Chapter 46 "The Dungeon Exploration"

"No, Fool!" he replied curtly. "Haven't you gotten more of an idiot lately?"

"I already get it. But you don't really mean to go down there, do you? What if the Spirit Crystals aren't there?"

"We won't know unless we go, right?"

I scratched the back of my head even though it didn't itch. Maybe it was an expression of my frustration when I found out what Dimas meant. At first glance, the idea may seem frivolous. Even though I saw a massive room underground, I wasn't sure what it was.

It was like winning the bet if the Spirit Crystal was in that room. Conversely, we might find an underground monster lair. When using Super Sense, I only saw the dirt wall and the roots of the Giant Hanarusa tree. However, down there was still dangerous. It could be that there was a nest of centipedes, worms, or other monsters that were giant in size.

However, I'm curious.

After thinking for a while, I decided to go down the hole. I stepped to the edge of the hole, squatted down, then tried to put one foot in before Dimas finally pulled me up.

"What the heck are you doing?" he shouted in a high-pitched voice, his eyebrows rising like a pair of eagle's wings about to pounce on its prey. His big hand gripped my wrist tightly. "Don't go down just yet, you idiot! You want to go down there with all your luggage?"

Oh, that's right! I still carry the big bag on my back. If something untoward happened, it would hinder me later.

I took off my leather bag and robe and left them to Shella. After the three of us discussed the clues I found, we decided that only Dimas and I would go downstairs. While Shella kept my luggage and Dimas' on the surface.

Just in case, I brought the dagger I hung around my waist, along with the Viglet of Hope which I kept in my pocket. I originally wanted to carry a bow, but it didn't seem it would be suitable for underground combat. My stock of arrows was running low anyway. So using the bow in the next battle was a big no. I hope to visit the human city later. Of course, I wanna supply my arrows with new ones. Because there was no way I could buy it in Elvian city.

I rolled my eyes at Dimas. He hung a short sword at his waist and brought a small lantern. The underground must be dark. That thing was very much needed for an ordinary human like him. Unlike me, who had special senses, darkness was not a problem for me.

"You two, be careful! Remember to return immediately if you don't find anything down there!" Shella exclaimed, waving her hand. "Take this for your safety." Then the girl with waist-length hair gave painkillers and wound-drying ointment. So if something terrible happened, we could quickly take care of our bodies.

"Thank you, Kak Shella! Don't worry, we'll be right back," I replied softly, trying to calm the girl from everything she was worried about.

"Wow, it's so dark here!" Dimas's voice echoed out from the hole. I just realized he was already down there.

Ignoring Dimas, who was excited, I said goodbye to Shella again. I approached a hole that was sized to fit the width of an adult human body. At first, only the legs, but as minutes passed, my body sunk to the waist. I started to squirm as the hole got narrower and harder to pass. After a while of trying to go deeper, I felt my feet floating in an even broader space.

I tried to push myself down with great hardship but to no avail. It looked like this hole was getting narrower. If so, why did Dimas make it through while I didn't? While dwelling on useless thoughts, suddenly, my legs were pulled down by great strength.

"Ouch! Shit!" I groaned in pain as my upper body forcibly rubbed against the hole, but it helped me escape from the narrow hole.

I fell to the hard ground, then tried to get up. I caressed my left hand, which became the fulcrum as I fell earlier. It felt a little sore but fortunately didn't last long. The pain went away after a while. Dimas' presence made my head look up. Seeing the man extending his hand with a slightly worried face but harboring a sneering smile on his face.

"Are you okay?" asked Dimas. The man now didn't bother to hold back his laughter in front of me. His laughter echoed through this narrow underground passage.

Dimas pulled hard my body to get up when I accepted his outstretched hand. "Gosh! Is it hard for you to be more careful while helping others?" I cursed while patting my stained and dusty clothes.

"And ... does it take too long to go through that hole? You're even stuck! Could it be that you are becoming fat?"

"No way! My body is not much different from yours. I'm also confused as to why I'm the only one stuck in that hole?"

My childhood friend also observed my body from head to toe. "Yeah, you're indeed not fat. But …." For a moment, his gaze stopped at one point. I folded my arms in front of me and looked away because I felt uncomfortable with his eye. "I think I know the cause."

Immediately, I turned my palm to him, signaling Dimas to stop speaking further. I already knew what he meant.

"Enough! I don't want to hear anymore!" I said as I walked away from the man, going down an underground passage that I didn't know where to take me.

"Eh, weren't you really curious before? This kind heart Dimas will tell you the results of my analysis, you know?"

"I don't wanna!"

"Seriously, you don't want to know?" The man's voice sounded more and more disgusting in my ears. I hope he can learn to shut his noisy mouth. "Hear me out, Anggi! The reason you get stuck in the hole was your bo-."

A second later, I pulled the Viglet of Hope from the pocket of my shirt as fast as lightning and aimed it right in front of Dimas' nose. The man looked surprised and backed away slightly while raising his hand.

"Hold on! I'm just kidding!"

"I swear, Dimas! If you can't stay quiet, I'll blow you away with Esze!" I threatened in a loud and cold tone.

This annoying friend of mine was no longer able to speak. He looked scared even though he knew it was just a bluff. Maybe he realized his joke this time was too much and made me uncomfortable. I didn't know what exactly the reason was. But I was grateful because Dimas became quiet and didn't spout nonsense anymore.

I led Dimas down an underground passage that was engulfed in total darkness. To me, this place looked bright. My eyes could see crystal clear the surroundings without the help of an additional light source like Dimas, who was walking behind.

This hallway had a height of about three meters and a width of two meters. Sometimes in some parts, it narrowed or enlarged. In addition to the earthen wall, there were also hair roots of the Giant Hanarusa Tree.

I paused and investigated one of the hair roots sticking out of the ground. It was weird. When I touched it, the hair roots felt letting out the air. My fingers were blown by the gust of wind. When I sharpened my senses, it was confirmed that the entire root surface of the Hanarusa tree was indeed emitting fresh air. Maybe that was why the atmosphere here was fairly fresh and cool, even though it was located underground.

But this was a little weird. According to the science from my previous world, tree roots should have the function of absorbing air underground, not emitting it. After a moment of thought, I decided not to bother. Because all logic and science from Earth couldn't be fully applied in this world. Maybe the Hanurusa tree was a unique species with a different respiratory system from the others.

Ignoring that, I continued down the hallway again. I glanced at Dimas for a moment, he still didn't make a sound. Even though he usually nagged when I walked slowly. But never mind, I prefer quiet Dimas like this.

For some reason, as I walked down the tunnel to the lower level, I found the sound of water gurgling getting louder and louder. After more than an hour of walking through a cobbled path full of tree roots that crossed each other, I arrived at a very spacious room. This was the place I saw before with my Super Sense. My eyes looked around in amazement. In fact, the sound of water that had been heard came from a waterfall that fell from above. I looked up and thought the ceiling of this room was about a hundred meters high. The water fell down and formed a stream that surrounded this room, then flew into a cave that didn't know where it ended. Looking at the center, there was a vast plain built of bricks with the altar right in the middle. Several trees grew shady around the plains.

"Unbelievable! This place is far more beautiful than I imagined!" I said in amazement.

"Wow! This room is glowing. Truly remarkable!" exclaimed Dimas, who was also impressed by this sight.

"Glowing?" I replied curiously.

"Don't you see the turquoise-tinged rocks all over this place?"

After looking again, I found a lot of rocks stuck to the walls and ground surface. The size was not too big, maybe only about a fist. I didn't know if it glowed or not. It was likely that these rocks glowed in the dark to the ordinary human eye. So that was why Dimas put his little lantern on the ground and no longer used it.

"How can a place like this exist underground, huh?" I asked, still not moving where I was standing while at the same time looking at the vast space.

"What is clear is this place isn't naturally formed," replied Dimas.

"Could it be that Elvian built it?"

"I don't think so. Do you remember what Elzhar said? The Elvians use the Giant Hanarusa Tree as a ritual place when their feasts come. I assume they know nothing about this dungeon. If they had known, the ritual would have been held here. Maybe there are Elvian elders who know about this, but not most of the people."

"You are right. If the Elvians knew about this place, they would definitely place some guards at an important site like this. Then, who do you think made this place?"

"Hmm, this is just my opinion. There may be a civilization older than Elvian."

"Huh? Elvians have a very long life span. If there was a race before Elvians that had a long history, then this place could be millions of years old, correct?"

"I don't know. It's still uncertain. Maybe even older, or maybe this place has been created since this Juiller world began. Who knows anyway?"

I was stunned for a moment. If that's true, it means that this world has a very long human civilization. Surprisingly, I didn't find any such information in the Glafelden library. When I often read there, all the books mentioned that Elvian was the only race with the longest world history. It was even said that Elvian had existed since the time of the Gods.

Could there be any wrong information?

After thinking hard, I decided to put it aside. It was just a theory without proof. I better focus on what I have to do right now.

Preceding Dimas that still amazed looking around, I took a step closer to the altar. A vast plain stretched out before my eyes. It was probably twice the size of a football field put together. The surface was made of broken and irregular bricks, also overgrown with moss and grass. The path to the altar was lined with stone pillars about five meters high. On the side of the road were stone tables lined up at intervals of several meters. I didn't know what the function was. It was probably related to the altar in front of me.

I stepped my feet slowly down the road. After getting closer, I could clearly observe the building. This open-walled altar was supported by four thick stone pillars. The roof was built with shards of stone tiles that looked worn and cracked. A kind of podium and a small statue were placed in the middle of the altar.

I bent down my body so I could see clearly. The statue was no longer intact. Some parts have been destroyed and missing, such as parts of the body, wings, and part of head. I tried to reconstruct and imagine the statue's complete form with a little imagination.

It didn't take long. I managed to rebuild the statue's original structure in mind. I could quickly recognize it because the shape was very familiar to me. This statue was a bird that was perched. The body part may be similar to most ordinary birds. The distinctive feature that immediately made me recognize it was its head's shape. The statue had a pair of large eyeballs facing forward, and the fur on its head formed a circle. Based on those two things, even a fool would recognize this statue as an owl.

But... what exactly was the role of this owl statue here?

Now I was pretty sure the Wind Spirit Crystal was here. It reminded me that Prince Keylan told me the spirit crystal's location was underground. He probably had never been here before, so he couldn't tell the exact location. This means that according to Dimas' words, this place was only known by a few people. This dungeon held something of great value, so this information was forbidden to spread to the commoners. They purposely didn't put guards here to avoid the suspicion of others. At least, that was what I thought.

"So, where is the Wind Spirit Crystal if it's here? Should we start digging in the ground like archaeologists find dinosaur fossils?" Dimas complained skeptically. He circled the altar many times and looked around, perhaps trying to find a clue or two about the whereabouts of the spirit crystal.

"I told you it wouldn't be easy, did I? Do you think spirit crystals would just come at us and say, 'Yo Bro, What's up? Are you looking for me?'" I replied in a critical tone, a little emotional. I didn't think this was the right time to complain.

"Damn! I'll try to investigate on the other side!"

Dimas was away from the altar and went to the other side. I didn't know what kind of investigation he would do. The important thing was to avoid his complaining words that irritated me. While I still wanted to be here, observing the partially destroyed owl statue.

If you look closely, this owl has two pairs of wings. I only realized it because all the wings were folded. An owl with four wings? I didn't know why all the strange things seemed natural to me, considering the world I was in now. I would have laughed it off if I was still on Earth and thought it was merely a joke.

I wanted to see this animal in person if I could. An owl with four wings would definitely look marvelous and dashing. I wanted to catch one and keep it as a pet if there was one. Unknowingly my hand rubbed the head of the statue that had been destroyed in half.

An unexpected event happened. Suddenly the owl's eyes emitted light blue color. A small vortex of wind was created around the altar and then enveloped the statue in a short time. Slowly but surely, the stone statue reconstructed itself, starting from the wings, body, and head. In the next blink of an eye, the owl statue in front of me returned intact. Something was slightly different. Initially, this statue folded its wings. Now, he opened all his broad and dashing wings.

"Are you all right, Anggi?" asked Dimas very worriedly and helped me up. Apparently, I was unknowingly startled and fell to the ground.

"It's fine. I just fell down." I took his outstretched hand and stood up. Then I noticed that several whirlwinds were reaching the ceiling outside the altar. "We'd better get back to the surface. I have a bad feeling."

"Good idea!"

Dimas and I rushed out of the altar and into the hallway where we came from. It was pretty far from the altar. I had to cross a vast plain to get there. As soon as I reached the field's middle, my body shuddered in horror.

It can't be? On one wall of the room, a crack appeared from the ceiling. The fissure quickly spread downward and grew large, causing the earthen walls to crumble and dropping rocks and gravel. Fortunately, Dimas swiftly pulled my hand so the rubble wouldn't fall on me.

It was nothing compared to the terror I got next. From the gap created in the dirt wall, I saw a flash of light shining. A shiver sent down my spine, making this body stagnate and freeze where I stood. Only able to see a pair of glowing blue eyes watching me from within the gap.

"W-W-W-What is that…?"