Chapter 130 – Orb of the Undead (3)
The cave without light.
According to the records of adventurers who had explored this place, there were a total of two underground passages at the entrance Verden had entered.
There were no dead ends, each led to a special place.
One was a bottomless abyss, the other a natural labyrinth filled with hundreds of large and small passages.
'Hopefully, there'll be traces leading to the abyss side.'
That would be easier to track.
It was possible to connect the passages into one through large-scale terrain manipulation, but that should be avoided as much as possible.
The Orb of the Undead might bounce off somewhere, or perhaps the traces that could still remain might be erased.
Verden's purpose was the Orb of the Undead, nothing else.
As he descended along the sloping entrance, light soon vanished.
In Verden's sight, under the casting of Suggestion, two passages revealed themselves. They were exactly the passages mentioned in the adventurers' records.
He spread his magic power, carefully analyzing the surroundings.
Finding traces wasn't difficult.
The moss on the cave floor, blackened and tainted, stretched in a straight line into the deep darkness.
It was surely the trace of the Orb of the Undead Warrens had thrown, rolling away.
'Just touching it is enough to rot…?'
Verden turned his gaze forward.
The rotted moss led directly to the first passage.
The one leading to the bottomless abyss.
Since it was a single road, following it down should lead to the Orb of the Undead.
But that didn't mean it was without danger.
The records said that countless demi-humans and abnormal species had taken residence in the long passage leading to the abyss.
'A simple matter.'
Verden's main strength was elemental magic.
Its destructive power was perfectly suited for battle, no different from what he had always done.
Whoooosh—
With his mana circuits fully activated, Verden stepped into the first passage.
***
"That place was truly a den of monsters. We could not stop even for a moment. Just so we wouldn't be eaten."
────Platinum Rank adventurer, Halpharon.
***
By the time he reached the end of the passage, the slope had nearly vanished.
The ground was still slanted just enough for an orb to roll down.
Eventually, beyond the passage, a silent cavern revealed itself.
'It was said, beyond this, the abyss would appear.'
According to records, it was about four days to the abyss.
That was, of course, assuming no interruptions along the way.
"..."
Verden quietly observed the cavern.
The dripping of water from the ceiling, insects crawling, beasts lurking.
Not a single sound one might expect from a cave could be heard.
Even with the Ring of Rune enhancing his senses, it was the same.
Nothing but silent darkness.
But Verden had experienced this before.
During his journey through the duchy with the alchemist, Lito Varslan.
In the Spider Forest, the spiders capable of erasing their very presence.
Back then, there had been no sensation, but experience told him.
Cave hunters were lying in wait everywhere.
They would be waiting, for Verden to step into their nest.
With Invisibility, battle could be avoided.
He could advance while concealing himself, hiding inside walls with terrain manipulation or protecting his body with a magic circle for safer travel.
'But I have no such intention.'
A waste of time, a waste of money.
A pitch-black darkness without a single ray of light.
Grotesque foes hiding their presence, baring their fangs in the shadows.
Why should he care about such things.
If obstacles blocked the path ahead, he would simply break through.
As he always had.
Verden spread his magic power.
Mana filled the cavern.
Countless lifeforms were detected, and as they reacted to the magic power, the monsters stirred.
[Kaaaaaa....]
Without eyes, without noses.
Grotesque abnormal species with only ears and mouths remaining, Blinders.
Dozens of them, the size of kobolds, crawled out of the darkness.
This was the beginning.
Beyond them, stronger, and even more numerous monsters glared with shining eyes.
Verden's Wall-Eyes gleamed.
Every foe in his way would be slain.
Dark killing intent swirled around his staff as magic power stormed.
Triple casting.
***
Ruuuuumble...!
The vibration shook, and dust fell from the ceiling.
This was already the sixth tremor.
"…The cave seems rather noisy, Lord Kunel."
At Daniel's words, Kunel scoffed, as if it were nothing.
"This is one of the forbidden places, the cave without light. Nothing that happens here should be considered strange."
It was said that even giant burrowing worms, Stone Eaters, dwelled here.
Their size rivaled a multi-story inn, so it was only natural the ground shook whenever they moved.
And there were even cave ogres and giant spiders said to live here.
'Still, this is a little too frequent.'
Though it tugged at his mind, Kunel soon dismissed his concern.
As he had said himself, nothing here could be considered unusual.
What mattered now was the Orb of the Undead.
Kunel halted his steps.
As he focused his mind, the voice of the dead reached him.
The voices of those who had died in the cave without light. Their whispers in screams.
A place steeped in death.
They spoke of the Orb of the Undead's location.
With such excellent guides, there was no reason to hesitate or worry.
Kunel's steps were unrelenting.
"…Hm?"
Then, ahead of Kunel's group, abnormal species appeared.
A venomous centipede, and upon its back, a Blinder.
Sniffing, drooling, they glared at the black mages.
"How reckless."
Kunel raised his staff.
The skull upon his staff rattled.
A burst of black waves swept forward.
[Kiiieeeeek!]
Exposed to the curse, the abnormal species writhed.
Their bodies twisting, collapsing onto the ground, when Daniel and Karzan muttered low incantations.
Kunel's curse grew stronger.
Pffft! Crack!
The centipede and Blinder, unable to endure the pain, exploded.
The stench of foul bodily fluids filled the air. Kunel, feeling their deaths, stirred his magic.
Shattered fragments and scattered fluids gathered, shaping into something grotesque.
The Crumbler.
A vile creation of black magic, but more than sufficient for hunting small fry.
Kunel tilted his chin, and the Crumblers charged through the cave.
Moments later, the screams of the cave dwellers echoed in their ears.
Kunel spread a wide smile.
"Let us continue."
Kunel's party headed toward the deep underground, taking the shortest route to the Orb of the Undead.
***
Dozens of branches of lightning flashed within the darkness.
Corpses, their insides burned, collapsed to the ground, their empty places filled by new abnormal species.
The horde gathering by the second.
Within them, red lightning struck, followed by cold and flame, annihilating the Blinders that had blocked the way.
'Now the path is clear.'
With Flight, Verden dashed deeper into the underground.
But this was only the beginning.
[Kagagagak!]
[Kigagagak!]
A swarm of vampire bats, each as large as Verden himself, rushed down upon him.
He moved instantly, dodging with ease to the lower side.
Ruuumble...!
Then, vibrations came from beneath the ground.
Sensing danger, Verden immediately shifted sideways.
Cracks split the floor, and large and small fragments of rock blasted out in every direction.
[Sssshhhk.]
An adult Stone Eater.
A massive worm that could easily chew and crush even solid rock revealed itself.
Then, judging it had lost its prey, it instantly disappeared back into the ground.
It moved so deep, so fast, that it vanished beyond the range of mana detection in an instant.
"…Truly worthy of the warnings."
A suffocating space with no escape.
Having to endure the assaults of creatures coming from the ground, the surface, and the depths below, for days, just to advance.
Indeed, even veteran adventurers would struggle here.
If an ordinary mage had come alone, they would have run out of mana midway, unable to do anything, and been devoured.
But of course, there are always exceptions.
Whoooosh!
A scorching wave of heat swept through, burning away part of the vampire bats flying in.
Toward the ones fleeing, Verden focused his mana.
Ultra-high flames filled the air.
Immediately after, he sharply lowered altitude and landed on the ground.
The tremor from below told him the Stone Eater was charging.
Verden placed his staff against the floor in response.
He dismantled and reassembled the opposing properties of the earth and lightning elements.
From his fingertips, a nonexistent spell was born.
Lightning within the earth.
A bolt of chaos vanished beneath the cave floor.
Moments later, a massive tremor, rock and earth erupted far away.
[...!]
The Stone Eater, struck head-on by the force of the thunder.
Its tough shell split, and purple blood spilled out from within its ruptured flesh.
With no resistance to such pain, it couldn't even scream, only thrashed violently.
Verden's Mystic Eyes gleamed without hesitation.
Craaaack!
A spear pierced through the Stone Eater's belly.
Boiling lava surged, melting its insides to mush, the overheated flames bursting outward.
────Kuuuuung!
The Stone Eater, its body split in two, gave a small whimper before collapsing limp.
Verden brushed the dust off his head.
'So only one of the local rulers remains in this area.'
His gaze turned aside.
Drawn by the commotion, a massive figure approached slowly.
From mana detection, it was an ogre... more precisely, a cave ogre whose eyes had degenerated.
'Two heads, then it's a higher species.'
No different from the Twin-Head Ogre he had subjugated before.
Dealing with it was no issue.
"…?"
But the creature looked strange.
[Guuuuuurgh....]
Its right half, rotten.
The cave ogre limped closer in a wretched state.
To say it was half-dead would be accurate.
The reason it had become like this was obvious.
'It touched the Orb of the Undead?'
That could be the only explanation.
There was no such thing as being half-undead by nature.
'Which means, the Orb of the Undead lies further in.'
And unlike before, now he could faintly sense the aura of death.
A sensation akin to what he had felt in the duchy.
The existence of the Orb of the Undead had grown more certain.
Mana focused within the Oculus.
Once fully charged, light flickered from the head of his staff.
Verden closed in on the ogre in an instant, lightly evading its sluggish hand, and thrust the Oculus into its chest.
Kwaaaaaang!
The tremendous roar shook the cave.
The ogre's already-rotten half vanished completely.
The corpse collapsed backward.
Without looking back, Verden strode deeper into the underground.
***
He moved while staving off hunger with jerky and water he had prepared.
When tired, he used mid-to-high-grade magic stones as offerings to set up defensive magic circles.
He did wonder if mid-grade stones would suffice, but certainty was better.
It wasn't worth risking unnecessary danger to save a few coins, let alone a few hundred million.
Thus, after eliminating undead and abnormal species, removing obstacles along the way, about two days had passed in his reckoning.
"So this is the bottomless abyss."
An empty void, as the name implied.
A circular cliff blocked the path, so deep that even Suggestion could not reveal its bottom.
He tossed a small stone lightly.
Even after time passed, no sound returned.
A depth he had never before experienced.
This was the final place recorded by adventurers.
Some mages had tried descending, but not only did they fail to find the bottom, they were attacked midway, leading to deaths.
Thus they had no choice but to retreat.
Understandable.
A darkness so deep it defied measure.
Falling into that abyss, how far would one be from the surface? What dangers lurked below?
Such fears made it impossible to challenge on mere curiosity.
But Verden had no intention of turning back like them.
From below, the ominous aura of death was pressing ever stronger.
There was no hesitation.
Verden hurled himself into the abyss.