[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 176: Clause Memoria (1)

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"Have you guys got any information about our location now? "

After nearly an hour of dispersing to gather information, everyone finally re-assembled in the same place as before.

Anzu loudly asked everyone, which they then replied with a brief nod.

Alan took a step forward and explained the situation to Anzu. "I'm sure you already know, but we're trapped inside a dungeon. And I guess .. It's kind of impossible to get out of this place normally."

"Why? " asked Anzu while raising her eyebrows in confusion.

But, the answer he was waiting for did not come out of Alan's mouth. Instead, the one who answered him was a voice that suddenly appeared from behind him.

"We are under the sea."

Anzu looked back, and found the figure behind the voice.

It was Werli. His face did not display any expression, but he looked somewhat irritated as he put away a seaweed stuck to his head.

His entire body had been wet from the water, and it seemed that the clothes he was wearing had actually absorbed all those clothes and made him look very heavy.

" … Why are you soaking wet? "

Olivia tried to ask, which Werli then replied with an irritated face. "I tried to make my way out by smashing the walls and ceiling, but it just made all this water appear. The water is salty, and there's a lot of seaweed, so it's clear that we're now under the sea ."

"So it is impossible to make a way out, yes ... Then, what did you find? "

Anzu returned to everyone and gave a questioning look.

They, however, just let out a tired breath.

"W-we found the stairs leading down, and saw some strange creatures running around. I guess it was a monster, but that monster wasn't on any record ... What should we do? "

Rias tried to explain it while trying to cover up her own nervousness by reading the dialogue she had prepared in her notebook.

"Underwater Dungeon, yes .. And a monster that is not on the list .. We can assume this place as a dungeon that has never been found" said Iris while playing the tip of her hair.

Anzu nodded and turned back to Rias. "Then did you find any clues about the rough location of this place? "

"I-it … "

Rias seemed to have not prepared an answer to this question, so she kept glancing all over the place anxiously. However, that was only before Liscia helped him.

"Not yet, but at least we can make a rough picture if we're somewhere far from the city. We're under the sea, and you know for yourself that the territorial waters of this country aren't very good. There are so many monsters that there is no path for the ship."

What Liscia said was indeed true. So many dangers in the territorial waters, and so little resistance can be given. This led to a lack of transportation or cross-ocean trade. What's more, erratic weather conditions also contribute to all that loss.

The sea region of this kingdom was extremely desolate. And even if they could come out normally from this dungeon, it was not like they would find any clues as to where they were now.

" … I think you're right. Then it's all decided. We will venture further inside with the goal of reuniting with everyone. After that, we'll figure out a way to get out of this place. Do you guys have any questions? "

Muku raised one hand, and Anzu pointed at him immediately. "What do you want to ask? "

"This is about your last explanation. You're successful if we're gonna find everybody. But ... How? We don't have anything that can be used to communicate with those in different places."

"About that … "

To be honest, Anzu did not know the answer either.

He made the decision because he believed Noelle would do the same. Assuming that Noelle was also stuck in this place, then she would definitely go deeper in any way.

Of course, Anzu would not say that. He had to give them a certainty, so that they could be sure.

Anzu glanced slightly at Olivia, who finally responded to Olivia with a slight sigh.

Olivia took a step forward, and began to explain, "I have a strong connection with Noelle, so I can trace her whereabouts. Norlle should have been able to trace my whereabouts as well, so I guess there was no problem. It's just that ... Our connection suddenly weakened and made our detection cryptic .. I hope you understand that this detection will not be so accurate."

Olivia was forced to give the lie to give everyone a satisfactory answer.

However, this lie can not be maintained for a long time. If he failed to find Noelle in time, then everyone would definitely realize his lie, and start to panic.

Internal conflict in the middle of nowhere, it was the worst-case scenario he could think of.

"Then–"

Late before Iris continued her words, a fairly strong shock appeared.

The ground, walls, and ceiling instantly suffered cracks, and made new debris fall.

Their minds could not understand what was really going on. So they are a little late to respond.

Fortunately, Olivia who was on her had come to her senses first. He stomped his feet to the ground, and created several ice pillars that supported the ceiling along with that wall.

At that moment, he finally shouted, "This place is about to collapse! Go to the next floor! "

However, it seemed that everyone was too focused on what was happening, so as not to hear her screams.

Olivia almost clicked her tongue in annoyance, but immediately canceled that intention when she finally realized what she was supposed to do.

Olivia raised her one hand, and cast her spell. "《Frost Nova》"

The cold air instantly spread out, along with the gigantic magic circle created in the air.

In that very short time, the entire room froze. The cracks and debris of the falling rocks instantly stopped when supported by the ice pillar that suddenly appeared.

"I couldn't hold it for a long time as these shocks continued to force their way through. Use this time to go to the next floor! "

Thanks to the information everyone gave her, Olivia finally understood the structure of this place.

He still did not know how many floors this dungeon had. But, if he could bring everyone down, perhaps the situation would become a little calmer.

After all, until now the dungeon was still a mystery. The structure whose emergence rate is quite low is still not much known background. At least, so far there was already some information about the dungeon. Among these, each dungeon has a different number of floors, and has a different type of each floor.

This was a dungeon that was under the sea, so it should be that the structure inside would not be too different either. But .. Olivia couldn't say it with confidence because she herself didn't really know what a dungeon was.

He finally ran over and guided everyone towards the stairs that led down it. Eventually, everyone got to the next floor.

As he thought, the vibration stopped, and the floor structure also changed drastically.

If it was previously a cave with a strange topography, then this place was a slope with a thick fog overlaying it.

" … Watch your steps" said Olivia as she walked carefully through the roots of the tree that ran through the ground.

Right before her was a small, deep abyss, and fortunately Olivia had already noticed it first, so she had managed to avoid the painful fall.

"Hmm? Did you guys smell anything weird? "

Behind him, Iris sniffed and commented with her frowning annoyed.

Olivia didn't understand the point, but naturally did the same to make sure. As a result, he smelled something.

It smelled fragrant, and the scent was scattered all over the place.

The spear easily stuck and blew away the fog that was there, but the fog easily re-assembled and covered the surface.

—That's enough, Inner Olivia.

Thanks to the gap he made earlier, he managed to see how the surface looked like.

Olivia landed gently on the ground and firmly grasped the handle of the ice spear she had previously fired.

The ice spear was plucked out, and Olivia swung it once. The gust of wind created was very cold and like it would freeze everything with just its air.

"Did you find anything? "

Anzu approached him and asked in a slightly hopeful tone. In any case, Olivia simply nodded while raising her one hand up.

Several other ice spears began to manifest themselves in the air, then shot themselves forward in a straight-line pattern.

All the spears had been planted safely, and Olivia immediately turned to look at everyone.

"I've checked the land here, and there doesn't seem to be a dangerous abyss. But, it's good to be on guard. Use the spears as road markers so you don't stray too far from the safe route."

" … Did you hear that? Let's go."

Everyone was not so in action when Olivia said it, but they immediately said that Anzu intervened.

Exactly as Anzu thought. Olivia is strong and has a sharp mind, but she is not the type to lead a group. He did not qualify to be a leader, perhaps because he was always hiding behind the shadow of Noelle.

It seems Olivia herself was aware of that, but she didn't seem to mind. His face was still flat as usual.

For now, Anzu would keep this matter to himself. Now he has to focus on what is.

Anzu nodded and finally walked forward following the route that had been marked with Olivia's ice spear.

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"Where are we now … "

After about an hour of searching, they finally stopped walking.

That thick, fragrant fog still filled the space they occupied, but the fog became thicker so they could not even see their own lower limbs.

An intoxicating smell, and a fog that makes the eyes seem dysfunctional. It can all be a trigger for hallucinations.

In order to prevent that, some of them used wind magic in an attempt to get rid of that fog, but all in vain. It seemed that the fog was no longer affected by the strong gusts of wind even once.

Olivia was somehow able to see a little, probably because of her sharper gaze compared to everyone else.

Repeatedly Olivia had repeated the process of throwing spears to be a clue to the direction, but now the spears were already invisible, so this was a complete dead end.

It was not a problem if he flew alone and looked for a way out, but it would only get worse as he left everyone here.

Olivia almost thought of leaving everyone behind and giving a false death report later, but she immediately quashed that intention when she imagined Noelle would be disappointed in her.

Shaking her head, Olivia began to think of a solution to get out of this situation immediately. And just before the idea popped into his head, something happened.

"~~~"

A voice, or rather a very faint chant appeared.

"Who is that?! "

Iris prepared with her whip and warily looked around, but found nothing or anyone that was the source of the sound.

Everyone was the same, they were prepared for everything that was going to happen, but found nothing as a result.

It sounded so melodious, but it also sounded faint enough that anyone who heard it would think that the source of the sound was a considerable distance away.

Olivia frowned unhappily upon hearing the voice. Various strange emotions began to flood his heart, and he himself also tried to dig up his memories of the voice.

He seemed to have heard that voice somewhere, but he could not remember it. Every time he almost found a clue about the voice, the memories related to it would sink even more as if escaping from Olivia's grasp.

Soon, the singing voice disappeared, and was replaced by the appearance of a shining glint of light at the end of the view.

The fog that covered the place slowly disappeared, and the crimson-red-colored ground began to reveal itself.

However, no one cared about the disappearance of the fog. Their eyes were focused on a single point, and that point was the source of that glittering light.

Everyone was speechless, as if hypnotized by the godly radiance that had suddenly shot out. However, Anzu finally came to a realization.

He immediately narrowed his eyes as he turned his face away from the light, and began to take a few marbles from his pocket.

Not that the light had such a bad effect. Anzu did not feel the impact of coming into contact with the light at all. However, anything suspicious can not be separated from the risk of danger, so he better take security measures.

Anzu immediately threw her marbles, and created a clattering sound with it, making everyone aware.

Olivia turned to him and nodded slightly in gratitude, then created an ice wall that protected everyone from the light.

The marble that Anzu had previously thrown was now back in his hands. Right then, everyone finally woke up.

They questioned what had just happened, but still no one could answer.

Until finally, a point of enlightenment approached them by itself.

The ice wall that Olivia created disappeared by itself, and of course made Olivia surprised.

He tried to recreate it, but it soon disappeared like before.

"Why?! "

Olivia stomped her feet to the ground in her attempt to strengthen the barrier wall, but all was in vain.

Eventually, Olivia gives up and chooses to see what happens next.

Lines of light began to appear, writhing like snakes and very messy like wires. Their numbers were innumerable, but each tangle of light lines had ends that were intertwined with every wall surface that was around.

That line of light might just be a visual effect that looks real because they can't feel it by touch, but that alone is enough to make them wonder.

There was no trace of magic, but that line of light freely moved on its own. Is someone controlling it? I don't know. It's not like they know the answer.

Olivia was astonished and intended to slightly 'disrupt' the line of light, but it seems she was less quick to act because the line of light began to show signs of movement.

One of those streaks of light lifted itself into the air, and slammed itself as well very strongly. As a result, a very bright light appeared and blinded everyone's eyes.

Olivia's eyes that still activate her night vision are still very sensitive to light.

That was why, when he received such a great intensity of light all of a sudden, he almost destroyed his own eyes.

But more than that, a change has occurred.

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