Chapter 296 - Under The Deep Blue Sea (III) (1/2)
We managed to receive the second Lung Moss around the 4th floor of the cave. We need 4 and we already got 2 so we are almost done. However, it seems our luck seems to have been taken away after our last encounter with the Deep Sea Curse Snake. We didn't meet any of those snakes again and finding the Lung Moss is now too hard.
Currently, we are on the 10th floor of the cave. The cave has 15 floors in total and we are already down to 5 floors that haven't been explored. Ah yes, we also managed to obtain the second broken piece of the artifact which means the other artifact piece might be further below the underground cave.
Our progress is very fast because the enemies are severely scarce and rare to see. This shouldn't be the case in the past timeline since the whole cave is infested with monsters in the past timeline. There might be something that happened here that caused the number of monsters to increase in the past timeline. It is kind of a blessing and at the same time, unfortunate for me. More monsters tend to be a good source of extra exp and since in the past timeline this place is quite generous in experience points, I tend to farm levels here until the exp gain slows down.
Still, I needed to go below and see the real truth that will allow me to forge a connection to the Royalties of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. There is nothing wrong with increasing your chances of winning and survival.
”Master, I am already seeing the way down to the next floor. Should we descend or should we continue to explore the area for a bit?” Lina asked.
”Nothing much to see here, so let's descend.”
...
Yep, nothing much to see...
Until the very bottom of the cave. Monsters seem to have disappeared after we reach floor 11 and the moment we arrived the floor 15, it was now very cold that even Lucia who is usually not affected by cold is now using her hands as a portable heater for all of us. Not only that but I also don't see the last artifact piece which is a big bummer.
”Umm, Mister Bladeheart. I am not doubting your words but are you sure that we can really find what we needed to connect to the Kingdom of the Deep Sea here? There is basically nothing in here that is worth mentioning!” Tina scratches her head in frustration.
”Don't be so rash about it, Princess Tina. We have yet to know what we really need to see here so it is too soon for us to assume things,” Lucia immediately reprimanded the words of Tina.
”R-right...”
I didn't say anything and just continue to observe the situation around the place. I can still hear the waves of water around the cave which means there is nothing frozen underground but this coldness is coming from the water itself. But I can't shake the possibility that there will be something that I will be shocked by. I have not witnessed what they saw here underground but whatever it was, I needed to find it.
...
”Woah! This is a pretty ancient door!” Lina inspected the giant door's structure and she keeps on nodding at the structures.
”If I base it on my knowledge in ruins, my guess is that this door is already here since the ancient gods have to dwell together with the other living beings. It is pretty old and the material used by the door is not an ordinary rock as well since it seems to exist only during the time the gods are still with us,” Lucia caressed the giant door to feel its texture.
”Is that what I think it is?” Tina points to the center of the door's design.
She traced the current design of the door and found something strange in the pattern.
”Mr. Bladeheart, can you bring out the two pieces of broken things we found earlier?”
”Yeah, sure.”
She took the two items and she put the two on two gaps of the door that is the same exact shape as the artifacts. The moment the last artifact was placed, the patterns on the door started to rise up on the surface of the door and rearrange themselves that the four of us have to back out instinctively seeing the spectacle.
”What the hell is going on?” Lucia was baffled seeing the spectacle. Although it's not as awesome as the time the Creature of the Shrine of Ascension did, it is still marvelous enough for us who rarely see things like this happening.
DANG DANG DANG DANG!