Chapter 970 - Oh Shit!
Krune, the Seamstress, and Solare appeared within an expansive cave. It was slightly dark and moist, while the ground seemed to be covered in a layer of mud. Krune immediately uttered minute sounds, using his Sonic Radar to scout his surroundings.
Immediately, he began to sweat as he looked at the Seamstress, telling her, "We've ended up in a rather tricky place."
Upon making sure that Solare was comfortably sleeping, the Seamstress gazed back, looking at the walls of the cave. She then accompanied Krune as they reached the exit, peeking out cautiously before they exclaimed in alarm, "Oh shit!"
They had arrived in a rock pillar that had a diameter just slightly bigger than the size of their cave. Their cave was almost positioned near the top of the pillar. Though, it was the bottom that caused Krune to sweat buckets.
Using his Sonic Radar, Krune determined that they were at least a kilometer from the ground. And that alone spoke facts about their plight. If it was just him and the Seamstress, they would manage to head down one way or another.
But unfortunately, they also had Solare to take care of, not to mention their boat, which had all their needs and necessities. With that, bringing it down was hard, if not outright impossible. Moreover, they were unsure about the dangers involved in the place.
After all, there was even a layer of cloud that blocked their vision from seeing the surface.
Krune looked upward, noticing that the water layer was almost a hundred meters above them. It was the ocean above. The Secondary Landmass was no different from the Primary Landmass in shape, shaped like a bowl that was submerged in one ocean while its ends touched the ocean above. This way, it wasn't possible for the ocean water to leak inside.
And from their spot, there was no way to reach it. Krune then used his Sonic Radar, frowning as he cursed, "This is bad, really, really bad."
"What is it?" The Seamstress also frowned while looking at him, holding her coral sword as she remained vigilant.
"There seem to be two races living here. And one of them...can fly," Krune said.
"What?" The Seamstress was left at a loss for words. If she was still the Seamstress she previously was, she wouldn't have been shocked. After all, she could simply tame a demon beast that was capable of flight. She had quite a few of those.
But now, as a mortal, the sky was off-limits. Hearing one of their foes was capable of flight almost frightened her. After all, they were currently stuck on a pillar. And, if they decided to descend to the ground, they would need to climb down the rock pillar for a kilometer.
During this time, they were fair game for the flying creatures. So, it would place them in a passive situation.
Unless they were careful, they could very well say that their lives were currently at risk. Krune maintained his Sonic Radar, scouting through a couple of kilometers in his surroundings. Only by activating his Ocean Heart was Krune able to shout loud enough without ripping off his throat.
It seemed that the flying creatures didn't cross the layer of clouds, ensuring that they were currently safe. He then thought of something, saying to the Seamstress, "We'll have to begin creating enough rope. Once we figure out a method to gain a water supply, our situation would turn for the better."
"But first, we have to scout our surroundings." Krune inspected the side of the rock pillar, touching with his hands as he felt around, gazing up. "But first, I have to see from the top."
"Be careful!" the Seamstress said as Krune exited the cave and grabbed hold of a rock protrusion, feeling it around with caution before he began to scale it up. Thanks to his Monster Gecko skin armor, he had better grip on the rocky surface, being able to move without much trouble.
There were less than ten meters to the top as Krune reached it within a minute. Standing at the top of the rock pillar, he looked around, for a moment beginning to laugh. His laughter was one of mockery but also of a sense of relief. That was because the walls of the Secondary Landmass were only positioned forty meters away.
The walls were steep, unlike the Primary Landmass with the Monster Geckos. Though, Krune noticed a couple of caves in his vicinity. After looking at them, he realized, recalling his experience of arriving at the Primary Landmass.
He muttered, "So normally, I would have been teleported into one of those caves. But since I arrived with my boat, the caves weren't big enough. Thus, we were teleported into a big enough cave that was nearest to the wall. That makes sense."
Even though 40 meters was still a vast distance that couldn't be traversed easily, Krune was confident of obtaining a solution. The reason he hadn't noticed it before while using Sonic Radar was because he had activated it while standing within the cave.
Thus, the only sound waves that exited it traveled in the direction of the cave's entrance. With that, he wasn't able to scout his back and sides yet. And now that he was at the top of the rock pillar, he was able to scout around without any blind spots.
He observed all the caves, noticing the ones under the cloud layer to be filled with the flying creatures. "So, for some reason, they won't fly past the cloud layer? That makes it a lot safer for us to be here."
He then looked around, noticing numerous pillars situated everywhere. Some of them were situated close while others were far from each other. The closest rock pillars only had a gap of 20 meters between them.
Krune closed his eyes, deep in thought, before deciding his course of action. "With enough ropes, we should be able to salvage the situation. Thankfully, we have enough food to last that long."
He then gazed up, looking at the ocean layer a hundred meters above. He then returned to the cave and talked with the Seamstress.
"We have enough rope but not enough to bear your weight for that great a distance." The Seamstress nodded as she offered her thoughts on the matter. Eventually, they decided on the course of their action.
"Let's use our water judiciously. We should be able to last for a month with it," Krune said as he noticed the Seamstress take action immediately.
In the meantime, he began to work on other matters. Two days later, the Seamstress had completed a thick enough rope. Krune tied one end of it to a large Frozen Cylinder. He then climbed to the top of the rock pillar, looking at the bone tree growing before him.
It hadn't reached full height yet. Rather, it had only reached his knee in height. It was because it was only growing by relying on his blood and some of the water he had supplied it. It didn't have any source of water to finish growing.
Krune tied a knot around it, ensuring that it wouldn't be damaged when the trunk of the bone tree widened in girth. He then created the same knot around the big Frozen Cylinder, taking in a deep breath as he inserted a bone tree fragment in a safety hole the Seamstress had installed into it.
He then hurled it with all his might, aiming it at one of the caves. Followed by a mild whistling sound, the big Frozen Cylinder crashed into a cave situated quite lower from his altitude. Sadly, it didn't explode.
Rather, there was only a crack on the two flat surfaces, making it seem like it would shatter soon enough. Its inherent weight prevented the rope coiling it from slowly moving out of the cave. Moreover, the knot was just around it.
Krune had kept them separate, one for tying up the big Frozen Cylinder and a knot for the growing bone tree. Once he had thrown it, Krune sat in silence as he awaited, using his Sonic Radar to notice a thin bone sprout emerge from the cracks on the cylinder.
One of its roots had eventually touched the ground, seeping into it when all the other roots had also followed suit. The upper part of the tree exited the cylinder soon after as it began to grow in size, having absorbed all of Krune's blood.
To increase its speed of growth, Krune had infused a lot of energy from his Ocean Heart into it. So, it quickly began to grow, eventually stopping at a meter in height. Krune then threw two more big Frozen Cylinders, hitting them on the bone tree.
They shattered and caused a layer of ice to form on the bone tree. Though, it wasn't affected. Rather, it absorbed all the blood before the freezing effect could even spread, quickly growing to reach its full height of three meters.
Krune also smashed the remaining two big Frozen Cylinders on the bone tree beside him, watching it grow in real-time until it reached its maximum height of three meters. He noticed how the stem was sturdy while the rope was perfectly taut around it.
The knot the Seamstress made seemed advanced. Moreover, the way she had tied each string to create the rope was different than what he had ever witnessed. A simple touch was all he needed as a master blacksmith to determine that it was strong enough to bear his weight.
To grow the two bone trees to full height, they had expended all six of their big Frozen Cylinders. But, since they could be created at any time, Krune didn't care about them. Instead, he was pleased with the solution to his problem.
Once it was done, he tugged the rope once, determining that the bone trees were lodged deep into the ground and wouldn't be uprooted. This was the reason he used them in the first place. If he had resorted to any hooks, they were bound to come off during repeated use.
But in the case of the bone trees, their roots would dig deep and not only hold the rock steady, but also create the most stable and toughest foothold to string their ropes around.. With that, Krune slung a shovel that he had created using the shaft of the Monster Gecko's fishing rod and held the rope, using it to move like a sloth.