Chapter 325 Swimming Through Air

"Sure this thing isn't gonna...you know?" He asked worriedly.

Blimpo waved his hand, "It'll be fine! You have to trust the machine or she won't trust you back."

"That sounds unbelievably sketchy," he muttered in response.

Either way, it was too late to have his doubts as the elevator was already descended far enough that looking up only allowed him to see darkness above, just as there was below. There was no doubting the far reaches of the chasm as the elevator ride lasted multiple minutes, leading to depths even deeper into the pits of the After.

–Then, it finally stopped.

"Looks like we're here," Blimpo noted.

As the elevator touched down onto the ground floor of the enigmatic chasm, the wooden doors released for the two to leave. The moment they stepped off of the rickety transport, it hummed as the gears began grinding again, allowing it to ascend back to the top.

He looked up briefly, watching the elevator leave as more came-and-went. It was disheartening to see the method of traveling up-and-down from the chasm leave.

CHK. CHK. CHK.

It was noisy; the sound of pickaxes smashing against the walls of the deep-down territory echoed against his ears as he looked forward.

There were a dozen miners, all monotonously slamming their tools against the rock, collecting material as they filled their wheelbarrows. The only light present were a few sparse torches by the miners themselves.

"Talk about bad working conditions," he said, coughing at the fumes present in the chasm.

"Can't say it pays well either," Blimpo joked.

It was unsettling just how lifelessly the denizens of the After swung their pickaxes, holding no life in their eyes, only moving their arms up and down like soulless machinery. The two slowly marched on by, though to him it almost felt like he was on a tour through the miseries of what existed beyond life.

...This is bad. It's like Blimpo said...I can't linger on anything or I'll be on a fast track to becoming just like these people, he thought.

The chasm was vast, but hardly of many notable features but its veins of coal and colossal walls of blackened rock. However, one thing stuck out as odd to the young man as he continued forward down the initial path of the mining area.

"Huh."

"What is it?" Blimpo looked at him.

Emilio looked around briefly before glancing back, seeing and hearing the miners back where he came from, still slamming away with their pickaxes, "Why aren't any of them working down here?"

"Hmm, good question," Blimpo considered, "Maybe they just haven't gotten this far yet."

"Maybe. What if there's some sort of limit to how far they're supposed to go?" He asked.

"Limit?...I don't know anything about that. Let's just be on the lookout, then," Blimpo responded.

It was somewhat unnerving to only hear the monotonous mining in the far distance behind him as he ventured deeper into the chasm, no longer aided with the light of torches, however, a small bit of light did exist in the form of glowing ore in the walls.

The deep caverns stretched out into a large territory, though there was a vague path "forward" that the young man still knew as the proper path from his earlier gaze with his right eye.

As Blimpo spoke excitedly, he mimicked Emilio by shadow boxing the air, though was forced to catch up to the young Dragonheart who already began to continue on.

"Let's just keep moving–"

Attempting to finish his own sentence, he was completely frozen by a realization before him, staring at the darkness that laid on the path he walked.

Blimpo looked confused, "What's up?"

The elven man lifted his goggles, squinting as he looked northward just as the Dragonheart did towards the darkness. What couldn't be seen purely with vision just yet could be felt–

RUMBLE

All of the fish that swam naturally through the air dispersed, leaving the two young men standing in the open space of the deep, dark cavern.

"What's causing that...?" Blimpo asked.

"You don't see that?" Emilio asked, "--What the hell is that?!"

In the vision of the young man, he could perceive what laid in the dark, or rather, that far-spanning mass of darkness that made up the entire other half of the cavern was something else entirely.

The darkness seemed to move, shadows stretching before it finally became comprehended to the elf's eyes, "Ya gotta be kidding me...! That's a shark?!"

RUMBLE-RUMBLE

It felt as though everything was shaking as the lifeform revealed itself; its skin as a jet-black, matching the shadows themselves, only discernible from the glowing, crimson streaks that ran along its body.

Its mouth parted with a width capable of swallowing entire houses, revealing countless rows of teeth each capable of skewering a grown man on their own.

Naturally, the two began running, aiming to the left where Emilio had called out a hole in the wall that the colossal shark wouldn't be able to reach.

"Just what kind of shark is that?!" Emilio asked.

"Dunno, but I'm not trying to get a closer look!" Blimpo said.

Though there was hardly a chance of the elven man outrunning the monstrous creature as it swam through the air fiercely despite its gargantuan size.

Shit! Blimpo won't make it! He realized.

–There was no other choice but for him to meet the creature that dwarfed him one-hundredfold in battle as he spun around and stomped down.

"Are ya actually going to fight that thing?!" Blimpo asked.

"I'm going to kill that thing!" Emilio corrected him, manifesting sparks and embers around his artificial arm.

That fiery confidence originated from the Dragonheart blood he pumped through his veins, rapidly spurring on a transformation.

[Dragonheart System Activated]

[Current Stage: 2/10 | Dragon Son]

If I resort to magic, I could end up toppling down chunks of this chasm right on top of us–for now, I'm going to need to keep things "controlled"! He planned.