Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation

Chapter 970 – Lock The Doors

He glanced at Ely. ”It needs you.”

Ely nodded slowly.

Then she placed her palm against the nearest tree.

The grove went still.

All at once.

The birds, or whatever small glowing things had been moving between the leaves, stopped. The breeze vanished. Even Gula stopped staring at the fruit.

The bark beneath Ely’s hand brightened.

A thin line of silver-green light spread from her palm into the tree, then down the trunk, then across the moss beneath their feet.

The light formed roots.

Paths.

A map.

Lux crouched slightly, eyes sharpening. ”Good.”

The lines spread ahead of them through the grove, weaving between trees and flowers, then disappearing toward a low hill covered in vines.

No.

Not a hill.

Lux saw the shape now.

A mountain buried under green.

The hollow mountain.

It did not look hollow from outside. It looked alive. Overgrown. Soft. A mound of ancient stone swallowed by trees, fruits, flowers, and roots.

Ely whispered, ”It’s calling.”

Lux stood.

”Then we follow slowly.”

Sira stepped beside him, aura quiet but ready. ”Traps?”

”Likely.”

Gula hugged herself. ”Fruit traps?”

Lux looked at her.

She sighed.

”Fine. I’ll focus.”

Lux looked at all of them once.

Then forward.

The silver-green path pulsed under their feet.

”Remember,” Lux said, voice calm, ”we are guests.”

They moved.

The grove swallowed them deeper with every step.

And behind the sweetness of fruit and flowers, Lux began to smell something else.

Faint.

Buried.

Old.

Ash.

The name had not lied.

The fire was still here.

Just hidden beneath paradise.

They walked deeper into the Ashen Viridian Grove, following the silver-green root path that had awakened beneath Ely’s touch. At first, it felt easy. Too easy. The grove opened before them like it wanted to guide them, branches parting gently, flowers bending away from their steps, fruit glowing above their heads like tiny suns trapped inside jewel skins.

Gula kept looking up.

Lux kept looking at Gula.

”No,” he said.

”I didn’t say anything.”

”You breathed at the fruit with intention.”

”That’s not a crime.”

”In sacred elven territory, I refuse to test that statement.”

Gula pouted, hugging herself as if physically restraining Gluttony was a tragic spiritual trial. ”Everything here smells like dessert and ancient blessing.”

Sira glanced around with narrowed eyes. ”That means it is probably trying to kill us beautifully.”

Lullaby, hugging her pillow while walking with the slow dignity of someone who had been dragged into fieldwork against sleep’s will, nodded. ”Pretty murder.”

Lux pointed lightly at her. ”Correct.”

Ely walked at the front, hand occasionally brushing leaves or vines when the path dimmed. Each touch made the roots glow brighter for a moment. Yue stayed beside her, ancient gaze scanning the grove not with suspicion alone, but recognition of how old places hid their teeth.

They needed to find the sealed spring first.

That was what the system’s cross-reference suggested. The shrine of the First Song slept beyond it, and the hollow mountain’s true entrance would not reveal itself before the spring acknowledged an elven bloodline.

Simple.

Very simple.

Naturally, it became annoying immediately.

They walked for nearly twenty minutes.

Or maybe thirty.

Time felt strange under the canopy.

The fruit stayed ripe but never fell. The sunlight stayed warm but never shifted. The flowers never wilted beneath their steps. The path curved between trees, passed under hanging vines, wound across a mossy slope, and then opened into a familiar clearing.

Lux stopped.

So did everyone else.

Ahead of them was the entrance.

The exact same entrance where the portal had opened.

Same glowing trees.

Same low branch of golden fruit.

Same patch of white blossoms.

Same place Gula had almost committed sacred snacking.

Gula blinked.

”Uh.”

Sira slowly looked behind them.

The path was gone.

Lullaby yawned.

”We looped.”

Lux stared at the entrance.

Then looked at his system.

[Pathfinding Status: Unstable]

[Spatial Orientation: Distorted]

[Environmental Interference: Organic Mana / Elven Memory Field]

[Destination: Sealed Spring]

[Direction: Error]

Lux’s expression flattened. ”Of course.”

Ely looked troubled. ”But I followed the path.”

”You did,” Yue said.

Her calm voice somehow made the situation worse.

The ancient dragon looked around the grove, eyes half-lidded, listening to something none of them could hear.

Then she said, ”They hate us.”

Gula nodded immediately. ”We aren’t welcome here.”

Sira’s smile sharpened. ”Oh, that’s fine.”

Lux turned his head slowly.

Sira’s eyes gleamed with Pride in its most unreasonable form. ”I could make a second volcano eruption without the volcano.”

Lullaby blinked at her. ”You mean burn the entire forest?”

Sira lifted her chin. ”Clearly.”

Ely’s face went pale. ”Please don’t.”

Lux sighed. ”Sira.”

”What? I’m offering a historical reenactment.”

”You are offering arson.”

”Strategic arson.”

”Still arson.”

Gula raised her hand. ”If the trees become roasted, can I—”

”No.”

Lullaby squeezed her pillow. ”We are dangerous devils.”

Sira nodded proudly.

Lux gave them both a flat look. ”We are guests pretending we know how to behave.”

”Barely,” Yue said.

Lux glanced at her. ”You too?”

”I am observing.”

”That is worse.”

Ely turned toward him, worry deepening in her eyes. ”What does your system say, Lux?”

Lux opened the interface wider.

Several windows hovered in front of him. A map rendered itself, then unraveled into root-like lines. Coordinates appeared, shifted, duplicated, then folded back into the starting point.

[Mapping Attempt: Failed]

[Spatial Anchor: Rejected]

[Memory Path: Not Accessible]

[System Advisory: External Navigation Insufficient]

Lux shook his head.

”It can’t point to the right place either.”

Sira clicked her tongue. ”So even your system is useless here.”

[Objection.]

Lux ignored it.

”The grove is not using normal space. It’s responding through memory, blood, and probably old elven authority. The coordinates are accurate, but the path refuses us.”His voice was sharper than he intended.

Ely looked at the trees around them. Then looked at him.

Lux softened it. ”Because of us. Because we’re mixed. Demon. Devil. Gluttony. Pride. Sloth. Ancient dragon. Greed. The grove probably sees this group and thinks, ’Absolutely not, lock the doors.’”