Chapter 38: Descent into the Hive

Elara retrieved an iron pickaxe from her spatial ring.

Seeing the pickaxe suddenly appear, Hilvyn instinctively recoiled a couple of steps.

“Why would the master bring something like this?”

“Just in case, of course,” Elara said, brandishing the pickaxe. “And now we’re using it, aren’t we?”

A crisp, rhythmic chiseling echoed through the cavern.

The wall proved quite thick. Her Ice Wind magic was of little use here, let alone her Dark-elemental spells.

“Phew~” After a long spell of arduous work, Elara shook her numb arms. “I’m exhausted.”

“Perhaps we should rest for a bit?” Hilvyn suggested.

“Sounds good.”

Elara tossed the pickaxe aside and settled directly onto the ground.

Hilvyn immediately stepped forward, gently massaging her shoulders and patting her back.

Elara stared at the newly chiseled hole, lost in thought, until a sudden realization struck her.

‘Ice fireworks contain compressed wind, don’t they?’

“They do. Why, Master?” Hilvyn peered over her shoulder.

Elara pointed at the hole. “Let’s inject compressed wind into it, then seal it with ice. We can see if that will blast it open.”

Hilvyn nodded. “Alright!”

In just a few moments, the carved rock cavity was sealed shut by solid white ice.

The two retreated a safe distance.

Hilvyn’s thoughts stirred, and with a muffled thud, the stone wall instantly fractured with a web of cracks.

“Excellent!”

Elara once again grabbed the iron pickaxe, and in a few swift strikes, she broke open a hole large enough for a person to pass through. They entered the opening one after another.

With the glow lamp illuminated, this branching tunnel, though much wider, otherwise seemed no different from the passageway they had just left.

“Let’s go.”

The two proceeded along the tunnel.

“It’s so vast, this cavern,” Hilvyn couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Indeed.”

They walked for less than ten minutes before the passage abruptly ended.

Elara couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment.

All that effort to carve a path, only for it to lead to nothing. She would have even preferred encountering a monster or two.

How vexing.

Just then, her spatial perception detected an anomaly.

Beneath the floor they stood on, numerous fist-sized hollows were hidden, each containing a spherical object. She had been so focused on the space above and to her sides that she had overlooked what lay beneath their feet.

“Hilvyn.” Elara had no intention of returning empty-handed.

“What is it, Master?”

“There’s something below.”

Elara once again produced her iron pickaxe, digging vigorously into the ground.

The floor here was merely a brittle crust, and the “ground” beneath it was even more fragile.

Elara could roughly guess that this was a subterranean monster’s lair, though she couldn’t yet identify the specific creature.

She was digging with enthusiasm, pickaxe blow after pickaxe blow, just about to reach the first spherical object.

Without warning, the ground beneath them suddenly gave way.

“Oh, for…”

Elara snapped back to her senses.

She had taken it for granted that this was a subterranean lair, overlooking the possibility that this “lair” was, in fact, the ceiling.

So, she and Hilvyn were standing on a ceiling, digging downwards.

Hilvyn also realized their predicament.

Their eyes met, cold sweat beading on their foreheads. They dared not make any rash moves.

How vast was the hole below? How deep? How many monsters lurked within?

All of it was unknown, and the unknown often bred the greatest fear and terror.

“Master.” Hilvyn’s legs trembled slightly. “How…”

Before she could finish, the ground beneath them completely collapsed.

“Ah————”

Hilvyn’s scream stretched into a prolonged echo, reverberating through the vast cavern.

Wind rushed in from all directions, icy cold, like countless needles pricking her face. Elara desperately tried to remain calm.

But the terror of falling was an instinct deeply ingrained in land-dwelling creatures. Her mind went blank; she couldn’t even form a coherent thought.

‘Who am I? Where am I?’

As their altitude rapidly decreased, the light emanating from below forcefully fed information into Elara’s brain: a liquid surface reflecting light, appearing as a dark sheen to her eyes.

‘Water!’

The thought flashed and vanished as their descent accelerated.

Elara exerted her utmost effort to adjust her posture, aiming to enter the water feet first.

“Splash!”

Two splashes sounded almost simultaneously.

Elara’s feet instantly went numb; hitting the water felt like her legs had been violently struck by iron hammers.

First came a numbing pain, so intense she wished to faint on the spot, followed closely by the bone-chilling cold of the water, which forced her brain and consciousness back to alertness.

‘It hurts so much.’

‘How could falling into water hurt this much?’

‘It’s so cold.’

‘So cold that my entire body, every bone, aches.’

Even with a body forged by magic, the impact from such a height was still unbearable.

‘Hilvyn… Where is Hilvyn?’

Elara suddenly gathered her breath, determined to find Hilvyn.

She struggled to swim to the surface. Surrounding vines and minerals emitted various soft glows, illuminating a scene resembling a small oasis.

Elara quickly scanned her surroundings, her gaze locking onto Hilvyn floating on the water’s surface. Hilvyn’s legs floated unnaturally, like two lifeless pieces of driftwood. Elara grabbed her legs, dragging her with all her might towards the shore.

The moment Elara reached the shore, she immediately fumbled for her pouch, intending to retrieve a life-recovery potion.

Her waist was empty…

The pouch was gone!

A wave of immense despair, mingled with the numbness in her legs, struck her mind like a physical blow.

Then, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of her finger—the spatial ring was still there.

She suddenly remembered having looked for the ring earlier, and Hilvyn had reminded her to wear it. It seemed Hilvyn’s simple reminder had just saved her life again.

Swiftly, she drank a bottle of high-grade life-recovery potion. Elara’s legs were now so numb from the cold that they had lost all sensation; they were likely broken in more than just one or two places.

After drinking the potion, her first priority was to check Hilvyn’s condition.

Hilvyn’s face and lips were deathly pale, her silver hair lying limply on the grass. Just like her, Hilvyn’s breath was shallow and precarious.

But Elara was certain Hilvyn wasn’t dead—she could still feel the unbroken connection of their s*ave contract.

It appeared Hilvyn had also managed to maintain a feet-first entry into the water; otherwise, she would most likely have perished on impact.

The most pressing matter now was…

From the narrow shaft above, the sound of beating wings grew louder, drawing nearer.

It wasn’t the echo bouncing off the cavern walls, but a deafening, overwhelming roar of wings.

The soft light from the surroundings shot into the air, reflecting off countless wings and back into Elara’s eyes.

The nest had been destroyed, and its occupants were naturally displeased, showing no signs of letting them off easily.

Ground-nesting bees. The sky above was filled with countless ground-nesting bees, layered and dense.

These worker bees were C-rank monsters, but if confronted head-on, even A-rank monsters without magical abilities would surely perish.

‘Run!’

Only that single thought remained in Elara’s mind.

‘Run with Hilvyn!’

She gripped Hilvyn’s hand and hoisted her onto her back.

Hilvyn suddenly coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, accompanied by a broken groan.

“Hilvyn, you—!”

Elara instinctively thought she had woken up, but her eyes remained closed, her brows tightly furrowed.

The impact of the water had caused varying degrees of internal injury to Hilvyn’s organs; even a slight jolt could make her cough up blood.

Her body was utterly limp, like a puddle of mud. Only the faint heartbeat pressed against Elara’s back confirmed she was still alive.

Elara dared not stop, carrying Hilvyn deeper into the unknown. With every step, the person on her back expelled more blood.

The sight pained Elara deeply.

The sound of beating wings behind them grew closer, feeling as though they would be swarmed at any second.

‘Please, let there be somewhere to hide!’

The oasis was small, with only about twenty trees, and they reached its end in just a few steps.

Miraculously, a cave appeared in her desperate prayers. Elara’s heart leaped with joy, and relying on her spatial perception, she plunged into the dark cavern.

The worker bees did not pursue them further, stopping at the cave entrance. After circling twice, they returned to their nest.