattling chains within his mind was something he could never ignore.

He was already deeply unsettled by the task of making the Seed of the End within him acknowledge him as its master. Knowing that something unknown lurked inside his body, something that might be directly linked to the sound of those chains, only strengthened his resolve. He was determined to uncover why the sound of rattling chains had grown so restless the moment he laid eyes on the ruins' portal.

'If the security forces try to stop me from entering the central area because they want to claim everything there for themselves, I will have to use some unpleasant methods.'

With that thought, Azrael quickly dashed toward the core area of the ruins. Luo Bingqing and Elyara had gone in the same direction, so he felt no concern about failing to meet up with them.

As he moved, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of fascination.

His current Agility stat had nearly reached 120 points, and his epic level artifact, Eclipse Mental further enhanced it by an additional 20%.

Even without exerting himself too much, he was now running at a speed far greater than before.

"Mom did tell me that once all the stat points of a ranker exceed one hundred, their body undergoes a transformation that greatly enhances their power…" Azrael recalled the searing pain he had experienced earlier and allowed a faint, satisfied smile to touch his lips.

'If I use the Wings of Wind essential art with my current power…' The mere thought sent a rush of excitement through his veins, making his blood boil.

However, Azrael refrained from activating the Wings of Wind for now as his cosmic energy was still in the process of recovering, and he couldn't afford to expend it recklessly.

While running, Azrael lifted his gaze toward the sky, his sharp eyes scanning the distance.

A few minutes passed as he continued forward, and then he caught sight of a small ice bird flying high above.

Without the slightest change in expression, Azrael shifted his course toward the direction of the ice bird and in less than a minute, he had reached the area beneath it.

His eyes quickly swept across the surroundings, knowing that Luo Bingqing would never remain too far from his ice birds.

Sure enough, within a few moments, Azrael spotted faint silhouettes of two people in the distance, waving in his direction.

"Seems like they are also fine…" He murmured under his breath when he saw them, before striding swiftly toward their position.