Despite how much this line of inquiry piqued Sol’s interest, however, this was not the time to delve into it. His top priority at the moment was to continue pushing deeper into Abyss. The circle of ancient script etched into the floor in the center of the room was giving off a bright light that was probably meant to have started up the moment the floor boss was defeated. It was obviously inviting the group to step inside, and by now, no one here would be too chicken to do so.
“Everyone inside? Make sure your feet are touching the ground. Luna and Aina’noa, don’t let go of my hand.”
Following Sol’s reminder, everyone dispelled Float and landed inside the magic circle as the three monsters took up their usual positions around Sol. Upon confirming that everyone was fully inside, he stepped in as the last person. It wasn’t like there had been a hint written down somewhere, but he had suspected that Player was the key to activating the spell, and that turned out to be right. The circle immediately started spinning and sinking.
The group was basically riding a large magical elevator. The platform they were on gradually picked up speed as the stone flooring crumbled away, leaving only the magic circle. There was only darkness on the other side of the transparent surface, giving the impression that this shaft led all the way into hell. Magical light from the platform illuminated the walls, revealing them to be a material like obsidian with a beautiful, unbroken sheen. Clearly, this was not a place carved by nature. It was man-made—or no, considering the scale, it felt more right to call it God-made.
Every once in a while, the descending platform passed through a magic circle of some thickness anchored to engravings in the wall. This happened roughly once a few dozen seconds at the start, but in no time at all, the platform sped up so much that it seemed to be hurtling through repeating rings of light. Eventually, they bled into each other and became one, completely filling the surroundings with magical light. It wasn’t just one color, however. The entire color spectrum started appearing from below and shooting up past them.
If this had just been a physical elevator, there would have been no need for such an intimidating display. Conversely, if this display had not been mere saber-rattling, it would have implied that the large magical elevator had a purpose besides physically transporting passengers from one place to another.
The tumult of rainbow light continued to assault the senses as the platform continued. By now, it was careening faster than even the All Dragon’s top speed.
Luna gripped Sol’s right hand a little tighter. “My lord, I sense my wings approaching really quickly.”
Her words confirmed that the group was indeed moving at an incredible speed. The surrounding spectacle corroborated it, but the humans couldn’t actually feel it. Perhaps this was also one of the stark differences between humans and monsters.
Little Alshunna inclined her head quizzically. “Something’s strange, though. At this speed, we should be emerging on the other side of the planet very soon.”
Apparently, the Demon Lord was aware of not only their current velocity but also the diameter of the planet they were living on. If what she was saying was right, however, the absurdity of their speed was much less a matter of interest than how it was happening. If the organa was hidden on the other side of the planet, Luna would have sensed it on the other side of the planet, not deep inside a dungeon. She could have simply flown over on an Astral or used the World Tree to teleport in the blink of an eye.
“Really?” exclaimed Reen.
Eliza repeated, “The other side of the planet?” several times, as if trying to wrap her mind around it.
They already knew that the earth was a large sphere thanks to knowledge that Sol had possessed way back when for some reason and what Frederica had learned and shared from the archives retrieved from Biblioteca. What would have normally just been stored away as a bit of trivia had then been given incredible weight by the view from the Floating Continent and Sol’s private island, from which they had learned just how incredibly gigantic the planet was. Lately, Sol had taken a fancy to making the most out of San Jeluk’s Tear’s built-in environmental control and bringing the island all the way up to maximum altitude—pretty much satellite orbit—any chance he got.
“Um, what happens if we do?” asked Frederica, fretting in a rare display due to her inability to parse the situation with the superfluous knowledge she possessed.
“Probably get thrown into the air upside down, I bet,” Julia replied flippantly. She wasn’t one to agonize over something she didn’t understand.
Hearing that, Frederica let out a soft “eep!” and fell on her behind as the blood drained from her face. Julia thought it a bit silly, given that not only did Frederica have her Numbers armament but she had even learned how to use Float and Fly on her own recently. Even so, Frederica simply wasn’t good at dealing with suddenly being thrust into the unknown. The fact that she also loved reading academic treatises and had an incomplete understanding of gravity and the core of the earth certainly didn’t help any.
Aina’noa and Rosalind inclined their heads in unison, not having the faintest clue why everyone was making a fuss.
Just then, Sol half unconsciously murmured a line that he should have forgotten. “The dungeons...are a door?”
The rainbow whirl immediately cracked, then shattered without sound.
Reen’s eyes widened. “Uh...”
“What...is this?” asked Frederica, equally shocked.
Julia and Eliza were struck speechless as Rosalind turned to and fro in a huge fluster, prompting Rodem to tell her to calm down.
If the scenery had been completely unfamiliar to them, the group might have been a little less shaken. However, because it bore similarities to the view they saw every day, they were all the more bewildered by it. Specifically, the scene strongly reminded them of how their planet looked spread out below them when they woke up on Sol’s floating island every morning. The only thing was, the planet they were now looking at wasn’t blue but reddish brown. In other words, it was a completely different planet.
Of course, no matter how deep the shaft at the bottom of Abyss went, there was no way it would open up on the other side of the planet. Still, there was no denying they were now in the stratosphere, and the long tunnel that had led them here from Abyss was gone without a trace, leaving behind only the magic circle they were standing on. After descending a long, long way, this was where they had ended up.
“This must mean the flashy magic light just now wasn’t merely for staging effect,” said Sol, sounding calm in spite of the situation. “It was very likely a higher form of super long-range teleportation magic...or maybe it wasn’t even displacement in the way we know it.”
Frederica looked at him in surprise. Despite having read the same books from Biblioteca and therefore supposedly having obtained the same knowledge, she had failed to glean the same insights right away. What he said made sense, of course. If there was indeed teleportation magic at a higher tier than what they knew, there was nothing to say it couldn’t facilitate travel between planets. The existence of superlong-range teleportation magic that required going through a different activation sequence than normal teleportation magic seemed to support the theory. In fact, now that he had said it out loud, this seemed the only right way to think about it.
However, while this was something Frederica herself might have eventually arrived at if she calmed down and had some time to think, she hadn’t the faintest idea what Sol meant by “displacement in the way we know it.” Never would it occur to her that he was talking about traveling to a different world from their own.
Where Sol differed from her was in having gone through a similar experience when he first met Luna. The All Dragon’s Augoeides was indeed bound in the fake moon circling their own world, but the space in which he had selected her card had felt different somehow.
The word “outside” brought to mind “wayside,” which in turn led to “Wayside God.” Perhaps everything was connected.
By reaching the farthest depths of Abyss, one of the Four Great Dungeons, Sol had obtained the right to lift a corner of the lid on this enigma. Without a doubt, Ward IX had been dispatched to prevent Sol’s group from coming here.