"MIRA!!! WHAT THE HELL?!" Robin screamed as she fell into the abyss. She tried to use a Core Formation expert's ability to fly, but for whatever reason she was restricted from doing so. Then she tried using her air affinity to fly, but that didn't help at all. That only made her panic more as she seriously wondered why Mira tossed them all off the edge.
While Mira was free falling, she looked at Robin expressionlessly for a few seconds before straightening her body and diving onto Rhydian's back.
Seeing this, Robin was dumbfounded at the sight of Mira wanting to dive faster into the abyss. That is, until she looked down and saw Mira safely landing on Rhydian, who had her wings out.
She was about to do the same thing as Mira, but before she could do anything Mira's eyes turned cold.
"Robin! I'll let you on Rhydian's back as long as you swear to the Heavens that you won't share any information about Rhydian. Actually, I want you to repeat after me! 'I, Robin [insert last name], hereby swear that I will not leak any and all information regarding Mira's beast companion Rhydian. Should I do so, may the Heavens strike me down, both body and soul!' As long as you say that, I'll make sure you don't go splat!" Mira commanded.
"WHAT?! Mira!! This is not the time to be joking?! Just let me land on the damn wolf!! I swear I won't tell a soul!" Robin started to panic even more after listening to Mira and no longer hesitated at trying to land on Rhydian's back.
However, Mira wasn't having it and took out her scythe.
"Not good enough!! Swear to the Heavens now or you turn into a meat patty!" Mira ordered and started summoning ice weapons around her as well.
Seeing this, Robin knew that she would definitely die if she didn't swear to the Heavens. She could try and forcefully land on Rhydian's back, but realistically doing so would be difficult. Not only is Mira only a bit weaker than her, but she's literally free-falling right now and any attacks she could use would be severely weakened. Also, Rhydian can just dodge and she'll have a one-way ticket to hell.
"Fuck! Fine! I'll do it! I, Robin Elsher, hereby swear that I will not leak any and all information regarding Mira's beast companion Rhydian. Should I do so, may the Heavens strike me down, both in body and soul!" Robin swore and immediately after a wave of power descended onto her, scouring her body and soul until eventually binding her to her promise.
Robin felt very uncomfortable at having to go through such a thing as not even the Mercenary Association made her swear to the Heavens. But her life was more important than any information on Mira's pet.
She wasn't going to mention it to anyone anyways because it's not like Mira has been trying to hide Rhydian. She'd probably mention her wings to someone in passing, but she didn't think much of it.
However, Robin was an intelligent woman and knew that if Mira was even going so far as to force her to swear to the Heavens over such a trivial matter, clearly things are much bigger than she can imagine.
On the other side, when Mira heard Robin's swear she put away her scythe and ice weapons.
"Alright, you can come down now!" Mira yelled then turned away from Robin and began meditating. She wasn't worried about Robin trying to kill her, at least not after she's just gotten another lease on life. Therefore, she stopped paying attention to her without any worries.
Robin felt her lips twitch, but in the end she didn't say anything back. She only slowly descended onto Rhdyian's back before letting out a huge sigh. She briefly glossed over her body and felt it was really good to be alive.
She then looked at Mira with mixed feelings, not knowing whether she should be angry or not. However, after thinking about it, she partly understood why Mira forced her into such a situation. Well, that is, if Rhydian is really as unique as she's speculating.
In the end, she couldn't really be too mad about that. Mira just wanted to keep her secrets safe and she understood that, but what she couldn't understand is why they had to jump off the damn cliff in the first place!
"Mira… Why did you really throw me off the cliff?" Robin asked slowly and with narrowed eyes.
Mira turned around and looked at Robin like she was looking at an idiot.
"To get to the bottom. Obviously."
Her reply made Robin speechless.
"You know that's not what I'm asking about!! Why didn't you consult with me on this decision?! Who knows what the hell we'll run-ahem fall into! There were other less… radical options that we could have taken! Why'd you have to throw me off without even talking to me?!"
Mira pondered for a second before the face of an idiotic and shameless blonde immediately appeared in her mind. Her face overlapped with Robin's before Mira shook her head to get any thoughts about her out of her head.
"Hmm… Force of habit I guess." Mira briefly replied then turned around to continue mediating.
However, her response didn't make Robin feel any better. Instead, she felt like she was being messed with right now.
'What do you mean 'force of habit'? Do you often throw people off cliffs without their consent?' Robin wanted to ask, but she felt like it was probably better if she keeps such thoughts to herself.
The two didn't say anything after that and began preparing their mind for what's to come. Luckily for them, Rhydian could glide down without too much trouble. She obviously couldn't fly up, but her wings were just big enough that she didn't need to worry about exploding into a bloodmist when they reached the bottom.
Now, that didn't mean they would be perfectly fine when they eventually landed. Rhydian was still falling at extreme speeds, it just wasn't enough to kill them. In all honesty, Rhydian would probably break many bones in her body and possibly even damage a few internal organs when they touch the ground. Mira and Robin wouldn't fare much better, but at least they'd be cushioned by the fall a bit.
Mira didn't necessarily like the feeling of being the cause of her beast companion's pain, but the circumstances forced her to take drastic actions. Mira swore that she'd treat Rhydian a bit better after this expedition is over as they've had a rough last few months.
Her only consolation through all this was that Rhydian's regenerative abilities are off the charts. Even if she were to break all of the bones in her body and rupture several internal organs, it probably wouldn't take more than a few hours to a few days to heal all of that. Plus, with such dense Qi around her, those injuries would heal even faster.
According to Mira's calculations, Rhydian probably wouldn't need more than an hour to fully recover from such a state. That's why Mira wasn't too worried about Rhydian. The little wolf was more cockroach than wolf with how hard it was to kill her.
Not long after Mira's group jumped into the abyss, darkness quickly consumed them. They couldn't tell which was up or down nor could they see anything in front of them. It was complete darkness.
This made Robin and Rhydian quite uncomfortable, but they didn't panic. Well, Rhydian definitely would've started panicking were it not for Mira's calm state of mind soothing her. Robin, on the other hand, wasn't a Core Formation Realm cultivator for nothing. She wouldn't freak out because of a little darkness. Plus, she knew that if she moved then she was dead.
Slowly, a few hours went by in complete darkness before the scenery around them changed. After the darkness passed, Mira and Robin opened their eyes and gasped! Even Mira was no exception!
She couldn't help it as the scene around them was too astonishing. It was like they entered another world!
Although they seemed to enter some sort of giant cave system, it didn't look much different from the surface. Lush green grass everyone, giant trees, tons of plants, ponds, streams, rivers, beasts, insects, glowing crystals on the wall, basically anything one could imagine was living in this giant cavern! The ecosystem also looked abnormally stable. It was a bit weird, to be honest.
There were no fights, no noise other than the sound of nature, and no deaths. It was extremely peaceful.
To make matters even more weird, the amount of beasts living in this massive cavern is way too many. Just from a brief glance, Mira felt like half of the space in this cavern was occupied by beasts! What kind of nonsense is that?! How can there be so many beasts?!
As shocked as she was, Mira still regained her wits extremely fast before ordering Rhydian.
"Rhydian, try to land in one of those trees or a pond or something. Maybe that can break your fall!"
Rhydian didn't need to be told twice as she tried controlling her wings to a spot she felt she had the highest chance of sustaining the least amount of injuries!
