At this moment, space shuddered before it was torn apart by an invisible force, revealing a black hole.
Thereby, a figure was suddenly thrown out from this black hole before it vanished just as fast as it appeared.
The figure landed on an old stone floor. He wore a long black jacket with a long hood on his head; a faceless black was hidden underneath. It was none other than Jacob who had mysteriously been sent into this place which was Rare Plain Trial!
If not for Immortika's previous explanation, he might be clueless, even spooked by this entire ordeal, just like any ambitious newcomer in the dark woodlands. But he was calm since he knew what kind of place it was and what it represented.
Jacob looked around, and his eyes widened slightly when he saw he was standing on a passage dimly lit with flame torches on the walls.
However, the walls made him apprehensive because they were made of skulls!
'A catacomb?' He mused darkly as he looked behind, and there was also a long passage going way back, just like in the front.
He has no idea on which part of the dark ruins he is in, but he is clearly underground within these catacombs.
Suddenly, Jacob felt a vibration on his wrist, which was his star watch.
He then slid his sleeve and was astonished when he saw a notification on his star watch.
'Faceless Ancient Welcome in Dark Runes of Rare Plains. Please explore the Dark Ruins for glory.'
It was an ambiguous message, but it did reveal the name of the place he was in.
'Could it be the Star Network is also controlled by the Zodiac Will? This might explain this Network's mysterious background.' Jacob assumed but didn't dare to speak out loud.
He was even apprehensive of this Zodiac Will now since even Immortika seemed afraid of it. If Immortika hadn't told him to keep wearing his star watch, he might have already stowed it away in his infinity pendant.
Jacob then tried to use the Star Watch, but to his dismay, the connection was completely off with the outside, confirming his hypothesis even more.
Nevertheless, he kept his star watch on his person, and after that ambiguous message, no more messages appeared.
Jacob then decided to move in the left direction while holding a pump action shotgun in his left hand and his sword in his right hand.
He didn't dare to underestimate this place. Even that giant was warry. Even if he knew how to clear it, it didn't mean he could do it.
If Immortika was correct, then Dark Beings of higher level might be teeming this place to clear it as well, and with his current power cap, he would be courting death.
He couldn't summon Immortika either, and he was pretty sure it had something to do with the Zodiac Will, or there might be some other reason. In any case, he has to be careful.
Jacob's first objective was to leave these underground catacombs.
As Jacob moved slowly toward the dimly lit passage, he noticed the dust on the walls and his footprints on the stone floor. Evidently, this passage hadn't been used for quite a long time.
But when he thought about those burning skull torches, he thought otherwise.
After walking for half an hour, he frowned because a skull wall blocked his way forward, a dead end.
Fluster, he turned back since he didn't want to touch those skulls unless absolutely necessary.
After walking for over an hour, Jacob's face turned dark when he saw a wall blocking his way again. It meant both sides were completely blocked off!
'Something is strange. This passage is too long. Moreover, these torches kept burning without showing any sign of turning off, and the air here also didn't seem to suffocate. There has to be some kind of ventilation system.' Jacob frowned as he finally decided to get his hands dirty.
He first moved toward the skull wall blocking his way and slashed his sword, blasting those old skulls into bits and raising a small dust cloud.
When Jacob saw there was really a stone wall behind those skills, he then moved toward the other suspicious thing, which was those torches.
The passage was only 3 meters in diameter, so Jacob's hand easily reached the torches position. When he tried to remove a torch, strangely, it didn't move an inch as if it was fixed on the wall.
With his sword hilt, he tried to break the torch, and the skull shape torch easily blasted, but Jacob was stunned the next moment because a palm size yellow-red flame appeared in the air when the torch broke.
It suddenly started flickering after losing the torch's protection and then diminished, leaving behind a dumbfounded Jacob.
'Magic!' Only this could explain the phenomena now.
Before, Jacob thought there might be some gas line supporting those torches, but it seemed he was dead wrong. He needed to think out of the box since he was in a magical world where anything was possible.
Giving up on torches, Jacob decided to focus on those skulls, and after cleaning those skulls for half an hour, he had cleared over ten meters on both sides as skull debris filled the floor.
Yet, Jacob saw nothing but stone walls on both sides, perplexing him.
This passage was simply too long, and if he started to clean those two walls, it might take an entire day, and he still might not find any clues about where he was or how he could leave.
"Let's blast our way out of this strange place." Jacob sneered.
The next moment, a pale yellow rectangular appeared in his hand. It was only six inches long and two inches thick.
It was trinitrotoluene (TNT)!
He literally meant those words when he said he would blast his way out of this place.
This TNT was hand-made by him. When he was planning to leave the freedom plains, he knew the place out there was not something he could handle with his current prowess, so he prepared some things if he ever experienced such situations.
The TNT happened to be one of those things.
With cold eyes, he placed the TNT on the stone wall blocking the passage and sets it up with a radio wave controller.
Only after looking at those sturdy stone walls did he dare to take his mad action, or if it were a shallow cave, he would rather continue searching than risk using TNT and bury himself.
Jacob put hundreds of meters of distance between TNT and himself before he pressed the red trigger!
"Bommm…."
A massive explosion rang quaver the entire passage, and those skills started to fall from their positions, and a huge dust cloud enveloped the whole passage like a tornado.
Jacob was completely unfazed as he waited a few moments before going toward the explosion area. Crushing the skull debris under his unhindered footstep, he reached the dust-filled explosion area and approached the wall.
He couldn't help but notice a light in the center of that. Even with all the dust, it was quite apparent.
'So, there was a passage.' Jacob's lips curled up as he finally saw the half-broken wall and another passage behind it.
Without hesitation, he crossed the opening and stepped foot another dimly lit catacomb passage, but it was slightly more spacious than the one he had just blasted his way out from.
This time, Jacob went toward the left again, and after walking for ten minutes, he didn't encounter another wall but a cross path.
'Is this some kind of grave maze?' Jacob's face fell, but all of a sudden, his ears perked because faint footsteps were approaching from the left cross pathway toward his position!
'The explosion must've drawn whoever this is.' Jacob was vigilant and didn't dare to underestimate the approaching party.
Whoever could come to this place was not simple, and he was far more worried about those Dark Beings.
Jacob quickly took the right passage before that person reached this place, and with silent steps, he escaped the vicinity.
A minute after Jacob left, a petite woman with wolf ears, wearing a short black armor that only covered her vitals, appeared, holding a sword and an assault rifle in both her furry hands.
She looked at the still dusty passage where Jacob had appeared and frowned, "Someone just used explosive force to blast their way out of a dead passage? Is it magic or technology? Whoever it was, they were strong. If it is not a Dark Being, and if I can team up with this person, I might be finally able to leave this shityard!"
A ray of hope appeared in her wolf eyes as her small fair nose started to twitch, and she instantly looked toward the right passage where Jacob had gone.
Her lips curled up into a beautiful smile, "Smell of chemical, definitely not a magic user!"
With great anticipation, she also chased after whoever it was without caring about the consequences. It was far better than suffering alone in this maze of skulls!
