The black haze seeping up from beneath the floor gathered as though it were alive, closing in on the group from every direction.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Isis pulled the trigger without hesitation and fired in rapid succession.
Shelling a cloud of haze might have sounded strange, but wherever the Gunlance's Wide-type shelling swept, the living clouds burst apart and scattered.
Altaïr thought, Just as expected.
This sinister haze had been a major focus of Ithra's notes. According to her account, it could not only eat away at the skin but also enter through the mouth and nose, severely damaging the respiratory tract and lungs.
The irreversible damage it had inflicted on her respiratory system was a major reason for her retirement, which was why she had repeatedly warned them to be extremely cautious around it.
She believed the seemingly living haze was probably a colony made up of countless microscopic organisms, perhaps a species of insect even smaller than a flea.
They were somewhat photophobic and could not remain active in direct sunlight for long, but what they truly feared was intense flame.
Even sparks thrown up by a weapon scraping against the ground could force them to retreat temporarily.
Altaïr had already shared this information with Isis, and the two had discussed how to respond if they encountered the haze.
Isis had immediately fired as fast as she could for two reasons. The barrage blasted away the nearby haze, slowed its advance, and bought everyone time to react, while also heating the Gunlance's barrel.
She had already locked its cooling system. After two or three Full Bursts, the Gunlance in her hands was glowing a scorching dull red.
As Isis swept the Glavenus Gunlance through the air, the haze dared not draw near. It writhed around her like a giant hand unable to close, poised to strike.
The rest changed targets and surged toward Altaïr like a shapeless beast attacking with tooth and claw.
Altaïr swung his arms in a blur and brought Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] down in a diagonal slash.
The instant the blade cleaved into the intangible black haze, crimson arcs of lightning, the telltale sign of Dragon Element energy, erupted with a roar. The oncoming haze scattered in broad swaths.
The Dragon Element was clearly just as effective against the unknown organisms within the haze.
This, too, was part of the Hunters' plan. What truly concerned Altaïr was how violently the tiny organisms in the haze triggered the Dragon Element energy.
He knew it only flared to its full strength against a handful of specific creatures, such as... certain beings both ancient and immensely powerful.
That was not a good sign at all.
As Altaïr swung his sword and cleared the haze around him, he turned his attention to the others nearby.
He and Isis could suppress the haze with their weapons, but Mr. Gordon and Ms. Hayata carried purely physical weapons that offered no such counter.
He had warned them ahead of time, but Mr. Gordon had seemed unconcerned and merely said they had methods of their own.
Altaïr had been wondering about that ever since. Did they plan to use the force of their sword swings to blow the haze away?
That seemed rather... far-fetched.
What actually happened, however, astonished Altaïr far more than the sight of the pair whipping up a tornado with their swords and scattering the haze would have.
They did nothing. They did not even draw their weapons. They simply stood there, yet not a trace of black haze lingered around them. The air was perfectly clear, as though they occupied a different world from Altaïr and Isis.
It was as if the haze could not detect them... No, that was not it. The haze feared them!
Flames and Dragon Element energy only forced the black haze into a temporary retreat. The moment the Hunters let their guard down, it would surge back with frenzied intensity.
But it did not dare approach those three at all.
How was this possible? Surely the presence of master-level Hunters alone could not frighten the black haze away.
Could it be... their equipment?
As a young Hunter, Altaïr was naturally curious about what kind of equipment the "Hero" used, but Gordon had always been mysterious about it and refused to say a word.
Only just before they entered the hunting grounds had Gordon finally taken his armor from an obviously custom-made equipment case and put it on.
Even then, he had not put on his helmet, and a thick cloak concealed most of the armor. The most anyone could make out was a suit of heavy black armor.
Isis had moved closer for a better look and tried to touch it, only for her mother to scold her and warn her never to lay a hand on it...
Noticing Altaïr's gaze, Gordon turned to him with a smile. "Don't worry about us. Focus on yourselves. Just pretend we aren't here..."
As he spoke, Gordon seemed to remember something and lightly smacked his forehead. "Oh, I see. No wonder the haze was so slow to attack.
"We'll move back, toward the entrance to the hall."
As the three of them retreated, the black haze swirling around the young Hunters grew dramatically more active. It surged forward in billowing waves and engulfed them in the blink of an eye.
"Aah!"
A startled scream rang out from within the black haze.
Hayata had been on edge the entire time. Unable to hold herself back any longer, she rushed toward them, but before she could get close, the black haze dissolved like frost beneath a scorching sun and vanished without a trace.
The two young Hunters had vanished with it.
Her daughter was gone?!
Hayata froze.
Alva noticed something amiss and hurried over. Without the slightest hesitation, he dropped flat on the ground and began tapping the seams between the stone floor tiles with a small hammer. After a moment, he looked up and said, "The stone tiles can move. They must have fallen into the underground labyrinth."
Coming back to her senses, Hayata whipped her head around and glared at her equally stunned husband in the distance.
"Look at the mess you've made! Find a way to smash an opening right now! If anything happens to our child, I'll hack you to death!"
—--
Isis was not the only one startled by the sudden sensation of falling. Altaïr simply had not cried out.
Recognizing the danger, he immediately fired his Clutch Claw and tried to anchor himself. In his haste, however, the claw failed to catch on anything, and he continued plummeting.
Fortunately, in the dim light, he spotted a massive stone pillar roughly seven or eight meters away.
He fired the Clutch Claw again at once and used the line's pull to swing himself onto the pillar. He then drew his Carving Knife and jammed it into a crevice to slow his descent, finally reaching the ground without serious injury.
During his descent, he heard two successive blasts of shelling. The sound unmistakably came from Isis.
Altaïr relaxed slightly. Isis was more skilled than he was at using shelling recoil and even better at protecting herself during a fall. She should not have been badly hurt.
Still, he called out, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine!" The answer came at once.
They had been less than ten meters apart before the fall. Even if they had drifted in different directions on the way down, they could not have landed too far from each other.
But they were no longer in the vast hall above. They had fallen into a labyrinth deep underground.
Isis's reply came from nearby, but her voice sounded muffled. Altaïr hurried several steps toward it, only to find a wall blocking his path.
"Stay where you are! I'll come find you!" Altaïr shouted.
Their immediate priority was to regroup, and running around blindly was the worst thing either of them could do in a labyrinth. Altaïr would reach her faster if she stayed put.
"All right! Be careful!" Isis's voice came from the other side of the stone wall.
Altaïr turned his waist lamp up to its brightest setting and was about to move when a dark shadow flickered at the edge of his vision.
"Clang!"
With no time to draw the blade, he raised Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] in its sheathed Great Sword form and blocked the skeletal claw that struck from the darkness.