Seeing that young chef show up here, Shun knew the plot had already shifted in unseen ways.
According to how things should've gone, these people shouldn't even be here—only a handful of Gourmet Hunters could reach this place, including Toriko's main team.
But on the Gourmet Train and on the way here, he'd never once run into the trio of Toriko, Coco, and Komatsu.
Not coming?
Impossible—knowing Toriko's temperament, he'd never pass up the chance to taste the Puffer Whale and would come at all costs.
When entering the cavern, Shun had deliberately checked whether anyone arrived ahead of him, but other than himself, no one had.
Of course, it was possible someone with special means had taken another route; this cave beach didn't have only a single path to the end.
After a moment's fruitless reflection, Shun set it aside.
Right now he'd found a way to break through the scorpion roach nest; he and Miyoko would be fine, but the group behind them had run into trouble.
Several quick-moving scorpion roaches had begun climbing the steep rock wall, lashing out with venomous stingers at the newcomers.
"Block them—hurry!" the young chef screamed, and his bodyguards scrambled to respond, plunging the scene into chaos.
Shun and Miyoko used the opening to reach the spot he'd chosen.
Pointing to a narrow crack along the cliffside below, Shun said, "There—jump, then slip straight into the fissure. The airflow will guide you."
Miyoko trusted him absolutely; without hesitation she leaped, landed precisely at the fissure's mouth, and slid inside in a flash.
Shun followed right after; as he dropped, he could still hear the behind-them scuffle—their frantic fighting, panicked curses, and screams.
Soon, Shun and Miyoko were through that nauseating scorpion roach nest, advancing through a narrow passage.
The tunnel slanted steadily downward, the air grew saltier and wetter, and the distant rumble of the cave's tides became faintly audible.
Both of them understood they were drawing close to the cave beach.
Before long they reached a new fork: three round holes about two meters across sat in a row, and beside them yawned a large vertical shaft so dark its depths couldn't be seen.
A chill wind kept pouring upward out of the shaft below.
"The grade's getting steeper," Shun observed as he scanned the surroundings.
Miyoko crept to the edge of the big shaft and shone her light downward, but the beam was devoured by the dark.
"It's so deep down there… I can't see the bottom at all."
Shun's Food Honor stretched downward like an invisible probe; after a moment he opened his eyes.
"Roughly a hundred meters below, there's a massive open space—that should be our destination."
He stepped to the rim and knit his brows.
His senses were just as sharp: beyond the chasm itself, he picked up several mixed, ferocious auras rising from below.
Predators?
Interesting—looked like they were about to meet the boss of this cave.
So thinking, Shun drew from his system's backpack a coil of seemingly slender rope and secured one end tightly to a huge rock.
"We'll go straight down. This length should be enough. Miyoko, hold on to me."
Miyoko eyed the thin rope, puzzled. "So thin—can it really take our weight?"
She didn't doubt him; she was simply curious, and she suspected the rope wasn't ordinary.
Tying knots with practiced ease, Shun explained, "Don't underestimate it. It's a carbon–iron composite cable—extremely strong. It wouldn't snap even with a hundred people hanging on."
"Got it." Miyoko said no more; she looped her arms around his neck and settled onto his back.
Feeling her weight and warmth, Shun said softly, "Hold tight."
"Mm." Miyoko's cheeks colored slightly as she nodded.
They were already a couple—this level of contact was routine, though it still left Miyoko a touch shy.
Shun gripped the rope first and began the descent with Miyoko on his back.
The shaft wasn't absolute darkness; soon, pinpricks of ghostly blue—like starlight—sparkled across the rock walls.
"What are those? Fireflies?" Miyoko asked, captivated enough to forget, for a moment, the abyss around them.
Shun looked closely and recognized them at once. "No—Sea Fireflies. Bioluminescent jelly-like drifters swept in by the tides and trapped here."
The scene looked like a starry sky inverted; even Shun couldn't help murmuring, "Beautiful." And the spectacle confirmed they were ever closer to the goal.
Then the wind turned savage.
Whoosh!
A blurred black shape streaked past them without a sound.
"What was that?" Miyoko gasped.
Almost at the same time, a distant, blood-curdling scream rose from far below.
"Ahhhhhh—!!"
Despair and pain filled the cry, echoing through the hollow cavern and chilling the blood.
"Another Gourmet Hunter's scream," Shun said, raising his guard. "So someone did arrive ahead of us—but from a different route."
More black shapes scythed past; this time, with keen eyesight and Food Honor, Shun caught their forms.
They flew silent, with long wings—wings marked by round, eye-like patterns.
He knew them the moment he saw them and warned Miyoko: "Swallowtail Bats. Normally timid and not aggressive, but something's got them riled up. We can't take our time—danger's incoming. Get ready to jump. Hold tight!"
At his shout, Shun decided on the spot: he let go of the rope and plunged toward the faintly visible ground dozens of meters below.
Boom!
He landed solidly; the shock cracked the rock beneath his feet. Miyoko, though rattled enough to feel her blood surge, was otherwise unharmed.
They'd barely touched down when a dense thrumming of wings rose ahead.
Hundreds—no, thousands—of Swallowtail Bats, as if terrified out of their minds, converged into a black torrent and hurtled toward them.
Red light flared in their eyes, sharp teeth bared and spittle flying; whatever docility they once had was gone, replaced by wild aggression.
"Too many," Shun judged at a glance—at least a thousand. Individually weak, but getting swarmed would be a nightmare.
(End of Chapter)
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