Free Web NovelChapter 1233: Chapter 48: Why Again?
The wind howled past Su Xiao’s ears as he was in a free fall state, surrounded by complete darkness. Based on his previous judgment, this vertical shaft was at least dozens of meters deep.
The Slaughter Dagger appeared in Su Xiao’s hand. He flipped the dagger, holding it in reverse, and stabbed it into the metal wall, blade facing downward.
Crackling—
The Slaughter Dagger carved a vertical slash mark into the metal wall. Su Xiao braced one foot against the wall, noticeably slowing his descent.
Because Su Xiao’s speed decreased, Bubu Wang, who was also in free fall above, crashed onto Su Xiao. Su Xiao supported Bubu Wang with one arm, and Bubu Wang bit onto the hem of Su Xiao’s windbreaker. Su Xiao let go, and Bubu Wang successfully clung onto him.
Su Xiao’s body gained weight, and his dropping speed increased noticeably; Bubu Wang had gained a few pounds recently. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Just after catching Bubu Wang, A Mu fell from above. Su Xiao’s left hand gripped the dagger’s handle tightly, and his right hand was bent before him. As A Mu fell past Su Xiao, he suddenly reached out and grabbed A Mu’s horn.
Sizzle!
Sparks flew more intensely from the Slaughter Dagger. A Mu was already quite heavy, and it was holding onto Elisa Herbert. Although Elisa Herbert only weighed over 90 pounds.
Elisa Herbert had been screaming loudly before, but now there was no sound. Upon closer inspection, Su Xiao discovered that Elisa Herbert had fainted from fear.
To be exact, Elisa Herbert was in a state between unconsciousness and consciousness. She hadn’t wholly passed out from the sensation of falling. Sometimes she would suddenly wake up; however, upon realizing she was still falling, her eyes would roll back, and she would faint again. This had happened several times, leaving Elisa Herbert wondering if she was dreaming.
Honest Niu A Mu resisted the urge to throw Elisa Herbert away. To A Mu, the ’little thing’ in its hand was too strange. It had to hold the ’little thing’ very carefully, or else it might accidentally squash her.
Actually, it’s not entirely Elisa’s fault for fainting. She was half scared and half squeezed by A Mu. For someone like Elisa, who has spent most of her life indoors, today’s events are overly stimulating. Unbeknownst to her, this was just the ’opening act,’ and more thrilling experiences awaited her.
Su Xiao and his companions’ falling speed significantly decreased. Just then, a figure in silver armor fell from above, grabbing onto A Mu’s horn.
"Moo!!"
A Mu roared angrily. While its horns were weapons, they were also a weak point. If an enemy grabbed its horn, even if it didn’t die, it would be in extreme pain.
Su Xiao grabbing its horn was fine, but A Mu couldn’t stand Gos grabbing its horn.
Cold air surged on A Mu’s horn, causing Gos’s hand to go numb, prompting him to release his grip quickly. As he let go, he found himself staring into A Mu’s angry bull eyes.
Gos continued to fall downward, but his action of grabbing A Mu’s horn had slowed him slightly.
Because Su Xiao used the Slaughter Dagger to reduce his falling speed, Gos soon vanished from his sight into the darkness below.
The descent continued, and after about five seconds, Su Xiao furrowed his brows. Earlier, he had tested the pit’s depth with a stone; under normal circumstances, he should have reached the bottom.
Just as Su Xiao was puzzled, a loud clang echoed from below—it was Gos reaching the bottom.
Su Xiao raised his arm and pulled the Slaughter Dagger out of the metal wall, gradually accelerating his descent.
Bang!
A Mu was the first to land, with Su Xiao and Bubu Wang sitting on A Mu’s back, surrounded by pitch darkness.
At this depth, the surroundings were so dark that it was like being in a place where one couldn’t see their hand before their face. Su Xiao took a military glow stick from his waist, cracked it, and its ’peroxide’ and ’ester compounds’ reacted, transmitting energy to the luminescent dye, emitting a blue glow.
Using the not-so-strong blue light, Su Xiao began to observe the surroundings. The pit where he stood was similar to a cylindrical shaft, with metal walls all around. He couldn’t comprehend how the Holy Sodding Kingdom’s technology level had constructed such a metal shaft.
Under Su Xiao’s feet was a large iron plate; the surrounding metal walls had no exits, resembling the bottom of a cup.
"A dead end?"
Su Xiao examined the surrounding metal walls. Besides large patches of red rust, he found nothing. He tried knocking to find any mechanism, but to no avail.
After about a dozen seconds, Su Xiao confirmed there was no mechanism. If it weren’t for a hidden side mission, he’d suspect it was a trap set by the Old King.
"Her Royal Highness, are you alright?"
Gos tried to ’awaken’ Elisa Herbert, who was crouching on the ground, eyes full of confusion, with an expression that clearly said: ’Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going? Do I have to keep crouching?’
Clearly, Elisa Herbert was dumbfounded.
Su Xiao ignored the dumbfounded Elisa Herbert and crouched on the ground, knocking on the metal floor below.
Thud, thud, thud...
"It’s hollow."
Su Xiao punched the metal ground beneath him. With a creak, the metal floor sunk a few centimeters.
"So that’s it."
Su Xiao understood what was happening. They hadn’t encountered a dead end but were stuck. According to his judgment, the metal shaft they were in was an extremely deep elevator, and the metal plate beneath them was the elevator’s tray. Due to age and the moisture in the underground environment, the metal had rusted, causing the tray to stick in mid-air.
Moreover, Su Xiao hadn’t entered through conventional means under the throne. He had broken through it and jumped in directly, so the mechanism below hadn’t activated.
If they had followed the normal procedure, the first step would have been to activate the throne’s mechanism, after which the metal tray would rise, and as the throne closed, the tray would slowly descend.
"A Mu, jump."
Su Xiao’s words puzzled A Mu a bit, but it instinctively jumped.
Boom!
A Mu’s feet landed on the metal plate. With a creak and a harsh metallic twist, the entire metal plate descended about half a meter.
"Keep going."
A Mu jumped high for another stomp.
Crack!
The sound of breaking metal came from below, and the entire metal plate shook.
Screech... freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
A piercing grinding noise emerged from below the metal plate, which began descending slowly at first but then gained speed as the rust on the mechanism underneath was worn off, increasing the descent velocity.
If the metal plate were merely in free fall, it wouldn’t be a problem, but there seemed to be bearings or some such below, causing the falling speed to keep increasing.
Right now, Su Xiao felt like he was in an accident-prone elevator, accelerating uncontrollably downward.
"Wish you luck."
Su Xiao glanced at Gos, then took a short rod from his storage space. Nearby, Bubu Wang and A Mu instantly understood. Bubu Wang hugged Su Xiao’s left leg with all four legs, while A Mu grabbed Elisa Herbert with one hand and Su Xiao’s right leg with the other big hand.
Su Xiao squeezed the short rod in his hand, and segments popped out from each side, ending in spike-shaped tips.
Clang.
Extended, the short rod acted like a horizontal bar, bracing against the metal walls on both sides. Muscles bulging in his arms, Su Xiao’s feet found no purchase as the falling speed drastically reduced.
Standing on the metal plate, Gos’s cheek twitched as he looked up at Su Xiao and his group, the distance between them growing. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the scene seemed very familiar.
