Threads of the Soul

Chapter 476 - 476: If your friends jumped down a strange hole, would you?

"Stop there Hunter, We don't have your authorisation on today's record, nor do we have any indication of new members of the work detail. Explain your presence here, now."The Hunter dropped from Omelette's grasp and allowing the boy to land before shifting his wings back into arms. Despite the curious manner of his arrival, and the guns being pointed at his head, ready to fire at the drop of a hat, he remained completely calm.

He slowly approached, his hands raised and open to show that he was completely unarmed and not summoning anything, as he explained to the closest guard.

"We have just arrived back in the city with the Lord President, this is his latest guest. An envoy from another country, one that we are currently working on an alliance with.

The President asked me to show him around, and he wished to come here. If you ask the President, he will give the authorisation for our presence."

The Guard at the front narrowed his eyes suspiciously, before nodding his head at one of his companions. The man in question lowered his gun, pulled out a communicator and quickly sent a message to the dear leader in question.

While they were waiting on a response, the lead guard gestured to the side.

"Until we can confirm the validity of your story, you will wait here an-"

Brriing! You've got mail!

An outdated, overly friendly notification noise interrupted the guards words and drew all of the attention to the man with the communicator. He laughed nervously, seemingly a little embarrassed about his ringtone, before hurriedly pulling out the communicator and looking at it.

The Lead Guard grumbled in irritation, but he didn't say anything on the matter.

After a few seconds of reading, in which the guard read the message multiple times just to be sure, he stood up straight and announced,

"The President has given him full access!"

This announcement caused the Lead Guard, the one currently standing in their way, to frown deeply before he sighed and nodded his head. After the moment of humanity, the man regained his composure as a soldier.

His heels clicked together, his back straightened and his chest puffed out as he slammed his fist against it.

"My Apologies Sir, Continue on your way."

Without another word, the soldier stepped backwards and then out of their way. At the same time, all of the guns trained on them lowered in sync as the guards quickly returned to their casual and relaxed demeanour. Although many of them were thinking the same thing.

Who in the world was this envoy to earn such an immediate response from the Lord President himself, and who did he represent that the Lord President respected so much to give him complete access.

But even if they had asked these questions, instead of keeping them in their heads as they stared at the strange party, Seth wouldn't have bothered giving them much of an answer. Instead he sauntered over to the edge of the hole in the ground, the entrance to the mine that led straight down, and stepped over the edge.

Omelette followed straight after, leaping into the hole without a second thought, and the twins were hot on his heels. They hesitated for a second as they peered over the edge, glancing at each other and having a silent conversation, before they nodded in sync and jumped into the hole at the same time.

The Hunter was the last to enter, nodding respectfully at the guards stationed by the mine entrance, he strode to the edge of the hole, peered into it... before walking around the edge and clambering down the ladder that hung down into the hole.

The option that had always been there.

Seth summoned a weapon to slow himself just before he hit the ground, and stepped to the side to allow Omelette to slam down next to him. He caught Ava and Woe with his threads, gently deposited them down onto the ground, before looking around curiously while the Hunter slowly descended the ladder.

"Don't touch anything!"

The Hunters voice echoed down the tunnel, and Seth glared at the children to make sure that they obeyed the order. Down here, the ambient mana had only grown more oppressive. Even above ground, it was more than what he had ever felt before, comparable to two Prometheus' worth of unrestrained mana.

But down here? It felt like he was facing ten Prometheus', and it would only grow worse as he descended. What in the world, or any other world, could possibly be making that sort of output in their world?

Especially considering that Prometheus himself had considered this world such a dead zone for mana, that he had to sleep for hundreds of thousands of years just to preserve his dwindling reserves.

The thought that this could be something on Prometheus' level, but with more robust and full mana reserves, was dreadfully concerning.

"Oh, We forgot to grab a torch." The Hunter said, as he finally reached the bottom of the ladder, before looking up its length in exhaustion,

"We are going to need some light, not unless one of you has a-"

A pale blue light illuminated the dark caves, as Omelette opened his mouth wide and revealed a crackling, azure flame simply resting on top of his tongue like he was a walking lantern. The Hunter gave Omelette a strange look, but shrugged it off a second later.

He pushed to the front of the group, gesturing for them to follow as he led them into the dark depths of the mine shaft. Sounds of pickaxes striking stone could be heard echoing down to the long, winding tunnels.

All the while, Seth kept his weapon, [Little Prick], summoned and grown into its larger, spear form. It wasn't a weapon on his level, as he hadn't gotten the chance to make or find something of the Celestial level to suit him.

But it was better than nothing, and right now he was hoping that he wouldn't find anything down here that could give him a Celestial Requital.