The path ahead was rather confined and unusual, filled with strange bumps and curves. It gave off a certain sense of urgency, not to mention the traces of blood lingering on the floor.
Although the space was large enough for Simon to spread out his two hands, it was small compared to the train tracks.
The walls were smooth, consistent, and had no nicks in them. The packed dirt the walls were made of retained their shape and were undamaged.
This contrasted with the floor below him, which looked like slightly sharpened spikes.
Simon extended his hand, feeling the dirt gently fall as he scraped against it. He started to count his steps within the pathway.
However, he was soon thrown off as he saw another skull. It must have been from a falcon, and it was bigger than his entire torso.
He knew what this meant; these were markers. So, he turned and began to follow the marker. The smell of blood along this path was more pungent.
It was as if someone was dragging themselves with a sense of death while making it. Additionally, Simon noted that the ceiling above him had stayed at a consistent level.
Then, the dirt on Simon's palms suddenly turned to stone. This only heightened his observations as he continued to walk.
Strangely enough, it soon turned back to dirt. Simon stopped for a moment, gripping this dirt between his hands.
It crunched, clumped, then fell. By the time he opened his hand again, it had created one brown ball.
There was objectively nothing wrong with it, but why did it switch in such a jarring way? In just twenty steps, the wall had turned from dirt to stone five times.
There was no question about this tunnel being man-made, but something was bothering him.
(How was this tunnel made? I don't see any signs of tools, so how could one person make this?)
Confusion only clouded his mind as this repeated path of dirt and stone continued. The more he walked, the less dirt he came across.
Every two steps, the contents of the wall changed. Then, it all became stone. Just as the dirt disappeared from view, the blood stopped too.
Within just a few more steps, the path around him was now devoid of light. He could only see a few feet ahead of him, which made him rely on his sense of touch even further.
It helped to some degree that the tunnel was relatively straightforward. Good things don't last, however. Within a few minutes, he had come across two different sections.
The first one had the same falcon's skull, and the second one had a smaller, cracked version. Seeing as the first skull was the same type that led him here, he followed it.
This path turned out to be a dead end, so he turned the other way. As he entered the second path, he immediately realized that the stone around him felt like scales.
"Hm?" His voice echoed.
(This has to be Project Icarus. Unless it's an entity carving its way into the replica world.)
He began to think that it wasn't impossible, seeing that other entities were able to enter the world now. However, he highly doubted this.
Simon could not help but see these birds' skulls as the organization's trademark. Who else could it be? But more importantly, how did they carve this out?
The path became narrowed, the roof starting to cave in on his head, making his hair brush against it. It began to smell of old, wet stone, as the feeling of scales across his fingers increased.
He began to advance cautiously, holding a dagger in front of him. His other hand still lay against the left wall, using it as a guide.
In just a few moments, it felt as if something was moving across the wall. It moved between his fingers and wrapped itself around them.
He swiftly pulled back and shook it off.
Plop.
In front of him, an eel flopped about, trying to seep back into the wall. There was an audible, hoarse breathing coming from it, but Simon plunged his dagger into it before it could get away.
He picked his dagger up from the floor, bringing the fish closer to his vision. It had six eyes, the bottom half of its body a thick crust, and the upper half resembling cobblestone.
(Earth Scale Eels?!)
This didn't make sense. Why would they be here? Hollow Beasts like these could be tamed, but they were not found in the replica world. After all, they were completely free from beasts due to Rin Sato.
(This must've come from a different dimension...)
Simon suddenly stopped in his tracks as he came to a realization — they traveled in packs.
He swiftly threw the eel off his dagger and looked around himself. What he found was dozens of Earth Scale Eels swimming within the stone.
Normally, if there were only five or fewer, he would gladly deal with them before moving on. However, this was not the case.
There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. Every inch of the cave was covered with them, so naturally — he had no choice but to retreat.
He immediately ran the other way, the eels chasing him from all directions. This included the way he was running.
(Fuck!)
Simon pulled up his sleeve, slashing into his own forearm. He quickly stopped the bleeding, forcing the injury closed with spiritual energy.
As the blood dripped down his wrist, the gloves instantly reacted.
Just as an Earth Scale Eel was lunging into his throat, a lavender purple aura enveloped his skin.
Upon contact, the eel's head immediately burst open from the projected force.
To ensure the rest would not follow him, he dragged his daggers across the walls.
If they did get in his way, they would instantly die. Every being has a need for survival, so they naturally let him go.
By the time he got out, the protection spell around his body had dispersed.
He needed to leave immediately; there was still a chance that whoever made the cave could have followed him. As he got to the entrance of the replica world, he noticed the entity still screaming.
The royal was scratching his face, flesh ripping apart, making his eyes fall out. This still did not stop Simon from completing the task at hand.
He just resumed the camera before walking out of the Hollow World entirely.