Rebirth (Part Three)

No words could perfectly describe the dungeon at that moment.

After the synchronized gasps, for several full seconds, the only sound faintly audible in the air was the crowd's heartbeat. Even breathing loudly seemed like a luxury.

A few seconds later, after desperately burning through its last wisps of flame, Little Barney's torch finally went out completely.

The dungeon sank into boundless darkness. Only the unpleasant smell of smoke remained, while the few living people seemed to have become corpses, motionless.

It was as if they had returned to the Black Path.

Thus, amid the silence and darkness, Tales felt the faint breaths before and behind him, dazedly passing through the most extraordinary few seconds of his life.

At that moment, the darkness seemed to become his shield, burying his fear, numbing his pain, and blocking the various gazes.

Finally, after several rustling sounds, someone in the guard fumbled around tremblingly and lit another torch amid the sound of flint striking.

Tales narrowed his eyes as he adjusted to the firelight, as if he had returned to the world of the living.

"I don't—I don't understand... Calamity, Magic User... They shouldn't be... A thousand years ago... Undying..." Cannon, a scout, held up the newly lit torch and instinctively shook his head. His lips trembled, but he could not form a complete sentence.

His gaze could not leave Tales. Bri beside him was completely stunned.

But Cannon's reaction made everyone boil like the surface of a hot spring!

"His Highness the Prince, this joke..." Punishment Officer Belleti could not digest the latest news at all. He glared at Sakrael and stammered:

"Watcher, sir! He said he is—he can—he will... This is another lie, isn't it?"

Talding looked at Tales in shock and suspicion. "What the hell... The Prince is Calamity?"

"The