novelraw Chapter 261: Cold Chasm
Chapter 261: Cold Chasm
Chapter 261: Cold Chasm “This is all too strange…”
After resting in the darkness for another hour with [Hymns of the Unseen] passively scanning his surroundings, Soren only became more restless. This was because the darkness surrounding him truly felt unnatural and alive. It was as if he was inside the maw of a massive beast that was slowly digesting him alive.
Although he was already aware of this from the start, only now did he begin to take the threat more seriously. Something was far too wrong about all of this… And his failed attempts at probing for information with [Eyes of the Fairy] only made him more anxious.
Usually, his abilities tend to fail due to two main reasons. Either, there was some kind of supernatural interference from another Mystery, or his own mind itself was subconsciously shielding him from the attempt.
The latter usually never happens. This was likely due to his nature being influenced by the runes he was merged with. Fairy Witness had a clear connection to his curiosity, amplifying it in many ways. However, that didn’t mean it was an impossibility—just recently, his subconscious mind had clearly steered him away from trying to uncover the secrets of the Fairy Court’s hidden entities. Although it was partially due to the information contained within his newly discovered second shade, his instincts weren’t wrong back then.
All of this only amplified his suspicions in regards to his current environment. Whatever resided deep within this cavern was clearly too dangerous for a newly ascended Tier 2 Phantasm to comprehend.
Should I turn back?... The thought lingered for a while in his mind.
It wasn’t a completely bad idea. After all, the path he was currently taking was only one out of many. There was no reason to force himself forward.
Sure, it might waste more time if he had to simply wait until the storm died down to exit the cave, but his safety was more important than any delay. Climbing this mountain’s summit was thrust upon him by the Orbits of Fate. If they have an issue with his cowardly approach, they are free to choose someone else as their puppet!
Yes. There is nothing obliging me to go through here… I only entered this cave to find shelter from the storm to begin with—it has already served that purpose.
I can find another way to climb the mountain…
With his new decision firmly cemented, Soren finished up his break and turned to walk back the way he came. Step after step echoed into the distance, announcing his plans to whoever was listening.
The further he backtracked, the more monotonous it all became. All the same cliffs and zig-zag pathways were once again crossed—this time in reverse. After a while, boredom naturally began to settle in. It was as if he was operating on auto-pilot, simply going through the motions mindlessly in anticipation of finally reaching the cave’s exit.
How odd… Soren took another step forward, making sure to listen to all his surroundings keenly. Shouldn’t I have already made it back by now?..
Distances were hard to measure in such an environment, but his pace was still relatively the same as before. By his estimates, he should have already reached the entrance of the cave or gotten close enough to hear the sound of the rushing wind.
And yet…
Soren shook away his doubts. The claustrophobic space might be messing with my senses… Let's just keep moving.
He trailed the path forward for another twenty or so minutes. The only sounds accompanying him were his footsteps, heartbeat, and excessive breathing. Oxygen was already hard to come by in the Upper Winds, but the extensive cave systems certainly lacked it even more.
Luckily, Venissa had already anticipated this and supplied him with a magitech tool that could assist him in breathing when needed. But because of its limited usability, he had to preserve it for only when it became completely necessary.
Eventually, he reached a ledge that led to a sharp drop. As he glanced down toward its bottom, a sudden feeling of deja vu washed over him.
“Didn’t I already cross this?..”
He remembered passing through a similar cliff about thirty or so minutes ago. Maybe this is a different one?.. He asked himself, but couldn’t be fully certain. For someone with such good memory, it was surprising he couldn't remember the exact details of the tunnels he passed through…
Something is wrong.
There is something very wrong about all of this…
Ever since a while ago, Soren had felt his mental state changing subtly. It was as if his emotions were slowly dying one by one. Apathy was slowly consuming him. And more than that, a certain degree of his intelligence seemed to have disappeared as well. His memories were being tampered with, and his thoughts themselves felt far more sluggish…
Frowning, he decided to utilize [Record] more actively. Biblion immediately understood his plans and instantly got to work chronicling everything in his surroundings.
Let’s continue forward for now… All he could do was observe the changes around him in hopes of uncovering something. Glancing briefly at the mysterious fountain pen swiftly gliding across the page, Soren nodded and began climbing down the cliff before him.
An indescribable amount of time passed by with him continuing his journey forward, only to finally freeze in place. Standing before him was now another steep cliff, leading toward a dark abyss.
Soren stared silently at the path ahead, his frown growing even deeper. He glanced at his levitating Soul Weapon which was now displaying a map.
The path ahead was just as he had chronicled previously…
“Am I in some kind of loop?” His heart began to race.
No matter how hard he tried, Soren couldn’t refute his theory. Even though his mind wasn’t as sharp as it was moments prior, The Records itself couldn’t lie. What he was seeing before him was exactly the same cliff as before. This was his third time confronting it…
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As he stood there in silence, the surrounding darkness began to feel far more suffocating than before. He was akin to a fish realizing it had already entered a whale’s stomach.
Think… I need to think logically…
He didn’t even dare to utter his thoughts aloud. Whatever this sinister presence is, it clearly can’t harm me directly. If they wanted to, they would have done it already. There must be something else they are hoping to achieve…And that’s when he realized it. This loop… it only began when he decided to leave the cave.
This issue never arose when I was simply heading deeper into the cave… Aside from the darkness becoming more and more terrifying, Soren never found himself trapped like he was right now.
All of this could only imply one thing: whatever was responsible for this clearly doesn’t want him to leave. No, it wanted him to head deeper inside—to confront whatever danger rests there…
His lips curled up slightly as he stared into the radiant pages of The Records.
“Fine. I will play along with your game.”
He swiftly turned back around, facing the darkness he was once hoping to escape. Only a single thought remained in his mind: If you want me to visit you so badly, I’ll grant you the privilege.
Tazzith had already advised him before his venture into the abyss. That salvation exists somewhere in the midst of this danger. If he could figure it out, there was no need to fear whatever resides in this ancient cavern.
As ironic as it may sound, Soren did have fate on his side… At least, for now.
Walking forward into the void, illuminated by only the soft glow of his Soul Weapon, Soren couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. I’ve faced darker threats on my journey than this. Whatever is hiding in these tunnels will soon be nothing more than another entry in the grand library of the Faerie Court.
Although his cynicism was slowly transitioning into optimism, he knew he couldn’t fully deny how hopeless this situation was. He needed to figure out how to escape this predicament as quickly as possible.
The first thing he needed to do was confirm his theory, which he achieved fairly quickly. After walking forward for another thirty or so minutes, the path ahead had naturally shifted. Rather than facing the cliff he had descended earlier, he was instead met with the same path he had abandoned when he decided to turn back.
The loop he was trapped in had immediately disappeared.
As I thought, the loop only activates when I turn back… This meant that his only option now was going forward. He was slowly being led deeper into the beast’s maw.
I wonder what kind of Magecraft or Mystery was used here… The primal darkness reminded him of the Nameless Mist, but its properties seemed slightly different. This became more clear when he compared the loss of his emotions to previous experiences—the effect was far slower this time, as if it were a side effect…
Nevertheless, Soren knew he would find out eventually. After all, it wasn’t only the cavern that was forcing him to head deeper. His curiosity was doing that as well.
Hours passed on in complete isolation as he continued moving forward further and further. Every once in a while, he would take a break to rest his legs and perform consciousness training to recover his anima quicker. He would also try small experiments with Paper Fold Resurrection, all of which ended in failure.
Eventually though, it became apparent that his emotions were dying far too quickly. His memories were also becoming hazy, forcing him to constantly need to use [Record] on himself to recover his own thoughts.
Soren was certain that eventually, he may even forget to walk forward, or worse, escape into [The Faerie Court]. Realizing this, he decided to instruct Biblion with the task of reminding him. With his new freedom, Figment could remotely activate his Soul Weapon skills on Soren’s behalf, preventing this scenario from ever happening.
Of course, the anima drain was far too massive to be able to perform this constantly. And ever since his connection to Tazzith was lost, Soren couldn’t shake the feeling that the same might eventually happen to his Soul Weapon. He needed to reach the end of this cave as quickly as possible.
Eventually, however, he did manage to spot something. His foot nearly caught on it, forcing him to freeze and glance downward. What he saw left him in awe.
A colossal, circular pit descending into an even deeper abyss. Cold wind jutted from its infinite bottom, rushing upwards like a current. The surrounding darkness seemed to be intertwined with the wind, like strands of a cobweb being pulled apart by a passing breeze.
What is this… He had never seen anything like it before. The caves within this mountain—especially the ones this deep—never produced winds this powerful. More unsettling was the fact that no sound could be heard at all—neither from the gale nor from the ancient rock strata slowly being chipped away by erosion.
If I fell down there, would I even be able to make it back up?... He clenched the nearest wall, fingers digging into the wet stone. His gaze then followed the wind upward—only to realize that the ‘pit’ stretched infinitely above as well as below.
An image began to take shape in his mind: something colossal had purposefully drilled straight through the mountain, from its summit to its roots…
Where exactly is this wind coming from? As he nervously eyed the bottomless abyss, Soren thought of an idea. Perhaps the ‘salvation’ Tazzith spoke of in his divination was exactly this pit!
If I can somehow climb upwards, wouldn’t it be a shortcut to the summit?
Of course, this was easier said than done. The frigid winds in this mountain were extremely unpredictable. Even though this current seemed far more stable, there was still the danger of freezing to death. His senses might have been numbed from the surrounding darkness, but they hadn’t completely vanished just yet.
Let’s do a quick test…
Soren ordered his Soul Weapon to resummon the [Worldsong Murmur]. Just like before, the pages broke away from grimoire, merging back together into mushroom-like spirit. After activating the worldsong, he commanded the creature to form its own miniature Fairy Blade to stand on, allowing it to levitate off the ground.
“Head into the chasm.”
The Murmur stared at him for a bit with its flame-like eyes before dancing ahead into the darkness. As soon as its body touched the wind, Soren noticed strange strands of darkness beginning to envelope its form, as if they were tangled in a web of strings. Then, before he could form a single thought, a small layer of frost spread across its skin rapidly, encasing the spirit in ice.
Soren watched all of this unfold slowly, his frown growing by the second.
“Activate Fairy Barrier,” he ordered. The creature once again danced atop the sword with added difficulty and casted the correct spellform. Soon, a transparent bubble formed around the creature, shielding it from the wind.
But even that didn’t seem to stop the danger…
Within seconds, another layer of frost formed above the existing one, turning the spirit into an ice sculpture. Soren swiftly commanded the spirit to head back in his direction, away from the wind.
“How interesting…” Soren glanced at its dilapidated form keenly. “It could only last for five or so seconds. Fairy Barrier slowed the process, but it couldn’t fully prevent it.”
He wasn’t sure whether that was due to the dark strands already clinging to its body, or if his barrier was simply too weak. He would have to do another test after the spirit recovers.
Just as he was about to prepare to take a break next to the chasm, a sudden whisper echoed in his mind faintly.
“My heart… Give me... Give me my heart...”