The valley had fallen into a silence so unnatural that even the sound of the river seemed to have vanished from the world.
Luca stood firmly before the Saintess, his black saber held diagonally across his body as he stared into the enormous fissure that had torn through the road. Dust continued drifting downward into the darkness, while fragments of broken earth rolled along the edges before disappearing into the abyss below. The crimson glow that had risen from beneath Raven's Crossing painted everything in an eerie light, turning the peaceful afternoon into something that felt almost detached from reality.
Behind Luca, the mercenaries had formed a defensive circle around the carriage.
None of them spoke.
They were staring into the abyss.
The creature below had not revealed itself completely, yet the pressure radiating from its presence alone was enough to make several experienced mercenaries instinctively circulate their mana.
Luca noticed.
"Don't."
