Into the Depths

10613

Everything changed in an instant.

There was no warning.

No fluctuation in magic power to alert them.

Even Shen Yin's mental defenses had failed to pick up the slightest hint of movement beforehand.

BOOM!!!

The floor at the very center of the workshop exploded without warning.

Concrete crumbled like paper, and an absurdly thick tentacle, encrusted with black crystals, shot out of the ground like lightning—

It had only one target.

Love, who had just set one foot down, the rest of her body still hovering in the air.

"Love!"

Their instinctive cries did nothing to warn her.

Love had already reacted, after all, and was climbing higher again.

At the same time, the orbs of light around her formed once more, firing thick, continuous lasers at the giant hand.

This was a genuine panic response from Love. In that instant, she had even forgotten to rein in her magic power.

But it was useless.

The lasers sank into the writhing layer of black crystals and vanished without a trace, stirring only a faint ripple.

The next moment, the giant hand seized her in its crushing grip.

"Fu—"

Love barely managed a single syllable.

An immense force yanked her down, dragging her straight into that bottomless fissure.

Her pink figure vanished into the darkness.

The giant hand withdrew.

All that remained in the floor was a gaping hole, fragments still crumbling from its edges.

The whole thing had taken less than two seconds.

Dead silence.

Everyone in the workshop froze.

"...Love?"

Thousand Blades stood on a beam, staring blankly at the hole.

"Love?!"

She snapped out of her daze. The silver blades around her rang out in unison, and she moved to charge into the hole—

"Thousand Blades! Wait!"

Knight caught her wrist.

"Calm down!"

**"Calm down?! How