The underground world was vast, but the surface above was even more expansive.
Over the past two years, there were still many places they hadn't set foot in, including the depths of the earth's core area. Yet, Law decided to leave.
Compared to the roots buried deep underground, the great tree basking in the sunlight might be more worthy of their time and energy.
Entering the underground world wasn't difficult, so there were also many ways to leave.
As long as they could find an upward path, they could leave this place. Among the countless routes, none were truly dead ends.
Law's group had come through a tunnel, but there was no need to retrace their steps.
Before leaving, Law considered whether to return to the Slu Tribe's settlement but ultimately decided against it. Instead, they found the nearest path leading back to the surface.
As for the speculation about the Bone Tribe and the piano solo, there were no clues to follow.
Law didn't want to waste time on matters with no leads, so he temporarily set it aside in the depths of his mind.
If the opportunity arose, he could always return.
The nearest path they found wasn't a tunnel but a sky-reaching road hidden in the darkness. If judged from the perspective of standing on the surface, this path could be called a sinkhole.
It was uncertain how many meters deep underground they were. Looking up from here, they could only see a pinprick of light… the entrance to the surface.
By ascending directly upward, they could leave through that sinkhole entrance and reach the surface.
Theoretically, this should be the fastest way. The key was how to ascend. At the very least, it shouldn't be a problem for Law, even if he had to bring two people along.
Law used [Sky Walk] to step through the air, carrying Tonpa and Biscuit as if climbing an invisible upward staircase toward the distant pinprick of light above.
He wasn't worried at all about whether his Aura could sustain carrying two people to the surface. With Kuro around, and the turtle's meat as a last resort, it would still be useful before its expiration date.
In fact, Law was overthinking it.
By the time he was about to reach the entrance with Biscuit and Tonpa, he had only used about half of his Potential Aura.
When the distance narrowed to less than a hundred meters, the three of them saw that the entrance, which was hundreds of meters in diameter, was covered by an enormous spider web.
Each strand of silk was as thick as the trunk of a thousand-year-old tree, crisscrossing to weave a dense web.
"Law, let's observe first before going up," Biscuit said, her expression changing, 'How large must the spider be to weave such a gigantic web?'
Hearing this, Law pushed off the air with one foot and moved toward the rock wall. As he approached, he stabbed his foot into the rock wall to anchor himself, suspending in midair.
They were only about fifty meters from the entrance. With the sunlight, they could clearly see the entire spider web.
There was no sign of a spider yet, but even so, a chill ran down their spines.
Simply because the spider web was far too large.
"This is really too much," Tonpa muttered, feeling as if his stomach was about to bleed. The initial shock from the exaggerated size of the Rock Island Crab had mostly worn off during their time in the underground world.
But just as they were about to leave, they were about to encounter another colossal creature.
Bruna, after all, had emerged from inside the Rock Island Crab, so she had some immunity to things with 'gigantic' attributes.
Moreover, she knew very well that the top of the pyramid in the Dark Continent had always been occupied by those indescribably massive existences.
For example, when the Rock Island Crab came ashore to sunbathe, no creature would dare to attack it.
It was important to know that in the Dark Continent, there was only one food chain: the relationship between hunter and prey, an endless cycle of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
They observed for a while, but there was still no movement. The light streaming down from the entrance gradually turned red.
Looking through the spider silk, they could see the entire sky had turned red. Dark clouds had gathered unnoticed, giving a feeling of pressing down toward the ground.
"We can't wait any longer," Law said.
"Mm," Biscuit nodded.
So, Law pushed off the air a few times, passing through the gaps in the spider silk, and arrived at a slope on the edge of the entrance.
After landing, he immediately vigilantly scanned his surroundings. He found that this was a funnel-shaped, super large sinkhole. The end of the slope was the entrance and the spider web, with a diameter of several hundred meters. But this was less than a tenth of the entire sinkhole, showing just how large the overall area of this sinkhole was.
Standing at the lowest point and looking up, they could only see the reddened sky, indicating that the sinkhole was still very deep.
"Any situation?" Law asked, looking at Tonpa first since there were no other presences in the funnel-shaped sinkhole.
"I don't know. The range can only cover the entire bottom of the sinkhole," Tonpa said timidly.
Law fell silent for a moment, then looked at Biscuit.
Sensing Law's gaze, Biscuit said gravely, "The top priority is to leave the bottom of the sinkhole."
Everyone immediately headed up the slope, moving toward higher ground.
They didn't know what might be waiting for them on the surface, but staying at the bottom of the sinkhole always felt lacking in security.
Climbing up the slope and reaching the surface, they didn't have time to observe the surrounding environment.
The three of them stood at the edge of the sinkhole, looking at another large pit in front of them, and couldn't help but shudder.
It wasn't another exaggerated sinkhole, but it was even more terrifying than one… all because it was a footprint-shaped giant pit.
Discovering a footprint on the resin of a Dragon Blood Tree might spark a desire to investigate further, but this super large footprint pit in front of them only made one tremble and instinctively want to avoid it.
The three stood there dumbfounded. Compared to the giant footprint pit, they were as small as tiny flakes of skin on a large foot.
Even using all their brain cells, they couldn't imagine how massive the existence that left this footprint must be.
It definitely wasn't human.
But since they couldn't imagine it, they could only witness it with their own eyes.
So, they looked up with difficulty. They didn't see the expected giant spider, but in the far distance, there was a motionless humanoid mountain.
If they had to compare it to a mountain, it would be the Kukuroo Mountain of the Zoldyck Family.
No, this humanoid mountain was even larger than Kukuroo Mountain by a margin. And from its overall shape, it only somewhat resembled a human.
'Was it really a mountain?'
A sense of bewilderment rose from the depths of their hearts.
That mountain possessed two human characteristics: limbs and a head.
The arms nearly reached the ground, the distance from the body seemingly immeasurable. The legs, however, were only one-tenth the length of the arms. In other words, the body's length was ten times that of the legs… a structure that seemed very unreasonable when compared to a human.
Moreover, the head seemed fused with the body, with no neck visible. The shoulders were the widest and thickest part of the entire body.
So, was it a living being or simply a mountain?
Plop.
A drop of water the size of an egg fell to the ground and splattered.
It was raining.
Near the sinkhole, there were many giant footprints, but no web-weaving spider was in sight.
Looking to the left, they could see a sky-reaching giant tree in the far distance, with flocks of birds soaring around it. But were those really birds?
Looking to the right, in the far distance, they could see mushroom-shaped plants. Judging by the distance, they were likely also gigantic.
Looking behind them, they could see a circular mountain structure resembling a Roman Coliseum. Further away was a group of volcanoes.
And then, directly ahead, a motionless humanoid mountain… or should they call it a giant?