"Walker!" William stepped forward eagerly, wanting to bring his returning companions back to the group and leave this dangerous place early.

The flames moved with his movements, the halo swayed, and the shadows receded like water, giving way to a new cavern, made of small sections like countless giant hammers, and a even, circular tunnel space was forcibly carved out between the edges and corners.

It's the same as the cave I've seen before, it's too familiar to be familiar, and it's because of this that it makes people feel viscerally shocked. Like the countless repetitive details in the story that have been foreshadowed for a long time, when the truth is revealed in the ending, they all burst into laughter in the previous text, applauding the culprit who created them.

Whether it is the thing that camouflages its trajectory as a cavern, or whether these unnatural caverns are not shaped by geological factors such as wind, sand, and flowing water, no matter how big or small, are all from their handiwork.

If this is the case, they are walking in the footprints of giants, treating them as tiny reptiles of the blessed land, unaware of what will happen at any moment.

[There is never a "safe" mine]

The Witness could not escape the obvious fact that he was standing in such a "footprint" that could be improvised at any moment and bury them forever in the ground of another country, and then the mine was sealed like an old mine, leaving behind a rumor of an unknown "accidental collapse".

The fear of an irresistible existence slowed him down, only to find that he was far farther than he had known.

Behind the underground crossroads, obscured by the darkness that closed behind them, they had walked thirty paces, to say the least, and went straight into the passage where the aftermath of fear and tinnitus persisted.

William's coarse nerves were aware of the oddity, but it seemed that some sluggish thinking had made his thoughts stay at a certain moment, the flying insects sealed in resin amber, the frozen bubbles in the ice, an immovable, vivid thought, driving his feet forward towards his companion who was about to leave.

The same goes for the sailors who followed, no one thought there was anything wrong with them not catching up with Walker, even if the face was like a carrot hanging from a donkey's face, seemingly close at hand, but forever at the edge of the aperture, as if it were a floater on the surface of the shadows, sticking to the surface of the black waters, and the light advancing and retreating.

As if sensing William's hesitation, the cheeks on both sides were pulled apart a little, and the corners of the mouth on the wider face were slightly raised, which strengthened the smiling expression.

The image of the involvement is more uncomfortable than a certain scar-faced peer in William's impression, that peer was just stabbed in the face, and he can still see the vivid expression under the hideous. And this intact face is far-fetched at best, and the back of the intact surface is completely stiff, as if it has been frozen hard by the cold current, and the tendons have coagulated into lumps.

Behind the grinning slits, it was not the yellow and white unhealthy teeth of the seamen, but the depth was limited, and it resembled an illibostered black light-absorbing plane more than a throat.

The three of them were not close to each other, and one of the sailors overtook him on the right hand side as he went, leaning towards the front edge of the torch's illumination range, reaching out into the darkness to take Walker's hand. He didn't get a response, he felt empty, and as a matter of course, took a few more steps, just in time to walk completely into the wide-sided floating shadow.

The shoulders pass under the broad face and jaw, reaching the entity, as if silently walking into another world.

The sound of crab feet hitting stones rises and falls, thoughts are condensed, and a simple logic is not available when it is difficult to move.

William was tired, and when he was younger, he was also a figure who could flex his muscles on deck, although he rarely had the opportunity to show it to the opposite sex. But that morning, with his father and the old captain handing over the steering wheel, Mr. Captain, who always liked to drink and brag, was far less physical than he had been at the beginning, and even if he did not fall to the point of not being able to lift a knife, it was a little difficult for him to compare with the sailors.

Once you lose self-discipline, how good your foundation is before, how quickly your body expands. For the sake of majesty, the belt is tied to the belly, but the fat does not mean that it does not exist because it cannot be seen, and it still slows down very practically.

Another sailor gradually overtook him, and after walking a little farther than the church gate to the iconostasis, he left the torch flame completely.

The only light source in the cave was faint, and the tangled combustibles gradually peeled off, and the trembling was about to be extinguished.

The aperture shrank, and Walker's face did not disappear from view, always staying closer and closer to the edge of the light. The faltering firelight retreated to the point that the toes could touch the dark area when the steps were a little bigger, and the long and tired distance finally narrowed the distance between it and could see the half-closed eyelids flattened.

The crab foot beats the stone, and the near-stagnant mind goes through a bypass, and the description is more straightforward.

【Carapace】

It's a sturdy material like a carapace that is in contact with the stone wall, but how can Walker have a carapace? That's too big, isn't it?

Ridiculous thoughts flickered, and thoughts seemed to thaw and no longer imprisoned.

The thought of moving forward and welcoming Walker back shrank like a flame to a bone, and dark thoughts took over his mind: why did he come here, and how far had he come?

He realized that he had gone too far, far enough away to feel strange in the same cavern, as if waking up in the captain's cabin of another sailing ship of the same shape, furnished as before, and the strangeness still pinched his heart for a moment.

The soreness and tremor of the heart are spread together, the skin is touched by the astringency, the tip of the tongue is tremor, uncomfortable, alienated, and uncomfortable to leave the comfort zone.

He gaged with his torch, and the action caused him to fall to the ground with a breathless breath, about to be extinguished. In the light of the uncertain light, a reddened bearded face stared at a pale and broad face.

No, it cannot be called eye contact, there is no eyeball behind the deflated eyelid, and there is no glossopharynx behind the grinning lips.

Another face came up, followed by a third, emerging from the darkness that surrounded the drowning remnants.

William recognized them, the owners of these two faces had just walked past him, and his sailor's face, which he would never recognize, had become wide and flattened, and lacked three-dimensionality.

Once, after drinking, I crumpled the parchment journal and re-spread it out to dry.

"What hell thing ......" The mouth that has been trained by marine culture is one step faster than the brain to form words and curse, it is difficult to say whether it is a swear word or a declarative sentence.

Death, or perhaps even more terrible, fate looms, and the fear is not as strong as imagined.

The rock walls of different colors above and below, the worship of the long body of the link, and the faces that are prominently depicted, are coherent and logically connected.

Perhaps he was mentally prepared for it, and even he was amazed - the moment his hand reached for the hilt of the knife, and the leisure to realize that he was experiencing a shocking horror story.

The sea of ice, the Tum River, the port of Wenden, the port of comfort, the clear, turbid river, the avenue of stone, the dusty dirt road......

I can't remember who said that the things you care about most don't come to mind until you're caught in a storm.

And William regretted that the most authentic and most primitive and strong emotional episode in his life was buried here in obscurity, and he could not even find the most tasteless drunkard in the tavern as an audience.

The blade slashed limply at the three unmoved surfaces. Yes, he is no longer young, his physical condition is no longer what it used to be, and he has unconsciously consumed too much physical strength.

The firelight, the metal striking the face, the clanging sound of the clash of gold and stone, the blade cut through a thin layer of skin, and bounced off the treacherous, extremely hard material.

"Heavenly Father, for my sake...... donation"

The hard striking that followed descended with the flames, carving into the faces before they had time to retreat with the darkness.

The third person to pass him by today was the one who brought his own torches.

"Who?!" It happened suddenly, and it was not known whether the Heavenly Father had sent an angel or an audience, so William asked reflexively.

"Heavenly Father!"

(End of chapter)