BXBX NOVEL Chapter 623 Into Another Place, Pt 4
The jagged lands consisted of flat areas with sudden hilly changes. There was not a soul in sight out here. Keng kept ahead of the group, checking their surroundings as they continued to jog through the jagged lands. The earth seemed to rise and fall suddenly. Sharp hills and mountains rose to the sky while spiky traps came almost out of nowhere. If it wasn't for seismic sensory and his Cosmos abilities, Keng would've surely fallen for one of the many traps laid out in this area.
Keng slowed, letting the group catch up as he stood close to the edge of one of the many holes they had come across. Seismic sense was telling him there was more to this one than met the eye. His eyes registered spikes but the energy reading was different. As the group caught up to them, Keng let them catch their breaths before bringing up the problem.
"Something feels off about this hole." Keng pointed. "I've been sensing through the earth, and this one isn't what it seems." There were spikes at the bottom of the hole. Everyone but Keng saw a death trap of spikes, but Keng didn't see that at all. He may have physically seen the spikes, but the seismic pulses told him it went further down than what meets the eye. A strange movement of energy kept him from seeing more.
"What should we do?" Ritsuka asked. Keng looked away from the strange hole and at the others. Evan was avoiding the cliff while some members stared at the bottom, curious what could be at the bottom.
"Leader?" Olivia called Manny to the conversation. Manny looked away from the hole and looked at the group.
"You feel something down there?" Manny asked Keng.
"Yup." Keng replied. Manny folded his arms together and looked down, again.
"The boss room could be anywhere in this place…" Manny muttered. He cleared his throat and looked back up at the group speaking louder for all to hear. "I guess it doesn't hurt to check since you can basically defy gravity, so you go look and we'll stay up here. Keep comms on. If you think it's the boss room, pull out and regroup."
"Roger, roger." Keng nodded. He turned towards the edge and looked down. There was something odd about the magical energy. It was on the tip of his tongue as he prepared to jump.
"Thirty minutes." Manny stuck his three fingers out. "That's all you got. Come back by then or else we're leaving without you."
"You're… efficient." Keng commented as he took a couple steps back. "If you were like that back then, maybe things would've been different." Keng sprinted towards the edge, jumping off the cliff.
***
The wind whipped in his face as he quickly flew towards the spikes. The energy began to fizzle and that strange sensation he had on the tip of his tongue burst, letting Keng remember exactly what this energy felt like.
'Illusions!' Keng thought. He accelerated himself, pushing past the spikes and disappearing. Screams erupted from Keng's lips as he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.
"Keng! Are you okay?!?" Olivia shouted. A thick fog greeted him as soon as he came to an abrupt stop. Cosmic energy surrounded him as he took a moment to gather himself.
"I'm fine. It was an illusion." Keng replied, shaking his eyes open. There was a sigh of relief on the other side like the whole group was watching in nervous anticipation. "There was a wall… over here." He floated over towards the left. The wall had gone much further down than he could sense. All he needed to do was find the wall. It took him a bit going slow, but he eventually found it. Keng's hand smacked the wall a couple of times before releasing a seismic pulse.
He closed his eyes, seeing the space around him map in his mind. He guessed his friends were about two hundred feet above him and realized he had barely fallen far. Keng pulled away, opening his eyes.
'It goes further than I thought it did. The illusion energy isn't messing with my perception but it's still hard to get a read on how much further I need to go.' Keng descended downwards, staying close to the wall. The thick fog made it hard for him to see anything, so his eyes were practically useless.
"Lee Seng, five minutes has passed. You got twenty-five minutes left." Manny spoke on the comms.
"This hole goes on forever." Keng sighed. He came to a stop, feeling the start of the Negative stressing on his body. "I guess I'll drop like a rock." He smacked the wall and felt the seismic vibrations reach downwards. Keng let out a sigh as Manny began to worryly speak on the comms.
"H-hey, I don't think you should just do that. I don't think it's a great idea. What if you can't catch your fall and die? Worse, get hurt. What if—"
Keng dropped the hold on him and began to fall. His clothes fluttered as he kept his eyes below him. The seismic mapping had been forced to only trace downwards, pushing his usual limits on it. With that mapping, he could keep up, somewhat, as it continued five or six feet in front of him.
Keng repeatedly continued slapping the wall occasionally, indenting the wall a bit each time as he continued to map. The map in his head began to trace the outlines of some semblance of an end which alerted him to abruptly stop. The brakes suddenly came on, Keng watching as the fog split and the gray stone quickly came at him.
Keng pulled his feet up, watching as he came floating inches off of the ground as a worried yelp came out of his mouth. "Ah… Oh wait… I barely did it." Keng sighed as he dropped onto his knees. He looked up and noticed the fog stayed away. "It's like it's masking something that they didn't want anyone to see."
"Keng, are you alright? What happened?" Manny asked. Keng stood up and took a look around. The cave was harshly carved in a circle, maybe fifty feet in diameter. The walls that went up suddenly dropped giving fifteen to twenty feet of ceiling height. The walls above curved, tucking under the stone as it created a ceiling for the space underneath the walls.
"I'm fine." KEng replied, resting his eyes on a dimly lit path on the opposite side. "How many minutes do I have left?" Keng started towards the dimly lit tunnel, curious as to what it was.
"Twenty-two minutes left." Evan replied.
"It took me eight minutes to fall all the way down here. Great." Keng sighed. He stopped short of the tunnel and noticed flames were going.
'It's not a magical flame.' Keng bit his lip. He slowly took a step forward, checking the frame of the tunnel before going in. The fire danced on a torch as Keng stepped in. When he came ten or so feet into the tunnel, another torch was lit on the opposite wall.
"Torches?" Keng whispered. "Who would be down here?"
Whoosh!
A gust of wind blasted outwards, pushing past Keng as he threw his arm up to block it. The flames on the torches died out. Keng slowly lowered his arm, instantly smelling the scent of something acidic. Keng immediately jumped backwards as the noise of something striking against the stone. A single spark lit the acidic smell, firing a huge tunnel of flame straight for Keng. Keng yelped as he threw his arms up, creating a half-circular barrier arcing around him. The flames flew past him as sounds of running grew.
"An enemy?" Keng whispered.
"Huh? What? You should—" Manny began to say as acid splattered all over his shield. A second later, a dagger flew out and sparked the acid, exploding and sending Keng out of the tunnel.
"Ambush!" Olivia shouted.
"Shit! What the hell are these things?!?" Manny shouted. Keng rolled a couple of times, coming short of the large opening as he pushed himself onto his feet and stood up. Yellow acid flew straight for Keng as another dagger flew after it. Keng lifted his hand and fired a blast of gravity at it. The gravity split the acid and pushed the dagger back into the tunnel.
The acid hissed as Keng lowered his arm. A tall creature stepped out just enough for Keng to see it. It had mandibles on its face and was brownish-black. Thin wiry antennas stuck out of its head as its carapace wrapped around its body parts, well. It clicked and shrieked at Keng as acid dripped from its mouth.
'This is the thing that set that trap up…' Keng thought. He took a step back, turning the right shoulder to point towards the open hole. The bug-like creature stomped forward, grabbing the dagger on the floor.
"Skrre sja lwwja!" The ant-like creature shrieked. Keng's eyes narrowed for a moment before Hydrosphere appeared in his hands. Keng and the ant-like creature rushed at each other. It threw its head back, launching acid straight for Keng as water and cosmic energy swirled around Keng.