SSS-Rank Engineer: Only I Can Create Legendary Weapons

Would not recommend being swallowed by the earth, Percy can confidently put it as one of the top ten worst things that have ever happened to him.

Right next to being born.

His skin and clothes grinded against the walls of what felt like a dark, narrow tunnel. There was no wind rushing in his ears, just silence and his own grunts. And the tunnel grew more narrow as he fell.

Soon he stopped falling and was just sliding against the stone. He looked up, but it was all that was there was tight darkness.

He couldn't see past his chest. All he could hear was his heart roaring in his ears.

And The pressure was getting worse.

The tunnel closed into his body and he finally stopped, trapped in place. He felt some dust fall onto his face as cold sweat ran down his spine.

"This is okay, this is okay," he repeated to himself, breathing through his nose and trying to stay calm.

The rocks grew tighter around his body, his elbows began to burn, and his knees pressed against each other. But he had to stay calm.

The way to survive this had been carved into the walls of the temple.

"All children must return to the earth, accept it with open hands and you will find the mother's womb."

Getting to the center of the temple was a trial in itself, one which was needed to get the Prosperity. That was likely why they sacrificed Ramona; if she could transform into sand like Sebas, then she would pass this trial and get to the center.

The key to passing was steady hands, to embrace death without fear.

Percy thought he could do that, but it wasn't as easy as accepting his first death. Right now he genuinely did not want to die. He needed to live and see Jason, Aella, Hecate, and Terra again.

He also needed to protect them, so he came down here without a second thought. To stop the Baskers from bringing Python into this world and to get the Prosperity for House Amphene.

Courage rose in his chest like a long breath. He pushed the walls and, to his surprise, they separated. For a second he smiled, but then he started falling again.

This time the fall lasted until he saw a light beneath his feet.

"I'm falling too fast!" he shouted. On instinct he closed his eyes and began calling the spirits to him to cast a spell.

All the time he spent meditating combined with his high affinity paid off. He channelled spirit energy the wind spirits and began chanting.

"Drive of the world, swift and free, Rush the gale, surge through me."

He faced upward in an attempt to reduce the speed, but [Tailwind] wasn't powerful enough.

Soon he passed through the hole and found a bright, expansive cavern filled with golden crystals.

And a wide lake beneath the hole.

"That's nice, I guess," he said before slamming into the water with enough force and cold to wake him up from death.

He didn't start swimming immediately, focusing on floating first in case he had cold shock. Once he was sure he could feel his limbs, he started swimming.

[Tailwind] had deactivated for some reason.

He was underwater so he couldn't blame the wind spirits for stopping. He swam well either way and soon got to shore, gasping as his head broke the water surface and looking around.

The cavern was even larger than he thought, brightly lit with soft golden light. He got out of the lake, scanning the area for danger as he dried his clothes.

Those crystals are huge.

"That was so… much better than I expected," he said.

The fall could have turned him into a pancake with the lake or his bones could have been broken before he managed to calm down.

"Can you even be calm after your bones break? Your body will go into crisis mode."

Maybe the priests of Gaia believed in mind over matter. He put that aside and started walking forward. The cave had an end, and he had to reach it quickly.

Thalos and the others were still fighting up there; he needed to find a way to help them. And he already had a few good ideas on how.

A sound cut through his thoughts as he marched forward, a groan from a crystal—a slight shift. He rolled his eyes as the crystal began to rise from the ground.

"It can never be too easy, huh?"

Four legs extended from the yellow creature and green light radiated from two holes in its head that must have been its eyes. It let out a low rumble, towering over him menacingly.

"What part of the trial is this?" Percy muttered, resummoning his Spellbolt in a flash of light.

He wasn't even sure how to start attacking these monsters.

The crystal beast surged forward, earth quaking and fracturing under its feet. Percy enhanced his legs only, focusing his spirit on them first. Once the beast reached him it raised a leg to crush him and he dove under it in a single powerful burst.

He was really getting the hang of focusing his intent to shape Fighting spirit. The mechanics of his takeoff carried him beneath the crystal beast instantly. Then he split the enhancement between his legs and eyes, tracking the moving feet of the monster.

It tried sitting on him, but he was a step ahead of it, already dashing from under its body and jumping on its lowered leg to climb the body.

Before the beast could understand what was happening he got to the very top of its pointy head and sat there for a moment, thinking.

The crystal creature let out a low rumbling roar that made its entire body vibrate and started shaking its body.

"Relax, buddy, the only way you can get me off is by falling over," Percy teased. "And I don't think you can get up on your own if that happens."

But its roar wasn't so much about complaint; rather it was about waking up its comrades. More crystal beasts ripped themselves from the earth and reciprocated its howl, shaking the entire cavern.

Percy clicked his tongue and got up.

"They don't have hands though, just short stubby legs, they can't do anything."

Then one of them began glowing brighter.

"I apologise for speaking badly about your legs."

Multiple of the monsters fired rays of golden light at him. Percy slid down the rough crystal body of the monster he was riding to avoid them.

"Aren't they worried about hurting their friend?"

His answer came when the golden beams simply bounced off the crystal body of the monster, refracting in multiple directions, creating lasers that cut into stone and left red molten lines in their wake.

Percy kept a firm grip on the lower side of the monster's body, cursing under his breath.

"That's so freaking cool and unfair at the same time."

He kicked off the wall of crystal he was hanging on as he saw another beast charging at him. The two beasts collided behind him and he landed on the floor with a graceful roll.

Then he jumped onto the foot of another beast that was trying to crush him and began a little game.