Below the Surface

"That moron. We warned her to be cautious, but she stepped right into one of the traps."

"We can't do anything about it right now, Codey. Nina needs help, but we can't help her if we're encircled."

"We could just chase her down, but I doubt our bone buddy would agree."

"All we can do now is hope Nina survived the ordeal. Nobody knows if she landed on something soft or on the hard floor after falling from a great height. If she fell on the rugged terrain, she would have to be extremely lucky to survive."

"Ayuka, don't make fun of me! She would not be able to survive a fall from such a height! If she had some particular powers, I wouldn't disbelieve her, but this doesn't set well with me."

"How would you know? She might have gotten lucky and gotten tangled up in another vine or on soft ground! What if there's water at the bottom of this abyss?"

"That's just my gut feeling. If she manages to survive, I'll be delighted for her good fortune."

Dinny had been more concerned with the situation they were in during their chat; they were surrounded by the skeletal army, who had bows ready to fire at any time.

"Shouldn't they be our top priority?" He was perplexed. He was terrified, so he hid behind Ayuka's legs.

Ayuka and Codey continued to silently chat while trying to devise a method to escape the skeletal army while immobilized on the spot.

"So, Ayuka, how do you want to go about doing this? There are only two of us who can fight, despite the fact that there are hundreds of them. Despite our strength, we are at a disadvantage."

"I suppose the giant in front of us is their leader. When it decides to fight, I'm sure they'll fire their arrows. They might try to shoot at the very end or if it's absolutely essential."

"I wish we had even a smidgeon of an understanding of how these skeletons react."

"We'll fight them if they want to. They do, however, have a brute as well as a projectile army behind them. We don't have much choice but to separate into two groups. Other than the top entrance where the moon shines over, this cavern is looped around to the top and is enclosed by walls. The best tactic for us is for one of us to battle the giant while the other deals with the archers."

"The plan is in place, but who should prioritize the brute and who should break their long-range army? Sword against sword and bow against bow would be the simplest option, thus I should be the one fighting the archers with my blade."

"That would be a fine strategy, but I believe you should battle the brute. The objective is that you can maintain a safe distance while also controlling the wind. While I should put the archers first. With my First-Grade Enchantment, I can move be extremely agile. I should be able to prevent the archers firing their bows."

"However, won't that deplete a ton of energy?" "Ayuka, are you sure that's a better option?"

"We don't have to be concerned about the beast, and if I can knock them out before they fire, we'll be in a better position."

"So, are you all set? Whatever it takes, we have to get through this." As she began to release pressure, Ayuka's garments rippled and her hood automatically covered her head as the white aura began to slowly flow out from around her body.

With her right leg stretched behind her bottom, she crouched and gripped the floor with her palm. Her eyes glowed white, and the white aura began to whirl about erratically. As Codey called his boomerangs, she started to feel her skin heat up and turn practically red.

"I'm ready to go,"

As soon as he confirmed, Ayuka pressed her toes further into the floor, intensifying the aura even more. She took advantage of her momentum and soared through the air.

The archers aimed their bows at the sky and prepared to shoot them. However, Ayuka's incredible speed overwhelmed their reaction, and she was at the looped road in a flash.

She tightened her hand and lifted it to her shoulder, then sent it forward, punching the skeleton in the head. After the punch, she rapidly regained her footing and dove, her hood being lifted over her head by the speed.

When a blazing arrow flew over her head, she plunged her palm into the ground and released a line of ice spikes that pushed through an entire line of archers.

Many archers began to target Ayuka, who was sprinting up the road, as the skeletal bits began to bounce around. The ones on the other side of the road drew their bow strings and unleashed a hail of fire arrows.

It didn't take her by surprise, as she had expected, and she twisted her sole on the floor and lifted both arms as soon as she sighted the arrows.

A wall of ice formed to block the arrows, and its icy body fully soaked the arrows that had become lodged in the ice.

As they fired their arrows, the aligned archers at the top directed them in the air. They began to shower down from the sky above the ice wall that Ayuka had managed to glimpse, but she needed to take action to avoid being pierced.

Before the arrows fell behind her, she surged forward into a front roll on the road. She observed one of the archers standing in front of her in the distance after a good dodge. It, too, fired an arrow that flew at a breakneck speed.

Despite the fact that she didn't have enough time to protect or evade it, she pressed her fingertips into the ground with both arms and applied more force than was necessary. It ejected her in a frenzied state.

Her physical attributes were enchanted by the frenzied condition. She sped down the road like a jet, blasting an explosive force into the ground that shattered the ground beneath her shoes.

The arrow passed through an invisible body, and Ayuka's body clipped through the skeleton's head before the skeleton could prepare another shot.

As she knelt behind the skeleton's body, holding its head in her palm, the white trail of smoke from the speed was still spinning behind her. As the boned body dropped on the floor, she crushed the skull instantaneously.

There were still a few skeletons that needed to be removed, but they were all on the opposite side of her position.

Nina's body had been hung over the side of the wall by a branch, which had held her suspended in mid-air. It ended up getting underneath her blazer, and she gradually recovered and was able to see clearly again.

She was perplexed and speechless, unsure of where she was. Her only recollection was of her body dangling from the side of a limb, her clothes virtually torn.

But she was getting closer to the bottom of the hole, and she didn't want to suffer any more pain. She reached for the branch cautiously, attempting to free herself from it. But the struggle was futile; the branch had torn through her clothing and knocked her to the ground.

Her back collided with the side of the rock, nearly breaking her back, and the power of the hit caused her glasses to fall from her face and slip further, along with her body, which was rolling down a slope.

Her body bounced over as she approached the edge of a slope, and she plunged deeper, screaming in pain. Her body slammed against a wall, thrusting her forward.

Her forehead happened to get crushed against the ledge, and her body plummeted to the absolute bottom, landing on her right arm and shattering her glasses.

She was bleeding profusely from her forehead and other portions of her skin, and she swiftly learned that her arm's bone had cracked and broken arm. She was in extreme agony and was having a tough time dealing with it.

Her eyes welled up with tears as the ache pulled them out, and she attempted to ignore it. Instead, she focused on the objective while holding her fractured arm. A massive rib cage supported the hole's ceiling while also serving as a tunnel.

Splashes of water with harmful liquid was falling from the ceiling, emitting strange fumes on both sides of the road. It instilled fear in her head, and she shuddered in an attempt to flee the lunacy.

"W-What the hell? Is this the underside of the Grim Isle?! What is that gunk, and where did those bone cages come from?!"

She barely had the courage to continue going forward after the incident, and ascending would be inadequate due to her body being terribly injured. Her only option was to continue forward into the tunnel of bones, hoping to find an exit soon.

To be continued...