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Return of the Fallen Volume 6 Chapter 88

Author: Blue_Rat

ch88

After eating part of a whale beast, Kazuki discovered a magical beast core hidden within its body. By the looks of it, it belonged to a second-tier magical beast. This discovery led Kazuki to dig through the other corpses and in doing so he found nearly a dozen more second-tier beast cores.

Each one had a fragment of the beast’s soul inside. Normally a beast’s core would be unstable and could easily explode because of these enraged souls but because they were stored inside his ring, they were in stasis. Once he took one out, he would either need to contain it with magic or he’d need to abandon it as it explodes.

Finding that each of these beast cores was 2nd tier, gave Kazuki more clues that the big beast beneath the water was at least a sky beast. He had suspicions but now he basically confirmed its strength. A sky beast strength usually equaled a mage at the 4th stage but though it was rare they could also be as strong as a mage at the 5th stage as well.

(Garn had contended with 2 Sky beast and he had his own trouble so to speak and he’s considered by many to be a genius at the 5th stage. For me to go against a creature with such strength, my outcome would no be a beautiful one. At the same time, Garn’s abilities rely completely on magic whereas my talents lie in both magic and physical. With the toughness of my flesh and my insane healing factor, I should at least be able to escape with my life intact. Now that I have access to orichalcum as well, death is not guaranteed for me. I might actually be a match if that water beast didn’t have such a strong aura.)

Taking out two rocks from his storage ring, one he left a blood mark on it and placed it on the crystal ground next to his feet. Another bread crumb so he doesn’t lose his way. With the other rock, he heated it up in his palm using the little amount of fire element he could pull from his surroundings. Once the rock was hot enough, the rock took on an orangish-red glow. Nothing too bright but in this darkness, Kazuki could spot it miles away.

The rock lit up an area of more than 100 feet and was like a tiny torch in a black ever-expanding void.

Taking the glowing rock, he launched it as far as he could. The rock covered 10 miles almost instantly. Kazuki’s eyes followed the rock the entire way and could see nothing around it. After a moment, this time, the rock did not crash into another crystal tower nor any landmass whatsoever. As it descended to the water, it skipped along the surface, causing the surface of the water to hiss as it boiled before the rock sank into the depths and vanished.

(So not much in that direction, at least not for 10 miles. Let’s keep trying until we find something.)

Kazuki did just that. He pulled out more rocks and lit them up. He found it to be a bit of a time-waster to heat up a rock one at a time but there wasn’t much he could do to counter this as the element of fire was incredibly low. In the end, it took almost 10 minutes and nearly a hundred rocks being thrown before Kazuki found anything else in the large open water.

Out in the distance, what Kazuki thought maybe east, there was another piece of land or so he thought. After traveling to the large piece of land, Kazuki found that it was actually a large skeleton. The bones were well over a mile long and resembled something like a snake but Kazuki couldn’t be sure. Still, this discovery actually helped. Not the bones themselves but the area around it.

Kazuki found that the current flowing to the side of the snake bones had actually increased drastically.

(The place where I fell, the current was so fast and powerful that not only could I not resist it but neither could that goat-headed monster.)

Kazuki cautiously lowered a hand into the water and the flow was so strong that it pulled him off his feet and nearly took him into the water to be washed away. Kazuki easily regained his balance by flying with wind aura.

(The power of this current is incredible. If I were to jump in now, it would be more than difficult to swim against it. At the same time, it’s not as strong as the original current that washed me away. Logically, if I simply follow this flow to its source, it should grow stronger and I might just be able to find my way back.)

With this in mind, Kazuki took to the skies and flew near the ceiling of this underground cavern-like place. He would have flown closer to the water but there was still the threat deep down and Kazuki felt there was no need to risk confrontation. As long as he stayed miles up near the ceiling he felt confident he wouldn’t run into whatever that big creature down below was.

This in itself though led to two problems but Kazuki quickly solved them. The first was how he would check the speed of the water from so high up. For this, he simply dropped a rock from up above and listened as it impacted the water. The images he got back in his head showed him just how fast the current was pulling and what direction. The second problem he faced was how would he leave bread crumbs behind. As there was very little land around him, where would he leave a blood marker. This to was easily solved. All Kazuki had to do was leave a blood marker on the ceiling above his head.

Every 10 miles or so, Kazuki would drop a rock into the water and listen for it whilst also leaving a small amount of blood behind on the ceiling. With his fast recovery, losing a few drops of blood was literally like losing nothing at all. Still, though, this blood left behind was easily distinguishable, even from many miles away. If Kazuki by some dumb slip up actually became lost, all he ould need to do is be within 30 or 40 miles of one of his blood marks and he could find his path as if it were nothing.

Kazuki repeated this process and as he did, he could tell that the current was getting stronger and stronger. Like this, he flew for many miles, which in turn became many days. Every now and then when Kazuki got hungry tired or just need a break from the same shit over and over, he would simply carve a spot out in the ceiling, a little cave, where he would rest and eat.

Like this, he traveled for many days, which then turned into several weeks, until eventually, he found it, or rather he’d have to be completely blind to miss it.

After nearly 6 weeks of flying ever so slowly, the waters beneath him had picked up time and time again until the current was moving as fast as a tornado. At the same time, above him, a large hole several miles across was before him. As soon as he came upon it, he recognized it as the hole he and the goat-headed monster had created when they continuously smashed into it.

Kazuki grew excited sensing this hole. Once out of it, it would be a cakewalk, making it back to the cliff wall and from there, he could simply fly out of this shit hole and leave the darkness behind once and for all.

Leaving one more blood marker behind at the entrance of the hole just in case, Kazuki all but sprang out of it with pure ecstasy.

As soon as Kazuki was out of the hole, he grabbed a rock and heated it until it glowed. Then he launched it high up above his head. With everything he had, he launched it skyward but after almost 20 miles, the rock had still yet to escape from wherever it was supposed to and began to fall back down. This didn’t deter Kazuki, rather he grew even more excited.

(My rock didn’t hit a ceiling. I really am back in the original trench!)

The rock he tossed up came crashing back down and hit the ground with a small…

*tak*

As soon as it hit the ground though, a large creature took notice and discovered Kazuki’s presence. However, the expected charge, roar, mashing of fangs, claws, teeth didn’t occur. Instead, the large creature’s eyes went wide in shock. As sweat started to pour down the creature’s face and back, it slowly started to back away. Kazuki on the other hand had also already taken notice of the creature and though its fear slightly surprised Kazuki, Kazuki knew why. After everything the two had gone through, Kazuki still being alive after all of that would shock any who witnessed it.

Slowly turning to the large creature, Kazuki smiled and licked his lips. His words sending shivers down the creature’s back.

“It’s been a while, you goat-headed bastard. Care to join me for a meal!?”