Genggui’s sneak attack came even faster than they’d imagined.
Angel had originally said they would keep moving forward and Genggui could launch surprise attacks on them at any time along the way, but what he hadn’t expected was that even as they were still talking, Genggui’s ambush had already arrived.
Without any warning at all, the ground suddenly split open into a hole.
Vay and Kaier, who happened to be right above the opening, didn’t put up any resistance and simply dropped into the pit.
Angel and Dox reacted at the first instant; each grabbed for one person—Angel went for Kaier, Dox for Vay—trying to haul them back out of the hole.
But they failed.
And the opening in the ground didn’t close; it still lay there quietly gaping, showing no sign that it had just swallowed two people.
Angel and Dox exchanged a look, then made the same motion: they lowered their heads to look at their own hands.
They were sure that they had grabbed Vay and Kaier a moment ago, yet for some reason their hands that had caught them suddenly lost all strength.
It felt just like the anemic weakness after losing too much blood—both hands limp and powerless, unable to muster any force even when clenching into fists.
Because of that, even though they had caught hold of Vay and Kaier, they still couldn’t pull them back.
But the strange part was, after Vay and Kaier fell into the hole, it seemed as if the strength in their hands had returned?
Dox opened and closed his palms repeatedly, confirming there was no problem at all, then looked, eyes dark, toward the hole in the ground that still hadn’t vanished.
"Could it be this hole that’s playing tricks?" Dox turned his head to Angel. "Try restraining me with some kind of energy-based method. I’ll go test it out in front of this hole."
Angel didn’t hesitate. Several Phantom Limbs extended from his palm and fastened around Dox’s waist.
After confirming they were firm and hard to break free from, Dox walked step by cautious step to the edge of the pit, took a deep breath, and carefully stretched out his hand first...
But before Dox could even carry out a preliminary probe, the pit suddenly expanded without warning.
The expanded range just happened to encompass the position where Dox was standing.
And Dox had felt no abnormal fluctuations beforehand at all; by the time he realized his feet were no longer on solid ground, his whole body had already started falling.
Dox tried to extend his spiritual power. No effect.
He then tried to use Magic Power to hold his body suspended. No effect.
Dox even thought of activating his Bloodline to forcibly break through the shackles, but though he could sense the Bloodline within his body, he simply couldn’t activate it no matter what—like the Bloodline had fallen into slumber.
With all his abilities ineffective, Dox could only pin his hopes on the Phantom Limbs tied around his waist by Angel.
However, the Phantom Limbs might as well have not existed; they fell together with Dox, without the slightest pulling force.
Dox could only watch helplessly as his distance from the opening grew greater and greater... until he finally and completely dropped into the "Abyss."
After Dox fell, the floating Black Earl turned his "nostrils" toward Angel. "Is this ability nullification?"
Angel pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "I can feel that the Phantom Limbs weren’t destroyed, but just like my hands before—once they’re above the opening, all their strength drains away."
Angel’s words made the Black Earl think of how the Wise Sovereign had described You Nu’s abilities earlier.
—You Nu’s devouring is very special; it ignores all defenses. As long as you’re within its swallowing range, no matter how strong you are, it’s useless.
And now, the Cyclops treasure’s simulation of You Nu’s ability had achieved a similar effect.
Even a Bloodline Wizard hailed as the strongest of his tier had no power to resist at all above that opening.
This ability was indeed very special and very powerful, but what concerned them even more was that the expansion of this opening was utterly silent, without the slightest hint of Energy leaking out.
And Genggui was clearly going easy on them, because the opening had never closed from start to finish.
If it had closed and then silently reopened beneath their feet, they wouldn’t just be unable to resist—they wouldn’t even have time to react.
Previously, they had only heard the Wise Sovereign say that You Nu’s opening was so powerful that even he didn’t dare step into it. Back then it hadn’t felt real. Now, You Nu’s child, Genggui, had only made a low-grade Simulation of You Nu’s opening, and they had already nearly suffered a total wipeout.
At this point, they finally understood why the Wise Sovereign had repeatedly emphasized the need to be extremely cautious.
But with something this silent and traceless, was caution alone even useful?
Staring at the opening in the ground that revealed not the slightest trace of aura, the Black Earl mused, "This time I’ll test it myself. You focus on Observing the stone slab."
With that, the Black Earl’s nose separated from the slab it had been resting on, and the slab slowly floated into Angel’s hands.
Angel still didn’t understand the Black Earl’s intentions at this moment; puzzled, he looked down at the stone slab. At a glance, he discovered that lines of Energy channels of various sizes had surfaced upon it.
Angel raised his head to look at the Black Earl.
The Black Earl said, "I’m not familiar with Magical Energy Arrays, but I’ve projected in real time onto this slab all the Energy channels borne in the nearby earth. This Spell Technique is called ’Earth Vein Record.’ The Record has the support of the Power of Earth and won’t disappear just because something happens to me."
"You need to watch the changes in the earth veins on the slab at all times, and it’s best if you judge in combination with the surrounding Magical Energy Array conditions. If this method doesn’t work, don’t be discouraged—we can still think of other ways."
Perhaps because this involved the legacy site, the Black Earl’s engagement in the ruin exploration was clearly much higher than before.
Using Earth Vein Record to assist Angel in judging the flow of Magical Energy Array Power in order to find a way to break the pit—this was obviously a decision the Black Earl had made after careful thought.
And to carry this out, someone had to trigger the pit first. Everyone else had already fallen in, so the Black Earl intended to personally do it.
"My lord, wait a moment." Seeing that the Black Earl was about to enter the opening, Angel hurriedly called out.
Without offering any explanation, Angel held the stone slab and began comparing it with the surrounding Magical Energy Array. After the comparison, he produced an Array Plate and placed it at one of the Array’s Energy convergence points.
The Energy channels on the slab immediately changed.
Watching the images on the slab, Angel pondered for a moment, then took out an engraving pen and began carving lines of Guiding Magic Patterns onto a blank stone slab.