The Defender

An uncountable number of cave openings lined the walls of where the whirlpool gathered, also known as the underside of the inner city. The Catacombs.

These caves were somehow not overflowing with water. In Elijah's encounter with the hooded man, he had a direct view of the whirlpool flowing rapidly right outside the opening of the cave.

As Elijah was floating overtop of the raging whirlpool, he thought about his options of getting into the catacombs.

The only true option if I want to explore would be to go through the whirlpool, and enter the lower caves with the hope of finding an area where I am alone. Any other option would spell disaster once I run out of mana. Ironing his mind, Elijah dipped his hands into the cold water and felt nothing. No force pulled him in, causing him to lose consciousness. He was exactly where he was.

"Haha, time to go!"

Elijah took a deep breath to hold as much air as his tiny lungs could hold, and slowly dove into the whirlpool. Instantly he noticed his invisibility being disrupted, so he stopped channeling his mana into the suit. After thirty seconds of loving through the whirlpool, Elijah met the wall with his palms. An unusually smooth wall for a crater. He was running out of breath, and needed to choose a cave to fly into. Every cave was pitch black, and he knew if he kept descending, he would raise his chances of being completely alone.

WHOOSH

While struggling to hold his breath any longer, his body forcibly pushed himself through a cave opening, and was met with a familiar sight of glowing plants and dripstones. After coughing and regaining his breath, a single word exited his mouth. "Incredible!"

This was not the same cave whatsoever, and was wildly different by one simple fact.

The size.

What seemed like the size of a football stadium was filled with glowing plants, mana crystals, random stone erections, and a pool of glowing teal water surrounding a giant red and white mushroom with glowing gills.

Since Elijah's suit was no longer activated, he took off the head piece as he started walking forward on the moist stone. "This kingdom has been alive for six thousand years and they haven't discovered this?"

Walking to the right he found a blue mana crystal sitting deep into the stone. However, it was not the only affinity crystal in sight. Many reddish-orangish, white, brown and more blue crystals were scattered around the humongous cavern that totaled around fifteen. Elijah carefully split the space around the crystal and stored it in his spatial storage. However, he wasn't done yet. A white mana crystal which he assumed was air was only roughly fifty feet away from him, just next to a tunnel opening.

After harvesting the white mana crystal he shoved it into his spatial storage which was now completely full. Two mana crystals, and one knife. If he wanted to, he could expand the spatial storage, but it would require a lot more mana. I need to get to the bright core stage! Elijah continued observing his surroundings while walking closer and closer towards the giant mushroom. Now that he was closer, Elijah noticed small floating particles flying around the mushroom in indistinguishable directions. Visible mana?

The wet footsteps disappeared as he flew over the pool of water and stood right next to the trunk of the mushroom. The soft, squishy, yet firm trunk of the mushroom continued to appear mysterious as Elijah touched it.

"So it's just a big mushroom…"

There were 3 cave openings in the massive cavern, and Elijah chose to go through the one closest to the entrance. However, the moment he stepped into the cavern, he froze.

Two massive red dots appeared in the distance, and knowing earbuds were not a thing in this world, Elijah took flight as fast as possible, and flew toward the opening facing the whirlpool. With the mask back on, he activated his invisibility which left him with less than forty percent of his mana left.

"Let's see what this creature is…"

Large shiny pincers in the numbers of eight came out from the large shadowed tunnel. Not too long after, the body of what looked like a heavily oversized spider with green dots on its black skin showed itself and began stretching?

'A mix between a crab and a spider . How interest—'

SHING!

The spider shot forward with the speed of a catapult, drew forward its pincer, and sliced through Elijah's spatial barrier that he conjured out of fear, with ease.

"SHIT, IT CAN SEE ME!!"

Elijah fumbled to the floor after flying directly into the ceiling. From the pain, his right shoulder was completely broken. His only option was to escape, but the spider had other plans.

The spider was unloading its pincers from the ceiling while rocks were falling right next to Elijah. And within seconds, the spider was falling directly on top of Elijah, with his pincer aimed at his chest. The slow fall gave Elijah a chance to create a translucent and pearlescent rimmed portal to redirect the attack, which used half the mana he had left.

A green liquid oozed out of the spider's face, and when the portal disappeared, the roach it was chasing had flown behind it, and somehow cut off one of its pincers at the level of its knuckle. A screeching sound bounced off the walls of the cavern and caused the mushroom, and the mana crystals, to fall out of their sockets.

It seemed like the spider knew where Elijah's escape route was, as it positioned itself directly in front of the torrent of water. A Black and green liquid oozed out of its body and formed the shape of a scythe that extended from its pincers. A scythe of death, that would not grant its enemy an instant death, but a torturous death from the poison within. Combining this with its clicking and groaning noises, this beast was instilling fear into Elijah like nothing he has ever felt before.

I have no way of escaping this! What mana core does this treacherous spider have?! And how the hell can it see me?!

Elijah thought of many possibilities of escape, but only one crossed his mind that would allow him to avoid fighting. This spider has been playing with me by not using any of its magical abilities, and only the strength of its body. Now with this scythe made of what is most likely poison magic, almost every spell I cast will be completely useless. Not to mention the spider intentionally blocking off my escape route.

Mana surged out of Elijah's body, and was sent behind the spider and in front of Elijah's body. Something he had not been able to do, due to the amount of mana it required, was finally possible with the help of the amount of mana in this cavern. With a single step, Elijah appeared behind the spider and flew into the raging whirlpool, but felt a slight pain on his leg that was dulled by the adrenaline.

Within the torrent of the whirlpool Elijah tumbled while his body wreathed in pain. Instead of moving with the direction of the whirlpool, his body sank deeper, and eventually reached an unknown space.

Nothing.

The only thing Elijah saw before feeling the same feeling he felt when he was forcibly pulled under water in his first exploration. Absolutely nothing…. An infinite black void.