84. Michael's frustration. Lucas clearly knows the danger of his decision to explore that place and leave the city unattended for a short amount of time. Without his father to lead their city, it is in his hands to do it instead. Lucas promised himself that he would only be gone for 1 or 2 hours before anyone notice him going missing. He was adamant to go back to that freezing cave because he have a strong hunch that they missed noticing something inside of the ruins. And since he only has several hours to explore that place, it didn't take him that much time to prepare himself for his upcoming journey. He knows that venturing into that freezing cave during this time of chaos is such a foolish thing to do, but this is the only thing that he could think of, that can give them some of the answers that they are looking for. He has a strong hunch that the ruins inside of that freezing cave in the forest have a huge role in this chaos, regarding the sudden appearance of parasitic fog that causes the mutation of creatures inside the thick mist. Which causes Lucas to put things into his own hands, expelling the thought of the danger he might face on his path. Lucas POV. I know that my father and the others have already gone out on a mission to solve this problem. But I can't stomach the thought of doing nothing but wait for their return. I just felt so pathetic, and it also reminds me of myself from my previous life. A loser who doesn't have the guts to take risks, wasting a lot of chances and opportunities that could possibly turn my life for the best. That's why despite the danger of exploring this place I was still willing to take the risk of doing it. In the hopes of finding something that could help us tide this situation, we were facing. And despite all the preparation I make for this trip, Michael still managed to find me quickly. "How did you even find me in such a short time? It's not even that long since I left." I guiltily ask Michael who managed to follow me in this place despite keeping this journey of mine a secret. I even make sure that no one is present around me before I left. "And didn't I assign you to help sir Kiel with the task of clearing up the debris in the city?" "My eyes have been locked on you since Lord Hubert left the city. I know that you were not going to sit still during his time of absence, that's why I quickly notice your disappearance in the mansion." Michael said as he glared at me for disobeying my father's orders to stay put and guard the city. "Aren't you gonna say something to me? Dear cousin." Michael says in an annoyed voice as he crossed his arm in front of his chest. Which only emphasizes his good looks. "Fine. I'm sorry, okay. I know I disobeyed my father's order to stay put, but this will be the last time I do it. I promise. It's just that, I have a strong hunch that we have missed something important inside that place. And maybe, we could find something inside of it that could help us with our current situation." I explain in defeat. As I know that Michael doesn't have great trust in me when it comes to my decision. "The only thing inside of that place is the remains of those people who died of an unknown cause." Michael said in a somber tone as he peered into the cave behind me. "You know, since the last time you fell ill, you have changed. Not in an instant, but it's definitely there. You've become more impulsive and thoughtful. I don't know if I should consider this as a good sign or not, but your decision to leave the city on your own is the most foolish thing you have ever done." Michael ranted angrily. "Don't you understand the danger of doing this? How many times do you have to risk your life before you learn your lesson? I've already let you hide your experiments with aura skills from your father before, but don't expect me to hide this from him too," Michael says in frustration as his aura flares up out of anger. "It's not even long since I find out that secret, of me being part of the Beaufort family, and I'm genuinely happy for knowing this. But please Lucas you are the only son that uncle Hubert has and the only cousin that I have. You are basically all I have left as a family and I can't just let you die in this place. I can't even reveal my real identity to the world for fear of being hunted but you?, Don't you fear anything?" Michael asks out of helplessness as he stares at me with an exhausted looked on his face. Which causes me to be silent for several seconds unable to respond to his questions. And after some serious staring contest, I finally gave him a reply using my most serious voice. "I do have a fear." I said shortly as I looked at him straight in the eyes. "In fact, I have many of it, like fear to lose everything that I have right now. Fear to lose my father, the city, you, and fear to lose my life." I said before pausing for a moment as I turn my gaze back in the direction of our city. "We both know that we only wish for things to return to normal the way it was before, but we also both know that it was already impossible to happen. Things have already gone beyond our hands." As we both turn silent for a moment. "We can no longer hide ourselves from this desolate place, the sudden appearance of this fog and mutated monsters would definitely alarm the church, the kingdom, and even the three empires. Even if we somehow solve the problems regarding this fog and mutated creatures, those people would definitely question us all. And it won't take them that much time before they could find that secret hidden underneath our city." Michael sighed. "And is you leaving the city would solve this problem? I'm sure that your father has already thought of this before, but he didn't let that thought drives him alone in this place." Michael says calmly as he walked towards me before staring at the entrance of the freezing cave which is being blocked by huge rocks. "Even during our battle with the mutated creatures, you keep mentioning this place, saying that exploring it would allow us to solve our crisis. But I'm still not sure about that." Michael said with uncertainty. "The fact that we haven't encountered any mutated creatures on our way here into this cave should already make you suspicious of it." "To me, it feels like something is trying to expel them away from this place, like what it did to the fog. Just look around us, this is the only area in this forest that still has its peace. Like a little oasis in the middle of a desert." "Since we are already here why don't you just help me explore this place? We've already done it before it won't even take us that much time to go back into that ruins." "No way, I won't let you go inside that cave. We don't know what kind of danger lurks inside of it. Have you already forgotten what's inside of it? Dried corpses not just one, but many of them." Michael exclaimed in objection. "I know but that won't stop me from doing what I must do." As I started to gather some aura on my fingertips ready to blast apart the rock that was blocking my path. "And besides, whatever causes their death, I'm sure that it's no longer in that place. We didn't even find anything alive when we went there. So, it should be a fairly safe ruin to explore." I said as I let go of the small aura orb. Before it quickly traveled in the air hitting the huge rock blocking the entrance of the freezing cave. Leaving a small crater on its body. Tch. "Hmm I see, So it can only do that much damage on this form." I said in confirmation of data. "And what do you think you're doing?" Michael yelled in anger as he saw me destroying the rocks. "Clearing the pathway for our entrance, Don't worry I would replace it with another one before we leave this place." "That's not what I meant. I haven't agreed yet with your decision to go inside that ruin. Besides, we still have a city to protect, and I'm sure that it won't take them that long before sir Kiel notices our disappearance. The longer we spent outside the bigger the chance is for him to notice you being missing in the mansion." "I know, I know. That's why I said that it won't take us that long, because 1 or 2 hours is more than enough for us to explore that room inside of that mysterious ruin." "We're not going to explore the entire place we don't have much time to do that, we just need to get back in that room full of glass tank to check something. As well as to inspect those dried-up corpses." "What? You're still going in? Aren't you listening to what I said?" Michael asks out of annoyance. "I told you I'm not giving up going there today. So just help me with this so that we could go home early. You can even report this to my father if you want." As I ask for some help in clearing up the rock blocking the entrance of the cave. "Fine, but this is the last time I'm allowing you to do something like this. The next time you try to pull something like this, I swear that I'm gonna dragged you back to our city even if I need to beat you black and blue." Michael threatened as he punch the rock using his fist covered in a thick aura, breaking it into large pieces. Enough for a single person to go in one at a time. But seeing the fate of this hard rock makes me gulp down some of my words. It seems like Michael's strings have finally snapped.