The sensation of weightlessness washed over everyone like an icy tide, swallowing them whole in an instant.
Darkness howled past their ears, mixed with the shrill wails of Silicon-Based Lifeforms breaking apart, the screech of grinding rubble, and the panicked cries of the team members. Chaotic energy currents lashed at their falling bodies like invisible whips.
Neji was among them. His body seemed to sway in the air, yet he was as steady as bedrock. Chaos True Essence circulated through him on its own, forming an invisible barrier that kept the violent energy currents and sharp debris at bay. His Divine Eye pierced through the darkness, firmly locking onto what lay below.
The fall lasted roughly ten breaths.
Below them was not absolute nothingness, but an enormous space that gradually came into focus, faintly glowing. At the bottom of that space, they could vaguely make out complex, orderly geometric patterns and... a massive hemispherical dome covered in cracks.
"Bang! Rumble!"
Impacts rang out one after another. The surviving Silicon-Based Lifeforms and members of the Third Squad crashed onto the seemingly fragile dome like raindrops.
Unexpectedly, the dome did not shatter. Instead, an extremely dim pale-gold film of light flared to life, as though it might go out at any moment. The light film was incredibly resilient. After withstanding such violent impacts, it merely rippled fiercely, brutally rebounding every falling object and scattering them across the ground surrounding the dome.
Just before Neji touched the light film, he gave his body a slight twist. True Essence flowed through him, shedding most of the impact force, and he landed lightly on a relatively level patch of ground paved with enormous square stone slabs.
The surroundings were dim. Only the dome's faint light film and the lingering glow within certain carvings on the