Chapter 680: Entering The Hell Underground

The energy from the judgments was not only being sent underground, the Hollow Sun was also using it to strengthen the prison’s sealing structures.

And those white roots were nothing more than channels for transferring energy.

Lian looked toward the Hollow Sun.

’So you’ve been strengthening the prison again all this time.’

Of course, he still did not know whether all the energy from the judgments was used for this purpose, but what he had seen had at least revealed one of its main uses.

But why?

It seemed that by strengthening the underground prison, the Hollow Sun was trying to prevent the Withered from coming out, or at least slow down their awakening and escape.

He looked into the distance, could it be that the Hollow Sun was trying to stop the Withered from waking up so that it could prevent them from going to the center?

The Judge could not execute all the Withered at the same time, and because of this, a huge number of them were still moving toward the center, where White Oblivion was located.

The Hollow Sun might have realized that the Calamity was planning something against it and was a threat, so it wanted to stop its plan.

But it seemed that this was not working very well, and many Withered were still coming out of the prisons and moving toward the center.

Perhaps that was also why the Hollow Sun had executed more prisoners during this judgment, it wanted to prevent the Withered from reaching that place.

This answered one of his questions and confirmed one of his theories.

First, the Hollow Sun definitely had enough awareness to make such decisions.

Second, White Oblivion’s plan depended heavily on the presence of a large number of Withered.

Rindo noticed how focused he was.

"Lian, did you find something?"

Young Vorhelm pointed toward the white root.

"Yeah. I think I finally understand what these things are."

Noah approached.

"The roots of these strange trees?"

"They’re not trees."

Lian placed his hand on the hard, white surface of the structure.

"These are energy transfer channels, they connect different parts of the prison."

Alicia looked at the glowing lines on the ground.

"You mean they transfer the Judge’s energy?"

"Exactly."

Lian pointed toward a part of the ground.

"After every judgment, golden energy enters this network and goes into the depths, there are structures down there that become stronger again when the energy reaches them."

Rindo thought for a moment.

"The sealing structures?"

"That’s what it looks like."

Noah looked at the ground beneath his feet.

"So every time that damn eye carries out a judgment, it’s also strengthening the prison?"

Lian nodded.

"At least part of the energy is used for that."

Alicia looked at the sky again.

"Then maybe the increase in executions is related to this."

Young Vorhelm looked at her for a moment.

"Maybe."

Then he looked toward the center of the land.

"If the prison’s structures are getting weaker, maybe the Judge needs more energy to maintain them."

Rindo slowly nodded.

"And if it can’t?"

Lian did not answer, his gaze remained on the glowing roots, at that time, perhaps White Oblivion’s plan would finally succeed.

At that moment, a heavy sound came from the direction of the cliff.

The group turned their heads.

Part of the stone wall not far away had started moving.

But this time, the ground was not collapsing, instead, something deep underground had activated, and the lava that filled the crack was slowly going down.

And beneath it, a stone structure was being revealed.

"Look over there!"

Noah pointed toward the cliff.

The red lava that had filled the crack until a few moments ago was now flowing downward through two deep channels.

As its level dropped, more parts of the stone wall became visible.

Rindo picked up his spear and approached the edge of the platform.

"It looks like there’s something beneath the lava."

Lian had already activated [ True Sequence ].

He could see golden energy flows moving from the white channels toward that area.

Several buried rings lit up, and then a huge structure appeared from among the red steam.

A stone staircase, but not an ordinary staircase, each step was several meters wide and made of black stone.

Tall pillars stood on both sides, some were broken, while others continued deep into the darkness.

Huge stone rings floated above the path at different distances, and white threads passed through them.

At the end of the visible section, the stairs disappeared behind a curtain of steam.

Noah looked at the scene in disbelief.

"Where the hell did that come from?"

Lian looked at the glowing channels.

"Probably part of the prison’s structure that has been activated again."

Rindo looked at the channels that were draining the lava.

"You mean the judgment energy caused the path to open?"

"That’s what it looks like."

Young Vorhelm examined the staircase for several seconds.

Interesting.

During the past few days, he had searched many times for a way to reach the underground sections of the prison.

But most cracks either ended in lava or were so unstable that entering them was very dangerous, now, for the first time, a clear path was in front of them.

And more importantly, the judgment energy was also continuing into the depths along the same path.

He looked at his companions.

"I think we finally found a way down."

Alicia looked at the staircase carefully.

"Are you sure it’s safe to pass through?"

"Not yet."

Lian picked up a stone from the ground and threw it toward the first step.

The stone landed on the black surface, rolled several times, and finally stopped, fortunately, nothing unusual happened.

Then young Vorhelm used [ True Sequence ] to examine the mana paths around the stairs.

The sealing structures were still active, but he could not see any clear signs of a new judgment or an attack being prepared.

Of course, that did not mean the path was safe.

Rindo turned toward Lian.

"Do you want to go down?"

The four of them looked at each other for a moment.

Alicia was the first to answer.

"If we enter, the way back might close, but the surface is also becoming more dangerous every day."

Noah let out a short sigh.

"On the other hand, the next judgment might choose another hundred people. Or even more."

Rindo looked toward the center of the land.

"And if we want to understand how to stop the Judge, we’ll probably need to find the prison’s main structures."

Lian nodded.

His friend was right.

Now that he understood that judgment energy was being sent into the depths to strengthen the seals, examining the underground structures had become even more important.

Especially considering the system’s Main Quest.

’If I want to prevent the Hollow Sun’s death, I need to understand exactly how this prison works.’

He needed to find out what White Oblivion’s real plan was.

Then he looked at the staircase.

"We’re going down."

Noah stared at the darkness at the end of the path for a moment and then placed his umbrella on his shoulder.

"Great, we’re going from hell on the surface to hell underground."

Lian smiled.

"At least down there, you won’t have to keep looking at the sun."

"I’d rather not count that as a good thing."

Rindo laughed, but before they started moving, Lian checked the condition of the path once again.

One and Two were still in the Colony House.

Considering the width of some steps and the distance between the broken pillars, there was no need to summon huge creatures in this area.

The four of them could walk.

Then he took the first step.

The farther down they went, the hotter the environment became.

The main flow of lava had moved away from the staircase, but in some places, narrow cracks still passed between the steps.

Hot steam came out from beneath the stones, and some parts of the path were so hot that even approaching them was difficult.

Rindo placed the tip of his spear on one of the steps, the stone beneath the blade was still red.

"We can’t pass through this part."

Lian stepped forward.

"Move back a little."

Then he raised his right hand.

[ Frost Dominion ]

Extreme cold spread around him, and the hot steam coming out of the crack turned into white mist for a moment.

The red surface of the stone quickly became dark, and a layer of ice formed over the surrounding areas.

Under the extreme cold, the narrow flow of lava formed a hard crust on its surface.

He examined it for several seconds.

It was temporary, the heat of the lava beneath the crust was still there, he could not expect the cooled layer to remain stable forever.

But it was enough for four people to cross.

"Come now, but don’t step on the glowing parts."

Rindo was the first to move after him, Alicia and Noah also followed at a suitable distance, and when the last person crossed, the sound of the cooled crust cracking could be heard.

A few moments later, red light appeared from the cracks again.

Noah glanced behind him.

"Well, that one was really close."

Lian gave a short smile.

"That’s why I told you to hurry."

"Thank you so much for explaining that after we crossed!"

The group continued moving.

In some sections, Lian had to use Frost Dominion again to make the path safe for a short time.

But the farther down they went, the fewer lava cracks appeared, and instead, more huge pillars and stone rings appeared, while the white channels also became brighter.

Lian looked at one of the pillars for a moment, geometric patterns could be seen on its surface, the same kind of patterns he had previously seen on some pillars on the surface.

He placed his hand on one of the pillars, parts of the patterns were almost identical, and even the type of stone was very similar.

Young Vorhelm thought for a moment and then contacted Four through the colony bond.

’Four, I have a question.’

The creature’s answer was heard in his mind.

’I am at your service, my lord.’

’Were the prison’s main structures always underground?’

There was silence for a few moments....then Four answered.

’No, my lord.’

Lian narrowed his eyes.

’What do you mean?’

’These structures once stood upon the surface of this land, the halls, the sealing grounds, and the great pillars of the prison, all were part of the land above.’

Young Vorhelm looked at the pillar in front of him for a moment.

’So my guess was right.’