Thick clouds of dust rose from the titanic crash of the obsidian wall, the resounding impact still echoing through the suffocating passageway.
Oliver Mori, the white-haired girl, and Yuki stood on the opposite side of the fallen structure. The two girls were out of breath or rather, so overwhelmed with panic that even breathing had become a laborious task.
Their eyes were locked on the same heinous sight: the lower half of a man protruding from beneath the massive wall, blood pouring endlessly from the crushed remains, forming a dark, spreading pool that crept across the stone floor.
"No..." Yuki burst into tears, her hand clutching her chest as recognition struck her. She knew who it was.
Oliver remained indifferent. 'That is... brutal,' he thought, his gaze lingering only briefly on the gruesome scene before turning away.
This little show... this... was nothing compared to the horrors Oliver had once witnessed within these Ruins.
For a fleeting moment, time itself seemed to slow within the narrow passageway, as though the world had taken a shallow breath.
However, it didn't.
CRACKLE!
The sound erupted like thunder, violent and deafening—originating from the ground beneath their feet. It felt like the onset of another earthquake...
But no, it was no earthquake.
Instead, the flooring beneath their boots trembled violently before vanishing in an instant, erasing itself from existence and leaving behind nothing but an endless drop into deep, utter darkness.
A darkness that swallowed the group whole as they plunged into its abyssal embrace.
"The hell—!" the white-haired girl tried to speak, but the words were torn from her throat by the violent rush of air.
"Grrgh!" Oliver grunted as the wind forced itself into his lungs, making it difficult to control his breathing. His hoodie was ripped off his head by the immense pressure of the fall, fluttering upward and disappearing into the void above.
The eerie darkness of the descent was not what it seemed... not even close.
It was alive.
The darkness itself was a monstrous entity, that corroded each breath taken within it, siphoning away a life point.
A common trap within the Ruins. One with no escape, unless one could completely hold their breath throughout the fall.
A near-impossible feat... even for Players.
So Oliver reduced his intake of the cursed air as much as he could, holding onto the breath he had already taken, ignoring the violent pounding of his body as it demanded oxygen.
'I don't have my regeneration ability anymore, so I'll have to be smart about how I handle this situation...'
Simultaneously, Oliver summoned the Dark Crow and spread his arms and legs wide, attempting to stabilize his fall.
The Dark Crow manifested in a swirl of dark grey ethereal light, its massive form anchoring itself onto Oliver's shoulders. Its broad, powerful wings unfurled and flapped with force, the air around them rippling with each beat.
It was impossible for the Crow to completely halt the fall.
But it wasn't the same as before.
After consuming several Gnoll corpses from Oliver's earlier solo raid, it had grown, now nearly the size of a matured bald eagle, with a wingspan approaching five feet.
Yet, it was a summon.
And despite its strength compared to a real eagle was like comparing an ant to an anteater.
Even so, the fall was rather brutal. Despite the Crow's effort, Oliver's descent only slowed slightly.
'At this rate... I won't survive the fall...'
"Save me!" Yuki screamed at the top of her lungs, her hands clenched tightly around her staff, fully convinced this would be her end.
The white-haired woman was no different. Her attempts to stop her fall were frantic and futile as she summoned long spears into her grasp, thrusting them desperately into the darkness, hoping to lodge them into a wall...
Any wall.
There were none.
It was as though they were trapped in a death plunge, with nothing but the distant promise of a fatal impact below.
"Crow! Any ideas?" she shouted, turning toward the faint silhouette of his cloak. Even in the chaos, she noticed... He was slowing down.
She was panicking—truly panicking. Perhaps even on the brink of losing control of her mind entirely.
Who wouldn't?
The only reason Oliver retained his composure was because of his knowledge...
A knowledge that threatened to betray him even now.
"Why?" Oliver finally spoke.
A single word that caught the white-haired girl completely off guard.
[One life point has been lost]
She swallowed hard. "What do you mean? Help us!"
"Please, Crow... please..." Yuki cried, desperation coating every syllable. "I beg of you... please save us! I only have three lives left..."
Still, no response came from the enigmatic Crow.
It was as though he had already decided to abandon them.
That thought crushed their spirits.
Yuki broke completely, sobbing uncontrollably, while the white-haired woman thrashed wildly, stabbing her spear into the void in a desperate search for salvation.
'They handle the fear of death differently,' Oliver observed, watching them carefully.
This situation had been designed for this exact purpose, to push the human mind to the brink of insanity.
The darkness would drain their life force.
And the fall would finish the job.
A perfect execution.
Ding!
[You have received a message from The Crow]
The white-haired girl froze mid-motion as the notification appeared before her eyes. Ignoring it was not an option—not now.
She accessed it.
[You have been offered a Slave Contract]
[Warning: Crow's slave contract details cannot be read until accepted]
[Disclaimer: Accept it, and I will save you]
'Slave contract... what audacity. If he knew who I was, he wouldn't dare...' she thought, tightening her grip on her spear.
But then—
The violent gust tore the weapon from her grasp, sending it spiraling into the darkness.
'If I refuse... I die.'
Oliver smiled inwardly as he watched the internal conflict play out.
He wished he could see their faces.
Especially now.
He had figured out who the white-haired girl truly was.
Hera Silver.
Daughter of the Leader of the Silver Guild.
How she ended up with the Snake Group, he didn't know.
But an opportunity like this?
To bind someone of her status?
Who would pass it up?
[Yuki has accepted all conditions of the Slave Contract]
Oliver's smile deepened as he waited.
Hera was stubborn.
But no matter how stubborn a person was... living always outweighed dying such a horrific death.
And just as he predicted—
[Hera has accepted all conditions of the Slave Contract]
[Pen of Bonds: 2/5]
'Courtesy of Jarvis Botswaner,' Oliver thought, dismissing the system interface.
In the next instant, he summoned a fist-sized purple crystal into his hand. It glowed with ethereal shades of violet and grey, its surface shimmering like fractured glass.
He tightened his grip—
CRACK!
The crystal shattered.
A dense wave of purple smoke erupted outward, engulfing him and the two girls instantly.
[Teleportation Stone has been used]
Poof!
In a fleeting second, the howling wind, the suffocating darkness, and the certainty of death—
All vanished.
Oliver and the others reappeared on uneven ground, the very floor they would have otherwise crashed into.
Upon appearing Oliver wasted no time in scanninh the surroundings, memories of being stabbed through the throat flashing within.
'Let's not repeat old memories.'
He scanned around and Just as he remembered... Above them was a ceiling of living darkness, flowing in slow, wave-like motions like a river that defied gravity itself.
The area was a vast cavern, its wet obsidian walls glistening faintly. Jagged spirals of stone twisted unnaturally from the ground and walls, giving the entire place a hostile, alien feel.
[Congratulations, Players. You have survived the First Test of the Ruins of Ahpeh]
[You have entered the second section]
[Goal: The Altar has lain cold for centuries. Will you be the one to ignite its flame once more?]
The Dark Crow cawed, tilting its head as it stared gloomily at its master.
"What? Too treacherous for you, Hugh?" Oliver mused.
Then—
He turned around.
A puzzled expression forming on his face.
"This is a miscalculation..."
In this section of the Cavern, there was strangely... No one, but him.
No Yuki.
No Hera.
Just him.
For some reason, he alone had been brought to this part of the cavern... Which was not possible giving Teleportation stones were not sophisticated enough to separate it's target after teleportation.
"If it was even defected, it would have ripped us to shreds not this..." Oliver imagined, turning around once again.
The others had been sent elsewhere.
And that left a single, gnawing question lingering in his mind—
Not where did they get sent to?
But...
"Who interfered with the Teleportation Stone?"