Journey to Become the Zenith

The Fortress Beneath the Earth

His lips slowly curled upward.

’Heh, so he’s a transmigrator. Victor have wild guess for this marquis...’

The thought stayed with Victor as he continued walking through the cave.

The passage stretched far deeper than he had expected. Pale crystals embedded in the stone gave off a gentle blue-white glow, illuminating the uneven walls and the winding path ahead. Their footsteps echoed softly, sometimes disappearing into the darkness before returning as faint, distorted sounds.

Diana walked beside him, her black hair swaying against her shoulders.

Victor’s expression remained relaxed, but his mind was already piecing together everything they had learned.

Those rumors.

The personality change.

The sudden appearance of swordsmanship.

The experiments.

The strange confidence.

And, most importantly, the use of Zenith Aura.

’Those guys usually use swords as their main weapon, and now that I think about it, I guess they were using Zenith Aura at the time. I always thought transmigators were weird beings that used a different kind of mana, it turns out it was just Zenith Aura.’

The realization amused him.

For so long, Victor had considered transmigrators strange because of the peculiar energy they possessed. He had assumed it was some entirely different form of power, something unique to people who had crossed worlds.

Apparently, he had simply misunderstood it.

Zenith Aura.

That was the foundation.

Victor’s golden eyes narrowed slightly.

”So that’s what it was.”

Diana glanced toward him.

”What?”

”Nothing important.”

She stared at him for a moment before sighing.

”You always say that when you’re thinking about something troublesome.”

Victor smiled.

”Do I?”

”Yes.”

”And yet you still follow me.”

”Unfortunately.”

There was no real annoyance in her voice.

Victor chuckled quietly.

The further they went, the stronger the strange feeling became.

He couldn’t deny it.

He was excited.

Not because of the Elmhart family itself.

Not because of the hidden fortress.

But because somewhere ahead waited someone who might finally give him an interesting fight.

Especially after what had happened with Nezzard.

That encounter had left him disappointed.

This time, however, things felt different.

’At least this might be interesting.’

The corners of Victor’s mouth lifted.

He had spent enough time listening to rumors.

Now he wanted to meet the person behind them.

...

After a few more minutes of walking, Victor and Diana finally found what they had been looking for.

Victor stopped.

Even he couldn’t help but stare.

The cavern opened into a gigantic underground chamber.

It was enormous.

The ceiling rose so high that the darkness above swallowed it completely, while enormous stone pillars naturally formed throughout the cavern like the bones of some ancient beast.

And sitting in the middle of that underground world was a fortress.

An actual fortress.

Walls of dark stone surrounded several massive buildings. Towers rose from the ground, connected by bridges and fortified walkways. Torches burned along the battlements, their orange light reflecting against steel armor.

The entire structure had been built inside the cave.

Victor’s eyes narrowed.

”So this is the real residence.”

Diana looked around.

”They hid an entire fortress underground.”

”Not badly done.”

Victor studied the surroundings.

The natural cavern itself had been used as part of the fortress’s defenses. There were only a handful of obvious entrances, and most of the surrounding rock was nearly impossible to climb.

Anyone attempting to attack the fortress from outside would first have to discover the cave.

Then they would have to find their way through the tunnels.

Then they would have to survive the fortress itself.

It explained why the false estate existed.

The fake residence wasn’t meant to fool intelligent people forever.

It only needed to delay them.

Every enemy who investigated it would waste time.

Every spy would report that the Elmhart family lived there.

And while everyone searched the wrong location, the real family remained hidden beneath the earth.

Victor gave a faint smile.

”Smart.”

Diana looked at him.

”You’re complimenting them?”

”The hiding place.”

Before Diana could respond, movement appeared along the battlements.

Several armored men stepped forward.

Then came the unmistakable sound of bows being drawn.

One by one, arrows were pointed toward Victor and Diana.

The atmosphere changed instantly.

The warmth of the cavern seemed to disappear.

The soldiers had clearly been watching them for some time.

A man standing at the center of the battlement stepped forward.

He appeared to be the leader.

His voice echoed across the cavern.

”Who are you?”

Victor looked up at him.

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he bent down and casually picked up a small pebble.

Diana glanced at him.

”Victor...”

He flicked the pebble.

It crossed the distance almost instantly.

The archer standing beside the leader didn’t even have time to react.

The pebble struck him.

His head exploded.

Blood splattered across the stone battlement.

For a brief moment, the entire fortress became silent.

The leader froze.

His eyes widened.

He stared at the remains of the man beside him as though his mind had stopped working.

Victor simply stood there.

Calm.

Unhurried.

Then the leader finally recovered.

”FIRE!”

The command thundered through the cavern.

Hundreds of bowstrings snapped at once.

A rain of arrows descended from the battlements.

The sound was deafening.

The arrows filled the air like a swarm of black insects, their tips glinting beneath the torchlight as they rushed toward Victor and Diana.

Diana immediately gathered her Zenith Aura.

Victor merely smiled.

He casually raised one hand.

A wave of force swept outward.

The arrows scattered.

Some spun helplessly through the air.

Others slammed into the cavern walls.

A few dropped harmlessly onto the ground.

The attack had been completely neutralized.

Victor didn’t even take a step.

Diana glanced sideways at him.

”You could at least pretend to be concerned.”

”Should I?”

”No.”

”Then there’s no reason.”

She sighed.

Victor looked toward the battlements again.

The soldiers had witnessed what happened.

They had seen their arrows become useless.

Yet they continued firing.

Again.

And again.

The cavern filled with the sharp sound of bowstrings.

Victor shook his head.

”Stubborn.”