fynovel Chapter 221: Down below
Chapter 221: Down below
Outside the freight depot, the churning fog grew increasingly violent.
Hundreds of spirits stood silent beyond the range of light created by the [Intermediate Fog Lanterns]. Their bodies were hazy. Some still retained human form, but most had distorted to the point where their original appearance was unrecognizable. Some spirits had only their upper halves, hands crawling along the ground. Others dragged lower bodies that stretched like gray smoke. A few faces had been pulled to abnormal lengths, mouths gaping as if screaming but unable to produce any sound.
None of them charged forward.
They only stood at the edge of the light zone, hollow eyes simultaneously locked onto Rover.
Behind the procession of spirits was a tall shadow that still hadn’t fully stepped out of the fog. Its form was very hazy, but the pressure it radiated was enough to cause the flame in the lantern near the warehouse door to continuously contract. The black smoke crawling around the lantern core grew thicker by the moment, as if an invisible hand was trying to squeeze out the light.
Sunako held the lantern tightly, her face slightly pale. She quietly stepped a little closer to Rover and softly asked: "Great Lord Rover, shouldn’t we take the important items and retreat first? I don’t mean to doubt your strength, but those spirits somehow don’t look like the kind that will stand still and wait for us to leave."
Rover didn’t immediately answer. He stood before the warehouse door, his gaze calmly observing the procession of spirits gradually covering the ground ahead. For an ordinary group of Survivors, just the sheer number of monsters combined with the cold seeping into their bodies would have been enough to break their will to fight. But Rover wasn’t an ordinary Survivor, and room 2705 even less so a group of people who turned and fled every time they saw danger.
Nanoe stepped to his side. Her eyes gently swept across the moving fog. She didn’t appear panicked, only said calmly: "They’re not attacking immediately. Not because they fear the lantern light, but more like they’re waiting for a command."
Rover nodded. "I noticed that too."
Rilia stood slightly ahead, the cold aura around her gradually spreading. She looked at the tall shadow behind the procession of spirits, her azure blue eyes slightly narrowing, then said coldly: "The thing behind them is controlling them. Or at least, those spirits are obeying an instinct it created."
Selina drew her sword from its sheath, body tilting slightly forward like a predator ready to lunge. "Strike first?"
Rover looked at the procession a few more seconds, then slowly curved his lips. "Of course."
He raised his hand.
No large explosion. No terrifying surge of energy immediately sweeping across the entire battlefield. Only a very small sound rang out in mid-air.
Crack!
A thin fracture appeared before Rover, transparent like an invisible pane of glass that someone had just scratched with a fingernail. From that first crack, dozens of other fracture lines quickly spread outward, and with them the sky, the ground, the abandoned trucks, and even the churning fog all began showing strange reflected angles.
Sunako’s eyes went wide. Elith also slightly frowned, her gaze focusing toward Rover. The cold aura around Rilia paused for a moment, but only Nanoe and Selina still maintained relatively calm expressions.
They had both seen Rover use [Mirror] before.
But even Nanoe recognized that his strength had changed enormously compared to the first time he had used this ability in the psychiatric hospital. Space no longer produced only a few mirror faces to reflect or create passages. Now, just a single hand gesture from Rover had caused the entire area before the freight depot to look as if it had been pulled into a completely different world.
Rover turned his wrist lightly.
BOOM!
The ground beneath the procession of spirits suddenly tilted upward like an enormous wall. The trucks, fallen utility poles, and fog were all pulled along, but nothing actually fell. Everything was suspended in distorted space angles, as if the entire world had just been bent by an invisible hand then stacked into multiple overlapping layers.
A spirit let out a piercing shriek.
Then a second.
A third.
Hundreds of spirits simultaneously lunged forward, but the distance between them and Rover didn’t close at all. Every step only pulled them deeper into the reflective labyrinth. Some ran backward up the tilted wall. Some spirits were flipped upside down in mid-air. Some silhouettes charged straight into a mirror face, then appeared at a completely different position, only to be locked in place by countless other mirror surfaces.
The mirror space.
A prison with no direction.
A labyrinth with no exit.
Sunako looked at the scene before her and unconsciously swallowed. She said softly: "I know Great Lord Rover is very powerful. But before, I still thought that power was at least somewhat explainable. Right now... I feel I’ve been underestimating how unreasonable you are."
Selina glanced at her, the corner of her lips curving slightly. "Only realizing this now?"
"I’m just updating my standards." Sunako answered very seriously. "After all, I’m the future territory’s backup maid. Clearly understanding my master’s true strength is also part of the job."
Rilia didn’t join the conversation. She only stood still, her eyes completely focused on Rover.
Since becoming a member of room 2705, Rilia had known this man wasn’t weak. He had a room powerful to an unreasonable degree, women who were both strong and loyal, the ability to upgrade items, and possessed many things an ordinary Survivor couldn’t imagine. But until now, she had never truly seen a portion of Rover’s direct power.
If Rover had used this ability in the third round, her Ice Wolf army might not have had the chance to even approach him.
Elith was also quieter than usual. The spiders crawling around her feet simultaneously retreated slightly, as if their instincts had sensed a type of danger beyond their ability to comprehend. She wasn’t afraid of Rover, but her gaze toward him had clearly gained an additional layer of wariness.
Rover paid no attention to everyone’s reactions. He watched the procession of spirits being pulled deeper into the mirror space, then slowly clenched his fist.
His fingers closed.
Crack!
One mirror face shattered.
Then the second.
The third.
In an instant, the entire mirror space was like a glass palace being crushed from within.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Shattering sounds rang out continuously.
Each transparent fragment reflected the distorted faces of the spirits trapped within. They tried to struggle, tried to lunge out, but everything was meaningless. Each time a glass fragment shattered, a portion of their body was also pulled along, then broken into countless faint gray dots of light.
No blood.
No shredded flesh.
Only hundreds of spirits simultaneously shattering in a scene that was both beautiful and cold.
The tall shadow behind the procession of spirits finally reacted. It let out a low rumbling screech. The sound didn’t come through the ears but directly struck everyone’s minds, causing Sunako to pale, her legs going slightly weak. Elith frowned. Several spiders around her immediately fell to the ground. Even Selina slightly narrowed her eyes, her hand gripping the sword hilt tighter.
Rilia stepped forward one step. Cold aura spread before everyone, forming a thin protective layer.
But Rover only clenched his fist tighter.
BOOM!
The final mirror face shattered.
The tall shadow was pulled into countless fragments. Its hazy body was divided into hundreds of pieces then dissolved together with the remaining spirits. In just a few seconds, the space before the warehouse had returned to normal. The ground remained in its original position. The trucks still stood there. The fog still churned beyond the light zone, as if everything that had just happened was only an illusion.
But hundreds of spirits had vanished.
Rover opened his fist. The small glass fragments still floating around him quickly dissolved into the air.
Sunako looked at him, was silent for a few seconds then said seriously: "I feel from now on, I should stand a little closer to Great Lord Rover."
Selina laughed softly. "You were already stuck to him."
"Can be a little closer."
Rover glanced at her.
Sunako immediately stood straight, pretending she hadn’t just said anything.
Nanoe didn’t pay attention to that exchange. She looked toward the ground outside the light zone. Her face gradually became serious. "It’s not over."
Rover noticed it too.
The spirits just shattered hadn’t completely disappeared. At first only a few small points of light, then more and more. Thousands of pale gray spirit fragments appeared in the air like ash kicked up by wind, but they didn’t scatter outward. Instead, all of them were pulled downward into the ground by an invisible force.
Whoosh!
The air began to swirl.
The gray dots of light formed a small whirlwind, then quickly expanded. In just a few seconds, the entire area before the warehouse looked as if a waterspout had appeared, formed from countless shattered spirit fragments.
They plunged downward.
Not under coercion.
Showing no sign of fear.
On the contrary, the distorted faces appearing in the whirlwind carried a strange yearning, as if something beneath the ground made them want to return by any means necessary.
Sunako looked at the scene. Her expression grew even more troubled. "What are they doing?"
Rilia frowned. "Something is pulling them down."
Elith looked at the ground and softly said: "Not ordinary earth."
Rover didn’t immediately act. He turned to Nanoe. "What do you think?"
Nanoe was silent for a few seconds. She looked at the spirit whirlwind continuously plunging into the ground, then looked at the flame in the lantern near the warehouse door. The black smoke around the lantern core hadn’t completely disappeared, but had diminished considerably after the spirit procession was eliminated.
"Those spirits appearing here wasn’t random." Nanoe said softly. "When they were still intact, they followed that tall shadow. After being shattered, the spirit fragments still immediately converged in one direction. This proves what’s lying beneath is the true origin."
Selina asked: "Should we investigate?"
Nanoe didn’t immediately answer. She wasn’t a reckless person. If the benefit was only something vague, she would certainly have prioritized bringing the gold coins, [Gray Fog Timber], and the drive case back to room 2705 first. But this lead very likely related to the soul existence less than twenty miles from the apartment complex. If they bypassed it, they would still have to face it later.
More importantly, what was underground seemed to also be connected to the freight depot and the memory drives just found.
Nanoe looked at Rover. "We can investigate, but if a variable appears beyond our ability to control, we immediately pull back. This trip has already yielded enough benefit. No need to gamble everything out of greed."
Rover smiled. "Alright."
He liked the way Nanoe thought.
Not overly conservative.
Not blinded by benefits either.
Rover stepped forward, placing his hand on the ground. A transparent layer of glass slowly appeared beneath his feet. At first only about one meter wide, it quickly spread into a larger circle. The mirror surface reflected the warehouse ceiling, the lantern light, and everyone’s faces, but the images within gradually distorted, stretching downward like a corridor without a bottom.
Sunako looked at the mirror surface and asked: "Are we really going down using this?"
Rover nodded.
"Is it safe?"
Rover thought for a moment. "Probably."
Sunako fell silent.
Selina burst out laughing.
Rilia said nothing and directly stepped onto the first mirror face. Her body sank through very naturally, like stepping through transparent water. Nanoe followed. Selina and Elith also didn’t hesitate. Sunako watched everyone disappear one by one, then turned to Rover.
Rover raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to stay behind?"
Sunako immediately shook her head. "I’m just mentally preparing."
She took a deep breath, clutched the lantern tightly, then stepped down.
Rover was the last to pass through the mirror face.
A cold sensation enveloped his entire body.
No feeling of falling.
No pulling force.
In an instant, the light from the freight depot had completely vanished.