The ruins' gates stood open.
Inside, there was not a speck of light.
A strong smell of rotting earth drifted out from the depths.
Luo Ye walked in his ragged cloth shoes.
He swaggered over the broken bluestone threshold.
He still held a half-finished bag of potato chips.
His relaxed demeanor was completely at odds with the tension around him.
Ging walked at the very front of the group.
He tugged his tattered headscarf a little lower.
His eyes stayed fixed on the ground.
The bluestone slabs beneath their feet were covered in enormous cracks.
Dark red moss filled those cracks.
The gravity here was already damned uncomfortable.
On top of that, the air carried a sticky, oppressive heaviness.
Several support mercenaries panted like bellows.
"Hold formation."
Botobai's deep voice rang out among the group.
He had kept his Enhancement Nen bottled up this whole time.
Kanzai clenched his fists.
His knuckles cracked loudly.
The expedition followed the broad stone path deeper into the maze.
Towering, crumbling stone walls rose on either side.
Thick black roots crawled over the walls.
Some of those roots were thicker than large trucks.
They tangled together.
And blocked out the sky completely.
The group walked quietly for two kilometers.
They did not see so much as a single insect.
But just then...
The tremors that had subsided rose from underground again.
Thud.
Thud.
This time, the shaking was more violent than before.
The floor of the entire maze heaved up and down.
"Underground!"
Ging stopped abruptly.
He shouted a warning.
But it was already too late.
Boom!
The bluestone slabs in the middle of the group exploded.
Broken stone and black soil shot into the air.
Dozens of thick vines covered in black barbs burst out of the ground.
They moved too fast for