"No... We need to find a solution! Only thinking can solve the problem!!"
Even in this situation, she did not abandon her rationality and let despair take over her mind:
"I don't know how deep this hole is... I must not wait till the bottom, or I'll be dead!"
Trying to calm his anxious heart, Hill racked his brains and tried his best to think of a solution.
"I am no longer an ordinary person who is powerless... I am a transcendent, an 'apprentice' on the path of 'mage'! There must be a way to avoid being thrown to death..."
He tried his best to search his mind for the skills and spells he had mastered and could master, and soon a flash of inspiration passed through his mind like a meteor:
"Oh right, 'Flame Escape'! Although this is a skill that can only be mastered by the third level 'Mage', if it does not require you to completely transform into fire, but just summon energy to propel yourself... even I can do it!"
As long as you cast the "Flame Escape" technique and summon flames to lift you up from below, continuously offsetting the momentum of your fall and reducing your speed to a safe range before hitting bottom... you'll have a chance to survive!
No one knows how deep this strange hole is. Maybe in the next second it will be smashed into a thin piece on the ground.
So after making the decision, she did not hesitate for a second, and immediately put all her strength into mobilizing the not-so-strong and condensed spiritual power in her body, and tried to perform the "Flame Escape" as quickly as possible.
"You must succeed... Hill, you can do it!..."
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Chapter 373 Hill's Strange Adventure (Part )
"Flame Escape" is supposed to be a mobility skill for the third-level "Mage". As an "apprentice" who has just been promoted for a few days, it is absolutely impossible for her to perform the full version in principle, let alone practice it in advance.
However, spells are different from the divine arts of "priests". They are not fixed and unchangeable presets, but rather "templates" that are designed and constructed.
In other words, the mage can use his own abilities and knowledge to try to transform, optimize, or... any spell and extract the part he needs.
However, the gap between the realm of the caster and the spell is too big. Now that the situation and time are extremely critical, Hill may not be able to succeed.
But...if we don't try...no one can rule out the tiny possibility...
What's more, what else can she do now?
"Whirring whirring--"
Time passed second by second, and the cold wind whistling in my ears never stopped.
Hill closed his eyes, trying his best to block out all external perceptions, calm his heart, and try his best to use his mind and spirituality.
Three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds...
If he had continued to fall at a normal speed, Hill would have fallen to an unimaginable depth.
But until now, the surrounding environment has not changed at all. It is still pitch black and dim, with huge rock fragments that seem to be suspended in the air...
It was as if this huge hole led directly to the abyss.
"Boom——"
Suddenly, the muffled sound of air exploding and tearing came out of nowhere, as if someone was swinging a wide, dense, thick cloth.
"brush--"
At the same time, crimson flames rose from the void. The warm red color merged into one, and the leaping tongues of fire climbed upward, forming a giant hand with the palm facing up, half-wrapping Hill's slender body.
The scorching air waves and burning fire snakes swept across her clothes and her bloodless white skin, but did not cause any burns, as if it was just an illusion.
"Success!"
Hill suddenly opened his eyes, joy and excitement appearing on his face.
But she did not get carried away. Now was not the time to be happy.
Because the power of the flame is very weak, the deceleration effect it can provide is not obvious. On the one hand, she is not strong enough to summon a more powerful flame; on the other hand, with her current physical strength, she cannot withstand excessive acceleration.
Moreover, it is extremely difficult to cast spells across levels. She must concentrate almost all of her mental energy to maintain this weak power. If she is distracted for a moment, the flame that she has worked so hard to condense may dissipate and fail.
It is not certain how far we are from the bottom, so it is too early to be happy now.
Continuing to clear his mind of distractions, Hill maintained the red flame in the roughly fixed shape of a palm, allowing his descent speed to decrease at a relatively slow but steady rate.
The cold wind blowing across my cheeks also became weaker and less sharp and fierce.
"I hope... I hope it's not too late..."
She wasn't sure if she could slow down to a safe range before hitting the bottom, but no matter how much she worried, it would be useless in this situation, so she didn't lose her mind, but quietly maintained her current state.
Do your best and leave the rest to fate.
waiting……
long wait.
The air passing over my body became slower and softer.
By the time beads of sweat began to seep out of Hill's forehead due to the continuous consumption of her mental energy, she could hardly feel herself falling.
“Stopped…?”
She opened her eyes uncertainly, only to find that the surroundings had turned into absolute darkness without her noticing. She could neither see the inner wall of the cave nor the rubble that had always been with her.
——But they should all fall down as she slows down.
"Rumble..."
Just as she was wondering how far she was from the bottom, a series of dull sounds, not too obvious but quite penetrating, came from below, connecting into one with a huge momentum.
"Is this... the sound of those stones falling to the ground?"
Hill reacted immediately, and then realized that the depth of the huge hole... was even more exaggerated than she had originally expected.
"There are so many big rocks, but there is only such a small sound, and it took so long..."
After a rough calculation, she irresponsibly estimated how far she was from the bottom of the giant hole:
"At least... there are still more than a thousand meters... and it is impossible to tell what is going on below..."
Thinking of this, she felt much heavier.
Because it was pitch black all around her and her body was floating in the air, she couldn't determine the exact direction and could only try to move her eyes upwards based on her instinctive sense of direction.
"There's nothing..."
However, no matter where you look, there is only pure darkness, and even the pupils of your eyes cannot be focused.
If conditions allowed, she should now manipulate the fire to send herself back to the ground.
However, as of now... the conditions do not allow it.
As a result of the performance just now, her spirituality and energy have been almost exhausted, and it is estimated that she will find it difficult to hold on any longer.
And the distance on the ground...she couldn't even estimate it.
In her current state, the only option is...
The only thing we can do is continue to "dive".
——Go to the end of the abyss.
“Boom… Boom…”
The flames surged up and surrounded Hill as he slowly descended.
She could feel that her spirituality was reaching its limit and she couldn't hold on for much longer.
"I can only pray... that I can reach the end before I am completely exhausted..."
Fortunately, the development of things was much more optimistic than she worried.
Maintaining the current rate, she descended for about ten minutes.
Through the red flames blooming from the surrounding crimson flames, Hill could vaguely see a piece of ground dyed orange-red by the flames emerging from the darkness below, like a reef slowly rising from the dark sea surface at low tide.
"That's great... I finally made it."
After slightly weakening the strength of the flames, Hill finally landed smoothly on a fairly hard piece of ground.
When her feet touched the ground again, she felt dizzy. The black gauze quickly spread from the edge of her vision to the center, almost making her lose her balance and fall to the ground.
"Sure enough, it's still too much of a stretch..."
Rubbing his temples to ease the throbbing pain in his head a little, Hill quickly removed the flame, closed his eyes, and used meditation to calm his spirit that had been exhausted and dried up due to excessive load, giving it temporary relief to prevent the spirit from suffering irreversible damage.
A few minutes later, she opened her eyelids and confirmed that the spiritual power in her body that was almost broken and out of control had regained control. Then she snapped her fingers lightly, ignited a bright flame at her fingertips, and used its light to illuminate the surroundings.
"What on earth is this place..."
Under the light of the fire, she could vaguely distinguish the space of about ten meters nearby. As far as she could see, there were messy gravel and dust, and the ground beneath these things... was made of a very strange soil.
The reason why she said it was strange was that she didn't know whether the word "soil" was appropriate to describe the soil:
When she stepped on it, it felt like a stone floor, very hard and dense, and even if she stomped hard, no dents would appear.
But when she pressed the sole of her shoe against the ground and slowly pushed forward, she found that the ground was like fine sand and could easily leave a deep mark.
If you apply a little force to your toes, your foot will slowly sink in while sliding forward, and eventually your entire foot will be swallowed up by this strange soil.
"When subjected to a severe impact, it will harden in a short period of time. Under normal circumstances, it is just very fine and soft gravel..."
Hill pulled his boots out of the soil, shook off the remaining particles on them, and understood something:
"No wonder so many big rocks fell from such a high place, but there are no dents or holes on the ground..."
She raised her head and cast her gaze towards the dark area not far away that could not be illuminated by the firelight. She took a deep breath and took a slightly shaky step:
"Let's see if we can find the exit first. We can't just sit there and wait..."
If it were a resident of the human world, and if they were in a dangerous situation like Hill, their first reaction should be to stay where they are, conserve their strength, try to live longer, and wait for rescue to arrive.
But Hill did not do so, and instead groped his way through this dark abyss where the situation was almost completely unknown.
Because she knows...
It is impossible to wait for "rescue".
On the surface, she was just an ordinary person without any extraordinary powers. Falling alone from such an abyss... there was absolutely no possibility of survival no matter how you thought about it.
However, in the concepts of the "Last Kingdom" and the Church of Redemption, the bodies of those who died in other places - referring only to the bodies of ordinary people - have no value for recycling.
This is indeed cruel, but it is a helpless measure under the circumstances of extreme resource scarcity.
Therefore, no matter how long she waited, help would not come.
Unless she could wait until the follow-up large force came to investigate the abyss in depth, but that would take at least a few weeks or even longer. Hill, who did not carry much food with her, would definitely not survive until that time if she did not replenish it.
"Let's take it one step at a time. 'Do your best and leave the rest to fate'..."
She silently recited the popular saying in the "Last Country" in her heart, trying to stay as optimistic as possible, but the heavy haze from reality spread uncontrollably over her heart.
No matter how optimistic she is, there are a few facts that cannot be ignored: her spiritual energy is almost dried up now, and she can basically not cast any high-intensity spells.
In other words, Hill now has no ability to protect herself at all. If anything unexpected happens, such as a filthy ghost suddenly rushing out from the depths of darkness, she will definitely die...
"No, not at all."
She suddenly thought of something and reached out from the bag at her waist to pull out a crystal emitting a faint red glow.
The "Veil of Secrets" spell, the material gift of the "True Creator".
"According to the 'True Creator', this thing can be activated twice, which should help me avoid most dangers... Even if I reach the end of my rope, I can try to ask Him for help again..."
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh:
"I hope that's not necessary. I haven't paid back the reward for the talisman yet, and I have to ask Him for help again... This, this is not good..."
"Gulu."
Holding the talisman in his palm, he walked step by step with bated breath, and suddenly his toes trembled.
There was an obvious resistance force, as if something hard but not heavy was kicked, and at the same time there was a rolling sound under the body.
The touch was clearly not stone.
"……Eh?"
Chapter 374 Hill's Strange Adventure (Part )
In the dark abyss that extended to an unimaginable distance underground, Hill squatted on the ground, with his hand holding a lighting flame close to the ground, observing the object in front of him with a puzzled look.
