"What do you want me to do, Senior?"
Zane shrugged, opening a bag of cat food. There were quite a few cats at the tanuki house, and they went through a massive amount of food every day.
If they hadn't set aside a special room as a dedicated litter room the entire house would probably be...
"Hmm..."
Qingyi plopped down onto the plush sofa, her whole body sinking into it. After thinking for a moment, she frowned slightly—because nothing came to mind.
"Sigh... Disciple, how can you be so useless..."
Hearing Qingyi's complaint, Zane chose to ignore it.
Time flowed quietly inside the tanuki house.
...
Time slipped by like a white horse through a gap.
By the next morning, Zane had already entered Hollow Zero and arrived at the Falkenhayn Mercenary Troupe's outpost along the periphery.
This sector was held by the Obol Squad, the unit he was most familiar with. But with Trigger on assignment in the Mars District and Soldier 11 also absent, Zane didn't linger.
After reviewing the Obol Squad's intelligence on Hollow Zero, he dispatched two squads. One was sent into the mid-level zones to gather further reports from the stationed Falkenhayn Mercenary Troupe.
The other accompanied him into the depths of the outer perimeter—to investigate the abandoned Trial Tower.
This trip into Hollow Zero had two purposes: to pursue his own plans, and to broaden his understanding of Hollow Zero itself.
He had no doubt this place would be pivotal for him. He remembered the strange vision he'd glimpsed within Dead End Hollow, and the countless secrets buried in the Old Capital.
More than that...
He had long intended to bring Hollow Zero under his control.
So far, he had already seized five caverns: Cretan, Lamia, Dead End, Hive Master, and the Twins...
Zane led the small squad forward. This time, they were tasked with investigating three abandoned Trial Towers—two small, and one large.
The two smaller towers were assigned to the squad for sequential inspection. The large one, located deep within the outer zone, Zane would explore himself.
The group pressed onward.
...
BOOM!
A thunderous roar reverberated through Hollow Zero. On the horizon, a floating skyscraper was half-covered in ice crystals that glimmered faintly under the hazy sunlight.
At one corner of its summit, a colossal glacier was embedded, from which the icy growth spread across the tower.
Inside the glacier, hundreds of massive Ethereal creatures were entombed in frost. Zane stood atop the glacier's peak, his gaze fixed on the enormous crater in the ground below.
That was the scar left by the Trial Tower's detonation.
On the ground, members of the Obsidian Defense Line looked up at him. Wounded soldiers were being carried away, while the rest busied themselves clearing the aftermath.
A squad leader holding dual blades remained still. Blood trickled faintly down his thigh, sending sharp jolts of pain, but his eyes stayed locked on the figure in the sky.
"So this is our new lieutenant... truly formidable. Looks like the strength he showed before was only a fraction of his power."
"What? You're impressed?"
Another squad leader overheard, chuckled, and spoke.
"Of course. I've always admired strength, and especially someone like Superior Officer Zane. To be honest, the rank of lieutenant seems beneath him."
The weight of military rank within the Falkenhayn Mercenary Troupe was undeniable. Yet the other leader didn't refute him—he nodded in agreement.
"You said it. Just earlier, the defense line was about to collapse. We were ready to retreat, but that officer turned the tide alone. He even wiped out the Ethereal nesting ground in the sky."
"Strange though. Lately, the number and strength of Ethereal in Hollow Zero have both risen sharply."
"Wonder how our comrades deeper inside are holding up."
The first squad leader sheathed his blades and finally turned his attention to the man beside him.
"Alright, alright. What about your side? Don't tell me it's worse than ours."
"Tsk, no chance. Our squad can hold out longer. Only one man down so far, and we've definitely killed more Ethereal than you."
"Big talk. One man down? Then what about that gash on your shoulder?"
"Not treating it? Don't you worry about infection?"
"Like you should talk. What about the wound on your leg—"
"Mind your own business!"
While the Falkenhayn Mercenary Troupe regrouped on the ground, Zane left the glacier and headed for the crater.
The moment he departed, the ice crystal shattered. Shards rained down, filling the sky with a dreamlike brilliance as they fell like snow.
The encased Ethereal dissolved with the glacier's collapse, scattering into nothing...
...
"This is it..."
Zane gazed at the scene before him, expression calm.
Before him stretched a crater nearly two hundred meters wide. It wasn't empty—collapsed building fragments drifted in, piling up within. Among the rubble, Ethereal swarmed.
"Hmm. The spatial turbulence here is visibly worse than elsewhere. Could this be from the Trial Tower's explosion?"
Zane slipped past a rift in space, then glanced upward. The sky here was far denser with floating debris than in other zones. A thoughtful glint crossed his eyes.
Ever since his first expedition into Hollow Zero, he had wondered about this phenomenon. None of the other caverns had shown such instability.
Spatial turbulence was, in essence, Ether running wild. In that sense, it did seem likely the explosion had triggered it.
If so, the peculiar conditions here—and perhaps across all of Hollow Zero—could be explained.
Zane descended into the pit, floating instead of walking. As he went deeper, more and more Ethereal were drawn to him.
But none dared attack. The oppressive aura of five conquered caverns weighed too heavily.
Soon, he reached the pit's core. There, he found the remnants of the Trial Tower.
Sparse, but unmistakable.
Even under such cataclysmic force, the Trial Tower hadn't been completely destroyed. Its construction materials must have been unimaginably strong.
Zane examined the wreckage carefully, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Aside from the spatial distortions, nothing else stood out.
Until—
A rift tore open above the remnants of the Trial Tower.
At first, Zane barely glanced at it. Since entering the pit, such fissures had appeared and vanished frequently.
But when wisps of pitch-black Ether seeped out, he turned his full attention to it.
The rift widened.
BOOM!
A massive obsidian pillar burst through, slamming heavily into the ground.