Broken hovered in the night sky, riding Polly, his eyes scanning the ground below.
The land beneath him had changed.
Before, when the spirits were still present, there had been almost no monsters in sight. But now? Creatures had started appearing—lurking in the shadows, erging from the forest like they had been waiting for sothing.
Was this because the spirits had left?
Had their presence been keeping these monsters away?
Curious, Broken urged Polly to descend, slipping lower through the air. They moved silently, weaving through the scattered monsters below, completely unnoticed thanks to their invisibility.
His eyes locked onto where the spirits had gone.
They weren't just wandering. They had a clear destination.
And then—he saw it.
A massive canyon stretched across the land, splitting the island like a deep wound. The gap was wide, its depths swallowed in darkness.
Were the spirits heading down there?
He hesitated for a mont before turning his head slightly.
"Pawpaw. Go check it out," he said, nodding toward the canyon.
But instead of his usual eager response, Pawpaw let out a groan. "Ugh… not feeling it."
Broken blinked. "…What?"
Pawpaw rarely refused. Normally, he was the first to jump into things like this.
Broken frowned. "You're not acting like yourself. Usually, you'd be all over this."
Pawpaw's tail curled slightly as he grumbled, "I don't like this place…"
Broken narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
No answer.
Pawpaw just stayed silent.
A Demon Beast, refusing to move in a place like this?
Sothing was definitely wrong.
Broken took a mont to reconsider the potential dangers lurking inside the canyon. Would their invisibility be enough to keep them undetected the whole ti?
He weighed his options. As long as he was alone, escaping would be easy. If things went wrong, he had Polly, who could fly at incredible speeds. He didn't have to worry about slowing down to protect anyone else.
With that in mind, he made his decision.
"Polly, take us down."
The flying fox obeyed without hesitation, flapping its wings and descending into the darkness below.
As they dropped lower, Broken blinked rapidly, his eyes adjusting to the dim environnt. The deeper they went, the more details he could make out.
And what he saw made his stomach tighten.
There were monsters. A lot of them.
Not just low-level creatures, but high-level predators, their forms barely visible in the gloom.
[Eclipse Reapers - Lv. 280]
Tall, humanoid figures with elongated claws and glowing violet eyes, their bodies flickering between solid and shadow.
[Abyss Drifters - Lv. 290]
Floating, jellyfish-like creatures with tentacles that pulsed with dark energy, drifting silently through the air.
[Void Stalkers - Lv. 300]
Feline-like beasts with pitch-black fur and bone-white masks, their movents completely silent, watching from the rocky terrain.
Broken swallowed hard.
These weren't normal creatures.
The average level here was way higher than what they had encountered outside. If he had brought the others, they would've been massacred.
But the real question—where had the spirits gone?
Polly kept flying, gliding carefully between the twisted rock formations and scattered ruins that lined the canyon walls.
Then—Broken saw it.
A ruin nestled along one side of the canyon.
It wasn't just so random pile of debris.
These were buildings.
Or at least, what was left of them.
Crumbling structures with faded carvings, shattered archways, and signs of past life now buried in dust and ti.
This wasn't just a canyon.
It was the remains of a civilization.
Broken exhaled slowly, realization settling in.
The spirits—the ones who had warned them to leave—had lived here.
Before they were wiped out by demons.
Broken stayed there for a while, silently observing as Polly continued flying through the canyon.
The deeper they went, the more ruined structures he saw—scattered remnants of what once must have been a thriving settlent. So were barely more than rubble, while others had recognizable shapes—hints of collapsed towers, archways, and even what looked like a large open area, possibly the remains of a central plaza.
If this island had been inhabited before…
Why had its people chosen to stay in a place like this?
Why not live outside, in the forests, or near the coastline?
The more he saw, the more he realized—he didn't know the full story yet.
Polly continued to glide through the air, maneuvering carefully through the twisting rock formations. From this angle, Broken understood why Mizuki hadn't noticed this place earlier with Zepy, the Flying Golem. The canyon's depths and shadows made it incredibly hard to spot from above—almost as if it had been hidden on purpose.
Then, up ahead—
A massive opening in the canyon wall.
A cave.
It was huge, stretching deep into the rock. But what caught his attention wasn't just its size—
It was the faint, glowing light coming from within.
Polly flew forward, gliding effortlessly into the cavern, the glow growing stronger the deeper they went.
And then—
The cave opened up into a breathtaking sight.
A vast, hidden flower field, stretching out before him like a secret garden tucked away in the darkness.
The flowers weren't normal. Each one emitted a soft, shimring glow, casting tiny floating specks of light into the air. The entire area looked ethereal, almost like a dream—pure, untouched, and completely magical.
Broken slowly dismounted from Polly, his boots pressing gently against the soft earth. His eyes flickered between the glowing petals, srized by the way they pulsed with light.
What… is this place?
He knelt down, reaching toward one of the flowers, studying its shape and texture. They weren't just glowing—they were alive with energy, as if holding remnants of sothing ancient.
He had co here searching for answers about the spirits.
But instead—he had found sothing completely unexpected.
A faint shift in the air signaled Gaia's presence beside him. The figure of the spirit stood calmly, watching as Broken examined the glowing flowers.
Broken glanced at her. "Gaia, do you know what these flowers are?"
Gaia's eyes flickered over the field before she answered in her usual flat, emotionless tone. "These flowers store a large amount of spirit energy. It seems this is what has allowed those spirits to persist for so long—keeping their forms more intact than ordinary ghosts."
Broken processed that for a mont. "Then, what's the difference between spirits like them… and beings like you or Polly?"
Gaia didn't hesitate. "The difference is like the sky and the earth—a matter of grade and origin."
She crossed her arms, her expression unchanging. "They are nothing more than waste remnants of souls that have already died. They hold no true power, nor purpose. Do not compare them to ."
Broken exhaled at her usual blunt arrogance. "Thanks for the answer, Gaia."
His attention then shifted toward the far end of the flower field.
There, in the distance—he spotted sothing that looked like a lake.
The glow coming from that direction was even stronger than the rest of the area.
Curiosity piqued, Broken began walking through the glowing garden, making his way toward the water. The closer he got, the clearer it beca—
It wasn't just any lake.
It wasn't even that big.
But at its center—
A massive whirlpool churned violently.
The water twisted with unnatural force, the vortex spinning rapidly as if sothing was pulling it inward.
Broken's brows furrowed. "Why is the current this strong?"
He turned to Gaia.
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