Looking at Liyami, who was off in her own world doing who-knows-what, Lavinia, who had been completely ignored, finally couldn’t hold back any longer. She pressed her question again, “So what on earth happened to you just now? Why did you suddenly jump up? Did you discover something new?”
Only after Lavinia repeated her question did Liyami snap out of her thoughts. But when she answered, it was with a halfhearted tone.
“…Hmm? Ah, it’s nothing, I just had a nightmare.”
“A nightmare? Just a nightmare? Even you have nightmares?”
Lavinia clearly didn’t quite believe Liyami’s answer. But since Liyami didn’t look like she wanted to discuss the topic further, Lavinia had no choice but to drop it for now.
“By the way, how are Colin and the others doing?”
Liyami suddenly remembered what had happened before she fainted and hurriedly asked about Colin and the others’ condition.
“Don’t worry, Colin’s fine. He’s just exhausted all his strength, so he’s still resting. As for Sivney and Eleanor, they’re about the same. Sivney’s condition is a bit worse because of magic backlash, but thanks to Captain Laryan’s divine arts, she’s feeling much better. Once Eleanor recovers, she should be all right too.”
Although Lavinia was a little displeased that Liyami had separated Colin from Sivney and the others when asking, she still honestly reported the current situation.
Liyami quickly caught the key point—Captain Laryan’s divine arts? Could it be that the Order of Knights had escaped as well?
Thinking of this, Liyami hurriedly questioned Lavinia about it. As expected, Lavinia’s answer confirmed her guess.
“Of course we’ve all escaped. Didn’t you notice we’re already on the other side of the Broken Bridge?”
With Lavinia’s words, Liyami finally realized she was already on the far side of the Broken Bridge. The surroundings weren’t the same as the battleground where they fought the “Endless Faller”—it was a fresh area, unmarred by any trace of battle. They had truly escaped their predicament!
“As for the Order of Knights, they’re all over there. Colin’s with them, too.”
Following Lavinia’s gesture, Liyami saw the members of the Order of Knights resting nearby. Sure enough, Colin was among them. He looked tired, but his spirits seemed good.
It was worth mentioning that he was currently surrounded by several beautiful young female paladins, who appeared to be fussing over him of their own accord. Though Colin was clearly embarrassed, he couldn’t resist their enthusiasm and had to accept their care.
Just then, Colin suddenly noticed Liyami watching him from a distance. He wasn’t sure when she’d woken up, but she was now staring at him with an expression of disdain, making him extremely uncomfortable.
Incidentally, Lavinia was giving him a similar look, but Colin subconsciously ignored her—after all, Lavinia often looked at him that way, and he was already used to it.
Seeing the situation, Colin wanted to send away the young female paladins crowding around him, but their fervor was simply too much for him to handle.
And so, in this predicament, Liyami simply snorted and turned her head away, leaving Colin feeling utterly helpless. It wasn’t like he wanted things to be this way, but he truly didn’t know what to do!
Unfortunately, Liyami couldn’t hear Colin’s thoughts—and right now, she didn’t want to.
Liyami turned to the other side, where Captain Laryan was. She was leading a small group of paladins who still had energy left, inspecting the buried entrance. It looked like she was pondering how to get inside the chamber without causing a collapse.
At this, Liyami couldn’t help but be impressed—Captain Laryan really was robust for her age. Even Colin was resting, but after holding the line against the enemy horde for so long, Laryan still had the energy to tackle other tasks. She truly deserved to be called a high-ranking officer who’d survived the Great War between Man and Demon.
With that sigh, Liyami looked over at Sivney and Eleanor.
Eleanor was resting, waiting until she’d recovered some strength before casting divine arts on Sivney. Sivney, for her part, lay beside Eleanor with an uncomfortable expression. Although her condition seemed poor, it didn’t look serious. Presumably, once Eleanor recovered, Sivney would be fine too.
Seeing Sivney’s pained expression, Liyami couldn’t help but say, “I didn’t expect Sivney’s plan would actually work. Honestly, I thought the plan was pretty dumb at first.”
At Liyami’s comment, Lavinia’s expression suddenly turned strange. She glanced at Liyami, then said in a peculiar tone, “Uh, actually… her plan can’t really be considered a success.”
“…? What do you mean?”
Liyami was puzzled by Lavinia’s hesitant words. Wasn’t their current safety precisely because Sivney’s plan had worked? If the plan hadn’t succeeded, then how were they all right now?
Faced with Liyami’s questioning, Lavinia wasn’t sure how to explain, so she simply pointed toward the Broken Bridge.
“…It’s hard to explain. You should see for yourself. Only then will you understand why Sivney’s plan can’t be called a success.”
Hearing the conflicted tone in Lavinia’s voice, Liyami became even more confused. She didn’t know what was going on, but it was clear from Lavinia’s demeanor that something had happened outside of Sivney’s plan.
So, following Lavinia’s direction, Liyami walked over to the Broken Bridge. But to her puzzlement, she didn’t see anything different from before.
It wasn’t until Lavinia told her to look down that she did so, curiosity piqued.
And the moment she did, Liyami’s mouth fell open in shock. She’d had many guesses just now, but she never expected this.
What surprised Liyami wasn’t that there was something bizarre beneath the Broken Bridge—but rather, that there was nothing at all, only pure darkness.
And that was the problem! All that remained beneath the bridge was darkness brought on by the absence of light and depth; gone was the abyssal, sinister darkness that had been there before! The chasm below, once emanating a powerful aura of evil, had vanished!
Where had that overwhelming, evil abyss gone? Did it grow legs and run away on its own? Like the “Endless Faller”?
Staring at the pitch-black void below—a darkness entirely different from before—Liyami’s mind raced, not knowing what to think. After a while, she managed to regain her composure and turned back to Lavinia.
“So, when did it become like this down there?”
“Uh, I’d say about thirty minutes ago? Or maybe forty. I wasn’t keeping exact time, so I’m not sure.”
Lavinia answered Liyami’s question honestly, though she herself had no idea why things had turned out this way.
“And it’s not just below the bridge—it’s the same above.”
Following Lavinia’s words, Liyami looked up at the top of the Broken Bridge. The deep, black dome that had once loomed above was also gone, leaving only pure darkness brought on by the lack of light.
Seeing this, it took Liyami a while to recover from her shock.
She had no idea what had happened, but one thing was for sure: the answer definitely wasn’t that the abyss grew legs and ran away. Something else must have happened to cause this.
Liyami looked back at Lavinia, who knew hardly more than she did, and carefully reconsidered the questions churning in her heart.