Outside the passage was darkness as usual, but Shade's first sensation after stepping out was of intense heat, along with an indescribably strange feeling.
He sniffed carefully. There was no smell of fermenting grapes from a wine cellar, nor the scent of vegetables from an inn's underground storeroom. Once both feet had left the passage, he could clearly feel that the ground beneath him was no longer level. That meant this was probably not beneath an artificial structure.
Dark Vision allowed him to make out some of the situation ahead. He seemed to be at the inner edge of a broad cavern. Listening closely, he could not hear any insects, birds, or beasts moving about. Even when he listened with "Echoes of the Past," the thaumaturgy detected no sounds at all:
"There's no life. Even if the way out was blocked, there couldn't possibly be no insects at all, could there? Enhanced Space Perception!"
The thaumaturgy activated, and the surrounding terrain roughly entered his mind. Even the range visible to his eyes expanded considerably.
Shade's earlier guess had been correct. This was indeed a massive underground cave, roughly circular in shape. Though the ground was uneven, it could generally be regarded as a level space. The exit was probably on the northeastern side. Apart from that sole exit, the entire Underground Cavity had no other passages connecting it to anywhere else.
After confirming that there were no heartbeats here apart from his own, Shade lit up the moonlight so that he could see farther.
"Silver Moon."
The enormous underground cave was roughly three stories high and covered an area equivalent to two Saint Derain Squares. It was not completely empty. Around the cavern, the side walls bore heavily faded murals, so faded that their original appearance could no longer be