The Cavern
"Sinkhole?"
Perched atop the vast back of the White Stone Crab, with his hair ruffled by the wind above, Ian paused for a moment, then looked down at the gaping abyss below with a puzzled expression.
Jin also walked to his side, and the two looked down side by side.
The enormous pit was bottomless; it was pitch black almost immediately after descending less than a hundred meters. No one knew exactly how deep it was.
The edges of the pit were very smooth, as if it had been cleaved in two by a giant blade.
It's unclear whether it's the unique, wondrous craftsmanship of the Dark Continent, or whether some colossal monster has silently sculpted countless days and nights here.
The trees growing on the edge of the deep pit have lush canopies that resemble large green umbrellas, shading the edge of the giant pit.
Therefore, unless you are looking down from a high place.
This deep pit was really not easy to spot.
"Shall we go down and take a look, Jin?"
Ian glanced at Kim beside him and asked.
"There's a possibility of encountering unpredictable dangers, but... I want to go and see..."
Jin hesitated for a moment, then spoke decisively.
As adventurous Hunters, if they were to avoid exploring the unknown out of fear of danger, they wouldn't need to venture into the Dark Continent.
Even King had to admit that if it weren't for Ian's amazing Nen Ability, it would have been a long time before he arrived at the Dark Continent.
The four core qualifications for entering the Dark Continent are: permission, eligibility, means, and contract.
It sounds complicated, and obtaining these qualifications through proper channels... is indeed quite troublesome.
Because these are all based on the cooperation of various forces, in other words, they are not issues that can be decided by a single individual, and require a specific opportunity.
This is also why many powerful individuals, when forced to, consider smuggling themselves across the border.
They already face extremely high natural risks, and then they have to deal with all sorts of constraints from the human world. Even for the strong, the probability of being able to go to the Dark Continent is very low.
This is also one of the reasons why Netero discouraged Kim from smuggling himself over.
If it weren't for the endless sea that separates the Dark Continent from the human world by millions of miles, the problem wouldn't be so complicated.
From a certain perspective, Kim and Ian's arrival in the Dark Continent could be considered "smuggling."
Of course, this applies to the higher levels of humanity.
Ian didn't care about any of that; he used his abilities and could go wherever he wanted.
Jin was incredibly envious of Ian's [Anywhere Door] ability, but cherished even more the time he had left on this land of the Dark Continent.
If he hadn't known that Ian would definitely disagree, he would have wanted to stay here and never return to the human world.
But.
The thought that Ian had promised him he could lend him the [Anywhere Door] again sometime made Jin feel much better and more relaxed. Like Ian, he carefully experienced all the adventures on the Dark Continent.
After receiving Kim's affirmative answer, Ian looked at the abyss-like cave and nodded.
"Since you want to go too, let's go down and take a look..."
He turned his head and glanced at the White Stone Crab beneath him, stomping on it hard with his foot, though even the crab's enormous size might not be able to feel it, and shouted loudly.
"Big White, wait here quietly and don't wander off. We'll be right back..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he and Jin jumped down.
With my feet firmly planted on the mud, and looking closely into the abyss-like pit, it was like looking down from a cliff, or rather... the cave was even more terrifying than a cliff.
Because it is so dark and deep, even outside light seems to be completely absorbed within a hundred meters.
Everything became dark and gloomy, making one wonder if it was truly possible for any creature to survive in such a cavern.
"Wait a moment, Jin!"
Ian originally planned to use the [Take-copter], with the two of them wearing it on their heads and slowly flying down.
However, the cave felt too dark, so after thinking for a moment, he took out his [Paper-Cutting Book].
This was the first time Kim had seen Ian's prop, and he watched Ian's movements with some curiosity.
Ian picked out two paper cutouts, one green and one orange, with "Flying Saucer" designs. Then, he picked up the scissors that appeared from the props and began to cut.
Under Kim's astonished gaze.
About two minutes later, two small Flying Saucers were seen floating gently in mid-air around the ground surrounding the cave.
"Is this... another flying item?"
Jin looked surprised. To be honest, he was already numb to Ian's endless stream of amazing gadgets...
Even though he considered his Nen Ability to be quite good, it was simply incomparable to Ian's.
He even felt that Ian wasn't human at all!
The limitations of thought have completely vanished in this kid!
Ian... is a being completely beyond Nen users; his every move represents humanity's ignorance of Nen Abilities.
Hearing Kim's exclamation, Ian waved his hand dismissively.
"It's just for show. At most, it can only be used for about two hours at a time. Moreover, its impact resistance isn't very strong. Apart from being relatively fast and comfortable to sit in, it doesn't have many advantages."
To this, Jin could only sigh and say, "Why don't they eat meat porridge?"
Even among the Nen users he knew, he had rarely heard of anyone who could fly...
Shaking his head helplessly, he thought, "Comparison is the thief of joy. I might as well stop thinking about it..."
After Ian briefly explained the operating procedures, the two sat together in different colored Flying Saucers, which were only about one and a half meters in size.
The two of them sat down as if they had snatched a child's play toy.
"Buzz--"
With a bang, the paper-cut Flying Saucer made a sound, and heaven knows where the engine started, immediately carrying the two people, and floated leisurely towards the deep, bottomless cave.
The Flying Saucer was extremely fast, and within seconds, the two were plunged into darkness.
"Jin, remember to turn on the lights, and be careful."
Seeing that he could barely see anything in front of him, Ian shouted to Kim. The next moment, two beams of light with extremely wide reach instantly illuminated the darkness.
"That's incredible..."
Feeling the touch of the control instruments inside the paper Flying Saucer and seeing the clearly visible lights, Jin couldn't help but feel envious.
The two of them flew side by side in the Flying Saucer, quickly diving deeper into the underground cave.
Time passed, Ian and Kim's UFOs were initially Flying Saucer extremely fast because they had no intention of seeing the bottom of the pit. However... as time went on, their expressions became slightly serious, and their speed decreased, with one Flying Saucer leading the other.
"Hey, Jin, it's been an hour, hasn't it? Something's not right... This pit is way too deep, I feel like we're about to fly to the Earth's core..."
Ian hesitated for a moment, then called out to Kim.
"We should have flown for one hour and eight minutes, but we weren't flying downwards the whole time. There was a section where we were flying horizontally..."
"However, even so, this cave is still far too deep..."
How to describe the size and depth of this cave...?
Even if you threw in 10,000 White Stone Crabs, which would be as big as a small mountain, it wouldn't fill even one percent of the area...
The good news is that this cavern was probably not created by any creature; it must be the work of nature. The bad news is that, if... it's only because of Ian's magical artifact that humans could reach this place.
Even if they manage to get in, they probably won't be able to get out...
The distance it spanned was simply too vast; it was a terrifying distance, and one of the most fundamental and terrifying aspects of the Dark Continent.