Chapter 806: An “Egg”
“It appears the worm found its lair.”
The moment the basket reached the bottom, Agatha raised her Stone of Lighting and swept it around the cave. The crease between her brows deepened. “Fran isn’t here?”
“I’ve checked every corner.” Lightning had already circled the space. “The Blackstone Pagoda seems to be wedged across the hole — its two ends are rooted in opposite walls, like a bridge. There are empty spaces on either side. Could Fran have fallen from the top and rolled off to one side?”
The diamond-shaped stone tower did span the deep shaft, lodged in the rock with both ends buried. No sign of the tentacle demon or the Multi-eyed Demon anywhere.
Nightingale stepped from the Mist. “The tower doesn’t affect my ability.”
“But you can’t walk through it the way you walk through stone.” Agatha crouched and formed an ice piton, then flung it at the Blackstone Pagoda. The piton shattered. The tower held. “There is a rumor that the tower is constructed from God’s Stones of Retaliation. It doesn’t suppress magic on the scale of the prism stones, but it blocks it.”
Elena corrected her in a quieter voice. “It doesn’t so much contain God’s Stones as produce them. Corrosive magic power can alter the mineral veins of the magic stones and shape them into rectangular tablets. Only veins born beneath the Bloody Moon can generate Red Mist. The others simply slow the mist’s dissipation. This was classified knowledge during the Union era. We learned it from Lady Eleanor after Taquila fell.”
Nightingale’s displeasure was visible. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“You didn’t tell me there would be a demon spire,” Elena said sharply. “There are countless things that could potentially affect magic. I could not have known which one it would be.”
Lightning slipped between them before the exchange could go further. “We still have to keep going down. We haven’t reached the actual bottom yet. I dove below the pagoda a little while ago and heard running water — there may be an underground river. If Fran fell off the side of the tower, she might still be alive somewhere down there.”
Elena’s voice lifted at once. “Is it possible Sylvie couldn’t locate Fran because of that river? The stone tower blocking most of the Eye of Magic’s vision—”
“Very likely.” Agatha straightened. “If the current took Fran downstream, her magic signature would move outside Sylvie’s field of view.” She turned to Lightning. “Go up and inform Wendy. Have her tell Margie to send additional God’s Punishment Witches down here — and more First Army soldiers. They should post sentries at this level as well. We’ll continue the search.”
Lightning nodded. “Leave it to me.”
With the gondola and the Magic Ark working together, they had enough people below within the hour.
Lightning used the interval to descend further past the Blackstone Pagoda. The cave walls began to slope outward, and the air grew damp against her face. Thirty or forty meters below the pagoda’s level, the stone opened into a wide underground river.
Snowmelt trickled down the cave walls and pooled before cascading into a thundering waterfall that poured down in torrents from the cave mouth. When Lightning drew close enough, a crisp chill played across her cheeks.
The moist air had given the cave floor its own private ecosystem: mosses and mushrooms clustered across the rock, one species of which glowed a ghostly blue that pooled across the surrounding stone. Without any Stone of Lighting at all, Lightning could make out the outline of the cave in that quiet light. Fireflies drifted near the water’s edge. The underground space felt like another world entirely — quiet and strange and lit from within.
When the ark brought the witches and the Taquila survivors down to this level, they all stopped and looked.
“If only we could grow those glowing plants in Neverwinter,” Nightingale said. “Everyone would be able to see in the dark.”
“Let’s bring some back and try!” Lightning rubbed her hands. Discovering and cultivating new species was one of the most reliable pleasures of exploration. Sugar cane and corn had both been carried to the Fjords from distant islands by explorers long before her time. She had no idea whether these luminous mushrooms and cattail fruits were edible — but she intended to find out.
Agatha counted heads. “Let’s finish our business first. Margie, stay at this level and help the First Army establish a sentry post. Everyone else, we continue along the underground river. If Fran has moved more than two miles downstream, we will pitch temporary camp.” She paused to let anyone object. Nobody did.
The company pressed on.
Once inside the limestone passages, the roar of the rushing water bounced off every surface — a deep, continuous thunder that made conversation difficult. Lightning stayed close to the group.
“Can the devouring worm swim?” Agatha asked.
Elena shook her head. “No one has seen it do so. But the creature is enormous. Even if the current carried it some distance, it shouldn’t be far from the drop point.”
A God’s Punishment Witch — Lightning recalled her name as Zooey — spoke up: “Do you know where this river comes from? Where it leads?”
Nightingale answered from beside Lightning’s shoulder. “If I’m remembering correctly — it flows toward us from the south and heads into the snow mountain from the north. Which means it originates somewhere in the Western Region and flows into the southern hills.”
It was common knowledge that the underground water table beneath His Majesty’s domain was extensive, but Lightning had always wondered where all those buried rivers ultimately went. The south had no surface rivers to show for it.
She was still turning the question over when something moved on the rock ahead.
“Wait — there’s something there.” She stopped and pointed.
Everyone halted. Weapons came up.
Nightingale gave a slow, careful answer. “No magic reaction — but there is something. Hold on.” She moved closer, then paused. “It looks like a dome shape. A semi-sphere of some kind. Like an… egg?”
“An egg?” Agatha was skeptical.
“No magic power, so no immediate threat.” Elena gestured to the God’s Punishment Witches with her. “Fan out.”
They surrounded the object quickly. When Lightning moved close with her Stone of Lighting and studied it, her brow furrowed.
A layer of gray skin clung to the rock, almost perfectly camouflaged against the cave wall. She leaned in and the Stone threw its light across the surface, revealing dozens of tiny stomas opening and shutting in slow, rhythmic cycles.
It was breathing.
Elena recoiled with a barely muffled sound of disgust. “What in the — what is this?”
“If it really is an egg,” Lightning said, measuring the span with her fingers, “then what laid it must be considerable. This skin is roughly three meters across. The swollen center alone could house a full-grown dairy cow.”
“The shape—” Zooey’s voice changed. She drew her longsword and drove it through the skin in one fierce thrust, then dragged it upward.
A gush of slick liquid poured out. The cave wall shook with a piercing shriek, and then a dark shape tumbled free of the split membrane and collapsed to the ground.
Lightning stared.
It was a Mad Demon.
Chapter 806: An “Egg”
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
“It looks like that the worm found its lair.” As soon as the basket reached the ground, Agatha glanced about the surroundings while holding the Stone of Lighting. The furrow between her brows deepened. She asked, “Did you see Fran?”
“Miss Fran isn’t here.” Lightning had inspected every corner of the cave. “The Blackstone Pagoda seems to be stuck in here. There’re some empty spaces on either side of the tower. Could she fall off the top and roll over to the side?”
The diamond-shaped stone tower spanned across the deep hole like a bridge, with its two ends rooted in the rocks. Nobody knew how it ended up like that. The tentacle demon and the Multi-eyed Demon could not be found anywhere either.
“The tower doesn’t affect my magic power,” Nightingale revealed herself from the mist.
“But you can’t walk through it like you walk through a wall, can you?” Agatha squatted down and produced an ice piton. She threw it toward the Blackstone Pagoda. The ice piton immediately broke to pieces, whereas the stone tower remained intact. “There’s a rumor saying that this tower is made of God’s Stones of Retaliation. Although it won’t affect magic power on a mass scale like the prism of magic stone, it can block it.”
Elena corrected Agatha in a low tone, “It’s not made of God’s Stones of Retaliation but it creates them. Corrosive magic power can change the mineral vein of the magic stones and thereby shapes them into a rectangle stone tablet. Only the mineral vein born under the Bloody Moon, however, has the capability to create Red Mist. The others simply help slow down the
dissipation of the Red Mist. This was a top secret in the Union age. We learned it from Lady Eleanor after the fall of Taquila.”
Nightingale was displeased at the delay of the information. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
Elena snapped, “You didn’t tell me there’s going to be a demon spire. There’re so many things that can possibly affect magic power. How am I supposed to know which one it is?”
Lightning flew in between them and intercepted their confrontational conversation. “We have to keep going down, as we haven’t got to the bottom yet. I just managed to dive a little bit more and heard distant running water. It’s very likely that there’s an underground river down there. If Miss Fran did fell down from the side of the stone tower, she might still be alive.”
Elena’s voice brightened. “Really? Is it possible that Sylvie didn’t find Fran because of this underground river?”
Agatha nodded. “Very likely. As the stone tower has blocked most of the vision of the Eye of Magic, Sylvie couldn’t see the bottom. If Fran was flushed down by the water, naturally she couldn’t detect her magic beam.” She then turned to Lightning and said, “You fly up to tell Wendy first. Ask her to instruct Margie to send some God’s Punishment Witches down here… as well as the soldiers from the First Army. Advise them to also put sentries here. We’ll continue with our search.”
The little girl nodded. “Alright, leave it to me.”
…
With the help of the gondola and the Magic Ark, they soon had enough people to rescue Fran.
Lightning took advantage of this interval and thoroughly investigated the area below the Blackstone Pagoda. As she had expected, the vertical cave wall soon moved into a sloping position. The air also dampened. After she descended for another 30 to 40 meters, she saw a wide underground river.
Snow water trickled down the cave wall and pooled before cascading into a thundering waterfall that poured down in torrents from the mouth of the cave. When the little girl drew close, she could feel a crisp chill play upon her cheeks.
As a result of the moist air in the cave, at the bottom of the hole grew various mosses and mushrooms, one of which gleamed a ghostly blue light that lit up the surrounding area. Even without a Stone of Lighting, Lightning could clearly spy the outline of the cave. With the fireflies floating about, the underground area looked like an entirely different world.
When the ark took the witches and the Taquila survivors to the bottom, they were all fascinated by what they saw.
Nightingale exclaimed, “If only we can grow those glowing fruit in Neverwinter. In that case, everybody can clearly see the road at night.”
“Let’s bring some back and grow them!” Lightning rubbed her hands in excitement. To discover and grow some new species was one of the most common enterprises for explorers. Sugar canes and corns, for instance, were brought to the Fjords from other small islands by explorers and later flourished. Lightning was not sure if these giant mushrooms and illuminating cattail fruits would be as sweet and delicious as bird beak mushrooms.
Agatha started a head count. “Let’s finish our business here first. Margie, you stay here to help the First Army to establish a sentry post. We’ll continue with the procession along the underground river. If Fran is more than two miles away from us, we’ll pitch some temporary tents.”
Nobody made an objection. Lightning, Nightingale and Agatha all knew how to escape and protect themselves. The 10 God’s Punishment Witches led by Elena were all exceptional combatants as strong as Extraordinaries. They did not constitute a huge group, but it was actually the most powerful combination in the united front.
Once in the limestone cave, the roar of the rushing water rang off the rocks and down the underground river, producing thunderous reverberation.
Lightning had to keep a close distance with the group so as to hear everybody.
Agatha asked, “Can the devouring worm swim?”
Elena shook her head. “Nobody has seen it swim. But the worm is colossal, so I think it shouldn’t be far away from the deep hole even if it was flushed downstream.”
“Are you able to tell where this river comes from and head?” Another God’s Punishment Witch put in. Lightning vaguely remembered that her name was Zooey.
Nightingale answered, “If I remember correctly, it comes toward us and heads to the snow mountain. In other words, it’s a water vein from the Western Region heading to the hilly area in the south.”
It was a known fact that there was plenty of underground water in His Majesty’s domain, but Lightning wondered why those rivers ran toward the south, for there was not a single river there. She was curious where all those water went.
Suddenly, she saw something flutter on the rock not far away.
“Hang on, I saw something move there!”
Hearing her warning, everybody halted and drew out their weapons.
Nightingale immediately gave an affirmative answer. “No magic reaction is detected, but there’s indeed something over there…” She then paused and slowly approached the object. “It looks like a semi-spherical… egg?”
“What?” Agatha was a bit surprised.
“Since it doesn’t have magic power, it poses no threat to us.” Elena waved at the God’s Punishment Witches coming with her and said, “Follow me.”
They soon successfully surrounded the egg. When Lighting made a close study of the tremulous egg, however, she knitted her brows.
A layer of gray skin was clinging to the rock, completely blending with the surrounding environment. When she held up the Stone of Lighting and gradually approached the skin, she spied many stomas opening and shutting as if it were breathing.
Elena coughed out a spittle. “What the hell… is this? It’s gross.”
“If it’s really an egg, how big should its parent be?” Lightning roughly measured the area of the skin with her fingers and concluded that it was about three meters in length and width. The swollen part in the middle could almost house a full-grown dairy cow.
“The shape… No, it can’t be…” Zooey took a sharp intake of breath. She drew out her longsword and gave the skin a fierce stab, after which she pulled the steel upwards.
A large amount of slimy liquid gushed out of the “egg” as a piercing shriek rang off the cave wall. Then they saw a black shadow come out of the swell and collapsed to the ground.
To Lightning’s dismay, it was a Mad Demon.