The interior of the cave was much wider than anticipated. The rock walls on both sides were not entirely natural; they retained a large number of parallel chisel marks of varying depths.
This place had evidently been deliberately excavated and widened by human hands or some kind of power to accommodate the passage of certain objects with massive frames.
As they went deeper, the soil ahead gradually thinned, revealing more exposed rock, and the originally clear footprints on the ground became difficult to discern.
Fortunately, the tunnel did not branch off. The single path prevented them from losing their direction in the dark underground.
The light inside the cave grew dimmer until only absolute pitch-blackness remained. Luckily, Columbina did not rely entirely on visible light and was able to lead Coppelia forward through the darkness.
After an unknown amount of time, Columbina, who had been focusing her senses, suddenly gave a slight start.
"There's an attraction... very faint," she whispered.
"Be careful as we approach." Saying this, Coppelia gripped Amos's Bow with her left hand, rested her right hand on the string, and activated her Elemental Sight.
Following this intermittent, weak pull, the two turned into a more open underground cavern. Some faintly glowing moss hung from the cavern roof, providing a meager amount of illumination. Several fork roads of varying sizes were distributed along the surrounding rock walls, appearing intricate and complex.
They conducted a rough search along the edge of the cavern. Columbina judged the approximate location of the source based on the changes in the strength of the attraction. She concentrated her perception to penetrate in that direction...
Soon, she approached a rock wall covered in thick green moss and confirmed, "I found them! Right behind here, separated by a very thick layer of stone. They are still moving!"
"It seems those 'porters' haven't stopped yet." Coppelia looked at the surrounding deep forks that led to unknown destinations. "But this cave structure is too complicated..."
She then asked, "Can you tell which path we should take?"
"I want to teleport directly over there," Columbina said.
"That's a bit dangerous," Coppelia warned Columbina. "Do you want to try teleporting the stones over here instead?"
Columbina looked down at the trembling disabled Moon Spirit in her arms and answered softly, "I'm not too skilled yet... I have a subtle feeling when I teleport myself to another place, but if I don't move myself, I can't feel it."
"Alright... I understand." Coppelia then instructed her, "But don't teleport too close. We need to observe first and figure out exactly what the situation is on the other side."
"Mhm."
Columbina approached Coppelia, almost pressing against her side. A layer of stable white radiance rose from her body surface, enveloping them both. The light suddenly became blindingly bright in the darkness, then quickly extinguished.
The moment the light vanished, the cavern was empty.
...
The white light flashed without warning. Coppelia felt the solid rock beneath her feet instantly turn to open air, followed immediately by the sound of gurgling water.
She and Columbina appeared above an underground dark river, suspended half a meter above the water's surface.
Though called a dark river, it was really only a small stream. Large patches of algae emitting a faint blue glimmer grew within the stream, illuminating this underground space as if it were immersed in starlight.
Besides the sound of flowing water, there was the click, click sound of moving metal joints, and the splash of heavy objects stepping into the stream. These sounds echoed repeatedly in the enclosed cave.
Columbina did not act immediately. She cast her invisible perception toward the source of the sound ahead. In her perception, she "saw" a squad of mechanical creations—massive in stature, walking on two legs, and dragging thick, heavy metal tails behind them—wading through the water in formation. That familiar attraction was coming faintly from the interiors of these machines.
"There are eight big guys." Columbina's voice was suppressed very low. "The attraction seems to be coming from inside their bodies."
"Swallowed inside?" Coppelia asked, while her gaze swept the surrounding dark corners. "Anything else?"
"No."
"Okay, let's get closer."
An explosive arrow took shape, with the glimmer of Electro and Pyro dancing on the arrowhead.
The two drifted soundlessly toward the mechanical squad. In the Elemental Sight Coppelia had activated, eight bright elemental orbs emerged—the glow emitted by the energy cores driving these machines.
Coppelia aimed at the open ground to the left of the mechanical squad and released the bowstring. The explosive arrow flew from the string, tracing a brief arc before slamming into the damp rock wall.
Boom!
The explosion of interwoven Electro and Pyro detonated abruptly within the enclosed space. A strong light flashed, and the blast wave, carrying crushed rocks, surged outward.
The eight mechanical dragon-beasts stopped their wading simultaneously. Their heavy bodies turned, and the single-eye-like core on their heads lit up with a dangerous yellow light.
Seemingly without any search process, several elemental balls of light in various colors instantly shot out from the "single eyes" on their heads. The target was not the location of the explosion, but directly at Coppelia and Columbina suspended in the air behind them!
I intended to probe, but we were discovered instantly! Coppelia's heart tightened, and Geo elemental energy surged out instinctively, forming a shield in front of her.
But those balls of light did not hit her Geo shield.
A series of low, dense buzzing vibrations rang out further ahead. All the elemental light balls exploded one after another against a transparent shield shimmering with pale blue aqueous light, stirring up only rippling circles of energy before dissipating without a trace.
Immediately following that, dozens of diamond-shaped water bullets with razor-sharp edges condensed out of thin air in front of the shield, floating silently.
Coppelia dispelled the excess Geo shield in front of her and raised Amos's Bow again, the arrow tip locking onto the glowing core of a mechanical dragon-beast's head, her speech speeding up: "Aim for the 'eyes' on their heads, hitting there might para—"
Her words came to an abrupt halt.
Columbina's mind moved slightly; she had only aimed roughly. The dozens of water bullets fired in unison, tearing through the air with a high-pitched shriek.
Ping! Ping! Crack—!
The sounds of tearing metal and exploding parts mixed together into a chaotic din. The outer shells were torn open as easily as paper, even in places that looked extremely sturdy.
Internal precision gears, connecting rods, and pipelines were exposed, then immediately sent flying by the subsequent water bullets. Fragments, screws, and broken metal strips burst outward as if swept by a storm, clinking and clanking as they fell onto the water surface and the rocks on the shore.
In just a few breaths, the eight massive mechanical dragon-beasts had completely ceased activity. Their bodies broke into several pieces, collapsing crookedly into the stream or onto the bank. Various parts were scattered everywhere, and the stream was churned into turbid mud.
Coppelia froze in her pose of raising the bow. The fingers of her right hand loosened unconsciously, and an ordinary arrow of light slipped from the string, shooting into the distant stream with a plop and splashing up a small cluster of water. This sound jerked her back to her senses.
Holy crap, that was badass! She sucked in a breath very quietly, turning to look at her companion beside her, unable to hide the astonishment on her face.
Columbina had simply remained floating there quietly from start to finish, holding that disabled Moon Spirit in her arms, without any other extraneous movements.
Columbina withdrew the aqua-blue shield in front of her. Sensing Coppelia's gaze, she turned her head and asked, "What's wrong?"
"...No, nothing!" Coppelia shook her head quickly, putting Amos's Bow back into her "backpack" and saying no more.
The two floated toward the pile of mechanical wreckage. Inside the wreckage, dozens of stones emitting a gentle moonlight seemed to be summoned, floating up from the shattered mechanical cavities on their own to arrange themselves before Columbina.
Columbina was just about to start absorbing the power in these moonstones when her movements suddenly paused.
Her perception caught a new movement approaching rapidly from the downstream direction of the underground river.
"Another big guy is coming," she whispered a warning.
Coppelia immediately tensed her nerves. "Are there many?"
Columbina did not answer immediately. Her brows furrowed slightly; her perception seemed to have encountered a situation that was difficult to distinguish.
"It seems there is also..." She hesitated, seeming unsure of what she had discovered. "A person?"
____
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