>>5317446“Are you all ready to keep going?” you ask, telepathically reaching out to the Rak'kari champion. Who turns to face you, and despite the difference in anatomy, you can feel that he's clearly upset with the results of the battle so far. “Or are you going to be sending your people back out of here?”
“We will keep going.” he replies, you sensing his rage at what these Abyssals have done. “We cannot back down, our people will never be safe until this Abyss is stopped. No matter what. If we all die here, but succeed, then our sacrifices will have been worth it.”
You both share a moment of silent understanding, then sharing a single nod both orient yourself downwards. You take point, again channeling your ki into the weapon so its azure glow lights your way. You hold the weapon out point-first, aiming it at the heart of this darkness as you continue traveling deeper and deeper into the Dark. The blade's azure light leads the way, deeper and deeper into the darkness. Until suddenly the Dark around you changes. Suddenly you're no longer in water, and feel yourself falling through what feels like air. Then your sense of gravity changes, reversing, and you feel like your feet are now pointing down at the ground. Holding yourself in the air with your flight, you take a moment and start looking around.
You find yourself into what looks to be a cave, puddles of water scattered around the wide area, stalagmites rising from the ground in various places that your sword's glow illuminates. As you look around and see nothing, you decide to expand your ki sense to find the remaining Rak'kari. But to your shock, you can't sense any of them nearby! Immediately you expand your range out to its maximum, you then sense more than a hundred of the crab-like soldiers all scattered about you at various distances, and even more surprisingly elevations. You can feel them, some remaining where they'd appeared while others start moving, and realize that you need to get moving as well. You can no doubt sense more of the Rak'kari than they can, and with your Instant Transmission you can gather them all together again far faster than if they're wandering aimlessly through the dark. But then you feel the situation worsen, as two of the Rak'kari's ki suddenly plummet. Their energy levels drop, no doubt attacked by the beings that live in this dark place.
“Dammit.” you snarl, raising your right hand to your forehead and prepare to teleport to the nearest soldier. But as you shift your light, suddenly six or seven arms explode up out of the different puddles, all reaching for you simultaneously. But unfortunately for this monster, after sensing what was happening to the Rak'kari, you are ready to show this abomination no pity.
-Saiyan Conqueror Quest 177 paused-
