Boom! Boom! Boom!
The deeper Gilgamesh went, the more frequently the shadows in the surroundings attacked. These shadows were darker than darkness itself, and thanks to the walls glowing with a lava-red hue, they could identify the enemy. However, these shadows became thicker and had greater strength.
In the deepest area, the shadows seemed to be made of steel. To the dismay of the others, not even simple swords and spells below the Holy level could easily cut through them.
To protect his women, Gilgamesh had to wield two long swords, one with ice attributes and one with fire attributes, both shining with great power. In addition to that, he unleashed the Enkidu chains to protect the points he was neglecting.
"What is this?"
Eris was surprised. At this moment, the shadows, which were originally black, changed to a much lighter color, similar to blood, and moved towards her with much more speed and brutality than before.
"These shadows are probably composed of the blood it absorbed from other living beings. We are getting closer to its nest, so it's pressing its attacks with much more desperation."
Gilgamesh, who was calm, pointed out, "The body of this monster is hidden beneath the earth, and it uses the shadows as an attack, so as long as we can find what's causing these shadows, we will stop being attacked."
With that said, Gilgamesh increased his power and, after telling Roxy to maneuver her Vimana, he fully released his divine aura. In just a few seconds, this was more than enough for the shadows to stop attacking him and not dare to approach. Gilgamesh's divinity surpassed that of the known gods, which was why the attacks ceased.
Suddenly, the cave just behind Gilgamesh was filled with ancient shadows. It seemed as if venomous serpents were eerily staring at them.
"It's all so incredible..." Roxy couldn't believe how incredible Gilgamesh's divine energy appeared to be. To her, it was just a warm golden breeze, and she didn't feel intimidated by it at all. She wondered if she saw that aura differently due to her relationship with him.
"The divine aura is a weakness for anyone who considers me their enemy. This is because, as I am between the division of a semi-God to a true God, my power was once the source of the creation of gods. But now that I am in another world, I might become a God, that is inevitable, by the way."
After saying that, Gilgamesh materialized a golden aura in his hand and threw it forward as if it were a spear.
Seeing the divine energy approaching, all the ancient shadows immediately retreated in quick succession. However, there was still one ancient shadow that was hit; it immediately writhed on the ground and met a lamentable death, like a dry, dead snake.
"Is that the power of divine energy?" Roxy had heard of divine magic, so she asked, "Could you see what kind of monster is hiding here?"
Gilgamesh tilted his head and said, "An ancient monster of the Black Adversity, that's what the last mage who sealed this place called it... In this world, I'm afraid this thing shouldn't exist in the first place."
As they spoke, they entered a massive cave made of rocks that seemed endless.
The eerie thing was that these rocks were as red as blood and emitted a mist like fog. The entire cave was shrouded in this bloody mist, almost blinding anyone who entered.
Walking in this vast cave felt like walking in a hole made of blood. The interior was permeated with the smell of freshly spilled blood, which had been recently gathered for numerous murders, and was used to house a terrifying demon.
"Now, where are we?" Even Cunsfiel felt a bit fearful upon entering the cave. He felt uncomfortable, as if there were malevolent magic in the air.
"The entity of the Black Adversity is supposed to be here..." Gilgamesh, just minutes ago, had seen in the future that it should be in this place.
At this moment, Roxy gently tugged at Gilgamesh's sleeve and gestured in another direction with her chin, saying, "Over there..."
Gilgamesh focused his gaze and saw a shadow in the distance. This shadow was shrouded in the bloody mist, so others couldn't see it clearly. From afar, it looked like a human, but not quite. On closer inspection, it was more like a small, swiftly moving fog.
Om!
In an instant, the swords in Gilgamesh's hands shot out as fast as lightning towards the shadow in the bloody mist.
However, the shadow was extremely agile. Sensing the danger of the swords, it immediately escaped at an even greater speed.
The swords returned to Gilgamesh's hands, but they couldn't cut the shadow, and instead, they had allowed it to escape. The shadow knew how intimidating the approaching swords were, so it didn't reappear.
"Was that the entity buried here?" Seeing Gilgamesh's failure to eliminate the entity, Roxy asked with concern.
"No..." At this moment, Gilgamesh's eyes turned fierce, and he said coldly, "Someone else beat us to it, and it's possibly sent by that bastard..."
"So, someone else got here first?" Cunsfiel also looked around the bloody cave but couldn't find anything else.
"If it's not here, it must be in a different place..." Gilgamesh analyzed the future more carefully and could see that a young man had been here. If that person got ahead of him in the future, it meant that his future had been observed and altered by the Human God himself.
Gilgamesh smiled and said, "It must be in the other direction. Come on, let's go!"
Eris and Roxy looked around cautiously for anything suspicious, and Cunsfiel did the same. No one dared to ask questions at this moment. Gilgamesh, who had seen the future, knew this place like the back of his hand, and he even knew where the entity of the Black Adversity used to be. Although Roxy was extremely curious, she knew it wasn't the time to ask.
However, in a different direction, a group that wasn't originally with the ones who had entered initially arrived.
The group consisted of nine members, and their leader was named Richard, an Emperor of the Sword from the Millis continent. They had followed the church group but had gone further in their direction. They found that there were fewer and fewer caves. As the caves converged, it was as if they were all coming together.
All the adventurers and mercenaries who had gone in different directions were now walking together. However, they found that the shadows grew stronger and stronger. The shadows appeared more frequently and with even more power. Furthermore, even Holy-class mages couldn't handle them.
This situation forced the groups of mercenaries and adventurers to work together, and all the mages worked as one. However, it still wasn't very favorable for advancing.
When they had nowhere else to go and were cornered, countless giant shadows blocked the way out. With countless sounds, the now-red shadows flooded the entire space like a tide.
"Ah...!"
Screams echoed everywhere. Not to mention ordinary swordsmen, but under this situation, even many King and Holy-class mages couldn't hold their ground. A moment of inattention led to their deaths at the hands of the ancient shadows, their blood drained.
There weren't many large caves left in this place. The two strongest groups were the one that had just entered, led by Richard from the Millis continent, and the elderly man who had tried to stop the fight before, Elder Boou. Because of this, they only had two paths ahead.
In this chaotic battle, Richard and his old servant were also diverted into a cave due to a collapse. At this moment, there was no turning back. Richard had no choice but to go with the large group, but the ancient shadows attacking from behind became even more numerous, like the flow of an ocean.
At this moment, all the adventurers found themselves in a dead-end. They felt they were trapped in a snare. Powerful ancient shadows blocked their retreat and pursued them deeper into the caves. It seemed as if they were being drawn deeper into the nest. At this moment, the red shadows appeared, considering the intruders a delicious meal. They were entangled in their web, waiting for their delicious prey to arrive.
However, for unknown reasons, wherever Richard went, he especially attracted the red shadows. They attacked him much more vigorously than the others.
"Sister, what the hell are you doing here?" Richard yelled upon seeing his sister with a group of adventurers. However, he didn't have time to react because he was being attacked much more fiercely than others.
At first, Richard was able to handle it, but later, he couldn't endure it anymore. Fortunately, the elderly man by his side took action.
People began to realize that Richard was attracting the large shadows in great numbers, so many of them quickly moved away from him to avoid being attacked as well.
Under the frenzied assault of the shadows, Richard and his old servant were forced back into a tunnel. This was a dead-end.
"Watch out!"
Richard was nearly stabbed by an ancient red shadow. The old servant took action and cut the ancient shadow down completely. At this point, he finally revealed his true strength.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At this moment, the red shadows went berserk and pushed Richard against the wall. Suddenly, all the shadows entered this death cave like a flood, engulfing this hole along with their delicious prey.
"Die...!"
The old servant roared loudly, and his aura as a powerful Emperor of the Sword pierced the sky. In an instant, he pounced on the red shadows and cut down countless of them, but an infinite number, like tides, kept coming.
Boom!
The old servant once again began his massacre. He swept through everything once more, but the vanguard of the red shadows was not deterred.
Seeing the true strength of this elderly Emperor of the Sword, many adventurers from different paths were amazed.
A sound of crack appeared, and blood sprayed into the air. Even though the old servant was powerful, he had to protect Richard while killing every trace of the shadows. A momentary lapse of focus allowed an ancient shadow to penetrate his shoulder.
The elderly man cut the ancient shadow, but it was already rooted inside his body. This greatly changed the old man's expression as his whole body trembled.
"Master!"
Richard cried out in fear. He wanted to save him, but his body wouldn't allow him to do so.
"Hide behind me!"
The old man shouted and unleashed a sky-splitting move. However, at this moment, the ancient shadows had formed a huge nest, eager to devour the two. From behind, countless shadows were also rushing in, encompassing the entire cave.
Daphne, Richard's sister, paled as she saw the distant signs of her brother's battle. She wanted to go to that place but was stopped by many adventurers.
"Daphne, don't be impulsive, let's retreat."
At this moment, inside the cave, the elderly Emperor of the Sword, who was actually Richard's master, was pierced by two ancient shadows in his shoulder once again. At this point, he was completely bloodied and ragged.
Richard, with a fierce look, held off the attacks from behind and clung to his master.