The Innkeeper
chapter-1182

"Giselle," Lex said to himself as he recalled the name of the enchanting dancer in front of her. Last time he saw her was on Polebitvy, right before the planet got stolen by Jeffery. They had fought off hordes of alien insects together, and Lex had to admit that she was a pretty good fighter.

But, either because he was too distracted by the war, or because she was very good at hiding it, Lex never sensed anything too extraordinary from her. She was just a passionate young lady who was an excellent dancer and fighter. Yet now, where here she was, in the Temple of Frozen Dawn even before him.

Lex knew just how absurdly difficult it was to approach this temple, so he could not imagine how just a simple dancer had made it till here.

That's when he noticed a peculiar aura from her - one he knew all too well. It was a seal, and the thing that had been sealed was her cultivation. Based on appearances, she was a peak Nascent soul cultivator right now.

That was believable progress from when Lex had seen her a few years ago. But if there was a seal, that meant she was an Earth Immortal. Such rapid progress was quite amazing.

Combined with the fact that she was in this region, fighting against the darkness, then it was likely that she was far from as simple as she appeared.

As much as Lex would have enjoyed to just watch her dance, they were short on time, so he decided to help her.

Through her dance, or rather through a carefully orchestrated sequence of movements, she allowed her body to glow with a light that pushed away the dark. Lex, fortunately, did not need to dance to do the same.

It was clear that ordinary light would not work against this formidable darkness, but what aspect of dragonfire was ordinary?

The flame on his finger grew bigger, and began to push away more of the darkness, and it was only then that he felt its weight properly. Yet he was not one to give up easily, so he pushed harder.

Conversely, the weight that Giselle felt began to reduce quickly. Since her eyes were closed, she did not know what was happening. She could only attribute it to her dancing working, so she tried even harder.

Eventually the hall began to reveal itself to Lex. He saw pillars, carved with pictures of animals worshiping a deity, though the deity's picture seemed smudged. He was empires, planets, even galaxies all surrounding that smudged galaxy, and then in the next pillar, it seemed as if the deity suddenly vanished, abandoning everyone.

It made sense that this temple, which had passed through time, should belong to some deity, yet he felt no divine energy from the building. Maybe it had already been eroded by time.

More and more of the hall was revealed, showing colorful walls, decorated by marble and jade of all kinds.

More hidden secrets saw the light of day, and many key details were smudged. Lex took them in, but did not focus on them. Finally, with the darkness almost completely retreating, he could see that it had been originating from a chandelier right in the middle of the room. Instead of illuminating the palace, it was covering it in darkness.

Yet as the darkness was pushed back, it could take no more. It shattered, and the sound of it breaking suddenly filled the room.

Giselle was suddenly free of her burden and opened her eyes, feeling glee at her success. She thought it would be much harder.

What she had not expected was to see Lex standing there in front of her, holding a massive ball of fire. It was obvious that the ball of fire had played a stronger role in eliminating the darkness.

"Giselle, we meet again. I never thought I'd run into you here of all places," he said softly, as one would to a former acquaintance or old friend.

"Likewise. I thought you'd still be on Lover's Island. Did you take a break for the tournament, or were you kicked out? Last I saw, a lot of people were mad at you for starting a harem."

Lex froze, and swore to every deity in existence that he would kill that accursed rancher the next time he saw him.

"No, no, I was just there to find one of the contestants," Lex tried to explain.

"Yes, that's usually how these dating shows work," Giselle said. "You look for a compatible contestant."

"No- that's not - what I mean to say is…"

"Look, I'm not interested in your dating life," she explained, as if indicating that she was not the judgmental type. "I don't know if you know anything about this place, but we don't have a lot of time left to resolve the anomaly."

Lex sighed in defeat. That was it. His reputation was ruined. He'd never be able to explain himself, though this truly wasn't the time to be lamenting such a thing. That did not, however, ease the pain in his heart.

Lex looked towards the end of the hall, where a broken throne lay. In front of it was a small hole, torn directly into the ground, leading down into the pyramid.

"The source of the anomaly is there," he said, pointing in the hole. "I am exactly here to resolve that anomaly. We can work together if you wish. The last time we cooperated, our teamwork wasn't so bad."

Gisele nodded.

"That sounds good. But, before that, do you know what this place is? What it holds?"

"Nope, and nope," Lex said. "Quite frankly, I suspect that whatever it does hold will give me attention I don't want. I can't afford such distractions right now, so my only intention here is to clear the anomaly and move onto the next round."

Gisele looked at him skeptically. He didn't want the ancient treasure hidden in the time bubble?

That sounded too good to be true. She narrowed her eyes. Did he have other intentions?