When they first met, and when she followed Marina, Lurunaka had always been a well-behaved and obedient girl, and she had a good grasp of the distance.
Marina was a kind-hearted woman, so kind-hearted that Lulunaka was almost moved to tears. From the beginning until now, she had met many mages, and Marina was definitely not the outstanding type. She might be ordinary, but she was easy to get along with. Compared to those cold, shameless, stupid, and arrogant bastards, she was much better. At least, Lulunaka felt that she was quite happy to be with Marina.
But even so, Lulunaka didn't push her luck. At least, she didn't casually touch Marina's magic book and deliberately avoided it.
Marina didn't know that Lurunaka was deliberately keeping such a subtle distance, but she had probably let down her guard because of the Unconscious Sword.
Because that was what Lulunaka hoped, and she did. A young girl's smiling face could always make people feel relaxed, as long as the other party wasn't a psychopath.
Marina was very assured of Lulunaka, thinking that she was just a poor girl who made a living in the Rat Path. But to Lulunaka, Marina was a mage — or rather, a mage who had a magic book that didn't belong to her.
Lulunaka was an alchemist. Although she sometimes didn't want to admit it, in the process of making certain things, magic was very convenient and necessary. And this made Lulunaka very familiar with the magic book, which was a mixture of magic and crafting elements.
But even if she didn't know alchemy, Lulunaka was also very familiar with magic, whether it was before or after becoming an alchemist.
Now, Lulunaka was somewhat interested in Marina's secret. Although this magic book didn't belong to her, it didn't reject Marina as its user. What was the story behind it?
Along the way, it was fun to guess and think of ways to ask some questions, but it was more troublesome to get important information from a mage.
While Lulunaka and Marina were whispering to each other, Chris stopped in front of them.
"What is it now?" Akio asked from behind.
"We're at the end," Chris replied. "Watch your step."
Soon, Eco and the others understood why Chris had told them to be careful.
When Ike reached Chris's side, he kicked a pebble. The pebble rolled forward a few times and suddenly disappeared.
It did not disappear into the darkness, but it did disappear.
The foot that Akio stepped out just happened to step on the edge of the floor. In front of him was a bottomless space. The stone fell into the bottom without any feedback.
In the distance, there was still a passageway, but the place under their feet could no longer continue forward.
It was as if it had collapsed or been hollowed out.
Ike took a step back. Just now, half of his foot was hanging in the air, which gave him a fright.
"What's going on here?"
"Who knows, I heard that it's been like this for hundreds of years … I don't know if it's true or not, but it's been like this for a long time."
Short Axe replied. "When I first came here, and when I got information from those old men, this place was already like this.
Be careful not to fall down. I've been down there, and some unlucky people who fell down were turned into a pile of meat. No one was willing to collect the corpses and loot the corpses. It's too dirty. "
"How deep is it down there?"
Akio continued to ask. After hearing Short Axe's words, although he was scared, he was still curious.
"Falling from the top of St. Sophia's Cathedral to the ground … It's a little higher than that."
Akio recalled the Holy Spirit Church's greatest building, the most famous landmark of the King's Castle, and the cathedral that pilgrims from all over the world would visit. He took another step back.
Lulunaka came to the edge, squatted on the ground, and poked her head out to look down.
Although her clothes would get dirty in this position, it was safer than standing and looking down, and it was less likely to make people dizzy.
"I've heard of this place.
As long as you go down from here, you'll leave the shallow water area of the sewer.
Below, it will be more dilapidated, and there will be more places that haven't been explored yet.
Of course, there are also more rare plants. If there's a place with luminous moss, it's very likely that it's down there. "
"Yes, and this means that there's something more dangerous than small fangs."
Short Axe said, and his words obviously reduced Lulunaka's high spirits. "Yes, it's not a place that I can go down alone … Those scary small fangs just made me understand this."
"You should be glad that you met a kind person," Short Axe said. "Of course, it won't be me." He did not specify who it was, but the person he was talking about could only be Marina.
Lulunaka stood up, patted her knees, and returned to Marina's side. Like a pitiful little bird, she snuggled up to the big bird. "Marina, will I cause you any trouble?"
Marina smiled. "Not for the time being."
She did not say with certainty that Lulunaka would not cause any trouble, but her words made Lulunaka feel more at ease.
She knew that Lulunaka was a considerate child. If not for the fact that she had nowhere else to go, she probably would not have come to this kind of place.
And she was also very self-aware, knowing that she did not have the ability to fight, and might cause some inconvenience to them.
"That's enough."
Lulunaka's face showed a smile, and the haze just now was swept away. "Thank you for being willing to take me along."
Marina was not a cold and heartless person. Seeing Lulunaka's smile, she did not think that she had done anything inappropriate.
If Short Axe really thought that they could not take Lulunaka down, then he would have mentioned it, but he did not do so now.
So Marina thought that they could still continue to take this poor child, although the place they were going to next might be more dangerous than the one above.
"How are we going to go down?"
Iqrio asked. He found that there was no way forward, and Chris should not have led them to a dead end.
"There's no way to go. Are we going to fly to the other side?"
There was indeed a path in front of them, but with such a distance, unless they grew wings and flew, there was no way they could reach the passage on the other side.
"Of course we have a way down, young master," Short Axe said.
At this time, Chris was not standing near them. He walked around the edge of the area, and finally squatted down somewhere. "The ladder is over here."
He wanted the others to come to his side.
The others walked towards him and saw that there was a wooden ladder under Chris's feet, extending into the bottomless space.
"There's no problem with the ladder," Chris said to them. "I'll go down first."
As soon as he finished speaking, he climbed down and soon disappeared in front of everyone's eyes.
He walked too fast, and Iqrio and the others did not react, but it seemed that they had to follow him down.
"Men first." Short Axe looked at Iqrio. "You go down first. The two of them will follow behind you."
Iqrio went down first. He extinguished the torch, put it at his waist, and followed Chris down.
After he went down for a while, Marina and Lulunaka followed, and last was Short Axe. The way they moved was no different from the way they moved in a small team.
As they climbed down, Short Axe shouted down, "Be careful under your feet. There might be one or two sections that are empty, and there's no place for you to stand. Don't slip and fall, or you'll die a horrible death."
When everyone climbed down, a gust of wind blew up from below, like a cold hand supporting their bodies.
"This is strange. Why is there a wind blowing up from below?" Iqrio said. "This is underground, and it's not an exit to the surface."
"I don't know, and don't ask me."
Short Axe heard Iqrio's words from above. "I'm used to it. Only people like you who come down for the first time will find it strange."
The wooden ladder was relatively sturdy, and with Short Axe's warning, they climbed down smoothly.
Until Chris's voice came from below. "It's safe at this height."
When Iqrio heard Chris's words, he was distracted, and his foot missed a step, and he slid down the ladder.
His hands rubbed against the sides of the ladder, and his whole body fell rapidly down the ladder, and then suddenly landed on the ground.
It all happened so suddenly that he did not have time to scream. Only the burning pain in his palms reminded him of what had just happened.
"Next time, I don't want to climb down before you." Chris said to Iqrio, who had come down the ladder and walked to the side, rubbing his palms.