Chapter 277: Found it

"Woooohhhooo~~~! This is so coooool...!!!"

A grey-haired woman screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice nearly swallowed by the roaring wind as the motorcycle raced down the empty road.

Her hair whipped wildly behind her as the cool night air rushed against her face at incredible speed.

"Master Lucian! You really do know how to drive!!!"

Lucian’s lips twitched beneath his helmet as he heard those words.

Well...

He wasn’t particularly good at it when he first started, and even Selthia had almost gotten out of her seat in fear.

Having someone’s memories didn’t automatically make him an expert at everything they knew. Although he had that experience and knowledge, actually putting those skills into practice was a little different in real life.

However, it took him only a few minutes to get used to the bike, and after that... he could easily go past 100 km/h once they were out of the crowded areas.

Lucian glanced at the speedometer, and without hesitation, he twisted the accelerator even further.

WROOOOOMMM—!!!

The motorcycle roared as it surged forward, the engine producing a deafening sound that echoed across the completely quiet road.

The moment Selthia felt the sudden increase in speed, her eyes widened.

But rather than feeling frightened, her excitement simply grew further.

She pushed herself upwards, almost climbing onto Lucian’s back as she tried to feel the rushing wind more directly... something that could’ve been considered stupid and dangerous if she weren’t an Awakened.

’...I can feel her boobs.’

Lucian unconsciously thought, feeling the softness of her breasts pressing against his back, which made him somewhat conscious of the sensation.

Though Selthia didn’t know that, she pressed herself even closer by raising her upper body, trying to get a clearer view of the night scenery stretching out ahead of them.

The wind immediately became much more violent, yet she barely seemed to care.

Her grey hair fluttered behind her back.

"Aaaaahahahahahaha...!!!"

Her laughter rang through the night.

The road right now was almost empty. There were no vehicles to worry about, and Lucian had no reason to hold back from increasing the speed as he wished.

Beneath his sleek black helmet, an equally excited smile slowly appeared on his face.

"Master...!! Go faster... faster...!!!"

Lucian’s lips twitched.

"Make sure you don’t fall."

"Eh?"

Before Selthia could even react—

WROOOOMM—!!!

Her body jerked backwards.

"W-Waaahhh?!"

She nearly lost her balance before hurriedly wrapping both arms around Lucian’s waist, holding him tightly to keep herself from being thrown off.

She had almost fallen off!

But despite that—

"FASTER...!!!"

Lucian’s lips curved into an amused smile, and he did just as she wished.

They were about to reach their destination soon anyway, perhaps much faster due to the lack of traffic, the bike’s capabilities... and his own as well.

***

"Is this the place...?"

A red-haired woman asked as she stood before a destroyed structure, her gaze sweeping across the ruins of something that could’ve once been called a church if it hadn’t been considerably damaged, along with many other surrounding buildings reduced to ruins.

"Yes, Lady Vivienne."

A brown-haired man standing beside her nodded.

"This is the place where the Church was most likely holding Lady Seren."

Vivienne glanced towards him.

"How strange..."

Her eyes narrowed slightly in confusion as she examined the ruined structure.

"Why would they keep her in an abandoned place like this?"

"I wouldn’t know, my lady."

Silas lowered his head faintly, his expression appearing troubled.

"It might be because there aren’t many people living in this area. I’m not entirely sure, but the human merchant told me that this is the place."

"..."

Vivienne couldn’t help but be impressed by how genuine he sounded.

In fact, he even sounded a little angry when talking about Seren’s disappearance, almost as though he genuinely cared about what had happened to her.

’Bullshit.’

Of course, it was all a farce.

Everything in here was.

Her gaze slowly shifted away from him and returned to the surrounding destruction.

’There’s holy energy... which means they’re nearby... but I fucking cannot find out where.’

The holy energy was faint, very faint and difficult to detect... and normally, she might’ve simply assumed it was due to the Church’s natural presence.

But she could feel it... it was something else, and her senses, sharpened by her mother’s torturous training during her childhood... were warning her right now.

And yet...

She had still come here alone.

Despite her mother’s words, Vivienne had come here alone to confront their trap herself, as she was sure she didn’t need anyone else to complete such a simple task.

As for what Valentina was doing right now... Vivienne had no idea.

Eventually, she entered the church’s premises, with Silas following behind her.

For a brief moment, both of their expressions changed as they crossed the entrance, but without showing any obvious discomfort, they walked as though nothing had happened.

Vivienne’s gaze swept across the empty surroundings.

"Why is there no one here if they’re holding her here...?" she couldn’t help but ask casually.

But inwardly—

’Found it.’

A faint smile threatened to appear on her lips.

"I’m not sure, Lady Vivienne."

Silas shook his head.

"Perhaps they don’t want anyone to discover their location."

Vivienne hummed softly.

She then lowered her gaze towards the ground.

Strange patterns had been engraved across the stone floor. They were faint... so faint that they almost looked like cracks formed by the destruction around them.

Pausing in her steps, she pointed towards the ground.

"What are these designs? They look kind of strange to me."

Silas’s expression changed for barely a second.

His eyes shook faintly before he quickly regained his composure.

"They do look strange, yes. But you know those Church bastards, they always come up with weird designs."

He lowered his hand slightly, tapping his pocket to send a brief message directly to the people hiding nearby.

’Looks like this bitch caught on to something.’

His fingers trembled slightly, but he forced them to remain still.

There was no need to panic.

He still had time.

The trap would be activated by the time she noticed someth—

"This looks disgusting."

Vivienne muttered quietly while raising her head, a small, knowing smile appearing on her face.

"If it’s really useless..."

Shifting her gaze towards Silas—

"Let’s destroy it, then."

Her smile widened.

"Wai... Lady—"

Before Silas could even finish his words—

Vivienne raised her leg, and with one sharp movement—

BOOM!

Her foot slammed into the ground.

The stone shattered beneath the impact, cracks—real, wide cracks—spreading in every direction, and a series of craters formed around the point of contact.

The entire structure trembled.

CRACK—CRACK!

"No—!"

Silas’s eyes widened.

The floor broke apart, and the engravings carved into the ground suddenly began to glow.

For a brief moment, golden light spread across the broken floor.

Then, the patterns disintegrated into countless golden particles, scattering through the air before disappearing completely.

Before Silas could even recover from the shock—

Vivienne’s figure flickered.

In the next moment, she was already right before his eyes, and he barely had time to react before Vivienne’s hand shot forward, her fingers snapping directly towards his neck.