The Edge of the Capital Island
Ake crosses her arms as she looks down over the edge of the island. Particularly at the person with a teleportation artifact and a gas mask on their face strapped to a rope. A person with a flying ability just to be safe.
No matter how many times they’ve tried, they’ve never managed to make it past the clouds awake to see what’s down below them. All they managed to see was a vague round shape after making it far enough into the clouds before going under the poison’s effect.
So they assumed it was the planet’s core and moved on. After all, they couldn’t make it down there, so what was the point?
But now, Ake can’t dismiss it anymore. They need to find a way down there.
“Begin the first trial,” Ake says. Then she watches with her arms crossed as the volunteer slowly lowers himself down into the clouds with a video camera – something they purchased from the Silver Merchant – on his head to record everything he sees. And to record if he succumbs to the poison so that they can bring him back up.
Mostly the latter since they’ve already seen what it’s like down there thanks to Aria’s phone call.
Time passes in silence as everyone nearby watches with bated breaths as the volunteer goes lower and lower. But even with the gas mask, he still ends up falling unconscious before the center of the world even becomes visible. Proving just how powerful the poison is.
Right as Ake is about to tell them to bring him back up though, the chief next to her says, “Wait, let’s see what happens first. We need more data, Kahuna.”
Ake glances at him before deciding to go along with it.
Then they all silently watch as the volunteer’s body falls down through the clouds on the video until it breaks out of them, and he hits the strange gravity barrier Aria had mentioned to them. And just as she described, the man begins moving along the barrier until he reaches the other side and continues moving through the air until he leaves the clouds again. At which point Ake calls it, having them activate the artifact to bring him back.
Ake lets out a faint sigh before glancing at the scientists and researchers she’s brought along and asking, “Well?”
They all shake their heads, just as she’d expected.
The last time they tried this, they didn’t have any sort of device to record what happened while the user was unconscious down there. But even now that they do, they still can’t figure anything out.
Which leaves them with one solution.
Figure out an antidote for the poison, make a vaccination for it, or somehow block the poison.
And all of those things lead back to the same process.
Ake turns around to find the Silver Merchant leaning against a tree nearby.
Guess we’re going to be splurging to figure this out.
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One month later
As it turns out, the Arians quickly learn over the course of the first month of research that no matter what sort of device they use, even those from the Eternal Dynasty, none manage to block the poison. Proving at this point that it is by no means a natural poison.
It must be a Tier 10 mana creature creating the poison.
Ake grimaces at the thought as she stands at the edge of the research facility they’d begun building at the edge of the island. Because even the Silver Merchant said it would most likely take years for them to analyze the poison and make an antidote or vaccine for it.
Meanwhile the Horseman of the Apocalypse is still down in the Hunter’s Spot fighting every day, ordering a suspicious amount of explosives that has Ake’s hair standing on edge sometimes when she overhears their discussions.
The war, on the other hand, has very nearly ended. Without the Clan Leader or three of their Clan Chieftains leading them – their combat and defensive chieftains at that – the Frost Clan quickly began to fall apart in the war. Then it led to Arian invading Jotunheim instead of the other way around.
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Which also required more spending on Arian’s part to get the equipment necessary to survive the frigid cold of Jotunheim from the Eternal Dynasty.
At some point closer to the end of the month Ake makes a direct request to the Horseman to see if she can find the source of the poison, but the Horseman hasn’t had any luck with that yet.
And the war is going a bit slower on Jotunheim due to the cold. Even if they have a major advantage attacking them with their lack of leaders and their having lost a few of their Class S Ability Holders.
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One year later
The next year shows progress in the war with them capturing nearly half of Jotunheim, starting their initial transition into a stronger power within the universe. One that controls more than one planet.
Meanwhile the research into reaching the planet’s core has barely progressed at all with a major stall that’s been slowing any possible progress down. That stall being that they’ve learned any of the poison they can gather from the clouds – clouds that are apparently made entirely out of the poison from what their research tells them, not cloud matter in the slightest – is very diluted poison. It’s nowhere near the source.
So attempts have been made and are still being made to consolidate the poisonous gas into a less diluted form. But the researchers are still trying as hard as they can, and they have made some minor progress. Even if all that does is allow people to last for a very tiny amount of time longer under the effects of the poison.
Not enough to matter, but Ake is satisfied that there’s at least being some progress.
She lets out a sigh as she sits at the edge of the island right next to the fully built research station, her thoughts going to the Horseman’s friend who had been helping them for a while in the war against Jotunheim. Just in a defensive manner though, using her barriers to protect the Arian forces.
Ake feels a faint smile stretching across her face at that as she leans back. Since last she heard, the woman was just breaking into the level 90s. So at the rate she’s going, she should reach level one hundred within the next few years, extending her lifespan and reverting her physical age backwards.
And she feels happy about that. Not just because of what that woman has done for their forces, but also because of Lady Death, who would most likely be heartbroken if she died.
At that thought, the smile grows fainter as she lowers her head to look down at the clouds again. Where that very same Lady Death is still fighting after a year in the Hunter’s Spot. Never getting a break.
I hope she remains sane down there… she might still be there for a few more years.
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Four years after the discovery of the Hunter’s Spot
After four years have passed, Ake and the researchers have all come to a single conclusion.
It is impossible to create a vaccine for the poison that would stop people from falling under for long enough to matter. And making an antidote wouldn’t help either since the poison is spread across the entire Hunter’s Spot as well as the clouds.
Which leaves Ake and the researchers to rely entirely on Aria for her to bring back a sample of the poison’s source. Because the researchers are adamant that it’s necessary for a vaccine.
Ake lets out a sigh while standing at the edge of the island before she turns around and begins to walk away. Only for her cell phone – an item they had begun purchasing a lot of across Arian from the Eternal Dynasty over the years – to ring, making her reach into her pocket to answer it.
And the first words she hears from it make a smile stretch across her face.
“Lady Harvey has now reached level 100 and reverted in age,” one of the tribesmen at the Gate declares.
There’s at least some good news. Looks like she was able to make it before the end of the war after all.
Ake’s smile grows wider before she pauses and glances at the ground. Or more particularly, in the direction that Aria is, at the core of the planet. The Hunter’s Spot.
I hope she finds the source of the poison sooner or later. Otherwise she’ll be stuck down there with no way out for years.
Unfortunately, sending teleportation items through the teleportation system they’re using doesn’t work. According to the Silver Merchant at least.
So there’s no way to bring the Horseman back up that they’ve been able to figure out.
Airships simply blow up when they reach the gravity barrier. Anyone trying to go down there falls unconscious before reaching the barrier even with their vaccines and is therefore jettisoned out the other end of the planet’s center.
That has Ake sighing once more before she finally leaves the edge of the island, not planning on returning again until the problem is solved.
I just hope she can retain her sanity down there…
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Aria
I let out a yawn as I wake up, feeling myself being moved as I lie on top of a massive beetle’s back. One the size of a couple houses located in what I’m assuming is around the Fifth or Sixth Tier of the Hunter’s Spot.
Over the years I’ve learned that they make pretty good beds. Their shells are nice and cushiony despite being, well, shells, and they move so I don’t have to care about other things attacking me. Not to mention that other mana creatures don’t bother them.
It’s a win-win.
I yawn again while sitting up, finding the beetle having taken me down deeper. Just like I wanted.
Honestly, I have to wonder just how deep this Hunter’s Spot goes. How large it is.
Because I’ve been going down for a while now.
Only started heading deeper in a couple years ago, but I’ve had some… trouble… with that.
Turns out the place is like a damned maze down here. One the size of a fucking continent.
And I hate mazes.
I let out a sigh before standing up and stretching.
Well, whatever.
Time to continue my journey through the Hive.