NOVEL NEXT Chapter 492: The Bottomless Descent
Beastfall City held its breath. The entire population stood on edge, watching in disbelief.
The city, once torn apart, was rising into the sky. Its two halves drifted closer, and a deep rumble echoed as the jagged edges began to fuse. Crumbled sections of the walls lifted and settled back into place as if time itself had reversed. What had taken the people of Beastfall City a year to restore not even a fraction of was now repaired in minutes. And still, the city floated high above the abyss, a living fortress in the sky.
"Master, the seal suppressing Beastfall City is in trouble. You need to check it out!" Beastie's voice, boyish and overeager, rang in Ethan's Mindscape. The Sigil of the Wild Legion flickered into a streak of light and sank into him.
Ethan's eyes, however, were fixed on the City Lord's mansion. The place unsettled him. His Soul Sense, sharp enough to sweep through most defenses, was being blocked entirely. That shouldn't have been possible unless someone of Saint rank or higher was involved—someone who specialized in Soul Energy. And in the Sea of Death, only the Windspirit Faction of Hurricane City was known to wield such power. The thought made his gut tighten. Whatever was unfolding here had their fingerprints all over it.
"Julian, help Micah. I'll handle what's below."
He wasn't about to barge into the City Lord's mansion without knowing more. The seal beneath Beastfall City was the real danger. Beastie had warned him, and he knew well enough that an ancient presence slumbered down there—the same one the Dragon Child had been obsessed with for years.
Without another word, Ethan shot out of Beastfall City, twisted midair, and dove beneath it. A colossal chasm yawned below, endless and black. The city had once rested atop it, but now the great abyss had been cleaved in two by the scar of a blade. In its very heart lay a smaller, even darker cave, a hole that seemed to lead nowhere.
Ethan hovered at its mouth, inverted, staring into the void. That was when the pull came. A violent suction clamped around his legs and yanked him downward. His chest jolted with alarm, but his body responded at once. He triggered Force Resonance, silver light rippling across his muscles in layered waves.
He stamped against the air, each stride setting the void itself quivering. His ascent tore against the suction, forcing his body higher despite the invisible drag.
"What the hell is this?" he snarled. His Soul Sense reached out and found nothing, yet the pull only grew stronger, clinging to him like the arms of some unseen beast.
With a final thunderous step, Ethan collapsed the void beneath him. He prepared to call Shatterstar, but the chance never came. The suction surged, far stronger than before, and ripped him off balance. In an instant he was swallowed by the cave, dragged helplessly into the depths.
The roar of wind filled his ears, sharper and sharper as his descent quickened. Then, just as suddenly, the pulling force released him. Ethan spread his will to halt himself, to break free, but discovered he couldn't fly at all. The air here rejected him. This was a no-fly zone, and he was falling straight into it.
Minutes dragged by. Ten of them passed, and Ethan was still falling, his body swallowed by the dark abyss. His speed only grew sharper with each passing heartbeat, the velocity pushing toward something unreal.
"What the… is this really a bottomless pit?"
The thought clawed at him. If there was a ground waiting at the end of this fall, the impact would be devastating. Even with his body, the strength that had carried him through countless battles, he'd be reduced to pulp under the weight of his own momentum. He couldn't let it go on. Whether the pit stretched on forever or not, he needed to slow down.
The pressure was already gnawing at him, every layer of air hammering against his frame like a thousand invisible fists. If he kept accelerating unchecked, gravity itself would crush him. His brows knitted as his gaze slid to the walls rushing past in the darkness.
"Luna… transform… Ursar's Claws."
Metal rang out, the clang echoing like a strike of steel. Sparks burst to life as Ethan extended his clawed hand and dug into the rock face. Crackling flashes lit the void around him, the friction screaming in protest. A cold like glacial water surged through his arm the instant he touched the stone. It was the kind of cold that bit deep, freezing marrow and bone.
"What kind of place is this?" His breath steamed in the unnatural chill. "What's sealed down here? The Dragon Child obsessed over it for so long, but never once explained… And this tunnel—it's too long. It can't be leading to the Umbral Star's core, can it? No. If it were, I'd feel heat. This is the opposite."
The claws screeched as he dragged them along, slowing his plunge until finally he managed to stop. His body hung in the black vastness, no longer falling but surrounded by silence. The suction from above had disappeared—thankfully. Without that reprieve, he wouldn't have been able to anchor himself at all.
He peered down, but it was hopeless. The abyss remained pitch black, as though the pit had no end. Even focusing his Soul Sense into a piercing line—sharp, precise, reaching a hundred kilometers—it still failed to touch bottom. This wasn't just a deep cavern. It was something that defied reason.
He tilted his head back, staring upward, though the darkness swallowed that direction too. When he had first entered, he assumed the path would lead directly to the sealed area Beastie had warned about. That assumption had vanished now. More than ten minutes of falling and still no end.
He was trapped between two impossibilities. Climbing back up would be painfully slow, and if the suction force still lingered at the entrance, all that effort would mean nothing. But continuing downward blind meant risking a fall that could end him in the ugliest way imaginable.
Ethan clenched his jaw and forced his Soul Sense to its limit. His eyes shone with a stark white light as he compressed his soul into the thinnest line possible, extending it far beyond its usual breadth. The thread of awareness lashed downward, reaching further and further until it cut across three hundred kilometers. And still, nothing.
His teeth ground together. No choice left. He wrenched his claws free of the wall, the screech echoing through the pit.
Swoosh! His body dropped like a stone once again, the air roaring past him. Pressure mounted in waves, heavier and heavier, threatening to tear muscle from bone. Each time the force reached the edge of what his body could endure, he braced against the wall, slowed his descent with sparks and claws, and then pushed off again.