Chapter 168: A Strange Cave.
Meanwhile...
Jake slowly lowered the arm he had raised to shield his face and looked around with a confused expression.
The underground training ground was gone.
Instead, he was standing inside a spacious cave.
The air was cool and damp, carrying a faint mineral scent.
And above him, the ceiling arched high enough that even if he stretched his arm upward, he wouldn’t come close to touching it.
Thick stone walls spread outward in all directions, uneven and naturally formed, with faint veins of pale crystal running through the rock like frozen lightning.
Those crystals gave off a weak, bluish glow.
It wasn’t too bright... just enough to keep the cave from falling into total darkness.
"...What?"
His voice echoed faintly.
Jake turned in a slow circle to looked around, his boots scraping softly against the stone floor.
The ground beneath him was uneven but wide, almost like a natural hall rather than a narrow tunnel.
Scattered rocks lay across the floor, some small, others large enough to serve as crude pillars.
In the distance, he could hear water dripping... a slow, steady tap... tap... tap... echoing from somewhere deeper inside.
Jake’s brows furrowed.
"...Where the hell is this?"
He didn’t move right away.
Instead, he stood still and forced himself to think.
The artifact had reacted the moment they found it.
Barbara had recognized it instantly and shouted a warning.
Then the light swallowed everything.
...And now he was here.
Jake’s eyes swept across the cave again, colder this time.
The stone here was natural, not cut, and the air was damp, not dry.
The space was far too wide to be a hidden storage room or a sealed chamber beneath the guild.
’A transfer?’
That was the first possibility that came to mind.
Some kind of enchanted artifact that forcibly moved the person who touched it... or even the person standing too close.
Jake looked down at his hands.
No burns and no wounds.
His body felt the same as before.
So it wasn’t an attack meant to kill him on the spot.
"...That made it worse in a different way."
Jake’s gaze darkened as he murmured.
’Then this place is either a sealed space... or another location entirely.’
He listened carefully and heard only dripping water.
There were no footsteps, no voices, and no sign of another person.
Jake clicked his tongue as he finally realized something.
If Aria had disappeared from the training ground, there was a chance she had been pulled in the same way.
Maybe earlier.
Maybe hours ago.
That would explain why she never went to her next assignment.
Jake slowly exhaled.
’So that’s why [Instinct] reacted.’
But at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder why there was such an artifact inside a training ground, left carelessly like that on the floor?
But then, Jake shook his head.
It wasn’t time to think about that.
For now, he had to find a way out... and also Aria and the maids.
They had probably been teleported here by that sword just like him.
He rested his hand near his weapon and looked deeper into the glowing cave.
It seemed like there was only one path to go from here.
The wide cavern narrowed ahead into a single stone passage, sloping slightly downward.
Weak blue light from the crystal veins continued along the walls, stretching into the tunnel like a faint trail.
Steeling himself, Jake started walking.
His footsteps echoed softly against the stone.
Slowly, the air grew cooler the farther he went, and the dripping water ahead became clearer... slow, steady, and strangely regular.
And Jake kept his eyes moving.
Left wall.
Right wall.
Ceiling.
Floor.
Nothing jumped out at him.
But the silence itself felt wrong.
A place this spacious shouldn’t feel so empty.
’Strange. If Aria and the other maids was brought here first... they should have left some trace.’
Jake’s pace stayed controlled, not fast and not careless as he paid attention to every detail around him.
Soon, the tunnel gradually opened again after a short stretch, revealing another wide hollow inside the cave.
Jake stopped at the edge of it and scanned the area.
"...Aria?"
His voice traveled through the stone chamber and faded.
But there was still no answer.
Only the same distant dripping.
Jake’s expression hardened as he stepped further in and noticed that the chamber ahead didn’t have one path.
...It had several.
Three stone passages opened from the far side of the hollow, each one similar at first glance.
The same pale crystal veins ran along their walls.
The same damp air drifted out from within.
Jake frowned at this.
This was different from before.
A single path had at least been simple.
But now he had to choose.
Jake stood still for a moment, listening intently.
At the left tunnel, there was still that faint dripping noise.
While in the middle tunnel, he could sense a slightly stronger airflow.
As for the right tunnel... it was silent.
His [Instinct] stirred again, but it wasn’t pointing clearly at any one of them.
Just a low, persistent warning that this place itself wasn’t safe.
Jake hesitated.
If he picked the wrong path, he might lose more time.
Worse, he might walk even farther from Aria and the other maids.
He stared at the three tunnels, his fingers tightening near his weapon.
"...Which way did you go?"
Jake stood there for a few seconds longer, staring at the three tunnels.
He couldn’t decide.
There was no clear sign for him.
No footprints and no dropped item.
Not even a smear on the stone floor that could tell him which way Aria or those maids had gone.
Jake clicked his tongue.
"...Fine."
If he couldn’t choose with information, then he would try something else.
And that is his luck.
Jake bent down, picked up a small rock from the cave floor, and weighed it in his palm.
"I’m counting on you, my luck... at least point me the right way."
He took a short breath, then tossed the rock high into the air.
The stone rose toward the center of the chamber, spun once, and came down.
Tak.
It hit the ground, bounced, then rolled.
Jake’s eyes followed it immediately.
The rock didn’t stop in the middle.
It veered slightly, bounced off a crack in the floor, and rolled toward the right-hand tunnel before coming to a stop just in front of the entrance.
Jake stared at it.
"...Right side, huh."
He didn’t fully trust it, to be honest, as there was no sound or air coming from that path...
But he also didn’t have a better option.
Jake picked the rock back up, slipped it into his pocket, and started walking toward the right tunnel.
"This better not be a waste of time..."
With that, he stepped into the right tunnel.
_
_
_
The passage was narrower than the chamber behind him, but still wide enough to walk through without brushing the walls.
The pale crystal veins continued along the stone, casting the same weak blue light over his path.
At first, he stayed alert.
...But the tunnel just kept going, as if there was no end.
Jake walked for a long time as even the dripping water faded behind him.
The wide chamber disappeared from sight.
The only things left were the faint glow of the crystals, the sound of his own footsteps, and the cool damp air brushing against his skin.
Jake’s frown deepened.
"...This is too long."
He had already walked far enough that, if this were a normal cave, he should have reached another opening by now.
Instead, the path simply continued.
Jake clicked his tongue and kept walking.
If his luck had pointed him this way, then something should appear eventually.
The question was how far he would have to go before it did.
Just as irritation started to rise in Jake’s chest, he heard something.
It was a strange wet sound.
It was faint at first but then it got clearer.
Schlck...
Crunch.
Jake’s expression brightened at once.
"...Someone’s there."
He didn’t hesitate.
He rushed forward, boots striking hard against the stone as the tunnel finally began to open up again.
But Jake, who was rushing with an excited heart to finally find something here, froze as the smell hit him before the sight did.
It was thick... metallic... and rotten in a way that made his stomach tighten.
Soon, Jake burst into the next chamber and stopped cold as his eyes widened in horror.
"...!!"
The weak crystal light washed over a scene that should never have existed.
There...
A maid’s body lay sprawled across the stone floor.
Her uniform was torn open from the chest down, soaked through with dark blood.
And... one of her arms was missing.
While the other twitched weakly, fingers still curled as if she had been trying to crawl away.
And... crouched over her was a humanoid fish-like monster.
Its body was slick and pale gray-green, covered in thin scales that glistened under the cave light.
Long, webbed fingers gripped the maid’s waist as it bent forward, jaw open far wider than any human mouth should go.
Then rows of needle-like teeth sank into her side.
Crunch!
Flesh ripped away with a wet sound.
The monster lifted its head, blood and torn cloth hanging from its mouth as it began chewing.
Crunch...
Crunch...
Crunch...
Its lidless black eyes stared blankly ahead, and from its throat came a low, gurgling noise... like something breathing through water.
The maid’s face was turned toward the tunnel.
Her lifeless eyes were still open as she seemed to stare at him.
Jake’s breath caught as his body froze at the gruesome sight.
"...What the fuck..."
But at that moment, the wet chewing stopped.
The monster’s head twitched.
Then slowly... it turned toward Jake.
A chunk of torn flesh still hung from its mouth, dripping blood onto the stone floor.
Strings of crimson stretched from its needle-like teeth as it chewed once more, then went still.
Then its lidless black eyes locked onto him.
Gulp