In the end, with Iris and the others deliberately going easy on him, Cypher successfully captured all three of them... After all, the puppets had their limits. No amount of willpower could make them burst out with speed beyond those limits.
"Ha! I suppose I'll acknowledge that you're a man!"
With Iris's puppet pinned beneath him, their heads bumped together, and Iris's slightly amused voice echoed in Cypher's mind.
"I'll deal with you when we get back!"
He had no hands, so he could only struggle back to his feet.
Naturally, the group was not running around aimlessly.
Their destination lay right ahead.
An altar made of red bricks and red tiles.
Though the first trial was said to be free of danger, that did not mean there could not be traps meant to restrain them.
So Cypher took the lead, serving as the expendable pathfinder.
Tap—tap—
His feet cautiously landed on the altar.
Good. Nothing happened.
Cypher waved his head at the others to signal that it was safe, then strolled toward the center of the altar.
Seeing this, the others followed close behind.
At the center of the altar stood a stone stele carved with magical runes of unknown meaning.
Beneath their feet lay strips of tattered cloth.
When it came to magical runes, Cypher could only say that he learned quickly. But if he had to create them or decipher unfamiliar ones...
He truly could not compare to Iris.
Yet the girl shook her head as well.
"These aren't magical runes? They're an alchemical array similar to magical runes?"
Once the four of them gathered together, Luna was the first to offer her opinion.
"No, these are magical runes, but they're incomplete. Or rather, these are only the surface-level runes! Like a light painting: without the light