Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 223

Darkness enveloped them completely as they fell.

For a moment, everything was a chaos of sensations, stomachs contracting from the free fall, air whistling in their ears, the absolute disorientation of not knowing what was up or down. The sudden weightlessness made their bodies feel simultaneously heavy and light.

Ren reacted instinctively. His mushrooms pulsed with increasing intensity, brightening until they illuminated the tunnel through which they were falling.

The walls passed rapidly, an oddly smooth surface that seemed almost polished, reflecting the glow of his mushrooms.

"Hold on!" he shouted to Han, who was falling beside him, the other boy’s face a mask of shock and terror.

When they had fallen barely five meters deep, Ren managed to get rid of his backpack, extract his dagger and, with a precise movement, attempted to drive it into the tunnel wall. The blade penetrated the surface, creating a metallic screech as it momentarily reduced his falling speed.

With his free hand, Ren managed to grab Han’s arm, his fingers digging into the fabric of his sleeve.

But their combined weight exerted extra pressure on his grip. The dagger, though crafted from exceptional materials, didn’t have enough grip area to withstand such tension.

The wall emitted an alarming crack as it began to break.

"It won’t hold," Ren warned, feeling the dagger beginning to loosen. "Your spider! Use your web and drop the bag!"

Han, who had been momentarily paralyzed by the suddenness of the fall, finally reacted. His weaver spider partially manifested, silvery strands appearing at his fingertips as it launched a silk thread toward the opposite wall.

At that precise moment, the dagger gave way completely. Gravity reclaimed their bodies, dragging them deeper into the darkness, the momentary respite gone in an instant.

Han’s spider’s thread hit the wall, but instead of adhering firmly as it should have, it seemed to slide. The silk, normally capable of supporting the weight of both boys, barely managed to slow their fall before detaching.

"The walls!" Han shouted, desperately launching another thread. "They’re treated with something!"

Ren noticed it too. The surface appeared to have been deliberately polished and treated with some substance that prevented adhesion. He got rid of Han’s backpack too by cutting the straps.

But it was still not enough…

Han continued launching threads in all directions, each one momentarily slowing their fall before detaching. It was a battle against gravity they were gradually losing, but each deceleration meant less force in the eventual impact.

Meter after meter, they continued descending in the darkness barely illuminated by Ren’s mushrooms. Thirty meters... fifty... one hundred... The depth became alarming, taking them much deeper than expected.

"Keep launching threads!" Ren instructed while trying to position himself below Han, calculating angles and trajectories even as they plummeted.

Two hundred meters... two hundred fifty... Their falling speed had decreased considerably thanks to Han’s persistent efforts, but it remained dangerous, still fast enough to break bones or worse.

The hydra partially manifested. Not in its complete form but as a protective armor, scales overlapping across Ren’s body. The 140% increase in his defense would be crucial for what he planned.

At approximately three hundred meters deep, Ren perceived a change in the tunnel’s acoustics. The space was widening, indicating they were approaching some kind of chamber.

"Prepare for impact!" he warned Han.

Han launched so many desperate threads that he managed to reduce their speed even further before they finally landed from the vertical tunnel into a wider chamber.

The impact came with a dull thud that resonated in the darkness. Ren received the worst of it, his body serving as a cushion for Han. The hydra armor absorbed much of the force, distributing it through its reinforced structures.

Still, the pain was immediate and intense, wrenching an involuntary groan from him, the breath knocked from his lungs.

Han rolled to the side immediately, conscious of Ren’s sacrifice.

Some small rocks and what appeared to be crystals fell from above, perhaps due to the dagger Ren had embedded. Fortunately, they didn’t hit Han’s head, clattering harmlessly beside them.