Down, down, endlessly down.
It was impossible to tell how much time had passed before the outline of the slope's exit finally began to take shape in their field of vision. A faint, almost imperceptible sound reached their ears.
A trace of pale blue light filtered in from the exit, pushing back the edges of the darkness.
"Do you hear that?" Tifa whispered, keeping her voice low.
As they pressed on, the sound of water crashing against rock grew louder. What started as the trickle of a small stream rapidly sharpened into clarity, eventually transforming into a deafening roar.
At this moment, there was no anxiety or unease in Aiden's heart.
He was entirely focused, submitting to his [Trailblazer] instincts, taking it one step at a time into the unknown.
Taking the final step across the threshold, they finally emerged from the cave.
Instantly, everyone lost their ability to speak.
The breathtaking, magnificent panorama that slammed into their vision instantly stole their breath and captivated their minds.
A waterfall of such epic proportions—looking like the Milky Way pouring out of the heavens—surged down from an incredibly high, nearly invisible dome, orchestrating an earth-shattering symphony of roaring water.
Perhaps due to the light refracting endlessly through the current, the entire cascading waterfall took on an awe-inspiring, heart-stopping blue-emerald hue.
This mesmerizing splendor was enough to make anyone momentarily forget they were standing inside the perilous depths of the Dungeon.
Countless mountain peaks forged of crystal created a jagged, interlocking valley of bottomless ravines. The plunging water smashed against them, throwing up a sky full of dreamlike, ethereal mist.
Amidst the splashing droplets that fell like eternal rain, flocks of Harpies and more elegantly formed Sirens soared freely through the colossal open space.
Their high-pitched, resonant cries blended with the booming roar of the waterfall, forming a wild, magnificent symphony.
A myriad of falling feathers traced graceful arcs through the air, drifting across every inch of the massive void.
An incomprehensibly colossal "water paradise"—constructed entirely of water and crystal—was laid bare before them without reservation.
"This is... absurd."
Behind Aiden, Jeanne, Tifa, Hyacine... everyone stood frozen in place, staring in pure shock at the spectacle.
This grandiose natural scenery, existing deep underground yet rivaling any wonder of the surface world, left everyone feeling dizzy and entranced.
And the centerpiece holding all their attention was undoubtedly the gargantuan waterfall in the exact center of their vision, looking as though it were trying to split the very world in two.
"So this is the rumored—"
"The Great Fall."
Daphne's and Cassandra's simultaneous murmurs were instantly swallowed by the deafening hiss of the waterfall.
The sound didn't even resemble flowing water; it sounded more like countless thunderclouds singing in unison.
That rumbling, earthquake-like roar crossed hundreds of meters to reach them, still violently shaking everyone's eardrums.
Yet, alongside the profound emotion this absolute beauty evoked, a startling sense of dread crept into their hearts—a terror stemming from their primal survival instincts.
Directly opposite the waterfall, straight down from the crystal cliff they were standing on, was an endless, gargantuan waterfall basin.
The pool was bottomless, taking on an unsettling, inky-blue hue.
If anyone were to fall from here, even a battle-hardened, high-tier adventurer would find nothing but instant death awaiting them.
But what truly made them question their own eyes was that this basin wasn't the end. An even larger waterfall continued to plunge further down.
Indeed, like a staircase leading straight into the abyss, this waterfall pierced straight through the entirety of the 25th Floor, dropping directly into the levels below.
"This is the Great Fall, starting from the 25th Floor of the deep zones. It truly lives up to its name. Even just eyeballing it, it's about four hundred meters wide, and the height is easily double that."
Robin's voice chimed in right on cue. She pulled the intelligence from the Guild's records. "This absurdly massive waterfall punches straight through the floor, leading all the way down to the 26th, and further down to the 27th Floor. Don't worry, though. According to the records, monsters won't swim up the waterfall from below... well, with a few exceptions."
A waterfall that pierced through multiple floors.
This was a phenomenon that simply hadn't existed on any of the Dungeon floors they had explored previously.
It was often said that an adventurer's common sense would be repeatedly shattered inside the Dungeon, and it was undoubtedly referring to unimaginable wonders exactly like this.
"How are we supposed to get to the 26th Floor from here...?" Tifa frowned, looking at the sheer cliff before them that offered virtually no path. "Don't tell me we have to climb down this cliff face?"
"Do you see those slopes and stairs that look like mountains?"
Robin held up the map, scanning left and right, and quickly spotted the hidden path.
She pointed upward and to the side, at the winding, twisting crystal trails that clung to the mountain face like the scales of a giant serpent. "We just have to walk down those. See? We head into that cave over there."
She then pointed toward the bottom of the 25th Floor, to the distant shore adjacent to the massive waterfall basin below.
Because the distance was so vast, it looked incredibly tiny from their vantage point, but upon closer inspection, they could indeed see the pitch-black entrance of a cavern.
"The 25th to the 27th Floors are a multi-layered structure. Adventurers have to travel up and down terrain that matches the height of the Great Fall, making their way to the corridor that sits on the same horizontal plane as the waterfall basin, which leads to the next floor. Theoretically, you could jump straight down and reach the 27th Floor in a single step, but it's not hard to imagine that your body would be smashed to pieces."
While Robin and the others were staring transfixed at the majestic landscape below, Aiden was doing the exact opposite; he was looking straight up.
The source of the Great Fall was pouring out from near the impossibly high dome of the 25th Floor.
And directly above the waterfall's mouth, on the ceiling of the floor, the lingering remnants of the Large Tree Labyrinth from the previous level were still visible. Extremely thick roots—at least five meters in diameter—spread outward in a radial pattern like the palm lines of a giant, firmly embedded into the crystal dome.
This massive, hollow region, linking three entire floors via a single waterfall, was dubbed by adventurers as the "Water Capital."
From ancient times to the present, anyone who set foot here called it the "New World." It was the most iconic, mystical environment in the entire Dungeon.
"Let's go. If we stay here too long, the Harpies and Sirens will spot us," Robin gently reminded the group, waking them from their trance.
Tifa and the others snapped to attention, quickly reeling in their awe and refocusing on the task at hand.
"Stick to the wall and follow the path extending to the left."
Robin navigated while cross-referencing her map. "Though I say that, it's essentially a single path. There's a cave a short distance ahead. From there, we can enter the interior of the cliff and return to the labyrinth structure we're familiar with."
Their current position was a craggy cliff jutting out into the open void.
From their right side to straight ahead was a bottomless abyss. Only on their left side, hugging the inner wall of the giant circular hollow, was a narrow, continuous path.
Naturally, the path wasn't considerate enough to feature guardrails. A single slip of the foot meant tumbling headfirst into the waterfall basin far below, leaving no corpse behind to be found.
With Aiden taking the lead, the party began their march along the harrowing cliff path.
The path was roughly three meters wide. To their left was a cold, hard crystal wall; to their right, a sheer drop into nothingness.
The wind on the cliff path carried the moisture of the waterfall, cold and sharp, scraping against their faces like tiny blades.
Cassandra was so terrified her face had gone completely pale. Refusing to cast even a single glance to her right, she practically plastered herself against the left wall, shuffling forward in tiny increments.
Hyacine, on the other hand, was shockingly brave.
Not only was she unfazed, but she enthusiastically leaned over the edge to look down the cliff, as if admiring some fascinating tourist attraction.
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