BXBX NOVEL Chapter 228: Gripped
The maze-like nature of this place frustrated him, added by the fact that his undead eye ability was useless without any living creatures to detect.
He committed this tunnel's details to memory—so he wont come back here again accidentally .
Turning back, he retraced his steps through the maze of tunnels he had bypassed earlier.
At the last junction, five tunnels stretched out before him He had already explored the other four, leaving only one path uncharted.
'If this one's another dead end, I might just blast this whole mountain to pieces,' Reign muttered in frustration.
He clicked his tongue, annoyed at the thought. He had considered using brute force before but held back, wary of disturbing any potential hidden treasures within this mountain .
After Reign walked inside the passage, his anticipation turned to disappointment again.
The tunnel narrowed until he reached another dead end, almost causing him to lose his composure.
'Another dead end?' he muttered, frustration evident in his voice. He clenched his fists, feeling negative energy begin to surge within him, but with effort, he managed to regain control.
Then, something caught his attention.
There was something on the ceiling. Curious, he reached up and touched it, then knocked on it.
'It's hollow,' he exclaimed, his orb eyes narrowing with intrigue.
He tested the other walls, but only the spot on the ceiling rang hollow.
This discovery suggested there was another passage concealed behind it.
'Let see what's behind this,'
With a controlled force, he retracted his arm and then, with a slow punch, he struck the wall covering the ceiling.
The impact was strong enough to shatter the brittle material without causing too much destruction.
'A path upward, huh?' Reign mused inwardly as he observed the newly revealed passage.
The hole was narrow, but he could sense its length extending upward.
A faint, cool breeze hinted at an open space awaiting at its end.
'It's too narrow to fly upward,' he muttered, assessing the tight confines of the passage.
With careful consideration, he prepared himself to climb through the cramped opening using his bare hands.
He customized his hand into a makeshift climbing axe, quickly embedding its sharp edges into the walls of the narrow passage.
This would allow him to climb faster.
Gripping tightly, he began his ascent, digging his sharp hand into the wall and alternately alternating between his left and right hand.
With each upward movement, he found secure footholds with his sharp feet, ensuring steady progress despite the tight space.
However, as he reached higher, the passage grew so narrow that moving his hands became more difficult.
He had to shrink his body even more to squeeze through the tight space.
'This hole is too damn tight . I need to squish myself,' he thought, maneuvering through yet another section that seemed to close in around him.
Finally, he decided to shrink down to three feet in one go, hoping to avoid the frequent adjustments.
For the next twenty minutes, he crawled and wriggled his way forward.
The air grew cooler, and the rough stone walls pressed in on him from all sides.
The tunnel's darkness was almost absolute, save for the faint glow of his own glowing eye lighting the way.
Finally, just as he was beginning to wonder if the passage would ever end, he saw a glimmer of light ahead.
Excited, he quickened his pace, scrambling forward until he emerged into a larger cavern.
"What is this place?" he mused aloud, his voice echoing slightly in the spacious area.
The sight that greeted him was very unique .
The cavern was filled with white, glass-like crystals that shimmered green in the dim light, their surfaces reflecting a glowing green rock.
Some of the crystals jutted out from the ground like jagged teeth, while others hung from the ceiling, creating a surreal and beautiful landscape.
As he observed the green rock, a memory stirred in his mind.
In his old world, there was a type of rock that glowed like this—it was fluorite.
Fluorite glows due to a phenomenon called fluorescence.
When exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light or certain wavelengths of visible light, fluorite absorbs this energy and then emits it as visible light.
'They look like diamonds from my old world,' he mused, sitting down to get a better look at the shimmering crystals.
He reached out and touched one, its surface cool and smooth beneath his fingers.
Curious about its durability, he applied pressure, trying to crush it.
The crystal shattered into pieces with little resistance.
'Yeah, what was I thinking? With my strength, any kind of gem would be crushed no matter what it was,' he chuckled, finding his blunder amusing.
'But this place is really peaceful. For some reason, I feel sleepy,' he pondered.
He leaned back, resting against a larger rock. He wondered why he felt so at home in this place, like he wouldn't mind just sleeping here for a long time.
'Maybe it's the green rock? Probably some therapeutic effect?' he mused, feeling a strange sense of comfort and peace wash over him.
The cavern's serene atmosphere gave him a rare moment to take a break from the hell hole outside.
The red orb in his eyes slowly dimmed, letting the faint hum of the cavern wash over him.
'I feel tired,' he thought to himself, his vision blurring a little.
For a moment, he felt a strange peace, as if a lullaby were gently playing in the background.
"A lullaby?" Reign's eyes snapped open, and the energy within his body began to run amok and forcibly fought back the drowsiness.
The soothing feeling vanished, snapping him back to full alertness.
He stood up, shaking off the remnants of the weird tranquility he felt.
'This place isn't as harmless as it looks,' he thought.
'My mind was strong enough to even ignore that Angel's song, and this place actually was able to affect me for a bit,' he muttered
This led him to assume that the inexplicable sensation he felt surpassed even the enchanting power of an angel's voice
'Alright, just in case,' he muttered under his breath.
He focused his mind and surrounded himself with a cloak of negative energy, an aura that he created to shield him from falling for the same tricks again.
'This is the best I can manage right now. I don't have any way to protect my mind yet,'he sighed heavily.
This slip-up made him realize again how vulnerable he was to mental attacks. He needed a powerful passive mental skill that could prevent this from happening again.
When he was confident that his defensive measures were in place, he cautiously resumed exploring the cavern.
His primary goal now was to uncover the source of the mental attack he had experienced earlier.
Reign moved through the cavern, his senses keenly attuned to any shifts in the environment or subtle disturbances in the air.
As he explored deeper, he discovered one tunnel and the density of the unknown minerals increased the further he walked, casting green glow on the cavern walls.