"This is... an anti-flight spell."
"And it's also layered with a high-tier environmental magic."
Momonga looked down.
It had already been quite some time since he jumped.
Yet the ground still hadn't appeared.
The darkness remained unfathomably deep.
Even extending detection magic thousands of meters downward accomplished nothing.
He instinctively tried to activate levitation magic to stop the fall.
But it failed.
A strange fluctuation interfered with the spell before it could form, forcing it into complete failure.
"Momonga-sama, it seems we've fallen into some kind of loop."
Khajiit had also realized something was wrong.
The opening above had completely vanished.
It felt as though they had dropped into a bottomless abyss, falling endlessly with no end in sight.
"Don't worry about it."
Momonga shook his head.
He wasn't particularly surprised.
Instead, he calmly raised the dragon-headed staff in his hand.
There were many ways to break the situation, and he chose the fastest one.
The jewel set in the dragon's mouth suddenly blazed with crimson light.
A deep dragon's roar erupted from the staff, spreading rapidly in every direction.
The surrounding rock began to crack apart, followed by the sharp sound of something shattering like glass.
The low dragon's roar echoed through the space, growing stronger and more violent.
The scene before them began collapsing.
A flash of light passed.
Solid ground returned beneath their feet.
A cracked orb suddenly emerged from the void and dropped toward the ground.
Momonga had already anticipated it and caught it in his hand.
The moment he touched it, detection magic activated.
The artifact's information instantly appeared in his mind.
"A magical item that seals an 8th Tier spell..."
Momonga examined the orb in his hand.
After thinking for a moment, he stored it in his inventory.
Then he looked ahead.
A winding path stretched forward.
On the walls, pale blue moss clung stubbornly within the cracks of the rock, struggling to draw nutrients from the stone.
Tiny points of light drifted from the moss.
The place clearly showed signs of artificial construction.
However, those traces were faint and weathered with age, likely dating back at least a century.
"It should be just ahead."
After observing the surroundings, Momonga murmured to himself.
The scene matched the old man's memories perfectly.
He continued forward along the path.
As they went deeper, a thin mist began to spread through the tunnel.
Within the mist came faint, indistinct roars.
Skeleton soldiers, wights, zombies...
Figures of various Undead gradually appeared.
Liquid dripped continuously from the walls.
Each drop hit the ground with a faint corrosive hiss.
The negative energy in the air grew increasingly dense.
In such an environment, most living creatures would feel intense discomfort, gradually falling into a persistent state of health loss.
Of course, that didn't apply to Momonga or Khajiit.
As Undead themselves, the environment suited them perfectly.
A faint chill surrounded their bodies.
In the dim surroundings, the crisp sound of footsteps echoed clearly.
The passive skill [Despair Aura] spread outward.
Low-tier Undead in the vicinity were kept at bay.
Momonga did not stop.
He walked through the tunnel filled with Undead.
Soon, a massive platform appeared before them.
At its center stood a pentagram-shaped altar, faintly visible.
At first glance, it looked unremarkable. It seemed to be nothing more than a stone structure.
But to Momonga, it looked entirely different.
The altar was covered with densely packed magic circles.
Layer upon layer, numbering at least several hundred.
"Familiar... yet somewhat unfamiliar."
Momonga stood at the edge of the altar.
He crouched down and tapped the stone surface lightly with a skeletal finger.
After thinking for a moment, his gaze shifted toward the Abomination beside him, which was clearly eager to move.
To be safe, it would be better to let this creature test things first.
"Roar!"
With the control lifted, the moment the Abomination regained control of its body, it let out a furious roar and instinctively charged toward the altar.
Momonga and Khajiit stood to the side, watching.
Momonga silently watched everything unfold.
The moment the Abomination stepped onto the altar, the ancient structure suddenly emitted a blinding light. The dormant magic circles instantly activated.
In the blink of an eye, the Abomination's body began to collapse. Its massive form rapidly disintegrated, dissolving into smoke that vanished into the air.
Only a single drop of dark red blood remained where it had stood.
However, when that drop of blood fell onto the altar, something unexpected happened.
The ground suddenly shook.
A thunderous rumble spread through the cavern as the entire cave began to tremble violently. Negative energy in the atmosphere started gathering together, becoming increasingly dense.
Chunks of stone fell continuously from the ceiling.
As time passed, the tremors not only failed to stop but grew even more intense.
Then, from beneath the once-silent altar, a deafening roar suddenly erupted.
Something below seemed to be struggling desperately to break free.
"That drop of blood…"
Momonga watched the altar carefully as realization dawned on him.
"So that's how it is. Working together from inside and outside?"
He casually waved his hand, conjuring a barrier that blocked the falling rocks.
Watching the scene before him, the answer had already formed in his mind. Without realizing it, he had helped whatever was sealed below in a significant way.
"Momonga-sama, the seal is about to break!"
A trace of seriousness flashed through Khajiit's eyes.
The situation had completely exceeded his expectations.
What exactly was sealed beneath this place?
"No. It can't come out."
Momonga shook his head calmly.
Although the dense layers of magic circles covering the altar were beginning to crack, the three magic circles at the very bottom remained completely stable.
No matter how violently the force below tried to break through, those three layers did not budge.
"Wild Magic…?"
Momonga narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had not expected the seal to be connected to the True Dragon Lords.
Could the thing sealed below be something similar to the Catastrophe Dragon Lord?
But then, where did that strange sense of familiarity come from?
After thinking about it for a moment, Momonga hesitated briefly before making his decision.
He had to find out what was sealed beneath.
After setting several precautionary measures in place, a resolute aura spread from his body.
Momonga raised the staff in his hand with the dragon head pointing downward. Magic power flowed into it as he thrust the staff forcefully toward the altar.
The moment the gem in the dragon's mouth made contact with the Wild Magic, a strange ripple spread outward.
A sharp cracking sound echoed through the cavern.
A fracture instantly appeared at the center of the altar. The crack spread rapidly like a spiderweb, branching outward as more and more fissures formed across the structure.
...
At the same time, in another location.
Inside a dark underground cavern, an enraged roar echoed through the darkness.
"The seal is collapsing. That thing is about to break free!"
"And it has to happen now of all times!"
"Three hundred years of waiting… we were just a little more time away…"
"Damn it!"