Chapter 1563: Growing Hesitation

The scene around them gradually changed, although the difference was not particularly dramatic at first.

Earlier, the pilgrims traveled through a narrow tunnel made mostly of packed earth and thick layers of mud with only a few scattered stones embedded in the walls. Now, the passage has become much rougher and more dangerous.

Large rocks formed much of the tunnel’s structure, sharp stalactites hung from the ceiling, jagged stalagmites rose from the ground.

Some of them were tall enough to reach Eccar’s shoulders while others narrowed the passage, forcing the pilgrims to carefully weave between them as they continued deeper underground.

Determined not to make the same mistake again, Eccar became far more careful with his strength.

He had already begun to understand what this Trial might be testing. Perhaps it was not simply testing how powerful he was, but whether he could control that power when other people depended on him.

He needed to know how much strength he could release without causing harm to the people he was supposed to protect.

Yet the deeper they went, the more Eccar realized how difficult that task was.

He spent the entire journey trying to restrain himself. Whenever they encountered an obstacle, Eccar deliberately used only a small portion of his strength.

However, that often left him unable to clear the path. Stones that he could normally shatter with a single strike barely moved when he held himself back.

When he increased his strength even slightly, cracks immediately spread across the surrounding rock. Pieces of stone broke loose from the walls and fell around them.

On one occasion, a chunk of rock struck one of the pilgrims and left him with a bleeding wound on his shoulder.

Eccar immediately stopped and stared at the injured man in horror. He had been trying to avoid hurting them, yet his strength continued to become a danger even when he was doing everything he could to control it.

The pilgrims began looking at him even more harshly after that. Their fearful and accusing gazes followed him whenever he moved. They began to see him as another source of danger.

Eccar could feel those looks pressing against him from every direction, and with every passing moment the guilt inside his chest grew heavier.

He kept telling himself that none of this made sense. He knew his strength. He knew how much force he had used. The results should not have been this extreme.

The Trial was clearly affecting the situation somehow and twisting the consequences of his actions beyond what should have been possible.

But knowing that did not make the guilt disappear.

Every time Eccar tried to reason with himself, the same crushing feeling returned before he could finish the thought.

"It was an accident. This place is doing something to me. I could not have known that would happen."

Yet another part of his mind immediately answered with the same accusation.

"But you were the one who caused it."

No matter how many times he reminded himself that the Trial was responsible for these unnatural circumstances, he could not make himself believe that it absolved him.

His mind understood that something was wrong, but his emotions refused to accept it.

The guilt kept dragging him back into the same thoughts until his reasoning became harder to hear. Each mistake made the next one feel heavier, and Eccar slowly found himself standing closer and closer to the edge of despair.

Still, they continued moving through the tunnel.

For a long while, nothing else happened. The pilgrims walked in silence while Eccar remained at the front and carefully watched every part of the passage ahead.

He paid attention to the ceiling, walls, ground beneath their feet, and every loose stone that might fall if he touched it.

The farther they traveled, the deeper the darkness became.

The air also grew colder and damper, carrying a faint smell of wet stone and something more unpleasant that Eccar could not immediately identify.

Then, after a long stretch of uneventful travel, they finally encountered the creatures that inhabited the underground depths.

A low growl echoed through the tunnel.

The pilgrims immediately stopped.

More sounds followed from the darkness. Scraping claws dragged across stone.

Something hissed from somewhere ahead, another creature moved along the wall to their left, shadows shifted between the stalagmites, and several pairs of pale eyes slowly appeared in the darkness.

Then the creatures attacked them without hesitation.

They were natural predators of the underground world. Their bodies had adapted to life without sunlight, giving them pale or dark-gray skin that looked almost colorless beneath the faint light.

Some had elongated limbs that allowed them to crawl across uneven stone while others moved on four powerful legs with broad claws designed for digging through rock.

Their eyes were small and deeply recessed, protected by heavy ridges, while thin sensory whiskers and twitching tendrils extended from their faces to detect movement and vibration in the darkness.

Their mouths opened unnaturally wide, revealing rows of short, jagged teeth made for tearing flesh rather than chewing.

Their bodies were lean but heavily muscled, and thick claws scraped against the stone as they moved.

There were more of them than Eccar initially realized.

The creatures emerged from cracks in the walls, crawled down from the ceiling, and rushed from deeper within the tunnel.

Some of them moved so quickly that the pilgrims barely had time to react before the monsters began closing around them.

The narrow passage turned into a trap as the creatures surrounded the group from several directions.

The pilgrims panicked. They screamed and stumbled backward and nearly fell over the ground.

Some of them desperately pressed themselves against the tunnel wall as the creatures approached.

Their fear spread through the group almost instantly, and Eccar could see that none of them had any ability to defend themselves against the creatures.

Eccar clenched his fists. His first instinct was to fight.

That was what he had always done when people were in danger. He was stronger than these creatures by an enormous margin and could probably destroy them without much difficulty.

But his confidence disappeared when he remembered the two pilgrims who had died because of his strength.

He looked at the frightened people behind him and imagined the same thing happening again.

What if he struck one of the creatures too hard and brought down the tunnel? What if a stone flew into the pilgrims? What if he lost control for even a moment and killed another person he was supposed to protect?

Eccar hesitated. He genuinely did not know what he should do.

The creatures continued advancing. Their claws scraped against the stone as they lowered their bodies and prepared to leap.

One of them suddenly lunged toward the nearest pilgrim, forcing the man to scream and raise his arms in desperation.

Eccar’s eyes widened. He could not hesitate anymore. If he refused to fight because he was afraid of hurting them, the creatures would just tear them apart.

He stepped forward and placed himself between the monsters and the pilgrims.

His hands tightened into fists. He still did not know how much strength he could safely use. But he knew that he had to fight.

The first creature lunged at him with its jaws wide open, and Eccar finally moved.

—