Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

With all of his external senses sealed, Zach naturally lost his perception of time. He had a vague guess of how much passed. But without any external stimuli, the only thing he had to go on was his mind. His rapidly flashing thoughts did not help.

It felt like more time had passed than it actually did since his thoughts just spun faster and faster as he tried to distract himself.

What if he was already suffocating, only staying alive by the grace of the energy in his core? What if he was already dying, his thoughts mere remnants of life trapped in a stone sarcophagus?

Zach wanted to scream into the endless void of darkness he was in the middle of, even if he didn't get so much as an echo back. But he was mute. More silent than his soundless surroundings.

'This sucks…'

Once he could no longer keep himself distracted, Zach was trapped and forced to sink his teeth into the horribly unpleasant reality of his current existence. He couldn't escape it anymore.

It was dark, lonely, terrifying, and empty.

But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was that he didn't even feel powerless, which he had half expected to do. He didn't feel like he couldn't do anything.

If anything, he felt more powerful than usual since he still remembered the sensation of his body using world essence energy to punch the Basilisk's brain. But then, as soon as he tried anything, nothing happened.

He couldn't move the muscles he was so proud over. He couldn't shout and scream until his throat was hoarse. He couldn't so much as whisper.

He couldn't force the petrification off by applying a barrier. He saw nothing, even if he tried to use Eyes of Truth. He didn't even know if they activated properly. He still had no idea what Transcension did or how to activate it.

Transcension wasn't a useless skill. Soara swore it wasn't, and Zach believed her. But it was hard to stick to that belief when it didn't have a use in any situation he was in.

If the conditions to activate a skill were impossible to achieve, wouldn't the skill be, in practice, useless since it would be without and go without use?

But maybe this was the moment? Maybe this was the time for Transcension to shine?

Zach imagined himself transcending his mortal limitations, becoming a deity, and overcoming the petrification as well as all suffering and weakness he labored under.

…Nothing happened. He would have felt depleted and deflated and maybe a little embarrassed if he had been in any other situation.

Now, he just felt tired. The darkness of not seeing anything suddenly seemed a little darker than before.

His thoughts weren't as rapid as before. What was the point? It wasn't like he was doing anything other than wasting time anyway. He could just mentally close his eyes for a second and wait until Alzara freed him from his solitary prison.

It would be fine.

***

"Duke, I've been thinking about something," Anerias said as he helped shovel blood and flesh from the tunnel they were making.

"Yeah?" Dukiel answered, not really paying much attention to Anerias.

"This thing's dead now, right?"

"Seems like it."

"And it's falling through the Hole at full speed or something."

"Yeah."

"I mean, is it going to slow down by itself…? Or how do we get it to stop?" Anerias hesitantly asked.

"...I'm pretty sure Zach is hoping the ground and the snake will absorb the impact," Dukiel said, confirming Anerias' worst fear.

Zach was banking on them surviving a fall down a bottomless hole. How?

"Won't we get squished flat from the inertia?" Anerias continued with his questions. They were currently traveling at what most likely was the Basilisk's terminal velocity. If they weren't, they were at least approaching it.

With its weight and shape, the Basilisk's terminal velocity would be so far beyond the speed of a horse that the two couldn't even be compared. But it was noticeable when a carriage went from full speed to no speed in a few seconds. It felt like being thrown forward by a giant with their entire hand around one's body.

This time, they would not only go from a speed much greater than that of a horse carriage to no speed at all, but they would also do so in an instant.

Wouldn't they be thrown into the floor so hard they became one with it?

"...It might be a little better at the tail?" Dukiel suggested, finally looking up and taking Anerias' concerns seriously. He had also paid attention to the physics classes.

The Basilisk might absorb some of the impact with its body. But that would be far from enough to deal with the residual inertia in each of them.

Their best bet might be to go to the top of the Basilisk's tail and while it was crashing head first into the ground and crumpling, use that time to slow their descent as much and as gradually as possible.

How?

They didn't know.

Dukiel and Anerias stopped digging a tunnel. Their immediate concern right now was not how to get out of the Basilisk once it landed. It was how to be alive after it landed.

Without exchanging another word, they grabbed their familiars and sprinted in what they hoped was the right direction. Fortunately, it was. Even the biggest obstacle in their path, the stomach full of acid, was partially dealt with.

Somehow, Nessa and Violina had made a hole and emptied out a large portion of the stomach acid into the Basilisk's body, corroding it from within. That made the stomach much more easily traversed.

Dukiel and Anerias, who had now rendezvoused with Nessa and Violina, continued their climb to the tip of the Basilisk's tail. All four of them were skeptical of the idea.

Whether they were at the head or the tail, the impact would hit them the same. They most likely wouldn't even have time to react. Experience exclusive tales on empire

But what could they do?

Not much. Not anything.

They could hope.