Island God: Going From Level 1 To World Ruler-Chapter 44: Sergalas’s Cavern

As Midas and Gool descended down the hill, Midas glanced to his right and saw the army of orcs entering the large cavern.

It was on the side of an enormous mountain. The stalagmites at its entrance almost made it look like it had razor-sharp teeth.

"We won’t be using that entrance." Gool said, "There’s another way in. A much safer way, I would say."

Midas nodded, continuing down the mountain.

The hill sloped down to a small ledge. Gool led the way, hopping from the ledge onto a nearby tree top.

Midas followed, doing the same.

The two quickly descended the tree, stealthily making their way around the left side of the mountain.

They came across a large pond only a few hundred meters to the left of Sergalas’s Cavern.

"What are we going near there for?" Midas questioned, noticing Gool steering toward the lake.

Gool simply smirked. "This is how we will enter Sergalas’s Cavern."

Midas raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What?" He said, stopping beside Gool as the two overlooked the lake.

"There are many cave tunnel systems underneath the ground. Lakes are quite an easy way to access them, so in the past, I tried every single tunnel at the bottom of this lake until I found one that led into Sergalas’s Cavern." Gool replied with pride.

"W-what!? You didn’t even have a guarantee that you would find an entrance leading there, though..." Midas replied with shock.

"That’s true... but if you only tried things that you were guaranteed to succeed in, where is the merit in trying anything at all?" Gool replied, "Follow me... but make sure to take a deep breath. We have to travel quite a long way through the water." Gool said before inhaling a mouthful of air and plunging into the lake.

Midas did the same, diving in straight behind Gool.

The two swam to the very bottom of the lake before entering a large tunnel that was about ten feet (30cm) in both height and width.

The tunnel swerved rightwards, but kept descending deeper and deeper.

The light from the surface quickly dissipated, only leaving darkness in the depths.

However, Midas could see almost completely clearly down there. It was still dark, but his eyes were able to recognize the outline of each and every pebble in his vision.

He attributed this to his newfound abilities after learning the first breath of his Nine-Breath Circulation scroll.

The depth eventually began causing worry to build up in Midas’s head.

’There has to be air somewhere soon... but it definitely isn’t downwards.’ He thought to himself. ’I should have just used the...’ He cut his own thought off as Gool caught his attention.

The goblin swam down confidently, so Midas shrugged off his thought and continued following along without complaint.

Just as Midas’s breath began to run out, Gool suddenly swung upwards and wiggled himself above like a seal.

Midas looked up, noticing a bright light shining down from a circular outline in the stone above them.

The tunnel curved, leading straight upwards.

The two swam for about ten more seconds before bursting through the surface of the water while taking deep gasps.

As soon as Midas caught his breath, he looked around. What met his eyes shocked him, his entire face riddled with awe and bewilderment.

’Holy... fuck...’

A colossal realm existed underneath the ground inside the Vineral mountain range.

The two looked to have swam up from a small puddle of water in the ground, of which there were many spread around.

Looking around, the cavern they had entered looked to be thousands of square feet.

The ceiling alone looked like it was hundreds of feet above them.

The walls were no further away.

Stalactites and stalagmites the size of hills and small mountains were everywhere, blocking much of the surroundings.

Clusters of multi-colored amber crystals lit up the massive chamber, scattered all across the walls and ceiling, across stalagmites and stalactites.

There were ledges, drop-offs, wide open areas, and small enclosed areas. And all of this, one could see from exactly where Midas was standing.

There was so much to see that Midas couldn’t take it all in at once. He simply exhaled, ’God damn... this place is huge.’ He said to himself.

"Come on..." Gool said, shaking his head to rid it of water before walking forward, "Let’s not waste any time."

Midas quickly followed behind him.

Gool led him into another tunnel in the wall. They traveled from tunnel to tunnel, discovering multiple massive rooms in between. None was the same size as the original, but they were still massive nonetheless.

Finally, the two entered a tunnel that Gool mentioned led to the center of the chamber.

"Once we leave this tunnel... we will drop straight into Sergalas’s room. The main room of the cavern." Gool said, walking through a very small and tight tunnel.

Midas, on the other hand, was forced to crawl, his height far too large for him to be able to walk like a goblin.

Eventually, the tunnel led to a large drop off, and that was it. A dead end. The only way to move forward was to fall down the hole in the ground.

Midas crawled in front of Gool, gazing down the hole.

His eyes widened with shock.

"We... are hundreds of feet above ground." He muttered under his breath.

Gool shook his head, "Yep... nuts, ain’t it? This is the main room. This is Sergalas’s Cavern."

Midas could instantly tell that this room was far, far larger than even the original one that they had entered. It dwarfed that one, the sheer scale of it taking him aback.

"Well... If we are going to do it any time, now would be the best." Midas said nervously, slightly chuckling to himself.

"Yep..." Gool said, exhaling. "I... have never entered the main chamber before. Once we go in, it’s all or nothing. Are you sure you want to do this, Midas?"

Midas looked down with nervousness, concern, and exhilaration all at once: "I see no other way to take down those orcs. We must do this. If not now, there may never be another opportunity like this to arise again. Sergalas may be killed by the hands of the orcs, and we will never have the ability to control a force so powerful."

With these final words, Midas and Gool dropped down from the hole and into a gargantuan underground cavern below...