“We will talk about this later. For now, I’m going to take Julius and investigate some more. Any questions can wait until we solve this current issue,” Cassandra's tone brooked no room for argument.

He didn’t even get a chance to say anything to him, she grabbed him by the arm and took him outside. Several people saw them and bowed deeply to Cassandra. She barely acknowledged them and picked him up. Then they were off towards the gorge, flying swiftly through the sky.

“Tell me when we are close. You have a good idea of where it's at?”

He nodded and pointed downward. “Yeah, keep following that ridge, and there will be a small clearing up ahead. If you keep going along the side of it, you’ll see it.”

A few moments went by, and the ground beneath them was a blur.

“You don’t really think I’m a spy, right?” he asked after some silence.

She slowed them down and looked at him. “Of course not. But he makes a good point. Is there something you are hiding from me? Now that we are alone, you can tell me, I won’t tell any of the others.”

He shrugged; truthfully, he’d already been planning to tell her. But she’d been so busy, he hadn’t gotten the chance. “You remember that rift I went into while we were coming back from the capital?”

“Yeah, the Tier 4 one where you got that Trial Key, right?”

“Yep, that’s the one. It turns out the key activated all on its own, and I was dragged into the gorge against my will. It also accepted my trial for me, pretty much forcing me into that underground gorge.”

She gave him her full attention. “You said you didn’t accept the trial? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m a hundred percent sure. I didn’t have a chance to reject it. Instead, it dragged me down there without another word. Not only that, but I believe it was related to that rift I explored before. The same corruption was there, and that’s one hell of a coincidence.”

She tapped her chin in thought. “Are you saying you think you’re the one who triggered the ants to come to the surface?”

He shook his head. “I doubt it. If anything, it looked like they were preparing for a long time. Their colony was massive, and there were so many of them. I doubted this was a new thing. I think it's more likely that someone or something introduced the corruption into the colony. That would explain why the queen or that ant down in the abyss was being chained down. It was similar to that rift from before. Something had left a corrupted limb inside the rift, and I’d been forced to cleanse it.”

“So you believe that something artificially created this incident and corrupted the Deepcore Ants' purposefully?”

“I’m not sure what I believe. But Grand Elder Rhynus was right about one thing. Something doesn’t add up. You can’t tell me that you don’t suspect any outside force being the cause, either.”

“I don’t know what I believe. Not yet. I need to see this colony, though. That will answer many questions in itself.”

Julius nodded. “Perfect, because we are approaching it right now,” he said, jamming his finger downward.

She looked over to where he was pointing and dropped them to the ground. However, there was a confused expression on her face.

“Where is it? Where’s the gorge?” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“You don’t see it?” he asked, bewildered by her expression. It was literally right there, the same big hole he’d found before, and it was exactly where he’d seen it last. It was hard to miss too.

He walked straight to the edge and peered down into it. The darkness swallowed up any bit of sunlight. He could barely see a couple of feet down.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked him worriedly.

He shook his head in disbelief. He knew he wasn’t going crazy, but how could she not see it? It wasn’t like she didn’t have powerful senses of her own. She was a genuine Tier 6.

He stared at the hole for a few moments, thinking of possible things that could be happening. But he couldn’t come up with anything. Instead, he dropped down next to the hole and placed several strong constructs on the edge of the gorge. He had already been dragged down once and didn’t have any plans to repeat that.

Then, while she was looking at him with a dubious expression, he slowly floated himself down the hole. He heard her suck in a breath of surprise, and to his relief, he hadn’t been sucked down like last time. He slowly lowered himself a little more but quickly came back up after a few moments.

When he climbed out, he saw Cassandra staring at him and the hole, completely perplexed.

“There’s a 'hole',” she commented softly.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, there’s a big hole. What do you see?”

She rubbed her forehead. “Just some dirt and sand.”

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Then, before Julius could stop her, she walked over the edge of the gorge, but to his shock, she didn’t fall through. Instead, he watched as she walked on an invisible platform.

“Okay, am I going crazy?” he muttered to himself.

***

Apparently, Cassandra was quite convinced that he wasn’t going crazy. Rather, she was convinced that something was going on. Something that was able to hide itself from her senses, which was a statement in itself.

She tested a lot of things. Many of them involved him returning to the gorge. He didn’t really like this idea, especially with his history of being dragged down by it. But he satisfied her curiosity and did as she asked.

However, nothing she did managed to open the hole or disrupt whatever was hiding the hole. The only evidence she had there was the fact that Julius was constantly coming in and out of it.

“Okay, step back,” she instructed him.

He immediately listened to her and took more than just a step back. He was running halfway back to camp. He already recognized the signs of her gathering mana. She did her best to keep it under control, but the sheer force behind each speck of mana was impossibly powerful.

The heat was insane, too. Her Heavenly Flames were barely contained by her willpower, and he was forced to look away from the gigantic pillar of flame rising up to the sky. The shockwave alone almost shattered his eardrums. His eyeballs were singed just from brightness, and he could feel his body already healing the damage. It was so oppressive that he could feel his healing skill slightly shake from the external influence.

But since his healing skill was the only thing holding his body together after he’d resurrected, he fell to his knees as his soul started to protest loudly. He grunted and forcefully regained control over his skill, making sure that his soul and body didn’t fall apart.

Once he was done with that, he examined the gorge, and to his surprise, it didn’t look the least bit worse for wear. It barely had a scratch on it. Only the ground in the surrounding area was affected. Even then, it wasn’t anything as he’d expected from an attack like that.

Cassandra must have thought the same because before he could ask her another question, she was already gathering more mana. It was an enormous amount. It was enough that the weight of the mana pressed onto the world, and he could feel it shaking the very foundation of reality.

A barrier from Cassandra abruptly appeared around him. She must have realized that he might not survive this next attack and was protecting him just in case. Her entire body was covered in red and white flames. The air was literally burning the moment it touched her skin.

He could feel her building some kind of skill and channeling it into her fist. She stared at the ground where the gorge was supposedly located. Then pulled back her hand.

However, just before she could unleash the wrath of the heavens onto the poor thing, he felt a warping of space from behind them. It wasn’t anything like he’d experienced from other spatial skills either. This one seemed visceral and violent. Sort of like his void skills, but more bestial.

Cassandra must have also sensed this, too, and held off on her skill as she turned.

A jagged, purple scar formed in the open air. As if an animal used their claws to rip open the very fabric of space.

Then a very large and very mean-looking individual stepped through. They were massive, easily a foot taller than Cain and even broader shoulders. However, they weren’t human. No, that was unmistakable. They had human-like features, but that was all. Their aura was just like that spatial skill they just used.

Bestial and violent.

White, almost silver hair covered their body. Small wisps of something, almost like fire, flickered from it. Sharp claws extended from their hands and feet. Thick, black tattoos run along their exposed flesh. He could sense the swirling mana in them from all the way where he was standing.

But the most prominent feature was the eyes. They were pale yellow and stared directly at Cassandra. Julius had seen beastkin before, but he didn’t know if this creature would be considered one or if it was something else entirely.

“I thought I told you to be mindful,” the new arrival addressed Cassandra. Their voices surprised Julius. It was the complete opposite of their appearance. It was calm and respectful.

Not like what he expected from something that looked like this.

Cassandra slowly let the skill go, but with so much mana, it was taking a long time.

“Do you see it?”

“See what?”

She nodded. “You don’t. Okay, so it’s not just me.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, but you and your sect are really testing the limits of our patience. We have already allowed you this much freedom because of the situation of your disciples. If you think you can simply do whatever you please, there will be consequences.”

Cassandra pinched her nose in frustration. “Look, I know you don’t like Rhynus, but I can assure you I’m not trying to start anything. He came on his own, and considering the circumstances, I couldn’t stop him.”

“No, it was simply easier not to stop him. You could have definitely stopped him,” the very large beastman replied calmly.

“Yeah, there’s some truth to that,” she said with a shake of her head. “On the other hand, I found something very interesting. In fact, I think you will find it interesting too, considering you haven’t been able to detect it either.”

“What are you talking about?”

Cassandra gestured at Julius to come closer, and he slowly flew back over. “Show him,” she told him.

He sighed and went over to the hole and repeated what he’d shown her earlier.

The beastman looked on with puzzlement and confusion. “Do that again,” he commanded.

Julius didn’t really appreciate the tone, but he did so anyway.

“What type of sorcery is this?”

“I don’t think it's sorcery at all. It's either something that the Words of the World made or a natural phenomenon created by the conditions of the Scorched Wastelands,” Cassandra noted with another peculiar look at the mysterious gorge that neither Tier 6s could apparently see.

“And who’s he?” The unknown Tier 6 asked, pointing at Julius. He was so much taller than Julius that it felt like someone's dad looking down at one of his little children's friends.

“That’s the one who found this unusual phenomenon.”

They nodded and looked away, not caring for a single second about him. Then, before Julius could react, they had already gathered an enormous amount of force in their fists. It was instantaneous, and Cassandra reached over to protect him. It was just in time, too. Because he doubted he would have come out of the resulting explosion without harm.

However, much like Cassandra’s attempt. This attack left the gorge or whatever barrier hiding it completely unharmed.

“Hmm, curious little thing,” the beastly man grumbled, sounding almost impressed.