It was now certain that the source of these tremors was the blood sacrifice underground—the deeper Glenn went along the passage leading to the lower level, the stronger the tremors became.
Strong enough that they had to brace against the walls to keep from falling.
Glenn and Hermione maintained their cooperative approach to stabilizing the passage—one using alchemy, the other Transfiguration—ensuring their path back wouldn't be blocked.
But they couldn't continue this way for the next stretch.
Glenn began pulling out the potions he'd prepared in advance, uncorking them and turning to instruct Hermione:
"The area ahead blocks magic use. Hermione, stay close to me."
"I know!"
Hermione nodded solemnly and held the little Zouwu in her arms more tightly.
"Alright, let's go down."
Glenn took a deep breath, then downed several bottles of potion in quick succession.
The potions flowed down his throat, dissolving within his body and spreading to his organs. His slightly weary mind immediately cleared as surging, turbulent power exploded through Glenn's body.
Enhancement Potions—they allowed the user to enter a brief state of overload, gaining four times their normal magical capacity and casting spells beyond their usual abilities.
His eyes snapped open, bloodshot veins crawling across the whites as red light surfaced in his pupils. Magic threatening to explode converted entirely to dark energy. His black hair whipped wildly in the uncontrolled magical release as Glenn raised his left hand, extending his index finger toward the end of the passage.
"Devour."
He spoke the word.
The world seemed to stutter. Hermione saw only a flash of red-black light before her eyes, as if something had sliced through reality. The originally narrow passage instantly expanded threefold.
The cut surfaces were perfectly smooth, leaving no stone chips or debris.
But Glenn's movements didn't stop. He immediately stepped forward with his right foot and began performing alchemy.
The anti-magic influence that should have existed ahead seemed completely ineffective now, allowing Glenn's alchemical circuits to spread from beneath his feet.
No—it wasn't ineffective. The magical prohibition created by the blood sacrifice was undoubtedly functional. But at this moment, throughout this entire passage leading to the lower level, the influence preventing magic use simply didn't exist.
Glenn's technique called "Devour" had not only instantly consumed part of the walls around the passage but had also devoured the "influence" surrounding the passage itself.
Beneath Glenn's feet, alchemical circuits far larger than any before began forming, spreading forward at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, they covered the entire inner wall of the passage, making the dark tunnel slightly brighter.
"Alchemy: Structural Solidification."
Black light washed along the walls like a tide. If one could completely dissect the walls now, they would discover that what had been simple solid rock had partially melted and reformed into a grid-like structure, with the rock within these grids transformed into materials far more earthquake-resistant than stone.
Resisting tremors, absorbing tremors—Glenn had used alchemy to grant the entire passage this characteristic while restructuring it into earthquake-resistant architecture he'd understood in his previous life. Their current location could now be called the safest place in the entire underground structure.
Don't ask why Glenn knew about earthquake-resistant building structures in his previous life—he'd once studied a target building's blueprints to destroy it with high-yield explosives. Finding them incomprehensible, he'd taught himself structural engineering.
After mastering it, destroying buildings was naturally simple, and conversely, Glenn also understood how to make buildings withstand abnormal impacts.
The overload enhancement effect from the Enhancement Potions passed in an instant. The imposing aura around Glenn gradually weakened. His throat warmed as blood surged up, but he silently swallowed it down.
All medicine has side effects—such powerful potions inevitably carried significant risks. But Glenn was who he was; in his previous life, he'd grown accustomed to post-medication side effects, so he didn't collapse now.
"This passage won't collapse for five minutes, but we still need to hurry."
"Got it!"
The two advanced together, rushing downward like meteors chasing the moon.
The magical suppression reappeared. Both clearly felt their internal magic become unusable once again.
Without magical enhancement, they were ultimately just mortal flesh and blood. The situation was volatile—circumstances might take a sharp turn for the worse at any second. Neither Glenn nor Hermione knew what would happen next.
But none of that mattered. Stimulated by various external factors, adrenaline began flooding their systems, their heart rates soaring. For some reason, both Glenn and Hermione couldn't help but show excited expressions.
Perhaps they were both children who loved adventure at heart.
The deeper the passage went, the more open the space became, but Glenn's alchemical reinforcement effects had completely disappeared here. This open space had become ruins under the cave's collapse, growing cramped and narrow.
Risking passage collapse, this damned underground area couldn't be lingered in, but fortunately they didn't run long before finding their target.
"Look over there—that big Zouwu!"
Reaching the open area, Hermione began looking around and indeed spotted their target.
"Its body is trapped under the debris—no wonder it couldn't escape!"
Glenn looked where Hermione pointed and found the situation exactly as she described:
A clearly adult-sized Zouwu was trapped by several large stone pillars restricting its movement, very unfortunately stuck inside. Despite its tremendous strength, it couldn't break free.
"Awooo!"
The little Zouwu immediately panicked upon seeing this, leaping from Hermione's embrace and rushing toward the big Zouwu. It began clawing and ramming the interlocked stone pillars, but this was futile—how could the little Zouwu's strength break the pillars trapping the big Zouwu?
Not just the little Zouwu—these stone pillars couldn't be moved by Glenn and Hermione's physical strength alone either.
Hermione racked her brain for solutions, her mind nearly overloading. A flash of inspiration struck, and she urgently shouted to Glenn:
"Use a pulley system! Move these stones!"
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
Glenn had already set down his backpack and began pulling out movable pulleys and fixed pulleys, using tools to secure them firmly to the ceiling, creating an extremely force-efficient pulley system.
Hermione quickly secured the steel cable's end to the pillar and explained the situation to the trapped Zouwu. Then she and Glenn began pulling the steel cable together.
"Three, two, one—pull!"
Both exerted force simultaneously. The little Zouwu also ran over to bite the rope, while the big Zouwu began straining as well.
The pillar did indeed loosen.
But the ceiling of their space also began collapsing as a result.
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