Falling felt like drowning in cold, weightless ink. Gravity ripped the air from Leo's lungs as the ruined cathedral floor dissolved into a distant memory above him. Every sense screamed that he was plunging into an endless void, a vertical abyss with no bottom, hurtling toward a violent end.
Wind whistled past his ears, sharp and freezing, stinging his eyes until tears blurred his vision. Beside him, a flash of white silk and a muffled curse told him Sophia was plunging through the dark just as fast. She was flailing, her usual poised, aristocratic composure completely shattered by the sudden collapse of her own trap.
Thoughts of his lost family flashed through Leo's mind in those chaotic seconds of freefall. He had promised to protect everyone, to build a sanctuary where survivors didn't have to live like rats. Now, his own naive trust had led him straight into this death trap, dragged down by the very woman he had hoped to reason with, proving how blind he had been to the monsters wearing human skin.
Suddenly, the absolute darkness below exploded into a violent, neon blue light.
Liquid fire hit Leo like a concrete wall. Impact rattled his teeth, sending a jolt of pure agony straight up his spine. Cold liquid rushed into his nose and throat, tasting heavily of copper, ozone, and a strange, sweet static that buzzed against his tongue. He sank deep, the sheer momentum dragging him down into the glowing depths of a subterranean ocean.
Choking, he dragged himself toward the shimmering surface, his limbs heavy as lead. He broke the surface of the pool, coughing violently and gasping for air. His lungs burned, but as he inhaled, he felt a strange surge of raw vitality washing over his tired muscles, healing the minor scrapes from his fall in seconds.
Bioluminescent rivers snaked across a cavern larger than any city skyline he had ever seen. Thick, glowing veins of liquid light pulsed through the towering stone walls, feeding into a central torrent that roared like a living beast. This wasn't water. It was the pure, concentrated lifeblood of the planet itself, thrumming with an overwhelming, ancient power that made his system interface flicker with warnings.
"Keep away from me!" Sophia gasped nearby, splashing frantically. Her pristine robes were soaked in the glowing blue fluid, clinging to her skin in heavy, wet folds. Her hand immediately twitched toward the hilt of her blade, though her fingers trembled violently from the shock of the drop.
Leo ignored her threat, pulling himself onto a slick, black stone bank. He clutched his ribs, groaning as he spat out a mouthful of the glowing liquid. "Look around you, Sophia. If you want to kill me, you'll have to survive this place first, because we are definitely not alone down here."
Darkness above them was total, but the cavern below was illuminated in an eerie, pulsing cyan. A sudden, deep vibration shook the stone under Leo's boots. It wasn't an earthquake. It felt like a massive, collective heartbeat, a primal rhythm that demanded submission from anything that dared walk this deep.
From the center of the widest river, the glowing liquid began to swell and churn. Bubbles the size of carriages broke the surface, releasing pockets of pressurized, sweet-smelling gas that hissed against the damp, heavy air.
Towering shadows began to rise from the pulsing blue depths.
Sophia scrambled backward, her boots slipping on the wet stone. Her face, usually a mask of arrogant composure, turned pale in the blue glow. "What is that thing? What did your stupidity drag us into?"
Giant, ivory ribs slowly emerged from the pulsing blue depths, shedding streams of glowing lifeblood. A massive, elongated skull, entirely devoid of flesh but radiating a terrifying pressure, rose into the air. Green, glowing fire burned inside its empty eye sockets, locking directly onto the two intruders.
This was the planet's active defense mechanism. The skeletal leviathan was easily a hundred meters long, its spine a jagged ridge of bone that parted the lifeblood river like a knife. It let out a soundless roar that vibrated through the very marrow of Leo's bones, threatening to liquefy his internal organs.
"We need to move," Leo muttered, his hand gripping the hilt of his cosmic rod, which still hummed with a faint gold light against his chest, resisting the oppressive pressure.
Sophia bared her teeth, her pride warring with her terror as she struggled to stand. "I don't take orders from you. Especially not when you're the one who dragged us into this hell because you couldn't just play along with the Coalition."
Before Leo could reply, the leviathan opened its massive, fleshless jaws. The air itself seemed to ripple, distorting the cyan light of the cavern. A high-pitched hum vibrated through Leo's skull, making his ears bleed and his vision blur.
Sound waves tore across the cavern floor, pulverizing solid boulders into fine dust in an instant.
Both of them fell to their knees, clutching their ears as the sheer force of the sound wave cracked the stone around them. The pressure was suffocating, threatening to rupture their eardrums and shatter their bones.
"We fight together, or we die here!" Leo shouted over the roaring river, his voice strained. "Your Coalition won't save you down here, Sophia! Work with me, or we both get erased by the planet itself!"
Glaring at him with pure, unadulterated hatred, Sophia eventually nodded. She drew her twin daggers, her eyes flashing with a cold, desperate resolve. "Fine. But the moment this thing is dead, you're next."
Swiftly, she darted forward. Her movements were a blur of high-level agility stats, her blades coating themselves in a dark, necrotic poison as she lunged at the leviathan's exposed skeletal tail.
Her blades struck the bone, producing a shower of sparks but barely leaving a scratch on the ancient armor. The leviathan whipped its massive tail, sending Sophia flying back across the cavern floor like a ragdoll. She hit a boulder hard, her health bar visibly dipping in Leo's peripheral vision.
Leo knew he couldn't match the beast in raw physical combat. He needed a cheat. He needed a catch that could tilt the scales in their favor.
Kneeling by the edge of the pulsing lifeblood river, he gripped his cosmic rod. He swung it back and cast the line. The golden filament sliced through the air, sinking deep into the glowing blue depths.
Heavy resistance immediately nearly yanked the rod from his hands. The lifeblood of the planet was thick, heavy with the weight of ancient power. Leo dug his boots into the slick rock, his muscles screaming under the strain as he tried to reel in his catch.
"Come on..." he grunted, a vein bulging on his forehead. Sweat mixed with the glowing blue water on his face. He felt the line tug, something massive and powerful latching onto the hook.
Above him, the leviathan turned its massive skull toward him. Its jaws unhinged, a sphere of compressed, vibrating sound forming in its skeletal throat. It was preparing a direct sonic blast that would obliterate them both.
"Hurry!" Sophia screamed from the rocks, clutching her broken ribs. "It's going to wipe us out!"
Pulling with every ounce of strength he possessed, Leo gave a final, desperate heave. The water erupted in a brilliant gold flash.
Obsidian stone broke the surface, dripping with glowing blue lifeblood. It was carved with ancient runes that pulsed with a deep, defensive energy.
[Item Acquired: Abyssal Shield (S-Rank)]
Snatching the handle of the heavy shield, Leo threw himself in front of Sophia. He slammed the bottom of the shield into the stone, bracing his shoulder against the impact.
Seconds later, the leviathan released its sonic blast. A beam of white-hot, vibrating energy slammed into the obsidian barrier.
Shockwaves rippled outward, shattering the stalactites hanging from the cavern ceiling. The ground beneath them groaned and buckled under the immense pressure.
Leo held his ground, his feet sliding backward, leaving deep grooves in the stone. His bones vibrated violently, but the S-rank shield held, absorbing the brunt of the destructive energy.
Tremors began to tear the cavern apart. Massive boulders, some the size of houses, broke loose from the ceiling, crashing into the glowing rivers and creating massive waves of lifeblood. The entire cavern was collapsing.
"We have to move! The ceiling is falling!" Leo yelled, his voice barely audible over the roaring destruction.
Dust and debris filled the air, cutting visibility to near zero. The leviathan, momentarily stunned by the backlash of its own blocked attack, thrashed in the river, buried under falling rock.
Panting heavily, Leo lowered the shield. His arms trembled from exhaustion, his mana reserves dangerously low. He turned to help Sophia up.
Sophia, seeing her chance, stabs Leo in the side with a poison-coated dagger, snatching his cosmic rod from his hands as he falls into the rushing river of lifeblood.