Chapter 264 - What Plan?
"Where are you going?" Rae asked as she followed after him. "Do you think you'll find an exist as long as you roam aimlessly?"
"No, I'm sure that the exit will come running to me when I sit around idly." Arthur went through another forked tunnel as he answered.
"I've looked everywhere for the past twelve hours, nothing. Just endless tunnels." Rae shrugged. "We can try to go above ground, maybe we'll find something different in the belly of the beast."
"Loved the sarcasm," Arthur stopped walking and looked around. The walls were the same, bones stacked on top of each other until he couldn't see anything beyond them. "Let's go back."
"What, why?" Rae was stunned. "You're wasting even more time this way!" She protested but Arthur was walking ahead without looking back. With frustration, she followed after him.
After walking for a while, Arthur stopped. He turned and looked back to make sure, it was as he thought.
"Now what?"
"Where is the other forked tunnel?" Arthur pointed at the place it should have been. "It's not there."
"Maybe it's simply further ahead? This place looks the same." Rae looked back with shock.
"No, I'm sure of it." Arthur shook his head. "The tunnels are changing. This is why the world has no sound, it's to hide this fact from whoever takes refuge in this place. That's why there won't be any exits unless you go and fight that fish."
"Are you saying that something is controlling the tunnels?" Rae asked, making Arthur roll his eyes. She glared at him to prevent him from throwing any sort of sarcasm.
"Yes, there's a mastermind. It's probably the lord we're investigating, but that doesn't make sense." Arthur frowned. "Why now?"
"What do you mean?"
"He has reappeared again after three weeks of inactivity. Did we trigger something somehow? Or was he lying in ambush for us?" Arthur smiled. "Interesting."
"You're one quirky fellow." Rae gave him a side-glance. "What do you want to do now?"
"Find the others." Arthur shrugged. "That would be hard with the changing landscape."
Arthur tried to teleport inside this space, but it was futile. The fissure's structure made it impossible to compress the space to form a portal. It was the same idea as space being a fabric, with the fissure's space being taut.
"Good luck with that." Rae was silent for a moment before she said blankly.
"Are you not coming along?" Arthur asked with furrowed brows. He had expected her to stick to him like glue after she pulled him underground.
"I know none of those people, why should I care about their fate?" Rae's eyes were emotionless, only logic pooled in them.
"What about me?" Arthur asked with amusement. "Don't you care what might happen to me?" He sounded cheeky, but he was doing it to tick her off.
"Hah," Rae grinned. "As far as I care, you can die somewhere and rot away."
"Mm, okay." Arthur nodded. "Well, have fun trying to find the exit. As for me, I'll look around for the others."
As he said that, he took out a Kabab Skewer and started biting on the meat. He started walking away as Rae looked at him with piercing eyes. As he was about to take another bite, a hand snatched the skewer from his hand.
Arthur, speechless, looked at Rae who was nibbling away at the meat. She didn't meet his gaze and was too busy eating. If they were able to hear sounds, he was sure he would have heard her stomach growling.
'She's a full-fledged glutton.' Arthur thought inwardly, cautiously turning off the telepathic connection. As she was busy eating, Arthur decided it was time for the Detection rune to shine.
He pocketed his hand and used the rune to look into the surrounding. His mana, as thin as air, spread evenly everywhere. As it came into contact with the bones, it was unable to penetrate them.
"These bones are anti-magic," Arthur said with a frown. "How were you able to pull me into this place?"
"When the fish forms, the place becomes rigged with holes, allowing entry and exit. I used my scarf to pull you through one of the holes." Rae answered. "It's useless to try to leave, as going against that fish is suicidal. You may thank me for saving you."
"If I knew it had such anti-magic properties, then I wouldn't have done that," Arthur said helplessly. "Thank you." He said sincerely.
"Uh, yea... that's alright." He watched as Rae fidgeted. For the first time, Arthur saw a side of her that wasn't purely arrogant or self-centered. "I just wanted to eat."
"Of course, you wouldn't allow me to be grateful for long." Arthur sighed. "Let's leave this place."
"Unless someone enters the space, we can't leave," Rae said with a frown. "Are you that dumb?"
"You have a way of pissing people off." Arthur's eyebrow twitched. "Prepare your scarf." He said as he touched his shadow on the ground.
His mana drained as a shadow was formed. The shadow transverse the shadow dimension and appeared above the ground. As soon as it did, the place started to move.
Even though there was no sound, the bones were shifting in front of their eyes. Soon, a hole formed on top of them to reveal the dark sky above them.
"Let's go!" Arthur started levitating and Rae looked at him doubtfully. "We can't sit around and expect to find an exit!"
Her scarf unfolded as it pushed her upward. Arthur took the lead and left the hole, returning to the surface after flying for a few moments.
What was in front of them was the giant fish colliding against his shadow, killing instantly. Rae surfaced from the hole before it started to close down on them.
"Run!" Arthur sprinted as soon as the fish started to turn in their direction. Rae followed right after as she asked coldly.
"What's your genius plan now?"
"What plan?" Arthur was confused. "If we want to find the rest, we need to look above ground where the structure can't be changed. Using ourselves as bait is the only way for the others to get out as well."
"Brilliant plan! We'll see its fruition as ghosts, you dumb piece of shit!"
"Now, now." Arthur smiled. "I thought you were a fan of competitions."
"... Go on."
"Let's split," Arthur said as he glanced at the fish chasing after them. "Whoever finds a way to deal with this fish is the winner."
"What's at stake?" Rae asked with a competitive smile and Arthur knew she was hooked. What's more exciting for a battle maniac than an impossible challenge? "Would you become my slave?"
"..." Arthur was silent for a second. Even though he hated such a concept, he has to accept that this person was different from him. "I'll be your follower, and the same goes for you if you lose."
"Heh, that's good enough for now." Rae grinned. "Deal. Now, let me show you the reason I wasn't worried about this place."
The transformation happened instantly as they split. From the corner of his eye, Arthur could see the scarf solidifying around her, turning her into a celestial fairy.
"Oh Father, grant me your blessings." She recited in prayer. The last thing that Arthur has expected from her at the moment was a prayer. "Grant me a fraction of your powers."
For some reason, her mana boomed and exploded around her body. Her scarf turned into armor as the two wings flapped, making her soar through the skies.
She turned into a bright meteor that drew white arches in the night's sky. Like a supernova, the bright light dyed the sky as the darkness was shed away by it.
'Damn,' Arthur's heart trembled. 'This nutjob is too overpowered.' His grin couldn't be restrained as excitement flooded through him. 'But I'm sorry,' His body started glowing golden as the bones broke beneath him. 'This product of the Enders can't be defeated by someone other than me.'
'Existence is unfeeling, not designed to serve or destroy life. It has no physical body, yet it's as real as everything and it's everything. No one can deny it and everyone needs to bow down to it.'
He recited as he summoned mana from Existence itself. Space started cracking around him as his body was flooded by mana. As his powers increased drastically, so did the damage to his body.
His Release rune was in full swing as it burned his mana to amplify his stats. The black armor left his space as it surrounded him, increasing his stats further.
'This power demands to be released.' Arthur crouched and sprinted toward the fish, leaving a mess of broken bones. His view narrowed until there was nothing but the giant bony fish.
The landscape merged as his body reached incredible speed. He saw the bright flash of bright descend toward the fish at the same time as him.
He knew that he was showing Rae his true powers, something he avoided doing for good reasons. However, there was no other way for them to leave this place with the Enders' mana eating abilities involved.
He was the only one capable of stopping them.