Chapter 165 An Unexpected Encounter

There is an old saying: going up the mountain is easy, but coming down is hard. Yet for Theresa and her party, currently navigating the mountain terrain, the situation was reversed—for their return journey, they chose not to take the "wind tunnel," but instead followed the structural path of the ancient ruins, retreating from within. This not only guaranteed their safety but also allowed them to bypass the snowy and windy zones of the Black Rock Mountains much more swiftly.

Along this journey, Theresa finally understood the source of the poison that had afflicted the three individuals in the crevice. It was venom from certain self-defense mechanisms within the ruins, while the ice fissure had been caused by an ancient earthquake, which had fractured the bedrock and exposed a corner of the ruins to the outside world.

However, those three deceased adventurers were clearly a group of unfortunate souls. Without gathering any information about the ruins beforehand, they had assumed it was some kind of treasure trove and bargained in recklessly, straight into the traps. After all, an altar was the most sacred place for the Orc race, and consequently the most heavily guarded! At the same time, an abandoned altar would undoubtedly be the most dangerous place of all!

After all, nobody would want their ancestors disturbed by outsiders, right?

Therefore, abandoned altars were usually rigged with various traps and mechanisms. Unless one entered through the single correct pathway, the outcome was almost certainly a near-death experience!

Though Theresa and her companions entered the altar as if taking a stroll in the park, it was only because the Orcs had made thorough preparations, coupled with the escort of an expert like Lambert, which allowed them to evade danger. Otherwise, to say nothing of anything else, a single "Pseudo-Dragon Guardian" would have been enough to wipe out their entire group!

However, such dangers were only triggered when forcing one's way inward from the outside. If one traveled from the inside out, as Theresa's group was doing, the path was smooth, open, and completely unobstructed—even if an occasional mishap occurred, it could be easily resolved.

Walking along and returning once again to the icy crevice passageway, facing the surrounding mirror-like walls of ice, Theresa had a surreal, lifetime-away sensation. In reality, however, their entire round trip had only taken a few hours...

...

By this time, the sky had grown dark, and the group was merely a few steps away from the temporary camp. Theresa was already eager to crawl into a warm blanket and rest, never expecting that just as they reached the edge of the ice fissure, before even stepping out, the Orc leading the way suddenly made a strange hand gesture—

An ambush!

In an instant, everyone became tense, and their formation shifted silently. Lambert moved forward quietly, followed by several of the most combat-capable Orcs forming an arrowhead-shaped charge formation. Just as they finished preparing, Lambert bolted out first, his hands sweeping across the space with a ferocious, wild momentum—

"Lambert!" A slightly husky female voice suddenly shouted out, instantly interrupting the chain of attacks from the Orcs. Their gathered momentum was held back, and their expressions naturally turned rather unsightly. At the same time, by the ice fissure, Lambert had already withdrawn his offensive stance and responded with astonishment—

"Keena, what are you doing here!"

Keena? That name sounded familiar!

A rather ominous feeling suddenly welled up inside Theresa... Logically speaking, the name Keena was extremely common among human given names. However, ever since someone else with that exact same name had become entangled in a certain "ambiguous" relationship with her father, this name had become a peculiar, sensitive string in the depths of Theresa's heart...

Just as Theresa's mind was caught in a tangle of thoughts, the slightly husky voice continued, "The tribe received word that something went wrong with the Orc King, and you hadn't been in touch for a while. Coincidentally, Green-Mo and I brought some people out for training, so we dropped by to check on the situation—judging by your reaction, things aren't looking too good?"

"Yeah. It's a bit troublesome." Lambert turned his head as he spoke, calling into the ice fissure, "Come on out, they're our own people."

Without needing his reminder, everyone already knew they were acquaintances, so they filed out one after another. It was then that Theresa noticed Flora's expression looked somewhat amiss. She somewhat perplexedly nudged Flora's arm and asked, "What's wrong?"

Flora offered a smile that was uglier than crying and said, "Nothing..."

"What do you mean nothing? You look like you're trying to dig a hole and bury yourself right now, Habata, don't you agree?" Theresa pinched Flora's cheeks and pulled them left and right, refusing to believe her whitewashed, natural facade.

Hearing this, Habata strangely did not show any worry, but instead flashed an honest, gloating smile and said, "That Mr. Green might just happen to be Flora's elder."

"An elder is just an elder, do you have to be like this..." Theresa suddenly had a flash of insight and said, "Could it be that you sneaked out and ran away from home?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Flora's expression indeed grew even more bitter. Theresa giggled, draped an arm over her shoulder, and said, "Oh, it's fine. With so many outsiders here today, even that elder of yours won't dare punish you too harshly. Let's go, let's go, let's head outside."

With that, half-dragging and half-pushing, she walked out of the ice fissure side by side with Flora, while Habata followed closely behind them with a muffled chuckle.

Because of the previous banter, the three of them were the last to emerge from the ice fissure. As soon as they stepped out, the bright sunlight streaming down from above made them involuntarily squint slightly—even though the lighting reflected off the ice walls inside the crevice was quite bright, it still lacked the intense brilliance of the sun.

Almost the moment she left the ice fissure, Theresa felt a vague, gossamer-like gaze sweep over her—she couldn't even be certain if someone was actually looking at her, and she even had a slight illusion that it was merely her oversensitivity triggered by the appearance of the name "Keena"...

"Theresa Borger, what are you doing here!" A clear female voice rang out, explicitly calling out Theresa's name. To Theresa, the voice felt both familiar and somewhat alien—the unfamiliarity lay in the vocal timbre, while the familiarity lay in the nameless annoyance and hostility carried within that tone...

Rebecca Anger! This name leaped into her mind, and at the same time, Theresa instinctively confirmed that her previous sensation of being watched was definitely real—who else could the Keena associated with Rebecca Anger be, if not her father's "childhood sweetheart"?

Since she had secretly identified the newcomer, Theresa's mind actually settled down. She blinked, adjusted to the overly bright environment, and then broke into a sweet smile as she said, "Rebecca Anger, it really has been a long time."

Though she was greeting Rebecca Anger, Theresa's attention was entirely focused on the female standing beside her. Her figure was slender and well-proportioned, as gentle as a willow yet as resilient as a pine. These two seemingly contradictory traits were blended into her with exquisite perfection. She possessed the alluring charm of a woman in her thirties, yet retained the vibrant youthfulness of an eighteen-year-old—she was a classic beauty whose unique aura far outshone her physical features, not that her features weren't attractive, but rather that her distinctive presence was what truly stayed in one's memory.

Theresa was so intently observing Keena that she completely let Rebecca's various tirades blow past her like wind, until Rebecca, utterly ignored, grew furious and attempted to step forward to "teach her a lesson." Only then did Theresa snap back to reality—

However, she didn't need to do anything at all; Lambert had already intercepted Rebecca, while Flora and Habata had already stepped forward to shield her behind them...