Chapter 292: Ivar Chased Isaria… Then She Found Luke

No matter how much she pushed herself, the gap between them continued to close.

"Isaria, you’re making this difficult for yourself!"

Ivar’s voice echoed through the maze behind her.

"I was going to be gentle with you, but this time, I’ll show you what hell really is!"

His voice carried a vicious edge.

The next moment, Ivar began burning through his essence.

A violent surge of power erupted from his body as his speed suddenly increased, nearly doubling compared to before.

And that was exactly why he had hesitated to act earlier.

He hadn’t wanted Isaria to escape and force him into a prolonged chase. Every additional moment spent pursuing her would only delay what he actually wanted to accomplish.

There was another reason Ivar couldn’t afford to let Isaria escape for too long.

He could only obtain the full benefit if she remained a virgin.

That was why learning about Luke had pushed him to act sooner than he originally intended.

’I will capture her and f*ck her to death.’

Ivar gritted his teeth as he continued the pursuit, his eyes fixed on the silver-white wings disappearing farther ahead.

’He’s getting closer.’

Isaria’s heart tightened when she sensed Ivar rapidly closing the distance.

She was already exhausting her Aether at an alarming rate, yet the distance between them continued to shrink.

Then, just as panic threatened to overwhelm her, a familiar golden owl phantom appeared near the junction ahead.

Isaria’s eyes immediately locked onto it.

The golden phantom was clearly signaling that the things on the other side of that junction was it, which could protect her.

There was no time to hesitate.

’Please...’

Isaria poured the last of her strength into her wings and burned through her remaining Aether, forcing her body forward at maximum speed.

Behind her, Ivar was already almost within reach.

Yet the moment he noticed another junction approaching, an uneasy sensation began spreading through his chest.

Something was wrong.

’I have to stop her.’

Ivar immediately raised one hand.

Darkness gathered around his palm before forming into a massive prison.

"Dark Prison!"

The black prison shot forward, attempting to seal Isaria’s path.

But Isaria reacted instantly.

Like an experienced bird changing direction in mid-flight, her body suddenly twisted sideways, her silver-white wings adjusting with the movement.

The prison swept past her.

She had avoided it.

Finally.

Relief flooded through Isaria as she crossed the junction.

And the instant she saw what awaited her on the other side, the tension that had gripped her entire body finally began to disappear.

She was safe.

Because, standing ahead of her, was a young man she had never seen anyone more handsome than.

His shoulder-length black hair rested naturally around his face, while his blue eyes were lowered toward the ground, focused on a strange walking coffin with a face.

Luke was currently kicking it around like an annoyed dog that refused to behave.

"LUKE!"

The moment she saw him, Isaria shouted his name without hesitation.

Luke had never once left her mind since their first meeting.

Hearing her voice, he immediately looked up and turned toward her.

But Isaria didn’t stop.

She forced herself to slow down, yet there was still too much momentum behind her. Her body collided with Luke’s-

Thud!

Instead of pulling away, she immediately threw her arms around him and hugged him as tightly as she could.

"Luke... Luke... Luke... I missed you!"

Her voice trembled as tears finally escaped the eyes that had been desperately holding them back.

"I was afraid... please, save me."

She buried her face against his chest, clinging to him as though letting go would mean losing the only person who could keep her safe.

"Please... don’t separate from me."

Her arms tightened even further around his body as her tears soaked into his clothes.

Isaria had already begun falling for Luke from the moment they first met.

But what had just happened with Ivar had driven that feeling to its deepest point.

When he had tried to force himself upon her, the fear had been overwhelming.

She had been terrified that he would defile her, terrified that everything she had protected would be taken away from her-and that afterward, she wouldn’t even have the courage to face Luke again.

She had even feared that Ivar, after defiling her, would kill her afterward, leaving her unable to ever see the people she cared about again-not her family, and not even Luke.

That fear had broken through all the restraint she had maintained until now.

So the moment she finally saw Luke, everything she had been holding back came pouring out.

There were words she had wanted to tell him for a long time, but Selene’s presence had made her swallow them back.

This time, she couldn’t.

"Luke, I love you."

"I love you so much."

Her voice trembled between her sobs as she clung to him, making it painfully clear that she had no intention of letting go anytime soon.

Luke was left completely stunned by the sudden confession.

He hadn’t expected this at all.

Nearby, Kiki tilted his coffin-shaped body to the side, his two eyes staring at the pair in obvious confusion, as if silently asking,

’What is going on?’

Meanwhile, Sevaroth, floating above them, watched the scene unfold with a faint smile.

A glint of interest appeared beneath his helmet.

"Interesting."

----

Earlier, a few minutes ago-

"Hmm, this new move is pretty good."

Luke watched with interest as ten one-foot-long sword blades, each formed entirely from fire element, materialized above a lone Early C-Rank spider beast before shooting downward.

Puchi!

The blades pierced through its body in rapid succession. In the same instant, flames erupted from the wounds and quickly spread across its entire body, leaving the monster burning helplessly before its corpse was completely engulfed.

Luke nodded in satisfaction.

"Hmm, even the intensity is good."

After entering the maze, he had been using the Elemental Barrage abilities of Paragon’s Judgment on whatever random mobs he happened to encounter along the way. With every battle, he was testing the newly unlocked techniques and getting a better understanding of what they could do.

While Luke was busy examining the results of his latest attack, Kiki had apparently found something far more interesting.

The little coffin had reduced itself to only six feet in size after Luke returned to his normal form, and its huge mouth suddenly opened before gulping down an Early D-Rank spider monster in one bite.

Luke’s satisfied expression immediately changed.

"Kiki, I told you not to eat."

He walked over and kicked the coffin.

Thud!

The delighted expression on Kiki’s face instantly vanished, replaced by a look of pure grievance.

Its two eyes drooped, while its huge mouth opened and a small, childish voice came from inside.

"Kiki... Kiki..."

Because of that habit, Sevaroth had given the coffin the pet name Kiki.

Luke, however, wasn’t buying that innocent expression.

"Those are money. But once you eat them, nothing remains."

That was exactly what bothered him.

When he had first read the description of the Coffin of Infinite Keys, Luke had assumed its ability would only work on beings or objects that had already been sealed in some way.

Apparently, that assumption had been completely wrong.

Sevaroth, who was floating nearby, seemed to understand his confusion.

"Well, a seal is simply another form of restriction."

"Even a curse can be considered one."

As he explained, Kiki had already started crawling toward the corpse of the C-Rank spider, clearly intending to eat that one too.

Luke noticed immediately.

Thud!

Another kick sent the coffin away from the corpse.

Sevaroth continued as though nothing had happened.

"And in every universe, all beings are born with restrictions."

His gaze briefly shifted toward Kiki before returning to Luke.

"Except pure Titans and those pure beings created by the Universe itself to serve as guardians."

Then he pointed toward the information Luke had said earlier.

"So, when you said that beings with Origin Skills could cultivate faster and achieve greater progress than those without them, that was also a form of restriction."

He paused briefly before finishing his explanation.

"A restriction imposed by Valtharion itself."

Sevaroth also clarified that he was mainly referring to the restrictions present at the higher levels. There were many other restrictions as well, including those placed upon low-level beings, along with many more that Luke hadn’t even considered yet.

"So, when those bodies-dead or alive-enter Kiki, their restrictions are removed. But since you didn’t give him any kind of price, such as energy or life force, he simply dissolved whatever remained of those bodies."

Luke frowned slightly as he tried to piece the explanation together.

"So, if I provide the proper price and some other being enters Kiki’s coffin, would that being come out as a perfect existence?"

Sevaroth gave him a smile before shaking his head.

"No. With the amount of power Kiki has unlocked right now, he can’t remove every restriction from a being."

"Then what exactly was he removing?"

"The restriction imposed upon the body."

Sevaroth continued while Luke listened carefully.

"The body contains the soul, and once that particular restriction is removed, Kiki consumes the soul while using the body itself as the price."

Luke stared at him for a few seconds, his expression becoming increasingly complicated.

"So complicated." He rubbed his forehead and decided that he was better off not thinking about it any further for now.

At least, he had understood one important thing: he couldn’t casually let anyone enter Kiki’s coffin. And if someone did enter, he had to make sure the proper price was provided.

With that matter temporarily settled, Luke looked around.

"Where is the C-Rank beast’s body?"

He searched the ground in confusion before finally turning toward Kiki.

A few spider legs could still be seen poking out from the coffin’s open mouth.

Luke stared at them.

Kiki seemed to realize what was happening.

Gulp.

The remaining legs disappeared into the coffin in a single swallow.

"Kiki." The little coffin let out a satisfied burp, clearly pleased with its meal.

Then, without any shame at all, it crawled over to Luke’s legs and began rubbing its coffin-shaped head against him, moving back and forth as if patiently waiting for its master’s pating.

Luke looked down at it.

"Are you a dog?" He lightly kicked Kiki away.

"Kiki!"

The little coffin immediately cried out in grievance, its two eyes drooping as though Luke had just committed some unforgivable injustice by refusing to give him enough affection.

Luke’s mouth twitched.

"Is he always like this?" He turned toward Sevaroth.

The Crypt Titan gave a reluctant nod, a trace of annoyance appearing in his voice as he answered.

Even he hadn’t expected the consciousness of the armor he had created to develop such a strange personality. When Kiki had first come into existence, the little coffin had always enjoyed staying close to him, constantly seeking his attention whenever Sevaroth created something new.

Now that Sevaroth’s body and bloodline had merged with Luke, Kiki naturally regarded Luke as his master as well. His current strength might be far below what Sevaroth had once possessed, but that didn’t seem to matter to the little coffin at all.

"So now you have to put up with him."

Sevaroth said it almost like he was happily passing the responsibility to someone else.

He then floated away, glancing around the maze in search of something remotely interesting. Wandering through the same dark pathways over and over again had already become boring.

It seemed the maze had finally heard his silent complaint.

"Luke!"

A loud voice suddenly echoed through the darkness.

Before Luke could even react, a young and beautiful woman rushed toward him and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly as though he were the person she had been desperately searching for.

Sevaroth turned toward the scene.

"Interesting."

For the first time since entering the maze, something had finally happened that wasn’t another identical dark pathway.

And then the young woman said something that made Sevaroth’s mood improve even further.

At least this was something new.

---

Current time.

"What happened?" Luke asked worriedly as he looked at Isaria.

Only then did he notice the state of her clothing.

Her upper armor was gone, the front of her clothes had been torn, and her bra had been left open.

Luke’s expression immediately stiffened.

Whatever had happened before she found him was clearly far more serious than he had initially realized.

Still, he didn’t ask her about it yet.

Instead, he tightened his arms around her and gently caressed her back, allowing her to remain against his chest while he tried to calm her trembling body.

For now, he simply wanted her to feel safe.

Unfortunately, it seemed even this small moment of peace between them wasn’t going to last.