CHAPTER 186: SPECIAL SPACE!

The moment Albedo shouted, Lilian and Elara pivoted without question, following his lead as the abyss behind them churned violently.

The leviathan descendant’s second pulse was seconds from firing, and the water around them compressed with a teeth-rattling pressure, vibrating like the ocean itself was preparing to scream.

Albedo tore forward, carving through a cluster of eel-beasts with two clean shots from Havoc and Ruin, one graviton slug that imploded a beast inward like crushed metal, the other a spiral of violet energy that reduced another into churning fragments.

He didn’t slow down at all. The current wanted to drag them backward, toward the glowing maw of the leviathan somewhere behind the distant haze of collapsing debris, but Albedo forced all three of them through the twisting pressure by brute force.

"This way!" he barked.

Lilian didn’t argue. Blood lashed from her wrists, gripping jagged stone protrusions to slingshot herself and Elara forward.

Elara tightened her grip on the two mana seeds she kept on her belt for emergency casting, compressing a barrier of condensed nature mana around the trio to reduce the drag.

The pulse ignited behind them.

Light swallowed the trench in black-blue luminescence. The water convulsed violently, shockwaves rushing like physical walls.

But Albedo had already spotted the narrow crack in the granite wall, an impossibly thin fissure tucked behind a drifting pillar of collapsed coral, a place no sane person would consider a passage in a high-pressure environment.

Yet it was there, shimmering faintly with a distortion he recognized instinctively.

A mana-warp zone.

"Go!" Albedo shot three graviton pellets at the crack’s edges, the implosions widening it just enough for a body to slip through, "Inside!"

Lilian darted in first, pulling Elara. Albedo followed last, twisting sideways as the pulse detonated behind them. For one vertigo-inducing moment, the world was a roar of splitting stone and collapsing water

The moment they crossed the threshold, the light dimmed, the pressure thinned, and then vanished. All three of them stumbled forward as if breaching an unseen membrane, momentum carrying them down onto stone instead of water.

Albedo hit the ground first, rolling instinctively and pulling the two girls with him out of pure reflex, expecting water currents or falling debris to follow.

Nothing came. Albedo blinked in shock. All there was around him was the hollow, echoing drop of water falling from the ceiling above.

They were on dry ground. Albedo straightened slowly, eyes narrowing as he reached back toward the entrance they had just come through.

Albedo exhaled, then inhaled sharply,

"...The hell?"

There was no water, the three of them landed in a cavern, entirely dry.

Not partially drained, not sealed with barriers, just dry. A massive bubble of vacuum-like space stretching outward with uneven walls of stone that glistened with dampness, dripping water that evaporated or dissipated before hitting the floor.

Air filled his lungs, warm, stale, but breathable.

Lilian blinked rapidly, then let out a soft, full-bodied gasp as she spun in a slow circle, "Oh... oh, oh this is fascinating."

Elara wheezed, disoriented, pushing stray hair out of her eyes. "W-What just happened? Did we, did we get warped?"

Albedo immediately turned back toward the crack they came through, but that crack wasn’t there anymore. The wall behind them was seamless stone. No fissure. No warp distortion. Nothing.

He touched the wall and it was solid. He pressed using his mana mana, and there was no reaction. He pushed harder, layering force, gravity, arcane pressure, but nothing happened.

It was like the cave absorbed his mana without returning an echo, like throwing stones into a bottomless void.

His jaw tightened, "Damn it. The entrance is gone."

Elara’s breathing hitched, hands instinctively coming together to cast, but no spell left her. She just stared at the stone, "W-We didn’t... imagine that entrance, right?"

Lilian walked up beside him, crimson eyes gleaming in the dim light. "No, no, no, this is amazing. Do you two even realize what this is?"

Elara dusted herself off and squinted nervously into the darkness ahead, "A death trap?"

"No," Lilian said with a bright, almost childlike grin. "A discovery. An unexplored magically sealed subdomain inside the Sunken City of Vorago. Do you understand how impossible that should be?"

Albedo folded his arms, scanning the cavern’s contours. The walls weren’t shaped naturally, at least not entirely.

Some parts were rough, others unnervingly smooth, cut with geometric precision that suggested carving or erosion by something far older than the modern magical era.

"Maritime Officers and other explorers have been exploring Vorago for an eternity, they should’ve found it, yet we’ve heard nothing about this place, which means we found it first,"

"Or no-one lived to tell the tale of this place," Albedo muttered, and Lilian looked at him, "That’s possible, but also, this place wasn’t open until we got close,"

Elara frowned, "You think the leviathan’s pulse... unlocked it?"

"No," Lilian shook her head. "Not exactly. But something triggered a change. A shift. Maybe the pressure, maybe your mana signature, Albedo, maybe the convergence of abyssal energies outside... or maybe..." She paused dramatically.

Albedo raised a brow, "Maybe what?"

"Maybe this was a sealed pocket dimension that only opens under incredibly niche conditions." Lilian’s smile widened, fangs glinting faintly. "And we just happened to be the ones who triggered it."

Albedo didn’t respond immediately. He scanned again, senses spread thin, using Source Code to analyze spatial threads, gravitational resonances, mana density.

There was nothing. No monsters or water. Just pure emptiness.

A void.

The silence pressed on his ears. He hated it.

"Whatever this place is," he said finally, "we can’t get back. So we need to go forward. Comms are offline in this subspace,"

Elara peered ahead, swallowing hard. A single narrow tunnel extended deeper, shifting in sharp angles and uneven slopes like something carved by nature but distorted by arcane forces over time.

"I don’t understand..." she whispered. "Where is the water going? What’s happening here?"

"The Demonic Sea is... strange," Lilian answered lightly, far too excited. "But this is beyond the usual anomalies. This is like, like a forgotten ruin. A lost vault. I’ve read reports of sealed dry pockets deep underwater, but they were small, unstable, dangerous. This one is massive. Stable. And it reacts to conditions we don’t understand yet."

She spun around again, boots tapping the rough stone. "Do you know what this means? This could be a treasure trove. Artifacts. Runic remnants. Ancient materials. Forgotten things from before the Abyss even descended."

Albedo narrowed his eyes, "If it’s so valuable, makes more sense that no-one who found it made it our alive. I don’t know why you’re so excited. Also, people explore Vorago all the time, the West Perimeter is a main attraction, how haven’t others seen people entering at least,"

"Maybe it moves," Lilian said instantly.

Elara stiffened. "Moves?"

Lilian nodded. "Yes! Think about it. Spatial anomalies are well documented. Some pockets drift like bubbles through the sea, appearing for seconds, minutes, sometimes years. Others are anchored but need an external force to open, pressure waves, sound frequencies, mana signatures, or abyssal resonance."

Albedo paused, her theory aligning disturbingly well with the distortion he saw earlier.

"And you think we triggered the opening?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "Us. Specifically."

Albedo exhaled slowly. "...Why specifically us?"

Lilian shrugged. "A thousand potential reasons. Elara’s nature mana interacting with abyssal residue. My blood magic responding to the presence of demonic sea pressure. You, well, you probably did something to piss off spatial laws just by existing."

Elara coughed a laugh despite her nerves. "That... is honestly plausible."

Albedo gave them both a flat look, then turned his attention forward.

"Regardless," he said, "we’re not staying here. Whatever’s deeper might give us a path out, or at least a stable zone to regroup."

The pressure outside had been catastrophic. They needed to check on the others as soon as possible.

They moved down the path, and the air grew warmer as they walked. Dry, but not stale. The ground held faint ridges like veins running beneath stone.

Sometimes the tunnel widened; sometimes it forced them into narrow, ribbed corridors that made Elara shiver at the thought of being crushed between them.

Occasionally the walls shimmered faintly, like thin oil on water. They continued for minutes, progressing deeper until the ambient hum grew louder. A low, pulsing vibration. Not threatening, but constant.

"What mana type is this?" Elara murmured, touching the wall lightly before retracting her hand. "It’s... not elemental. Not nature. Not arcane."

"Not abyssal either," Lilian added. "Seems like Aether,"

Albedo didn’t want to admit it, but he agreed. This was truly ancient magic.

The tunnel eventually opened into a larger chamber, and the three froze instinctively.

The cavern expanded upward into a dome-shaped space, the ceiling lost in darkness. The ground was smooth here, unnaturally so, like something melted the stone into shape, leaving behind swirling patterns like currents frozen mid-motion.

Pillars of jagged rock stood in even intervals, spaced with unnatural precision.

In the center... something glowed faintly.

A pedestal.

It wasn’t ornate. Just a block of smooth, pale stone with intricate circular indentations carved into its surface. Faint runes pulsed on its sides like veins of light—subtle, rhythmic, almost like breathing.

Elara whispered, "Is that... an altar?"

Lilian stepped closer with a smile of pure academic lust. "No. Better. It’s a focal point. A mana anchor. Possibly part of a larger structure."

Albedo raised a hand to stop her from touching it. "Don’t."

"I wasn’t going to, okay, I was absolutely going to," she admitted.

Elara leaned in too. "What type of runes are those?"

Albedo’s pupils narrowed, "None that I know."

He stepped forward slowly, analyzing. The pedestal’s glow intensified slightly in response, not aggressively, but like it was acknowledging their presence.

Lilian spoke quietly. "If this is a mana anchor... there might be an entire network. Ancient structures beneath the sea, hidden by shifting spatial layers."

Albedo touched the ground lightly, kneeling and something pulsed beneath his palm. Not hostile, but definitely aware.

His brows furrowed. "This is alive."

Elara took a few steps back, "Alive?"

"Not in a biological sense," he clarified. "The mana structure. It’s a living system. A network of resonant energy."

Lilian slowly tilted her head. "Do you think this place is observing us?"

"Yes."

The air thickened slightly, like the cavern had inhaled.

A faint vibration traveled through the floor, up their boots, sounding like distant stone shifting.

Elara swallowed hard. "Guys..."

Before she could finish, a line of light appeared on the pedestal, glowing in a path that slowly carved toward the top. Not bright enough to blind, but unmistakably intentional.

Albedo immediately aimed Havoc and Ruin, prepared for an attack.

But nothing attacked.

Instead... the pedestal’s top cracked open slightly, the stone shifting in a perfect geometric split, revealing a hollow interior.

Inside sat a sphere.

Black.

Smooth.

Reflective like obsidian, but with streaks of faint blue swirling within, like galaxies dissolving in ink.

The moment it was revealed, the air around the sphere compressed for a heartbeat, an oppressive pressure, but brief and controlled.

Elara staggered. "Is that, "

Lilian gasped, voice dropping to a reverent whisper, "A Voidstone."

Albedo didn’t recognize the term. "Explain."

Lilian took a half-step closer, excitement trembling through her voice. "A Voidstone is a pre-abyss artifact. Extremely rare. They were used by ancient civilizations to stabilize spatial tears or create pocket dimensions."

Albedo exhaled slowly, "Then this place is one of those pocket dimensions."

"No, I believe that stone is an anchor to send us to the true pocket dimension..." Lilian said.

"If we want to get out of here...we’re gonna need to go where it sends us,"