Chapter 60 - Hole and Darkness
Eli stood beside him, dressed in all white, he bore a smile and looked down from the peak at the giant tree. He then turned his head to the left and nodded at Silas.
Without giving a warning, he jumped down. Gravity pulled him down fast.
Silas looked down at the falling Elinand shrugged. "He will be fine. Right? Vae."
The white spirit nodded enthusiasmly and lifted him up using the wind. The rest of his group also followed. (Minus Ice-pick, she was at the Thumb Peak, seducing Rowe.)
They arrived at the bottom. Eli smiled at them and began walking ahead.
"Wait a minute, Eli."
"What? Our destination is up ahead. We should hurry."
"True but it is not hard to take the time, especially when we are at the legendary place." Silas sighed as he adjusted his clothes.
Now that he turned his thoughts to admire the history, he was looking around.
Well, the center of the palm mountain was normal flat earth but it still excited him. No matter how he looked at it, the Palm Mountain was clearly a giant hand.
That didn’t make sense at all. The giant race existed in this world but not that big. If the hand was this big, what type of behemoth was the creature.
That said, there was still a possibility that it was from God. Everything here was devoted to life, worn out as if the tree sucked everything joyful.
They slowly walked to the tree and reached the barrier.
The invisible air stopped them. When he touched it, the barrier didn’t react and ignored him. So he pushed through his hand and it pushed back.
"Counter force type barrier." He muttered.
The most wasteful type of barrier in the whole world. There was no defense etched into the barrier, only the means to attack.
If he fires a beam of mana, the barrier will counter attack the beam with greater force. On paper, this kind of barrier sounded good but it consumed too many resources.
Silas touched the air and looked at the giant tree behind. He thought about it and came to the conclusion of the energy source.
The energy directly came from the tree itself. The branch of the world tree was still a part of that tree. Even if it was small, it could produce pure energy and mana.
But looking round at the devoted place, Silas asked.
"Hey, before you arrive here, how is the scenery down here?"
"It is filled with faith , grass and flowers. Too bad, it suddenly dried up and vanished. Do you think it is the King’s fault? Since it is a worm type, it just has an ability to consume."
"No." Silas shook his head. "It is the tree fault but if I have to point at the real culprit, that would be you, Eli."
Eli pointed to himself and looked at him in confusion. "Me, that is a strong word, Silas. I am an elf. I love nature as much as the next elf. I even created a tiny forest up there."
Silas looked at him and thought. He might not be a racist but he sure talked a lot about stereotypes.
"The barrier consumed energy from the tree. Where did the tree get the energy?"
"Air."
"Correct but if some idiot assaults the barrier with a lot of strength, he is going to need a lot of energy. So the tree absorbed the energy from the things around it."
"And I am that idiot."
"Obviously, Eli. Lynn was busy sorrowing with something, I can see that she doesn’t even have the motivation. And Flux and Aanacia didn’t have that kind of fire power."
"To be precise, Flux won’t do something stupid and Aanacia was wary of everyone. I don’t sense an injury on Rowe either and I don’t see him talking about it. That leaves with the obvious person."
Silas snapped his finger and pointed at the elf. Eli smiled.
"You are alone in the mountain, with nothing to do but sleep. I have a good feeling that you attack the barrier almost everyday."
Eli chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. I don’t know if the tree was absorbing all the plants here. I didn’t even sense the energy transfer."
He muttered and looked up, seemingly wanting to ask the tree the questions.
Silas continued to observe the barrier and turned around.
As he was walking back, he noticed the slight chance in the sound. Silas frowned and walked again. He stopped abruptly and turned around.
Roland tilted his head, looking at the strange behavior. He didn’t say a word and observed Silas who was walking back and forth.
"I am right." Silas said to himself.
Roland and Luna looked at each other.
Silas lifted up his arms and ordered. "Roland, use your enhanced hearing and listen to my footsteps."
Roland nodded with a serious expression.
Silas returned back and walked again in the same path. When he reached the end, he turned to Roland.
The young Knight’s face told him everything he needed to know. He was correct, there was a hole or tunnel underneath the ground.
"Around there right?" Silas pointed.
Roland walked toward, crouched down, placing his palm on the ground. He injected the energy into the ground and nodded.
"Secret tunnel?" Eli said, excited. His face was beaming with curiosity like a child.
Silas nodded and asked his group.
"Want to go there? There might be trouble or beasts underneath."
"Sure." Eli replied.
"I am not asking you, Eli. I can see that you want to check it out." Silas sighed.
Luna nodded, which surprised Silas a little. He then ordered Roland.
"Blast a hole."
Roland nodded and took out his sword from the waist. With a swift motion, he stabbed at the ground and released the energy inside the sword and burst open.
The ground shook and split open apart, falling down into the darkness. Suddenly primordial darkness crept up from the split ground and surrounded the entire group.
Eli was the first to move as he waved his hand, trying to expel the darkness. But his spell was absorbed by the pure darkness. He frowned and tried to summon the spirits to fend off the darkness.
"Impossible." He muttered. The connection between the world and spirit world was cut off. To achieve this level of influence, only the eighth circle can achieve that.
He frowned, unable to do anything and could only see himself consumed by the darkness.
***
The fall.
That moment in time stretched out in a completely different manner. There was a second there that seemed to last for an eternity.
Stretching beyond the limit.
Silas lost his consciousness in the inviting darkness.
But it wasn’t torment but paradise.
***
"Silas. Silas."
"Hey... Silas..."
Someone was calling out his name, gently shaking him. With a murmur, he woke up.
When he opened his eyes, he saw darkness surroundings him. Silas immediately got up and smacked something with his forehead.
"Ouch."
Silas rubbed his head and saw the person he just smacked. It was Luna, rubbing her forehead.
He blinked a few times, adjusting to the darkness, slowly he got used to it and made a scene.
"Why don’t you use spells?" He asked.
Luna straightened from her place and looked at him with solemn expression. "We can’t use mana here."
"Huh?"