Chapter 397: The Method to Destroy the Cave Connecting Both Worlds...
What's going on?
Lucretia, who had been studying a severed limb of a captured monster, noticed that Alice's group looked particularly grim.
Correction—the group was missing Alice.
Judging by the reaction of Alice's housekeeper, it seemed something had happened to Alice.
This must be a problem arising from using spiritual vision to peer into souls from that other world.
So, what did she see?
From Saint Raffaello and Annie's deeply shadowed expressions, it wasn't just because something happened to Alice—they had genuinely learned something that plunged their moods to the depths.
"What did the princess see?" she immediately stepped forward and asked curiously.
"It's Lady Aisha's Cave—"
"Nothing!!!"
Annie immediately cut off Saint Raffaello's words, signaling with her eyes not to say more.
Regarding this Witch of Sardinia before them, Annie knew she was rather unconventional among witches.
Not that she was an evil witch, but this person might take reckless risks for research without much regard for consequences.
"My, so wary of me—treating me like a villain. How cruel," Lucretia said with clear resentment.
Simultaneously, she grew even more curious about what exactly had happened to Alice.
"No," Annie responded indifferently, not wanting to engage further with this witch whose words and actions were equally bizarre.
In the blink of an eye, in Alice's mansion, on the fourth-floor bedroom.
"How is she?" Ericsson, Alice's long-time personal attendant, asked nervously as she watched the group examining Alice's condition.
"It seems she overdrafted her spiritual power and fell into a coma," Saint Raffaello answered.
"So, what are your thoughts on destroying the Cave—the Fairy's Corridor—created by Lady Aisha, Saint Raffaello?"
"I don't know," Saint Raffaello could only reply with a bitter smile.
If that lady's Cave were so easy to destroy, why would it still be there?
"This is such a headache," Annie massaged her temples, equally frustrated.
Destroying the Fairy's Corridor didn't seem too difficult to her; the biggest problem was Lady Aisha herself.
Who knew if she, who wielded this Authority, might open a passage to that world again?
Therefore, killing Lady Aisha was the safest insurance.
Moreover, if they were to violently destroy the [Fairy's Corridor], they had to be extremely careful not to accidentally blast open a permanent connection between the two worlds, making it easier for the other side to enter.
"I'll go report to Lord Smith now," she said before leaving the room.
The so-called reporting to Smith was, of course, herself—she just needed to put on a show.
After leaving Alice's mansion and confirming she wasn't being followed, she activated her ability.
In an instant, she arrived in another world—the Netherworld.
At the same time, her appearance transformed into that of John Pluto Smith.
Now, she was going to visit someone—not the Old Man of the Bow, but the adoptive mother of the Campiones.
Immediately, she focused her intense will upon this world, as if trying to gaze into its very limits.
In the next instant, it seemed as though the world's end had truly come into view, and the surrounding space shifted. She arrived at the entrance to the divine realm—the edge of the Netherworld.
"Oh? Is Annie missing her mother so much that she came here on her own~~"
A cute voice rang out as a young girl around ten years old with twin tails appeared.
"I'm John."
"Alright, it's John, not Annie. So what do you need from your mother?"
"Lady Aisha, can you summon her?"
"Aisha? That's rather difficult."
"Difficult or not, it must be done immediately!"
"Huh?"
"If we delay any longer, the human world might be destroyed!"
"Huh?"
"Please be serious, Mother. I'm not joking with you. Lady Aisha's cave has created a huge problem this time."
Annie—no, John—quickly explained the matter of the parallel world.
The existence of parallel worlds didn't surprise the stepmother before her, as she was already aware of it.
"Wait, wait. You're saying Aisha went to a parallel world? And monsters from there came over? And Alice saw something? Demanding the cave be destroyed immediately?"
Pandora's eyes widened in shock. She never expected Aisha to go this far.
"What did Alice see?"
"I don't know. She didn't have time to explain. She only said we must destroy Lady Aisha's cave, or this world will be destroyed, and then she fell unconscious."
Hearing this, Pandora's expression turned grave.
She then closed her eyes.
"No good. I can't sense Aisha's presence. She's completely vanished from this world. There's no way to summon her."
She couldn't detect even a trace of Aisha's aura.
In the past, even when Aisha traveled to the past, Pandora could still sense her to some extent. This time, because Aisha had truly left this world, the connection was completely severed.
"Then we have no choice but to forcibly destroy that cave."
"Destroy it?"
Pandora grew worried.
While destroying the cave would be ideal, it might also trigger a runaway situation, and the consequences of such an outburst were unpredictable.
"Hmm? Annie, you're not planning to do something foolish, are you?"
As if seeing through something, Pandora's small face tightened.
The caves Aisha opened didn't disappear permanently. Other caves that had been opened before might reopen due to certain reasons.
These caves could interconnect with each other, so destroying the cave where the parallel world monsters emerged might not completely sever the connection.
Therefore, Annie might be considering entering the cave to reach the exit on the other side and destroy the cave there.
Of course, if possible, Annie might even try to kill Aisha.
If Aisha died, all these caves would likely disappear.
"Not at all. I'll take my leave now, Mother."
"Wait, wait, Annie!"
The child left so abruptly, giving Pandora a headache.
Normally, other children who came here would forget their memories upon returning to reality, but Annie was an exception. She could come and go freely, so Pandora had the most contact with Annie.
Thus, she understood this child well and hoped she wouldn't truly do anything foolish.
But it seemed there were no other alternatives.
Come to think of it, was the Apocalypse Knight suddenly forcing its way into the present world because it also wanted to use this cave to travel to the other side?
So, the parallel world Aisha went to was the one the God of the Bible had contacted before, right?
Would that world hold malice or goodwill toward this one?
Additionally, Pandora now suspects that the God King Melqart and the God of War Verethragna may have also come into contact with beings from the other side.
Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean they encountered the captured monster—it could have been something else that crossed over.
This has left Pandora feeling quite uneasy.
Regardless, the other world is ultimately not this one, so Pandora does not approve of introducing external forces into this world.