Chapter 1025: The Depths of the Great Cavern
"By the way, if I can't tell anyone else, what should I do if I get the urge to suck blood?"
Go hunt fairies?
To be honest, Eiji disliked the idea.
Although he had become a Dead Apostle, he still had a human heart at his core. Since they hadn't provoked him, he didn't want to offend others without reason.
Unless it was for amusement.
"...I'll take responsibility. Come to me if you need to."
"Then I'm fine!"
Cernunnos sighed with a headache.
Looking at his cheerful expression, he must have been waiting for her to say those words all along!
"By the way, here, take this."
A while later, as they approached the great cavern.
Cernunnos took out a small wooden figurine from her bosom and handed it to Eiji.
"What's this?"
"A talisman. I just made it—it can help conceal your Dead Apostle aura."
"I'll treasure it carefully."
Eiji raised an eyebrow and tucked the wooden figurine into his pocket.
...
Beside the great cavern.
"Later, Ector will keep watch around us, Totorot will release the threads, and I'll provide magical support."
After regrouping, as expected, no one noticed anything unusual.
Though it was still early, Cernunnos couldn't wait to assign tasks.
"As for who will go down to investigate..."
"I'll go."
Meeting Cernunnos's gaze, Eiji stepped forward voluntarily, taking on the most crucial responsibility.
Mash had nothing to do, so she monitored the thread's condition around Habenyan.
Soon, with everyone's cooperation, the threads released by Habenyan were wrapped around Eiji.
Like a bucket drawing water from a well, Eiji was lifted up and then lowered into the great cavern, descending slowly.
Before Cernunnos and the others, a virtual image appeared floating in mid-air.
It was a magic spell linked to Eiji's vision, projecting what he saw before their eyes. This way, even without going down themselves, they could see the scenes from the depths of the great cavern.
"Be careful! At the first sign of anything unusual, pull the thread up!"
Cernunnos cautiously instructed Habenyan and Mash.
Only after ensuring both were highly alert did her eyes gradually settle on the virtual image.
"What lies in the depths of the great cavern?"
With this thought, everyone began the intensely tense exploration.
Ten minutes later.
"Speed it up!"
Eiji's voice came from the image.
"Isn't that dangerous?"
Habenyan, holding the thread, looked hesitantly at Cernunnos.
"The current depth should be around a thousand meters underground... but the terrain doesn't seem to have changed at all?"
Cernunnos carefully examined the situation in the image, finding it hard to make a decision.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
Eiji's voice continued from the image.
"Even if we descend another five thousand meters, there might not be any danger—I have that feeling!"
"What should we do, Cernunnos?"
Habenyan looked to Cernunnos for help.
"Are you sure?"
"Sure, trust me!"
"...Then let's speed up!"
After receiving Eiji's very definite answer, Cernunnos finally allowed Habenyan to accelerate.
Soon, the image before them sped up significantly, plunging deeper into the earth like a free fall.
A full half hour later.
"We're almost seven thousand meters underground, how is there still nothing?"
Mash looked utterly bewildered.
In the projected image, Eiji had activated the illumination mystic code given by Caster, but within the vast empty cavern, it could only barely light up about a hundred meters of space around him.
Beyond those hundred meters, everything was pitch black, completely impossible to see.
Yet the detection mystic codes were telling Caster that the surrounding terrain remained exactly the same as at the cave entrance.
The entire massive cavern seemed to be constructed as a vertical cylinder.
"Surely we don't need to go all the way down to the mantle layer?"
Ector nervously tugged at his beard, not even noticing when he pulled out a small handful of hair.
"Should we pull back for now?"
Habetrot swallowed hard, gripping the thread in her hand tightly, not daring to slack off in the slightest.
"No, wait—I can feel something down there!"
"Really?!"
"Keep descending!"
"Got it!"
Habetrot steeled herself and released more of the thread.
The thread of the Wing Clan was as unbreakable as demonic strings, showing no signs of snapping even as it extended thousands of meters—indeed, Tristan's harp strings were made from the threads of winged fairies.
Deep within the massive cavern.
In the lightless space, Eiji dangled from the rock wall, swinging gently.
As the thread extended further, his form descended deeper into the abyss.
His feet pressed tightly against a golden light sword, and he kept the teleportation spell ready on his lips. At the slightest sign of trouble, he would flee without hesitation!
There was indeed movement below.
But more than that, there was an overwhelming danger that set his instincts screaming like alarm bells!
Yet at this point, there was no turning back.
Eiji calmed his mind and focused his energy, his blood circulating at high speed. His Dead Apostle eyes allowed him to see more clearly than any human, even in the pitch-black environment.
"What is that...?"
Gradually, he continued to descend.
Approaching 7,500 meters.
The black ash here was so thick it was like smog.
The air grew increasingly heavy.
And ahead, through the black ash, he could make out a few blurred, crimson lights swirling like raging flames!
"Bzzzz—!!!"
Suddenly, the thread holding him vibrated violently, as if bitten by some colossal beast!
"What's happening?!"
"I-I don't know!"
"It's a curse! A high-intensity curse is corrupting the thread! Pull Eiji up now!"
Deep within the massive cavern.
Eiji's face paled drastically.
The moment his eyes met those flame-like crimson lights, an overwhelmingly powerful curse transmitted directly through his gaze.
No symbolic medium was needed.
Just the simplest, most primitive act of "seeing" had unleashed a vast, sky-blotting curse!
In an instant, Eiji felt dizzy and disoriented.
The intense curse was as vast as an ocean, striking his usually iron-willed mind like a heavy hammer. Everything in his vision began to blur.
"What a joke!"
Eiji bit the tip of his tongue hard, the pain instantly clearing his mind.
"You think you can crush me without even showing your face? It's not that easy!"
"Boom!"
In the lightless space, sword energy erupted like a storm!
His eyes sharpened like blades!
With his gaze as a sword, sweeping around, the astonishing sword intent shredded the surrounding curses like an autumn gale sweeping away fallen leaves, clearing the area in an instant!
Seizing this moment, Eiji tapped his feet, and the light sword abruptly expanded as he actively propelled himself upward!
In the blink of an eye, the dense curses swiftly refilled the void.
"..."
A fiery glow flickered briefly.
While ascending like an arrow shot from a bowstring, Eiji glanced downward.
"That's not light at all...!"
"There's no foothold on the line! No way, he's actually rising on his own!"
"He's so fast, he's surpassed the speed of sound!"
Half a minute later.
With a flash of golden light, the dim yellow sky reappeared before his eyes.
Eiji's heart eased, and his body crashed heavily onto the ground.
"Eiji!"
A sharp cry rang out.
His mind a muddled mess, Eiji could no longer distinguish whose voice it was.
His vision rapidly blurred, and the last thing that flashed before his eyes was Cen's face, filled with tension.
After that, Eiji lost consciousness.