A plan had been formed, now they needed to act on it.
"Rose, Elena, you take Zara and head back to the Perilous Sanctuary to find raw materials. If you find anything good, leave it in the spatial storage and I'll have Elvira's people make some good stuff with it. Ruyue and I will search the third layer to find any treasures that could help as well," Damien said, dividing their team to best accomplish their mission.
Rose, Elena, and Zara had speed and concealment that surpassed Damien and Ruyue, so sending them back would achieve better results.
Meanwhile, he and Ruyue could make themselves useful elsewhere.
"Understood. We'll meet back here?" Rose said, accepting her role.
"That's the best-case scenario, but if it ends up too taxing, don't risk it. We can always contact each other through the Sanctuary, so we can set up a better rendezvous point if necessary."
"Got it," Rose nodded. "We'll set our right away."
"Ah, wait," Damien stopped her and said.
"The Messenger Birds never enter the Perilous Sanctuary. I don't know why, but it's safe there. Spend a few days looking if you can't find anything today. Don't rush back if you don't have to."
Rose nodded, taking Elena and Zara with her as she left the cave's shelter.
There was no time for idle talk right now, only action!
Once they were gone, Ruyue turned to Damien questioningly.
"They will be fine in the Perilous Sanctuary, but how are we supposed to survive if they don't come back tonight?" She asked.
It was a real concern. The Messenger Birds weren't kind enough to give them the respite they desired so easily.
If half of their group was missing, the other half would taste the beasts' rage at an exponentially greater level!
However, Damien shook his head, telling her not to worry.
"I have a plan. If it works, we'll be fine, but if it doesn't…"
"If it doesn't?"
"We'll just have to run some more, no?"
"Pfft…!"
Ruyue let out a slight giggle.
What kind of plan was that?
It could barely be considered a plan in the first place, but if it worked, it worked, right?
Dawn was still in the process of arriving, which left them around 15 hours until night fell again.
Ruyue shrugged, accepting that this was how traveling with Damien always went.
It was fun and they always managed to survive until now, so it was fine, right?
"So what're we doing?" She finally asked.
"Well, if we follow the patterns of these kinds of places, the overworld is only half the fun," Damien responded mysteriously.
Ruyue's face paled.
"Don't tell me…"
"Yup! We're going underground!"
"Tch!"
There was never a time when Ruyue had good memories underground. Every time they ended up down there, something bad happened.
It was basically fate at this point!
"Do we have to?"
"We do."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Really really?"
"Yeah, come on, it won't be that bad, I swear. I mean, the alternative is scouting the overworld, which I don't think will be very fun…"
The Messenger Birds might've been docile during the day, but their grudge was still as great as ever.
There was no way they'd let Damien and Ruyue have an easy time doing what they needed to.
Ruyue sighed in defeat.
"There's no other choice."
"That's what I was telling you from the beginning."
"It's still hard to accept."
"Relax. Either way we're in trouble, so we might as well follow the path that'll give us something for our efforts, right?"
"No, you don't have to explain it. I've already accepted it mentally; I'm just complaining because I really don't want to do it."
Damien smiled.
A talkative Ruyue was really his favorite thing in the world.
"Since you got the complaints out of your system, let's get going."
No matter how much he wanted the conversation to continue, they had work to do.
And what better place was there to start from than this very cave?
Damien sent his senses into the ground, grabbing hold of several vectors and bending them to his will.
"Be careful. We're about to drop."
Right after his warning, the ground caved in.
Damien had agitated the foundation of a circular area of rock below them, finding the nearest underground pocket and collapsing anything that separated them from it.
Luckily, the target location wasn't too far away, so he was able to do it with his limited abilities.
Rumble!
The earth rumbled.
Damien wrapped his arm around Ruyue's waist while she held onto his neck.
Soon enough, the duo was falling along with the imploded debris.
They descended almost half a kilometer before solid ground came into sight again.
Damien let loose his mana, covering himself and Ruyue in a small whirlwind of spatial mana that slowed their fall until…
Tap!
They landed in the underground space gracefully and spread their awareness to look around.
"This is…a mine?" Ruyue muttered.
"No, it looks like one, but this formation is natural," Damien responded, feeling the cave walls.
The cave was small, but it was connected to tunnels in two directions, like a mine in Ruyue's words.
But no mine would be so clean.
This was more like…
Damien's eyes narrowed.
"Stick close to the walls. When you hear rumbling, immediately attack in that direction without hesitation," he said solemnly.
Ruyue nodded, and the duo made their way to the cave wall, following it closely as they entered one of the connecting tunnels and walked its length.
It was dark and musty, an underground tunnel that didn't seem to have any beginning or end.
But it definitely had both.
Because this tunnel was created by—
Rumble!
Damien and Ruyue both looked behind them at the same time, pushing their arms out and charging their mana.
Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!
Ruyue attacked first, sending a rain of icy projectiles down the tunnel towards the rumbling.
As it got closer, Damien also attacked, using Vector Control to form beams of plasma that followed the trajectory of Ruyue's attack to hit the approaching being.
Shhhhhh!
The sizzling of holes being pierced in a thick carapace resounded.
Ruyue frowned when she heard it and flicked her wrist again, lining her ice swords with death mana and sending another barrage at the unknown being.
Shik! Shik! Shik! Shik!
Her attacks also made impact this time, digging into that being's body.
They still couldn't see it yet.
They could only hear the strange sounds it made, like the transformation of a car into a robot, and the rumbling of the earth as it moved.
But…
"It's surprisingly weak?" Damien muttered.
Its pace had already slowed severely, and by the time Damien finished his thought, it stopped moving entirely.
'Did overestimate the threat?"
It was a jinx greater than any other.
Grrrr…
A menacing growl resounded through the tunnel.
"Something" began to approach.
"Fight or run?" Ruyue asked.
Damien's brow furrowed.
Running was probably the right option but—
"I'm tired of running. Let's fight!"
"I knew you would say that."
The two smiled at each other and left the safety of the cave wall, standing tall as the unknown enemy approached.
The first thing they saw when it came out of the shadows?
A massive circular mouth lined with thousands of teeth…
…and a strange gem deep in its throat that radiated beautiful emerald-green light.
