After bidding Ufuli farewell, Kuntela quickly flew near the Cloud Grotto.
From afar, the Cloud Grotto resembled a barrel-shaped layer of cumulus, rising from the summit of Hanging Mountain and floating beneath the azure heavens. Kuntela landed atop Hanging Mountain and prepared to contact Lord Kukulus within the Cloud Grotto.
But before it could synchronize frequencies through the Dragon Pact, it caught sight, from the corner of its eye, of a faintly visible square opening slightly darker in color amid the cumulus at the mountaintop.
"Is that... an entrance?"
Kuntela knew the Cloud Grotto well and recognized the truth behind the square opening at a glance. "Why hasn't the entrance to the Cloud Grotto been closed?"
Normally, the Cloud Grotto was sealed shut, and only Cave Dragons had a way to open it.
Now that the entrance to the Cloud Grotto had been opened, it could only have been done by a Cave Dragon... and among the only two Cave Dragons stationed here, apart from itself, there was only Lord Kukulus.
So... had Lord Kukulus opened it?
Could it be that the lord had sensed its arrival and deliberately left a path for it?
After hesitating briefly, Kuntela flew before the square entrance and peered inside curiously.
The interior was gray and murky, with clouds and mist churning everywhere. Kuntela was naturally no stranger to such scenery; this was how the Cloud Grotto usually looked. Yet what puzzled it was that it saw no trace of Lord Kukulus within.
But back in the Rock Hall, Kuntela had sensed through the Dragon Pact that Lord Kukulus was in the Cloud Grotto and had not left.
Could the lord have departed in such a short time?
But if he had left, why had he not sealed the Cloud Grotto again?
Kuntela hesitated