An unexpected thing had just taken place – when Maximus stepped down hard on something solid beneath his boots, a sharp, sudden click rang out through the quiet air all around him.
In the very next moment, his feet gave way and he suddenly fell forward into empty space.
'What the?!'
Without wasting even a single second to think twice about what was happening, he reached back and grabbed hold of his coiled rope, then swung it hard at a nearby thick branch that was sprouting right out from the edge of the large hole. His hands wrapped around it with an athletic grip, fingers locking tight as he held on for all he was worth.
'A Trap?! But it's way too large to be just some ordinary one... In fact, how is something like this even humanely possible?!'
Up above where he'd fallen from, the princess had just caught a quick glimpse of him as he dropped out of sight. She immediately disabled the spell she'd been weaving with a flick of her wrist and took off running full speed towards his direction – but before she could get far, her father's voice boomed out behind her.
"Hey!, Ferha!, come back right now!"
She couldn't stop, not when her heart was racing with worry for someone she loved more than anything. She scrambled right into the mouth of the large hole and came to a sudden halt, dropping to her knees as she stared down in shock and awe. Then, to her immense relief, she spotted Maximus hanging there, clinging on for dear life.
"Max!!"
Maximus noticed the princess the moment she called out, and he shouted up so she could hear him clearly over the empty space between them.
"I'm fine!, just... well, maybe not that fine after all..."
His gaze drifted down into the large hole below, which stretched out like an endless void of deep darkness that seemed to lead nowhere at all. A cold wave of fear washed over him – he was scared of what might be waiting to haunt him again if he were to slip and fall the rest of the way down.
The princess cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted back towards him.
"I'll go get help!, just stay right there and don't let go!"
She turned and ran off as fast as her legs could carry her to find her father and their allies, while Maximus kept holding onto the rope with every bit of strength he had left in his arms. But then, without any warning at all, the supposedly thick and sturdy rope suddenly snapped clean in two – sending him plummeting down tens and hundreds of feet towards whatever lay at the bottom.
...
A loud splash of water echoed up from below, and Maximus let out a low groan as waves of pain shot through his body from the impact of hitting the ground so hard.
Shaking off the dizziness, he reached into his sack and pulled out his mana orb, holding it up high and moving it to point left, then right, up above and down at his feet. It turned out he'd landed in an extremely shallow lake – no more than one centimeter deep at most.
He'd been terrified that he might have fallen into something far more dangerous, and as he looked around he saw nothing but darkness stretching out in front of him, behind him, and to every side. So with both curiosity and sharp awareness keeping him on edge, he began to walk slowly forward, pointing his mana orb in every direction as he went. Its soft blue glow cut through the dark, acting just like a personal lantern – much like it had back when he'd gotten lost on the winding paths that led him into that dark forest filled with diseased plants and all sorts of foul, disgusting things.
But this time was different. This time, he'd come prepared for just about anything he might face down here.
'Could this place be where that man is hiding – the one who manipulated those fire elves into doing his bidding?'
It was only a theory in his mind so far, and there was no way to know for sure unless he kept pushing deeper into this endless void of darkness.
The sound of dripping and leaking water echoed all through the massive space, making it feel like he'd stepped into some kind of giant sewer. But with thick patches of moss growing on every surface and clumps of dirt constantly crumbling down from above, he knew it was far from ordinary. This was a huge, enclosed area, and he could sense that there were probably powerful barriers all around it – each one infused with strong mana.
He figured some kind of ancient sage must have been the one to create all this, but again, there was no way to prove it yet.
Countless questions swirled around in his head as he moved forward. What kind of being could that man possibly be? What was his true purpose for coming into this world in the first place? And once Maximus found him, what would he even do then?
Before he could think any further, a sharp pain suddenly pierced through his shoulder – a small, dark dagger had buried itself deep into his flesh, and blood was already starting to seep out badly. He gritted his teeth and pulled it out in one quick motion, then fumbled for his regeneration orb and pressed it firmly against the wound. Within just a few seconds, the skin and muscle had knitted back together completely.
'Who the hell...?'
His enchanted sword was supposed to protect him from attacks like this, but somehow the dagger had bypassed its magical defenses entirely. Was his sword failing to react because of the darkness? Could it not see threats hidden in the shadows? Or did his trusted weapon have some kind of weakness he'd never known about until now?
Another dagger came flying through the dark, but this time he was ready – he swung his sword up fast and deflected it away with a metallic clang. He stepped back carefully, his eyes fixed on the darkness directly in front of him, knowing that whoever was hunting him was hiding somewhere close by.
'Why is it that all these mysterious people never just show themselves already? Is it really just to make themselves seem more... mysterious?'