"Darkness?"

This time, even Lawson was a little curious, although it was not too much to say that the creatures in this world were strange, even if they fed on the elements, it was the first time they had seen one that fed on the darkness.

There is no dark element in this world, the so-called dark zone is a place where there is nothing, and it is hard to imagine that there will be creatures that feed on it.

"This darkness in the Netherworld's Cavern is not a natural phenomenon. ”

Fina calmed down and explained.

"This darkness, according to some scholars' research, is more like a projection of a void creature. ”

Void creatures.

Rosen thought of the Void Wanderer he had seen in the Andorhar Half-Plane before, and if this ugly-looking but incomparably powerful creature really came to the main material plane, it would inevitably cause a catastrophe.

"I haven't read the papers, so I don't know the details, but the darkness is alive, and this has been passed down by word of mouth among the members of the expedition for many years. ”

Fina stretched out a hand and swiped it lightly through the air.

"This darkness has no fixed form, but it is ubiquitous and does not have any effect on the creatures in it, so it is more like a medium, but darkness has a characteristic that it tends to be light, as long as there are luminous objects, the darkness will gather and devour the darkness, so these insects have also evolved luminous organs to attract darkness to come and devour darkness. ”

This is an unimaginable food chain, in the dark and unknowable endless abyss, there is an ineffable creature called darkness, which embraces everything, devours everything, and becomes the lowest thing in the food chain, while the small bugs are devoured by larger predators, up to the top predators, but all creatures, eventually return to darkness after death, completing a cycle that may last for decades or even hundreds of years.

"On the outer side of the Netherworld's Cave, in this large cavern, there is darkness everywhere, but there is not much in the cave, and it is rumored that the body temperature of living beings suppresses darkness to some extent, and it is also said that the presence of the cave master makes the darkness fearful. ”

Fina explained, seeing that the movement around them had subsided, and the three of them began to move downward again.

"Snakes are actually an important part of the Netherworld's Cave ecosystem, they are numerous and huge, they can travel between caves, and they are not too dangerous, so they have become the object of prey for many hunters. ”

This is obvious, the snake will swallow a large number of these small insects to absorb nutrients, and then enter the cave to become food for other creatures, indirectly bringing energy from outside the cave into the cave**.

In fact, according to the records of the Rainbow Tower's observation post, there are many small caves that actually developed on the corpse of a ghostly snake, and you can imagine how many creatures these snakes gave birth to when the Endless Abyss was just formed and the Nether Cave was nothing more than a ruin connected by countless holes.

"These things must taste bad. ”

Rosen said casually, in the distance, in the invisible darkness, another ghost snake swept by, silently, only the perception suppressed by the darkness could barely catch its figure.

The three of them walked for a while, passing through several caves, before Fina called out to Rosen.

"This is it. ”

It was an ordinary cave, and Rosen wondered why Fina knew this was the entrance to the shortcut.

"There's a special mark here. ”

Fina pointed to the bottom of the cavern, on a piece of obsidian that clearly looked like it had been carved by hand.

At most cave entrances, there will be some artificial markings to distinguish where it leads, red for dangerous places, green for relatively safe places, yellow for incomplete exploration, and black for all the way, there are few of them.

"From here, you'll pass through about ten small caverns and five medium-sized caverns, with at least three large caverns in between, or two if you're lucky, and it's the fastest way to get through the Nether Cavern. ”

As she spoke, Fina touched the obsidian with her fingers.

"This is the path my father told me, and he used to follow it up to the third level, a path that can only be used for descending. ”

"Can only be used for descending?"

Irandall was a little confused, but seeing that Lawson had no objections, he climbed up with him.

The entrance to the cave was not far above the stairs, and the trio quickly climbed into the hole.

The cave was three meters high, much larger than anything I'd seen before, and a cold wind blew through it, seemingly blowing away the darkness around it.

The cave was bare, with no vegetation present, only endless dark brown rocks, stretching forward.

If on the outside, it was the panic caused by the boundless darkness, then now, it is the slaughter and coldness, which is terrifying.

"There seems to be a space not far ahead. ”

Rosen's perception extended forward, and after losing the suppression of the darkness, he could detect the situation ahead relatively easily, but he didn't know if it was because of these rocks, Rosen's perception was difficult to penetrate the rock wall, so he could detect the situation in a short distance ahead in advance.

"The first cave on the road was a small cave about the size of a few rooms. ”

Fina said, recalling the information in her father's notebook.

"What do you mean when you say that if you're lucky, you only have to go through two large caves?"

Irandall asked, the uncertainty in Fina's language that made her a little strange.

"Because one of the three large caves you pass on this path moves, which is why it's a shortcut that can only be used to descend...... Wait a minute. ”

As she spoke, Fina stopped and leaned against the wall, as if listening to something with her ears, her two furry ears twitching in stark contrast to the eerie surroundings.

"We'd better go faster. ”

Then she said, and Lawson heard Fina's words and fell into thought, but did not object, and the three of them sped up so that they soon reached a fork.

"Here. ”

Fina pointed to the intersection on the left, and after a few steps motioned for Lawson to pull over and hide in a sunken rock wall.

"Wait a minute. ”

The three of them hid in the rock wall, and it didn't take long for a slight vibration to be heard around them.

The next moment, I saw only a ghostly snake, which swept directly in front of the three of them, not noticing them in the gap at all.

"Let's go. ”

With such a mouth shape, Fina actually stepped forward directly before the snake had completely passed, and climbed onto the back of the snake with a leap.

Stunned, Lawson and Irandall climbed up as well.

Contrary to what it seems, the serpent's back is not slippery to the touch, but rather rougher, rock-like and has many small protrusions on it, which is why Fina is able to cling to it.

After passing through the fork in the road, the speed of the snake increased sharply, and it was close to the speed of gliding in the outer cavity, and Rosen noticed that there were many other creatures on the snake's body, all of which were parasitic on its skin and evolved unique forms.

Relying on gravity and slightly spread wings to glide, the snake quickly walked the long road, and a small cavern flashed in front of the three of them, and Elandall didn't even have time to see what was so special in it.

Immediately afterward, the speed of the snake slowed down, and the howling wind blew, and Irandall realized that they had followed the snake to a wider space.

This space is not dim, on the contrary, the whole cave ** is filled with pale yellow light, and the snake swims in the air, showing a bit of surreal illusion.

Looking down, Irandall found that all the golden crystals in this huge cave were shining, covering the entire cave, whether it was on the ground, on the rock wall, or even on the dome, the entire cave was like a crystal cave.