Chapter 92: Underground Ruin (1/2)

With the rebellious Spirit Beast at the lead, the group started our exploration again. Since he volunteered to be the first one to pass through the crumbled wall, we waited for him to do so before we followed him in. Any danger that could possibly be waiting there will be received by him firsthand.

With wariness in his eyes, he slowly traversed that distance. Probing it with his Rivers first, he set his left foot inside.

He trembled a bit but seeing there's nothing happening, he heaved a sigh of relief.

Normally, I should also sigh in relief when nothing happened to him but from what I've seen from those horror-thriller films, with this kind of unknown, being relieved will often lead to that character dying. The killer will suddenly appear and surprise the viewers.

Ah. Well, it's not that I'm hoping for him to die, alright? I'm just overthinking the possibilities.

Seeing him successfully arriving at the other side, I heard everyone's sigh of relief.

Err... I'm probably the only one that's thinking of the worst scenario happening.

Since there's no danger at passing through the crumbled wall, we soon followed and came over to that side.

I guess that guy is lucky enough that him trying to redeem himself didn't end up on him being the sacrificial character.

Upon reaching the other side, I immediately took in our surroundings, be it up or down. Those Ruin Dwellers came from below after all so we couldn't be too sure if there's more of them here.

With the map turning useless, we're in for a more dangerous exploration. The possibility of those who entered still surviving has just dropped once more.

I have no idea if someone could adapt to this inherent energy but if they got something that can give them the possibility to do that then they'll be somewhere here. For now, our current priority is to see the end of this ruins and harvest what we could.

After around 30 minutes, we finally arrived at the vicinity of the first landmark. Seeing the waterfall and the river below it that was in a suspended state, it's kind of a magical scene. With a height of a little more than 100 meters, the sight of suspended water like this reminds me of that certain sandbox game. Players can make use of water and some method to turn it into an elevator. Of course, it's not the same as this but that's the idea.

Apart from the water seemingly frozen in time by being suspended like that, there's nothing noteworthy in its surroundings.

”According to those who survived, there's really nothing special with this. They even submerged themselves in it to take a bath.”

Yumiko recalled what we heard from the testimonies of those who managed to come back alive.

”Jayna, let me touch it first. Curb your curiosity for now. Maybe my Adaptability can identify what this is.”

”Ugh. How did you read my mind?”

”With that glittering bright eyes of yours, it's too obvious.”

I smirked and went to the water. Submerging my hand inside it, my Adaptability didn't trigger anything. No functions or something else. This meant this is really just ordinary water. To investigate further, I decided to submerge myself completely like what they did.

When my whole body was completely submerged, my Adaptability finally told me something about this strange phenomenon. I could still breathe inside as if the water was non-existent.

This suspended waterfall was being maintained by a Formation. Yes, another Formation with the likes of the earlier 10-meter scorched area. However this one's pretty harmless, it only made this water to stay in this suspended form and there's some other use for this.

”Come in. There's something below this river.”

I called out to them and told them to also get inside. Jayna, as curious as she is, immediately jumped inside followed by Yumiko and the others. Once we're all inside, I had them dive down with me.

When my feet hit the soil beneath the river, I tried stomping my feet searching for something to step at. After a few more stomps, I felt my feet stomping a button and with a click, a trapdoor hidden beneath the river was opened which made the water drop down from that opening.

Though the form of the water never changed as it carried us down the trapdoor, the seemingly suspended waterfall and the river below it will surely look like it was being drained.

This is what my Adaptability told me, this is an elevator that can take us down to wherever this will lead us. The place wasn't well lit and the only source of light was from that opened trapdoor.

During the descent, I had them still stay on alert but yeah, nothing really happened.

Once we reached the ground we were all ejected from the water as if it's sentient and a few seconds later, it went up again as if it's returning to its original state before I opened that trapdoor.

After recollecting myself from that unexpected ejection, what appeared before me was a huge mansion ruin. Just like when we entered the ruins, even without any source of light, the place was well lit.

At this point, I'm already on high alert. I had us go down here so if something happened, it would be my fault.

This is a new place and it's way deeper underground, maybe deeper than what those Ruin Dwellers could dig.

”What kind of place is this?”

Yumiko couldn't help but ask when she also recollected herself.

One by one everyone stood up and observed our surroundings.

”I don't know but this is undiscovered by the previous expedition. And it's not like we're trapped here. Look at that.”

I pointed to a post not far from where we were ejected. There's also a huge button there and an upward arrow sign. That's probably a button to open that trapdoor again which will let that water descend here to pick up anyone who wanted to get back up on the surface.

To make sure of it, Yumiko asked Rane to push it and from down here, we saw how the water elevator goes down from above.