577: Chapter 44 – Landing_1 577: Chapter 44 – Landing_1 The girls passed through the fog layer and finally saw the inside of Earth’s Scar.
Looking up, the sky was a dull grey with fog.
And yet, the sunlight still managed to seep through the fog, illuminating the interior of Earth’s Scar.
It was as if the fog layer simply acted as a one-way gateway.
Standing on the last transfer station over three hundred ters high and looking down, they saw a green world below.
The cavern, spanning over six hundred thousand square ters, was filled with trees and grass, with low shrubs and an abundance of ferns.
These ferns stood hundreds of ters tall.
Compared to these giant plants, humans were no more significant than a grain of sand on the beach.
In the sprawling forest down below, occasional roars of beasts echoed, while dozens of birds swooped and soared above the canopy of fern-trees.
Life was teeming within Earth’s Scar.
It was hard to believe that this vibrant world existed under several hundred ters of fog in an underground cavern.
“Is this what Pannis ant when he said not to be astounded?” Catherine questioned with a puzzled expression, “It does look pretty odd and illogical, but not to the point of being dumbfounded.”
“No, he wasn’t referring to this.” Ike explained from the sidelines, “You can’t see it clearly from here.
Once we’re on the ground, you’ll notice.
It’s quite an interesting world.”
Soon enough, the rest of the group erged from the fog layer and entered back into the normal space.
Freya wrinkled her brow at the sight of the birds circling in the distance below.
She turned to Lina and comnted, “If you look closely, they seem to resemble what I described earlier.
They’re the sa species.”
“Let’s get a move on,” Pannis urged impatiently from behind, “Don’t let them wait too long down there.
It’s not exactly a safe place, filled with creatures even more bizarre than these birds.
If we’re careless, we could be in real danger.”
“Alright, alright, I’m going already.
Just stop rushing !” Freya complained, “Thank goodness Vivian didn’t notice or she would have risked her life to investigate these birds, possibly even causing a sensation if she discovered sothing.”
The final stretch of the route was without obstacles, allowing everyone to travel rapidly.
Catherine, mimicking Pannis, slid down quite a distance before using her decelerator to control her speed, reaching the ground faster than anyone else.
The mont her feet touched down, she exhaled heavily.
Only those with experience in prolonged aerial work would understand this sensation.
Despite the dangerous speed descent, the firm ground still brought a greater sense of security.
After setting Vivian down, Catherine frowned, “Why does it feel so peculiar here?
It’s too warm and humid.
This climate is nothing like that of Mountain Country.”
“Don’t forget, sis, we are more than a thousand ters lower than where Mountain Country should be,” Vivian pointed out, “If you want a comparison, compare it to the Lost Forest.
The Lost Forest and here are approximately at the sa altitude.”
“No, no, no, even if we compare it to the Lost Forest, it’s not as humid there.” Catherine touched Vivian’s blue work skirt, “See, it’s only been a few minutes since we descended and the fabric of our clothes is already damp.
My petticoat underneath my scales is sticking to my skin, which is uncomfortable.
What is happening here?”
“That’s just how it is in the Earth’s Scar.” Ike, who unlike before, was not stationed near the climbing rope and was now exploring the nearby areas.
He walked back and responded, “It’s hot and humid here and rains frequently.
It’s challenging to stay dry living in these conditions.
But it’ll be better once we go underground through those fissures.
The deeper we go, the drier it gets.
We’ll be much more comfortable then.”
“The air here also feels strange,” Catherine pointed out suspiciously, “Is it just my imagination?
It feels like the air here is different from the one above.
There’s sothing special in it.
It feels as if the fog layer above has separated the two areas into different worlds, even severing the air.”
“You noticed it too, sis?” Lina and Freya, who had just descended, overheard Catherine’s query.
Lina exclaid, “I didn’t feel much when we initially crossed the fog layer, but as we descended, the sensation beca more pronounced.
There’s definitely a difference between the air here and above, but I can’t pinpoint what it is.”
“There indeed is a difference.” Ike agreed, “You need to be wary of the air here.
It’s not harmless.
An ordinary person living here would probably go mad within a couple of days.
Even we, the professionals, could be greatly affected ntally if we stayed here for an extended period.
Hence, we need to think twice before making any decisions.”
“Are you saying the air here is poisonous?” Lina was stunned.
She swiftly conjured a Divine Spell to detect toxins but found nothing.
Shaking her head, she said, “No, the spell indicates no toxins here.
Theoretically, it should be harmless.”
“No, the air here isn’t poisonous,” Ike clarified, shaking his head, “I don’t know why, but if anyone stays here for too long, ordinary people would go insane.
As for Upper Rank professionals, they would feel groggy and lethargic, constantly wanting to sleep and sotis going out of control.
It’s just like…”
“It’s just like being drunk,” Pannis concluded.
He was the last to descend, gathering the ropes as he spoke, “Though we don’t know the cause, the initial feeling is one of growing excitent, followed quickly by a sensation of dull weakness, exactly like being drunk.
But there’s no need to worry.
For Upper Rank professionals, we won’t start showing symptoms unless we stay for more than a month.
At most, we’d just feel unusually excited.
It’s not a big problem.
Last ti I ca down here, I slowly got used to it.”
“Alright, we have now officially entered the world of Earth’s Scar.” Ike clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention.
“In this place, you’ll encounter many never-before-seen phenona.
However, these things are usually quite dangerous.
Unless absolutely necessary, try to avoid getting too close.
This way, you can prevent any unexpected harm.”
“Oh, my God, what is that?” Catherine gasped amidst Ike’s speech, covering her mouth to suppress her exclamation.
“Why is it so huge?”
“Well, I was just referring to these creatures.” Ike casually glanced back and reassured, “Along the way, you’ll see a lot of similar beasts, as well as many unfamiliar animals.
You’ll get used to it.”
What caused Catherine’s outburst was a dragonfly hovering near a small puddle nearby.
Such a scene would have been completely ordinary if not for the dragonfly’s extraordinary size.
The dragonfly Catherine spotted was almost three ters long.
Its two black eyes were as large as a baby’s head.
The transparent wings, spanning around two ters, produced an irritating humming sound when flapping at high speeds, creating gusts of wind.
Catherine, while observing the dragonfly, suddenly recalled sothing.
She tilted her head up to look at the sky-high plants whose tops could not be seen from her vantage and then at so scratch and bite marks on the tree trunks.
With a grimace, she asked, “Mr.
Ike, everything here is not making sense.
Why do I feel like we’ve suddenly shrunk?”
“As I said before, don’t be surprised.” Pannis tried to hold back his laughter.
“You’re luckier than .
What I encountered the first ti I ca here wasn’t as simple as a dragonfly.”
“We haven’t shrunk.” Ike sympathetically understood Catherine’s astonishnt as he’d had a similar feeling when he first saw these things.
“The creatures here are exceptionally large, so it’s no wonder you’re shocked.”
“But that doesn’t make sense.” Lina flipped through her book, “These creatures shouldn’t be this huge.
Even though Earth’s Scar might be a huge space for this world, it’s nothing compared to the outside world.
Logically, a confined space like this shouldn’t contain such imnse creatures.”
“Indeed, I’ve read a research report discussing the linear relationship between creature size and degree of habitat openness.” Vivian turned to Freya.
“You must have read it too.
It argued that the size of a creature is inevitably constrained by the openness of the environnt.
Even alien species would eventually be affected by environntal openness after several generations.”
“But this place isn’t small at all.” Ike shook his head.
“You can only see a part of it, so it may seem small.
But there are more than thirty connected areas inside Earth’s Scar, and there is a vast underground space.
It is filled with plants, air, and even light, enough for these giant creatures to survive.”
“Why don’t these creatures go up then?
Ordinary animals can’t climb, but the ones that can fly can easily go up.
And we’ve never seen any of them up there.” Freya looked up at the misty sky.
“Could it be that those above are specifically designed to prevent them from reaching the outside world?”
“They would die if they ascended.” Pannis shook his head.
“We’ve tried a few tis, catching smaller creatures and taking them up there.
But no more than a few minutes after leaving the mist, they died.
This happened every ti, without exception.”
“Why is that?” Lina asked with curiosity sparkling in her eyes.
“No one knows why.” Pannis shrugged.
“Maybe it has sothing to do with the environnt here, who knows?
Wait, the ground is shaking, hush…”
Pannis put his finger to his lips to silence everyone.
Soon, they all felt the ground shaking.
The shaking slightly swayed even the towering professionals over one hundred ters away, causing the rustling noise of the leaves collision.
In the next mont, the eyes of the young girls filled with astonishnt.
(To be continued.
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