Inside the shadows, Alum was carried by Dalen on his back. His body was more wrecked than he thought. And the healing process was as miserable as one could expect.
With a healing core firm in his hand, drawing his mana, the burnt skin began to fall off, replaced by new, healthier cells. And since his fingers didn't properly heal, he had to cut them off to properly regenerate them.
Even though Dalen wasn't the one going through the excruciating pain, he felt it somehow. The low grunts, the heavy breathing, and the tense spasms. It all came from the mage he was carrying.
When it was all done, Dalen asked, "You… okay?"
"I'm fine."
Alum got off his back. For a moment, he stumbled on the first step. Dalen was quick to support him.
"Don't let go of my hand. Even I might not find you in these shadows."
"Yeah."
With a calm breath, Alum's composure returned as if the damage was negligible.
A few minutes had passed since. Dalen stopped walking, and before he knew it, they surfaced.
"…"
The two stared at the massive gate ahead.
"Seems like they went ahead," Dalen remarked as he looked around.
"Mm."
With a light nod, Alum looked around. There was a sign of battle—sentries had been destroyed. Massive statues had fallen.
"We should get ready." Dalen pushed the gate, but it wouldn't budge—it wasn't closed when they first inspected the area, nor was it for the Advance Team. He sighed as the realization hit. "It seems like the ruins are only now testing us."
Alum took a deep breath—as if time was reversing, the destroyed statues pieced themselves together.
[Plasma Ray]
In an instant, Alum fired a plasma beam at the gate. Yet not a single mark was left on it.
"Well, that's not an option," Dalen calmly commented. He turned toward the now fully restored statues and looked at the paintings inside the chamber. "Hm…" He turned to Alum. "Any clues?"
Alum shook his head. He stared at the paintings to figure out their meaning. There were dragons, men, and angels.
The angel was stabbed in the back by other angels. The man was stabbed in his heart from the front, and the dragon was skewered by spears by other dragons. The blood in the paintings all overflowed, draping the two massive doors.
"…"
Without hesitation, Alum cut his hand and placed his palm on the gate.
In that moment, bright light illuminated the paintings. They became more vivid and began to move as if they came to life.
Dalen flinched, his mana spiked as he prepared for combat. Three words appeared on the gate.
"Kill the traitors," Alum read it aloud.
The humanoid statues began to move. Dragon-like snakes slithered through cracks. Oil-like substances bled from the ceiling, forming wax-like angelic creatures.
Alum tapped his feet; a small continuous electrical discharge pulsed throughout the chamber. There were 12 angels, 88 serpents, 12 giant statues, and 60 smaller ones.
"172—"
But before Alum could fully report to Dalen, the angels began to sing. Their wings glowed, conjuring fireballs like the blazing sun. The statues stood in formation, their weapons glowing with runic magic.
"—Shriek!"
However, the serpents began to attack and devour one another. Their behavior caught Dalen off guard, but he didn't have time to worry about that.
Statues began to charge towards them as fireballs rained down. Alum drew Depth Cutter; his mana spiked, but it was less oppressive than the previous instance. Water pillars erupted towards the ceiling—BOOOM! The fireballs exploded, causing the chamber to fog up.
Dalen took a deep breath and braced himself. He knew Alum wasn't a pure mage. So, he didn't have to attend to him all the time, especially after seeing the beautiful short blade. But…
"Can I trust that you won't die easily?"
"See for yourself," Alum stated calmly.
"Hmph… arrogant," Dalen smirked. "How reassuring."
In an instant, Dalen disappeared, and so did 20 statues. Alum fired [Plasma Ray] at the angels; the beam scattered upon hitting a barrier.
Alum frowned a little. It was the most powerful spell he could use without channeling his mana for too long.
He took a good look at his surroundings.
—In about 5 seconds, the statues will swarm me. The snakes still devour each other. Hmm… The wax angels seem troublesome.
From his observation, the enemies seemed rather weak on their own. His firepower should suffice.
—SWOSH… BOOM!
A massive spear tore up the floor where he just stood. He channeled a water ball in his hand and threw it towards the small statues that charged at him. A statue dashes in front of the others, slashing the water ball. Instantly, Alum activated Abyssal Depth.
—BOOM!
The steam bomb exploded, and the shockwaves were blocked by the abyssal sheet. The directional explosion pushed back a few of the statues, but the damage wasn't too significant.
But that was all Alum needed. Their formation broke, and with a stom, mana shot through the stone floor, freezing their feet in place.
Alum thrusts the air with Depth Cutter—an ice wave rose from the floor, flushing the smaller statues away.
The giant statues easily broke free, trying to bash him with their weapons. Alum dodged them, taking the shockwave and uneven footing into consideration. He jumped onto the broken tiles and landed on one of the giant swords with an iceboard.
With a small steam bomb in his hand, he cast enhancement magic to brace himself—Boom! Thus, using the pressure to propel himself up the sword.
When Alum pierced through the dust, the giant statue pulled out its sword as Alum jumped off the blade's edge. He created an ice block mid-air, landing on it.
When he looked up, and the angels channeling something together. He shuddered as something interfered with his [Static Field]. A golden beam melted through his ice block as he'd barely sidestepped the attack. The floor beneath had turned molten. Some of the smaller statues had been hit, melting into the floor.
"…"
He had to deal with them somehow, but he didn't have enough time to channel a more powerful attack.
No matter, he remarked inwardly.
With a powerful kick, he leapt from the ice toward the giant statue. The others tried to strike him down, but he angled the abyssal depth sheets at the right degrees to redirect the attacks with minimal effort.
—THOMB!
Their massive weapons clashed. Alum found himself atop a statue. Depth Cutter was infused with plasma, and with a quick stab, a plasma beam came out the other end.
However, it wasn't enough. The statue was still standing, and its comrades were trying to grab him. He jumped onto one of the arms and cut it off cleanly. He then formed a small water ball at the tip of his finger, firing it toward the statue, casting another abyssal depth sheet.
The water ball bounced off the abyssal sheet into the hole—BOOM! Icicles protruded from its chest and back. And when the ice instantly sublimated, the statue crumbled as the upper part lost structural support.
"…!"
Alum jumped backwards as another hand was trying to grab him. He leaned forward and thrust Depth Cutter into its finger, sending water jets through the whole arm, freezing it; it instantly crumbled as the ice turned to steam.
—Swoosh!
Alum jumped as the colossal tried to swipe him off its arm. He created another ice board and a continuous ice rail while surfing and weaving through their attacks.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, a horizontal blade cleaved through its own ally. The massive blade headed straight toward him. And with little time to react, Alum hopped off the ice board, landing on the flat side of the speeding blade, instantly kicking off before he lost balance.
He landed on the board and continued to weave through the giants. Ideally, he wanted to reach the angels, but the statues were too good a cover to just leave.
The statues aren't much of a threat right now. The serpents are suspicious but aren't a threat right now. I'll have to deal with the wax angels somehow.
"Hm?"
Then suddenly, a massive black jaw submerged from the shadows, swallowing another batch of enemies.
"…"
I need to deal with this quickly, too.
In an instant, Alum conjured massive amounts of mana, shaping thousands of droplets along the ice rail before jumping off to where the shadows gulped the enemies down.
He stood there. Time seemed to move slowly. The thousands of droplets sparked. Smaller statues rushed towards him while the giant ones raised their weapons, swinging towards him with overwhelming force.
The ceiling was illuminated by the massive wings of the blinding light, while the fireballs rained down—
Alum dropped Depth Cutter. The moment the blade stabbed into the stone tiles, activating [Sanctuary of Depth], a small sigh escaped Alum's lips.
—Kabooom! Boom! Crack! Thomb!
Everything seemingly hit at once. Fire kept pouring down. The statues struck relentlessly, but the barrier did not budge.
He'd also detonated the droplets, and steam and debris covered the whole chamber. The only thing seen through the thick mist was the hazy light emitted by the raining fire.
Personally, Alum would love to index the enemies some more. But now that he'd recovered from most of his earlier mana exhaustion, he needn't stall for time.
[—Brittle Tomb]
In an instant, his breath crystallized; in mere seconds, the temperature in the chamber dropped to an extreme degree.
The steam from the fireballs instantly crystallized to ice as the descending flames continued to die out before even coming into contact with anything.
The angel's wing-like barrier began to emit less light, and the statue's movements slowed down considerably. The devouring serpents thrashed, their frosted scales digging into their flesh as they continued to move until they snapped from the brittling cold.
In the middle of that frozen hellscape, Alum clutched his head. Two massive spells in such a short interval were taxing, but he'd also never used [Brittle Tomb] to this scale before.
Thus, the blizzard outside the comfort of his barrier began to pulverize anything and everything with high-speed ice grains and debris. And after a few minutes, he stopped the storm.
The serpents were wiped out, and so were the angels. Statues were frozen in place and had corroded quite a bit. And when ice was sublimated to steam, all the statues crumbled. What remained was but a damp, misty chamber.
A moment later, Dalen surfaced from the shadows. The deathly stench of steamed snakes began to ooze as the temperature stabilized.
Dalen looked at Alum for a moment while Alum averted his eyes.
"…"
"Y'know. I almost died twice today. First, I was almost scorched to a crisp, then almost frozen to death," Dalen spoke as if speaking to himself. "Though it is naturally freezing inside the shadows… It felt strangely chilly this time," he added, and knocked on his stiff, frozen coat.
Alum looked ahead toward the gate. "Strange? Mm. I wonder," he commented nonchalantly, melting the ice from Dalen's coat while drawing out the moisture.
The atmosphere naturally became slightly awkward. But the two men headed toward the gate. This time, they managed to push it open and were greeted by bright, warm light and soft clouds.
"Captain?"
Ottah heaved a small sigh of relief the moment Alum and Dalen came into view. He and Soliette waited for him here while the others went further ahead, setting up a new camp.
"Captain~!"
Soliette excitedly spread her arms and lunged at Alum, but Alum reflexively iron-clawed her face, holding her up in the air.
"…"
"…"
"Twashs swho mwhean…" Soliette flailed.
"My bad. Reflex." Alum released her and turned to Ottah. "The others?"
"They're safe—"
—THOMB! The gate behind them closed and vanished.
"I see," Alum replied.
He glanced at where the gate used to be and looked around. There were railings, stairs heading up and down. When he looked up, there was a ceiling, but no walls.
Ottah cleared his throat.
"We aren't in the second layer, or at least the one we expect, if that's what you're wondering."
"I vaguely sensed it," Alum replied, heading for the railings.
When he looked down, there were clouds. When he looked up, there were clouds. The spiral stairs levitated. Alum took a deep breath—the air was refreshing.
"Are you really okay?" Dalen asked.
Now that he could see Alum's face more clearly, he was pale. His cloak was tattered and had probably lost most of the protective inscriptions embedded in the fabric.
"Yeah. I just need some rest."
"Yes, you should," Ottah nodded. "Soliette, go ahead and tell the others."
"Mmhg…" Soliette sulked.
Why am I being ordered around by you all of a sudden? Whatever… The captain looks exhausted and… he reeks of burnt flesh.
"Got it," she said and rushed towards the stairs leading downwards.
Seeing her disappear down the stairs, Ottah sighed.
"She was really worried about you, and so are Mrs. Emerine and Mr. Ethym. We thought that the eight-headed serpent might've killed you…"
Dalen's eyes widened as they turned to Alum.
Alum tilted his head, stating, "There was no eight-headed serpent."
"Huh…?" Ottah gasped as he realized something. "I see… You killed all the snakes before they could turn into one…"
"Mm. It was by pure coincidence. But… you let it happen because they weren't an immediate threat?"
"Yeah… the angels had to be prioritized..." Ottah then changed the subject. "But still, were there complications outside? Ms. Lyn, Ms. Sarah, and Mr. Keelen joined up with us during the fight, but you and Mr. Dalen never did…"
"Mm. The time between the insides and outsides of the temple was off."
"Huh?" Both Dalen and Ottah looked puzzled.
"I suspect it was from the moment we experienced the tremors. You went out to check, and it took you quite a while to return, and the others to return. But… that wasn't how you experienced the situation, correct?"
"Hm… We did spend some time inspecting the pillars, but that took 20 minutes max."
Dalen thought about it some more. And now that he mentioned it, it shouldn't have been possible for them to clear the trial in the short time he and Alum were missing—it had only been five minutes at most.
And from Alum's point of view, when he went out again to get the members of Phantom Dusk, he noticed how healthy the party looked despite fighting that many enemies for almost an hour. The biggest giveaway was how fresh the battlefield looked.
"So that means…" Ottah had a grim look on his face. "We might be stuck here for years, but to the outside world…"
"…"
Even though Alum wasn't going to say it aloud, he thought that it was better if time passed faster here than if it did in the outside world. If years were truly to go by out there…
For all he knows, he could've gotten Amethely pregnant, and she could be raising a child all on her own. He wouldn't know or be there for her—he didn't even want to imagine it.
"Sigh… Enough. Let us reunite with the others first."
Dalen and Ottah nodded, and thus, they began their descent.
..
After some time, the Alum found himself looking at the horizon. Now that they were under the clouds, a mountain range and dense forest revealed itself. But they were still a far way down.
Beneath the fifty or so steps left was a small camp. And when they finally descended, Alum was hugged by both Emerine and Ethym.
"We're so glad you're okay…"
"Mm."
Alum smiled and reciprocated the hug. Afterwards, Viona led him to a tent so that he could rest up.
"I'll bring you some warm food."
Despite her deadpan look, he could tell she was anxious, especially after he and Dalen explained the situation to them.
"Thanks."
"…"
And despite being a total wreck, her captain calmly smiled while thanking her. It was reassuring, and she could better understand why their saint was so infatuated with him, though, only understand.
Viona couldn't help but smile. And hadn't it been Alum, anyone would've fallen for her at that moment.
"You're welcome."