In Natasha's eyes, the crossbow bolt streaking through the air looked like a luminous artillery shell.
With every inch it traveled, the light surrounding it intensified, its glow growing sharper and more violent, as though the air itself were being torn apart by its passage. The bolt was terrifyingly fast. Almost the instant Natasha raised her Wind Wall, it had already crossed forty to fifty meters of space.
In the next heartbeat, it plunged straight into the Mountain-Eating Beast's massive body.
Pfft!
The barbed head buried itself completely, disappearing beneath the creature's thick hide.
For a brief moment, everything seemed still.
Then a strange, grinding sound echoed from within the Mountain-Eating Beast's body—ga… ga… ga—like stone being crushed by invisible gears.
Natasha's pupils shrank.
She saw the creature's enormous torso begin to swell unnaturally, expanding outward as if someone were pumping air into it. The thick rocky plates along its surface bulged and cracked, seams glowing faintly beneath the pressure.
"Dodge!"
Sensing disaster, Natasha shouted at the top of her lungs.
Her sudden yell startled John, who was standing at the very front of the formation. His reflexes kicked in instantly, and he tightened his grip on the rope securing his shield, bracing himself with every ounce of strength he had.
The next second—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted from the direction of the Mountain-Eating Beast.
The shockwave slammed through the cave like a tidal wave. Fragments, pressure bursts, and violent air currents followed in rapid succession, accompanied by sharp, chaotic sounds—pfft, whoosh, thump thump—as debris collided with rock and shield alike.
The explosion was so loud that even Smith and the others, who had already retreated around the corner of the crossroads, heard it clearly.
"John! Are you alright?!"
Unable to see what was happening and not daring to expose himself, Smith could only shout with all his strength.
"We're fine! You can come out now!"
Hearing John's booming reply, Smith finally let out the breath he'd been holding.
At the very least, that voice didn't sound like it belonged to someone who had been crushed or torn apart.
Still, Smith didn't rush out immediately. He cautiously leaned forward and slowly poked his head around the corner.
You couldn't blame him for being careful. In this world, all kinds of bizarre things could happen. If monsters that devoured mountains existed, then monsters capable of mimicking human voices didn't seem all that far-fetched.
However, the moment Smith peeked out—
A blinding white-green light flooded his vision.
"Ah! My eyes!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
John burst into laughter the instant Smith cried out.
It turned out that the place where the Mountain-Eating Beast had once stood was now filled with crystalline formations. They weren't particularly dazzling at first glance, but looking directly at them felt painfully bright.
Bright enough to blind a dog.
Smith wasn't the only victim. John himself, Otto, and Natasha had all suffered the same fate earlier. The only reason they hadn't cried out was because the explosion had just ended, and none of them dared to move recklessly.
After things finally settled, John had come up with a simple but devious idea.
"Smith, you set me up!"
"Relax, relax—just joking," John said cheerfully. "Does anyone have sunglasses or something? Hurry up and put them on so we can see what's going on."
They had just survived a life-and-death battle. A bit of humor to lighten the mood felt appropriate—at least, that was how John saw it.
"Who would carry something that useless?" Smith complained, rubbing his streaming eyes.
"…Um, I wear glasses. Should I try?"
The voice came from nearby.
Everyone turned toward Lisara.
"Then be careful," Smith said seriously. "Just open your eyes a tiny bit. If anything feels wrong, close them immediately. Understand?"
Among their group of over twenty people, there were eight women, and Lisara was the youngest. According to what they knew, she had just turned eighteen on the very day they were transmigrated into this world. Because of that, everyone instinctively treated her with extra caution.
"Mhm."
Lisara nodded.
Following Smith's example, she cautiously leaned forward, squinting as she poked her head out to observe the area ahead.
What she saw made her breath catch.
In Lisara's vision, a breathtaking boundary appeared—a clear dividing line that split the cave into two entirely different worlds.
Behind the temporary defense line constructed by Natasha and the others lay suffocating darkness, heavy and oppressive.
Beyond it, the Mountain-Eating Beast was gone.
In its place was a strange, alien space bathed in a soft green glow.
Hundreds of elongated, pale-green crystals jutted from the cave ceiling, walls, and ground. They hadn't existed before. Their surfaces were smooth as mirrors, and fluorescent green energy flowed slowly within them, forming luminous veins that pulsed faintly.
The entire cave had been transformed into something resembling a glowing corridor.
From time to time, viscous pale-green liquid dripped from the crystal tips on the ceiling, landing on the ground with crisp tap… tap sounds that echoed unnervingly through the silence.
Even more astonishing was the cave itself.
The rock face and domed ceiling were coated in a thin, biological bioluminescent film. It pulsed rhythmically, like slow breathing, its brightness subtly changing with the flow of air—as if the cave itself were alive.
Tiny glowing spores floated through the air, reflected endlessly by the green light, resembling countless miniature stars suspended in space.
Lisara watched as the dripping liquid hit the ground.
The moment it made contact, it rapidly crystallized, hardening and expanding outward, gradually forming new crystal clusters that fused seamlessly with the others.
The entire space radiated an eerie tranquility—beautiful, mesmerizing, and deeply unsettling all at once.
Then Lisara's heart skipped.
Liquid.
Her mind snapped into sharp focus.
If the liquid formed new crystals the moment it touched the ground… what would happen if it flowed onto John and the others?
Her gaze shifted quickly.
Just beyond Natasha's Wind Wall, pale-green liquid had already begun to pool, accumulating to nearly a meter in height.
A deep sense of dread surged through her chest.
Without hesitation, Lisara snatched the magic lantern from Smith's hand and waved it frantically toward the front, shouting:
"Natasha! Don't retract the Wind Wall! John! Otto! Get back now! Hurry!"
"What's wrong?!"
Hearing the urgency in Lisara's voice, Smith's heart clenched.
Unable to see anything clearly, he could only grow more anxious as he questioned her.
Compared to Smith, who desperately wanted to know why, John and Otto were far more straightforward.
Even though their eyes were still burning and unfocused, they immediately turned and retreated the moment they heard Lisara's shout.
Fortunately, the swinging light of the magic lantern gave them a sense of direction.
As for Natasha—although she didn't understand the reason—she held her ground, maintaining the Wind Wall without hesitation.
"The rope! Someone give me the rope!"
Seeing John and Otto rushing toward her, Lisara thrust the magic lantern back into Smith's hands and grabbed a rope from another teammate.
"Captain, just keep waving it like this," she said quickly. "I'm going to pull Natasha back."
"…Alright."
Being unable to see was a massive handicap.
Smith took the lantern and mechanically waved it through the air, doing his best to guide the others.
Lisara handed one end of the rope to Cam. Holding the other end tightly, she dashed forward without another word.
Among the entire team, she was the only one who could look directly at those crystals.
Right now, she was the only one who could do this.
"Smith, what's going on out there?" John asked anxiously after reaching the crossroads with Otto.
"I don't know," Smith admitted with a bitter smile. "All we can do now is trust Lisara's judgment."
At such a critical moment, he was powerless.
Thinking about it, he couldn't help but glare in John's direction—at least mentally. That idiot had chosen this moment to joke around. Once they made it back alive, he'd definitely have to give him a proper scolding.
For now, though, all they could do was wait—and pray.
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