Chapter 715 The Place That Rejected The Veil

Irina took a step forward, then stopped. This was a trap, and she knew it. The faint scent of Liam’s clothing near Eldric’s house was too suspicious to ignore, especially when there was no clear trail leading away from it. Eldric had deliberately left something behind, either to lure her into danger or to send her a message. Considering the man’s cunning nature, Irina suspected it could be both. However, she had no intention of rushing into an obvious trap simply because it involved Liam. She needed to find him, not give Eldric another opportunity to manipulate her.

After examining the surrounding ground one last time, Irina turned away from Eldric’s house and resumed her search. She patrolled the town several more times, checking abandoned buildings, narrow alleys, suspicious patches of soil, and places where the ground appeared unnaturally uneven. She found nothing useful. The more she searched, the more she understood why Voss had spent seven years investigating Elaris without uncovering the truth. Eldric had concealed his secret exceptionally well, and whatever lay beneath the village was hidden behind more than ordinary earth and stone.

Eventually, Irina returned to the entrance of Elaris and waited.

She could not go looking for Voss because she had no way of knowing where he was. Unlike Liam, she possessed no extraordinary vision that could reveal hidden structures or help her locate someone concealed by supernatural abilities. Voss’s Cryovail Veil made him difficult to detect, and wandering around the village in search of him would only waste precious time. She had to trust that he would return when he found something worth reporting.

It was a frustrating decision, but she had no better option.

Irina stood beneath the wooden archway, her arms folded as she watched the darkness beyond the village. Her thoughts kept returning to Liam. She wondered whether he was conscious, whether Eldric had hurt him. Liam was resourceful, and she knew better than to underestimate him, but he must have been caught in a situation where his abilities were suppressed. Even he could not overcome every obstacle through intelligence alone.

"Liam, just hold on a little longer," she murmured.

Several hours passed before anything happened.

Suddenly, an immense wave of coldness washed over her, causing Irina to straighten immediately. Her eyes snapped toward the darkness behind her, and her senses spread outward as she searched for the source. There was nobody visible, yet the unnatural chill remained for a moment before beginning to fade. She recognized the sensation. It belonged to the strange power associated with Voss and his veil.

Before she could call out, a whisper sounded beside her ear.

"Meet back at the house."

Irina immediately turned and dashed toward the house. She moved through the deserted streets at incredible speed, barely making a sound as she passed between the buildings. If Voss had returned with information, she needed to hear it immediately. They had already lost several hours, and she could not afford to waste any more time while Liam remained in Eldric’s hands.

By the time Voss reached the house, Irina was already waiting inside with Mira.

He was momentarily surprised to see her there. The Cryovail Veil allowed him to move at extraordinary speeds, making it possible to cover large distances in a relatively short time. Yet Irina had managed to reach the house before him, despite having no comparable equipment. He studied her for a moment, wondering how someone he knew so little about could move that quickly.

Then he reminded himself that he knew almost nothing about either of the two strangers who had entered Elaris. Liam and Irina had appeared without warning, offered to investigate the mysterious deaths, and somehow become involved in matters that had remained hidden for fifteen years. Voss had learned not to make assumptions about people simply because they looked ordinary.

He stepped out of the veil, and his figure gradually became visible before the two women.

Irina immediately approached him. "So? How did it go?"

Instead of answering straight away, Voss reached into his sleeve and withdrew a folded piece of paper. He placed it on the table and unfolded it carefully, revealing a detailed map of Elaris. The drawing showed the streets, buildings, paths, and surrounding terrain with remarkable accuracy. Voss had lived in the village his entire life, and years of searching had given him an intimate understanding of its layout.

Irina leaned over the table, while Mira moved closer to examine the markings.

Five locations had been marked on the map.

Voss pointed at the first one. "I found something unusual here. The ground is unnaturally uneven, almost as though someone dug into it and then tried to cover the area again. I thought there might be an underground chamber beneath it, so I used my veil to investigate. Unfortunately, there was nothing. I searched beneath the ground and found no tunnels, rooms, or hidden structures."

He moved his finger to the second marking.

"The same thing happened here. The soil looked disturbed, but nothing was hidden underneath it. I checked the surrounding area as well, in case the entrance was somewhere nearby, but I found nothing."

Voss then indicated the third and fourth locations, explaining that both had similar irregularities. The ground looked suspicious, and certain features suggested that someone might have altered the terrain deliberately. However, his investigations had revealed nothing beneath either location.

Irina frowned as she examined the map. "So you found four suspicious places, but none of them led anywhere."

"Exactly," Voss replied. "They might have been connected to something Eldric did in the past, but I couldn’t find enough evidence to confirm that. I didn’t want to waste more time investigating places that might be completely unrelated."

His hand finally settled on the fifth marking, which lay farther from the main settlement than the others.

"But this one is different."

Irina’s expression sharpened. "Different how?"

"The entire slope is strange. When you look at it from a distance, it seems like an ordinary stretch of land, but the shape doesn’t make sense when you examine it closely. The angle changes in places where the terrain should continue naturally, and parts of the slope look as though someone deliberately altered them. It almost seems like the ground was opened and then covered again."

Mira’s eyes widened as she stared at the marking. "I think that is the place"

Voss looked at her. "Why do you think so?"

Mira hesitated before answering. "Cause I told earlier that he would go dig for hours and he would come back all tired, and the place wasn’t close by or else people might have discovered it. I tried sneaking after him a while ago but it was just too far that I ended abandoning the plan and trust me when I say, that was the direction he went"

Her expression darkened as she remembered the lie.

"I believed him for a while. I thought he was trying to protect the people of Elaris. I never imagined he was hiding something dangerous beneath the ground."

Irina looked back at the map. The location matched Mira’s description, and its distance from the town would have allowed Eldric to work without attracting much attention. It was the most promising lead they had found so far.

"Did you manage to get inside?" she asked.

Voss shook his head.

"That’s the problem. I tried to look beneath the slope, but I couldn’t find anything. At first, I thought I had simply misjudged the location. Then I decided to enter the ground directly."

He paused, his expression growing serious.

"But I couldn’t."

Irina stared at him. "What do you mean you couldn’t?"

"My veil allows me to pass through virtually anything. Walls, buildings, solid rock, even the ground beneath my feet. I can move through them without needing an entrance or creating an opening. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been able to search the village so thoroughly over the years."

He tapped the fifth marking with his finger.

"But when I tried to pass through this slope, something stopped me. It was as though I had struck an invisible wall. I was literally bounced off."

Mira looked at him in disbelief. "But you said your veil could pass through anything."

"It can," Voss replied firmly. "At least, everything I’ve encountered until now. I tried entering from different angles and even moved farther along the slope to see whether there was another way through. Nothing worked. Every time I attempted to pass into the ground, something forced me back."

He drew a slow breath before continuing.

"At first, I thought there might be nothing beneath the slope after all. Perhaps the terrain was unusual for some other reason, and I was wasting my time. But I couldn’t explain why the veil was being rejected. I’ve travelled through solid ground countless times, and nothing has ever prevented me from doing so."

He looked directly at Irina, making certain she understood the seriousness of what he was saying.

"My veil allows me to go through literally anything. But I tell you, there is something serious down there stopping me from going through."

Silence filled the room.

Irina lowered her gaze to the map, focusing on the fifth marking. Mira’s memories suggested that Eldric had spent years digging in that area, while Voss’s discovery indicated that something beneath the slope possessed an ability to resist the Cryovail Veil. Whatever lay there was no ordinary underground shelter.

For the first time that night, Irina felt they had found a genuine lead.

It might be where Eldric had hidden his greatest secret. It might even be where Liam was being held.

But until they discovered what lay beneath that mysterious slope, they could not know for certain.