Chapter 50: There’s a Dog!

“BOOM!!!”

Behind them, the core part of the cave’s support structure completely collapsed.

The violent blast of air, mixed with rubble and dust, swept forward from behind like a tsunami.

At the same time, the ground beneath their feet shattered entirely!

“Shit!”

Ian had no choice but to use all his strength to hurl Otillia and Sherivelle, whom he was holding, toward the doorway!

His control over his strength was excellent.

The two girls flew like light feathers, accurately passing through the door and landing safely.

As for Ian himself, due to the final burst of power and the recoil, coupled with the fact that there was no longer any footing beneath him, his body leaned back uncontrollably.

Finally, he followed Amivy and plunged into the dark abyss that swallowed everything.

“Ian!!!”

“Mr. Cat!!!”

Otillia and Sherivelle, who had been thrown out, tumbled to the ground.

Ignoring the pain, they scrambled to the closed door and screamed at the top of their lungs.

There was no response.

Only the deathly silence from the depths of the cave remained.

No matter how much Otillia bombarded it with Ice Spikes or Sherivelle attempted to warp it with Spatial Mana, the door remained motionless.

Its surface runes were dim, as if it had never been opened.

Despair, like a cold tide, flooded the two girls who had survived.

Otillia sat on the ground with her back against the cold door.

Her ice-blue eyes had lost their usual luster, leaving only emptiness and fear.

Sherivelle also collapsed to the side, her silver hair in disarray.

Her red pupils trembled violently, and she tightly gripped the Deep Blue Gem in her hand until her knuckles turned white.

Time passed in the deathly silence.

It was unknown how long it had been.

Suddenly, Otillia’s body jolted as if she had remembered something.

With trembling hands, she took out an exquisite, thumb-sized Crystal Bottle from her chest.

Inside the bottle was not liquid, but a small flower suspended within, emitting a faint white-gold glow.

This was a drop of Ian’s Essence Blood that Otillia had obtained when Ian was ‘sealing’ her memories.

She had refined it into this Flower of Life protective pendant.

As long as the owner of the blood was still alive, this small flower would remain in full bloom; otherwise, it would wither.

Right now, in the dim light, that white-gold flower was still blooming with vitality.

“He’s still alive…”

Otillia shouted in wild joy.

“Ian… he’s still alive!”

Sherivelle snapped her head around, staring fixedly at the light inside the Crystal Bottle.

A faint flame of hope reignited in her red eyes.

“Mr. Cat… is still alive…”

Highness Amivy’s fate was unknown, but Ian was still alive!

This realization was like the only light in the darkness, dispelling a portion of their despair.

The two girls looked at each other, both seeing the lingering fear of their narrow escape in the other’s eyes.

“We… can’t open this place,” Otillia forced herself to calm down, her ice-blue eyes recovering some of their former clarity.

“Indeed, there is no point in staying here. It will only consume our stamina and might attract other Demonic Creatures.”

Sherivelle nodded, struggling to steady her breathing.

“We have to… go back. We need to report the situation here and ask His Majesty to send people to rescue them.”

Otillia carefully tucked away the Crystal Bottle as if it were the most precious treasure in the world.

She stood up and patted the dust off her clothes.

Although her garments were torn and her appearance was disheveled, the resilience and calmness belonging to the eldest daughter of House Philemons were gradually returning.

Checking supplies, counting losses, and planning the route—various emergency tasks surfaced in her mind.

Sherivelle also struggled to her feet, carefully placing the Deep Blue Gem into her storage space.

She took one last look at the tightly closed door.

“Mr. Cat… please wait for us.”

A look of determination gathered in her red eyes once more.

***

The bottom of the abyss was much deeper and darker than imagined.

Amivy felt as if she had been falling through an endless void for a long time, so long that the concept of time became blurred.

However, the expected impact and the sensation of being smashed to pieces did not come.

She only felt her body pass through a layer of viscous, ice-cold water.

Then, she slammed heavily onto a hard but strangely elastic ground.

“Ugh…”

She groaned and struggled to sit up, immediately checking her body.

Miraculously, aside from the dizziness from the fall and some blunt pain from the impact, there wasn’t even a single obvious scratch on her.

Even her clothes were only stained with some dust and remained untorn.

This was completely illogical.

She immediately tried to mobilize the Holy Mana within her body, wanting to light up the surroundings.

However, her originally abundant and surging Mana was now firmly imprisoned, lying dormant in the deepest part of her body.

No matter how she called or guided it, it remained motionless.

It wasn’t that it was exhausted, but… it was completely ‘forbidden.’

Magic failed here.

Which meant this place was at least floor 70 or below!

This realization caused Amivy’s heart to sink suddenly.

She looked around, and as far as her vision could reach, there was only a thick, inseparable darkness.

There was no sound, no wind, and even her own breathing and heartbeat seemed to be swallowed and weakened by this darkness.

Absolute darkness, absolute silence, coupled with the helplessness of her Mana being sealed…

These factors combined caused certain ‘dead memories’ in Amivy to show signs of reviving.

Many years ago, on a similarly pitch-black and silent night of torrential rain.

Back then, she was still very young.

After being abandoned in the Slums by that man, she and her mother depended on each other for survival in a leaky, broken shack deep within the most chaotic Slums of the Imperial Capital.

It was a night of thunder, lightning, and pouring rain.

Her mother had not yet returned from work.

She was alone in the house, cold and hungry, surrounded by a strange and dangerous environment.

There was only endless darkness and the loneliness and fear of feeling abandoned by the entire world.

At that time, she huddled in a corner, hugging herself tightly, not even daring to cry out loud.

Right now, it was the same darkness, the same silence, and the same… lonely helplessness.

“No…”

Amivy subconsciously hugged her arms, her body trembling slightly.

Her eyes strained in the darkness to no avail; she could see nothing.

That vulnerability and fear, which had been deliberately forgotten and buried deep in her heart, were like vines growing in the darkness, quietly wrapping around her heart and tightening.

Just as the shadow of fear was about to completely swallow her sanity—

“Highness Arthur! Where are you?!”

A familiar voice, filled with anxiety and urgency, rang out.

Like a sharp arrow piercing the darkness, it suddenly stabbed into this deathly silence!

It was Kevin Caerslana’s voice!

He had fallen down too!

He was still alive!

And he was looking for her!

Wild joy instantly broke through the dam of fear!

Almost without thinking, Amivy used all her strength to shout a response in the direction of the voice, “Kevin! I’m here! Over here!”

Her voice carried far in the absolute silence, trembling with the thrill of survival and the excitement of finding a companion.

However, Ian’s next shout caused her wild joy to freeze instantly.

A frantic set of footsteps came from Ian’s direction, followed by his even louder shouting:

“He’s over there! There’s another person over there!! Go eat him! Stop chasing me!!”

Amivy: “?”