“Outsiders?”

Hearing her companions say that, she closed her eyes.

Outsiders were of no concern to her, as long as they didn’t bother her.

Silver Pal was gathering before her heaving chest. At that very moment, she was creating her own egg, her own child—the other self who would one day unite with her.

...

The depths of the Abyss of the Underworld were much quieter than Li had imagined. There were plenty of monsters, but they seemed to have no interest in Li, an outsider. Most were small creatures, like insects and lizards. Li hadn’t seen any large monsters yet.

Following the drag marks along the way, even Li began to worry. Was Phoebe really still alive?

In a situation like this, it was hard to say whether she was still alive. Blood began to appear along the trail. It had to be Phoebe’s. But what kind of creature was dragging her along without ever letting go? That meant they still hadn’t reached its lair.

The insects around Li ignored her completely, simply gnawing on things like rotten wood. The constant crackling sound of them feeding came from all around, and it made Li deeply uncomfortable.

Had the monsters in the Abyss of the Underworld never seen a human before?

Or was Li simply outside the hunting range of these insect-like monsters?

Li looked up. There was still a long way to go, and the drag marks continued deeper into the abyss. She immediately gave chase, racing forward while keeping her eyes on the trail.

Her body felt incredibly light, as if it weren’t her own. Li even felt she could leap effortlessly without using Pal at all, as though she’d learned to fly. What on earth had Hortons done when rebuilding her body to make it this light?

【Master! Look ahead!】

“Mm! I see them!”

A short distance ahead, Li spotted several rather large monsters doing something in the grass. She didn’t approach carelessly. Instead, she made a few leaps to the rocks nearby and peered at them from behind.

There were dozens of monsters over there, all identical. They had the body and sharp claws of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle, and a ring of blue flames around their necks. The flames blazed fiercely, yet had no effect on their surroundings at all—for they gave off no heat.

They were juvenile Nether King Griffins, monsters considered extremely rare in the outside world. Yet there were four or five of them here. As expected of the Abyss of the Underworld. Monsters that were practically impossible to buy elsewhere were so common here. But what were these Nether King Griffins doing?

Li watched carefully. The Nether King Griffins seemed to have surrounded something, and the drag marks had come to an end.

Could it be...?

“Could these Nether King Griffins have dragged Phoebe away? No... that can’t be it! If it were them, there’d be no need to drag her...”

The Nether King Griffins were big enough to bite down on Phoebe and lift her right up. There’d be no need for them to go to all that trouble.

【Master, lower your head and look between the Nether King Griffins’ legs.】

“What?”

【Trust me, Master.】

“Tch...”

Li lay down on the ground and looked toward the Nether King Griffins.

“Awooo!!!”

Two small white wolves and Phoebe were right in the middle of the Nether King Griffins’ circle.