Descent into Darkness

A groan escaped Rachel’s lips as she rubbed her aching waist, slowly pushing herself upright.

Pure darkness enveloped her, stretching as far as the eye could see.

It appeared this place, much like the area above, offered no glimmer of light, preventing her from spotting the opening through which she had fallen, despite craning her neck upwards.

Fortunately, the ground beneath Rachel’s feet proved exceptionally soft, cushioning her fall and leaving her with nothing more than a few aches and pains, rather than any serious injuries.

Yet, Miriam and Vera were nowhere in sight, and anxiety for their well-being gnawed at her.

A surge of concern prompted Rachel to quickly scan her surroundings, her gaze darting about in search of her two companions.

“Vera—Miriam—are you here—”

Her cries echoed through the cavernous space.

Moments later, a faint light flickered into existence nearby, swiftly followed by the hurried patter of footsteps.

“Lady Rachel! Thank goodness you’re safe!”

It was Vera, her face etched with anxiety, holding aloft the oil lamp.

Trailing behind her, Miriam hobbled along, evidently having sustained a minor injury to her leg, yet both appeared to be otherwise unharmed.

A profound sigh of relief escaped Rachel’s lips.

She waved towards Vera and Miriam, inwardly acknowledging that her gamble had paid off.

Rachel’s decision to pull both Vera and Miriam with her into the chasm had not been a desperate, last-ditch effort.

Quite the opposite: Rachel had possessed an absolute certainty that she would survive the fall, a conviction stemming from her own death countdown.

Prior to their leap, Rachel had swiftly consulted the countdown, verifying that her demise was still slated for three days hence, with no alterations.

This assurance confirmed that descending into the chasm would be a safe endeavor for her personally.

Yet, while it guaranteed her safety, whether Vera and Miriam would share the same fate remained a significant question.

Her own survival might simply have been a stroke of luck; there was no telling if her companions would be as fortunate, or if they would perish from the impact.

Regardless, given the circumstances, the risk of leaving them above or engaging in a desperate struggle against the dragon-human was simply too immense.

After careful deliberation, Rachel had no choice but to take them with her into the abyss.

Now, seeing her two companions intact—or, more accurately, mostly intact—Rachel finally allowed herself to truly relax.

Just as she intended to rejoin Vera and Miriam and begin exploring their new surroundings, her foot suddenly slipped, sending her sprawling to the ground.

“Ow, ow, ow! What in the world are these steps doing here… What’s wrong with you two?”

As Rachel grumbled, she noticed Vera and Miriam abruptly halt in unison, their gazes fixed strangely upon her—or, more precisely, upon something behind her.

“What are you two staring at…?”

With a sense of trepidation, Rachel followed their gazes, only to freeze instantly.

What lay before her was not a flight of steps, but rather a grotesque mound of stacked dragon-human corpses.

In the dim light, Rachel could discern that their features were almost identical to the colossal dragon-human they had encountered above, though these were considerably smaller, comparable in size to ordinary humans, and many were even clad in human attire.

“What in the world is this place…”

For a moment, Rachel found herself utterly speechless, so stunned that she remained seated on the ground until Vera stepped forward to help her up.

The sight before them was truly horrifying; had she not confirmed that these dragon-humans were dead, Rachel would have been convinced she had stumbled into a den of the creatures.

Even knowing they were deceased, the mere thought of having unknowingly stood atop these dragon-human cadavers sent a shiver of dread down Rachel’s spine, and a wave of nausea churned in her stomach.

“Lady Rachel…”

Perceiving Rachel’s distress, Vera tightened her grip on Rachel’s hand, her expression laced with concern.

Rachel shook her head, reassuring her that she was alright.

However, when she turned her gaze, she found Miriam standing beside them, utterly frozen like a statue.

“Miriam? Miriam? What’s wrong with you?”

Rachel called Miriam’s name several times before Miriam finally seemed to rouse from her stupor, her eyes blank as she looked at Rachel.

“Huh? Oh, I—I’m fine…”

“You certainly don’t look fine,” Rachel remarked, her brows furrowed as she studied her.

Miriam hastily forced a smile.

“Lady, I was merely a little startled, that’s all.

It’s nothing serious.

However…”

“However what?”

“Lady, do you… recognize these creatures?”

“Why would I ever know about such things?” Rachel sighed, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

“Had I known this mountain harbored these abominations, I certainly wouldn’t have spent my money so foolishly.”

“I see…”

Miriam’s expression momentarily fell, a shadow of dejection crossing her face, but she quickly composed herself, reverting to her usual demeanor as she looked at Rachel.

“So, Lady, what is our next course of action?”

“Our only recourse is to explore and see if there’s an exit,” Rachel replied without a moment’s hesitation.

Earlier, while traversing the passage, Vera had noted their continuous upward trajectory.

Logically, therefore, their current location might not be far from the surface, potentially offering an exit to the outside world.

However, if that proved true, this entire expedition would have been fruitless.

While they had indeed uncovered numerous peculiarities hidden within this mine, she still couldn’t ascertain if, or to what extent, they related to her impending death in three days.

With this thought, Rachel swiftly appended a caveat.

“And while we’re at it… let’s also search for any unusual features.”

“Unusual features?”

Vera, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

“If you’re referring to unusual features, I did stumble upon one just now, while I was searching for you, Lady Rachel.”

“What is it?”

Rachel pressed for an answer.

“It’s the corpse of a man,” Vera stated, pausing briefly as if to meticulously reconstruct the scene in her mind.

“Ah, yes, he was dressed in a white lab coat, which gave him a rather scholarly appearance.”

“How can you discern a scholarly demeanor from a dead man…? No, more importantly, why are you only mentioning this now?”

“I forgot!” Vera retorted, her tone surprisingly defiant, though a flicker of guilt crossed her features as she darted a glance at Rachel.

“Besides, you never asked me…”

‘Right, that’s just Vera for you.’

After a brief, exasperated thought, Rachel promptly instructed Vera to lead them to the location of the body.

Just as Vera had described, a few dozen meters from the pile of dragon-human corpses lay the body of an adult male.

Clad in a white coat, his attire suggested he might have been a researcher.

A pervasive, foul stench emanated from the cadaver, causing both Rachel and Vera to instinctively wrinkle their noses.

Ordinarily, discovering a human corpse in an area teeming with monsters would hardly be unusual, especially considering Rachel and her companions had just narrowly escaped the clutches of a colossal dragon-human.

What was peculiar, however, was the remarkably intact state of the man’s body, a condition utterly uncharacteristic of the enormous dragon-human’s predatory behavior.

While Rachel pondered, Miriam had already moved ahead, kneeling to inspect the corpse before them.

“Time of death… indeterminable,” Miriam murmured, “though it appears he has been deceased for at least three to five days.”

With a composed and professional air, Miriam disregarded the putrid odor emanating from the body, deftly rolling the prone corpse onto its back.

“It seems this is the cause of death,” she stated.

Miriam’s voice was grim.

Following her gaze, Rachel saw a pitch-black dagger embedded in the corpse’s chest.

Miriam hesitated for a moment before extending her hand, but the dagger abruptly dissolved into a wisp of black smoke and vanished.

“A magic item?”

Mimicking Miriam, Rachel covered her mouth and nose as she crouched down.

“Most likely,” Miriam affirmed with a nod, her brow furrowing in thought.

“However, I’ve never encountered a magic item quite like it before.

What could it be…”

“Hmm…” Rachel mused, her eyes lingering thoughtfully on the corpse and the lingering wisps of black smoke before she turned to Miriam.

“You’re remarkably professional, though.

Are you truly just a merchant?”

“Huh? Oh…” Miriam’s expression momentarily went blank, as if she had been startled, before she swiftly plastered a wide, practiced smile back onto her face.

“I’m an itinerant merchant, you see… an itinerant merchant.

Traveling far and wide, one tends to encounter many things, so I’ve naturally picked up quite a bit of knowledge…”

“I see.”

Rachel did not press the matter further, tacitly accepting Miriam’s rather flimsy excuse.

Instead, she turned her attention to the corpse, feeling along the inner lining of its jacket.

“Hm? It seems there’s something here.”

As she spoke, Rachel retrieved a black-covered notebook from within the jacket’s lining.

A few dried bloodstains still marred its surface.

Regardless, they had finally found something of interest.

Rachel exhaled a silent sigh of relief and, under the curious gazes of Miriam and Vera, opened the notebook.