Chapter 2891: Chapter 2891: The Light

A cool breeze swept over the ravine, brushing Elvinia's cheeks. She shivered violently.

Leaning against Zen, her Soul of Light trembled slightly as she gazed into the depths of the ravine. “Zen... What were those just now?”

“They must've been the tentacles of some monster,” Zen replied.

“Then, why didn't they take us away?” she asked weakly.

Her voice shook as she spoke. Zen felt somewhat bad for her; even when she was in danger on the wooden bridge, Elvinia never showed emotion. Now, it seemed she was truly scared, like a small child trembling beside him.

“I don't know,” Zen said carefully. “Maybe they didn't like us.”

Zen had stared danger in the face countless times before, so he was able to stay calm despite the circumstances. Elvinia, on the other hand, was obviously overwhelmed.

“Let's get out of here,” pleaded Elvinia. “I can't stay here any longer!”

“What about the black monkeys outside? Are they gone already?” Zen asked.

Elvinia turned to look, and then shook her head in disappointment. “No, they're still there.”

“We can't leave then.”

Zen struggled to get on his feet.

After having rested for a bit, he felt a little stronger. At the very least, he could stand up.

“Have you recovered already?” Elvinia asked in surprise.

Having seen Zen fall, she had been at a loss. Now that Zen was trying to get up, she felt a glimmer of hope.

While Elvinia might've come off as cold and independent, secretly, she was the opposite. She had just chosen to never show such weakness back in the Oneness Sky Palace.

“Can... Can you help me up?” Zen asked helplessly.

Elvinia hurried to help him up.

Zen eyed the ravine. Then, he staggered to the mountainside and leaned against it.

The situation wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was good news that whatever was lurking in the depths of the ravine wasn't attacking them.

Their most pressing problem was those black monkeys, persistently waiting for them.

Around eight hours later, Zen noticed the surrounding area gradually turning darker. “The effect of the Darkness Fruit is weakening,” he muttered under his breath.

He had tested the Darkness Fruit before; while the time limit of each fruit varied, the longest he'd seen was fourteen hours at most.

Once he noticed the effect was wearing off, he asked Elvinia to take out two fruits, one for each of them. As soon as they ingested it, gradually, the dark world lit up. ℟𝐀N𝖔ＢĚＳ

“How many Darkness Fruits do we have left?” Zen asked.

Elvinia's space ring flashed. After counting, she answered, “Fourteen.”

“Fourteen?” Zen frowned.

If they split the fruits between themselves, each would have seven. That meant they would last ninety eight hours at most, roughly four days.

If they couldn't find the black and white tree within four days, they would be completely swallowed by the darkness. Zen shook his head at the thought, he didn't want to imagine what'd happen if it came to that point.

Turning to look at the black monkeys, he gritted his teeth. The monkeys were still waiting for them. They needed to find a way to get out.

Zen slowly stood up. “Let's go in to have a look.”

“Go in?” Elvinia's eyes widened in shock.

She couldn't help but shudder at the thought of those cold tentacles coiling around her frail body.

“We will die if we stay here,” Zen said gravely.

Elvinia opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. What Zen said made sense. She refused to die in the Dark Region. 'Perhaps that monster isn't that terrifying, ' she quietly consoled herself.

Fortunately, Zen's physical strength had been restored by that time.

Exchanging one last glance, Zen nodded at Elvinia. Together, they steadily walked towards the depths of the ravine.

The deeper they got, the narrower the ravine became. When they had started, it was around ten feet wide. After a couple of minutes of walking, the gap was only around two feet wide. Zen and Elvinia could only move sideways to fit through it.

After what seemed like an eternity of inching through that narrow gap, they suddenly saw light streaming in from the distance. The two of them looked towards the light with amazement written all over their faces.

As soon as their eyes adjusted to the light, they noticed paintings scrawled on the walls of the ravine. Upon studying them closely, Zen gasped. The paintings were huge Sanskrit words!

As his eyes followed the trail of Sanskrit words, he realized they terminated in a triangular cave on the mountain wall. Black tentacles extended from the cave, lazily making their way to the ground.

“Those tentacles...” Elvinia was taken aback.

Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!

At the sound of Elvinia's voice, the tentacles suddenly perked up.

They quickly rushed towards the two, climbing the walls of the mountain with incredible speed.

Zen clamped his hand over Elvinia's mouth. The two lay prone on the ground.

Slowly, the black tentacles scanned the walls, prodding each crevice. Elvinia whimpered as they got close, but Zen kept his hand firmly on her mouth. Confused, the tentacles retreated.

Elvinia shuddered. If she had entered the Other Shore with her physical body, she knew she'd probably faint if she felt the cool, slimy touch of those black tentacles.

However, something dawned on her. Her eyes flashed excitedly as she gestured at Zen, but he shook his head, indicating she needed to stay quiet.

He knew what she was trying to say; he had realized it, too. The tentacles couldn't see them.

Both the black monkeys and the tentacles were creatures from the Dark Region. Thus, the tentacles should be able to find the black monkeys.

Zen and Elvinia, on the other hand, were not from the Dark Region; their forms were different from those of the creatures in the Dark Region.

The two of them could adapt to the environment of the Dark Region only by absorbing the energy of the Darkness Fruits.

The tentacles must have sensed something, but couldn't confirm what it was.

Zen patted Elvinia's shoulder, encouraging her to keep moving forward. As long as they didn't make a sound, they should be safe.

After inching a bit further along the ravine, Zen noticed there were more triangular caves.

It seemed, every five to six hundred feet, there was a triangular cave. From each cave, countless black tentacles hung lazily. Other than the tentacles, it didn't look as though anything else lurked here.

As Zen carefully observed the walls, Elvinia suddenly pointed towards the front.

Turning to where she was pointing, he saw there was a round valley on the other side.

There were also huge Sanskrit words engraved on the wall of the valley. The wall was covered with densely packed triangular caves as well, and again, huge tentacles hung from the cave entrances.

However, Zen's gaze was fixed on the center of the valley, where the darkness had disappeared

A gentle ray of light pierced through the darkness like a sharp blade. The ring of light covered a range of no more than ten feet. At the center of the ring was a tombstone, basking in the ray of light.

Although Zen didn't know where the light was coming from and why it appeared in the Dark Region, he was sure that the space it illuminated didn't belong to the Dark Region.