Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 155: The Descent

A thought crossed Ethan’s mind, and he cast a subtle glance at Doe. But he said nothing and followed the shadow lynx out of the house.

The sky had started to lighten. Ethan checked his watch—4:00 AM. Had they really been inside the mountain for nearly three hours?

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The group trailed the lynx to the village entrance. Just as they arrived, the first rays of sunlight broke over the horizon.

"Awooo—!"

The lynx let out a pained cry, raising a paw to shield its eyes. It shrank back into the shadows beneath the house, clearly terrified of the sun.

Ethan frowned. "You want us to go down the well?"

The lynx nodded before turning and bolting back toward the mountain. Ethan watched its frantic retreat and quickly pieced things together.

The lynx’s eyes weren’t adapted to bright light.

That explained its usual speed, but now, in its desperate escape, it moved like a disoriented animal, blindly slamming into a wooden post before scrambling away.

The group gathered around the well. Below them, only dark water. No telling how deep.

"You three go. Celeste is too weak—I’ll stay up here with her."

"Got it," Ethan replied, eyes still fixed on the well.

The opening was narrow at the top, widening into a sloped chamber below. If they went down without a rope, getting back up would be nearly impossible.

Leo secured a stone to the end of a rope and tossed it in.

After a few seconds, he hauled it back up and examined the wet section.

"Three meters deep."

"I’ll go first," Williams said, already stripping off his shirt.

He looped a rope around himself and turned to hand the other end to Victor—deliberately avoiding Leo’s outstretched hand.

"The hell, man?" Leo scowled.

"You’re unreliable," Williams deadpanned. "Or did you forget you dropped me last time?"

Leo opened his mouth—then shut it. He had, in fact, let go of the rope during a past mission. Williams had ended up with a broken leg and two months in the hospital.

"…Fair point."

Still, Leo grabbed the rope alongside Victor, just in case.

Williams smirked. Despite his constant jabs at Leo, it was all in good fun.

"Wipe that smug look off your face before I kick you down there," Leo grumbled.

Ethan watched them, amused. Even in this eerie, abandoned village, they were still cracking jokes.

That was the mindset of soldiers who had walked the edge of death too many times to count. Their camaraderie was something Ethan envied.

But he knew—Leo, Victor, and Williams weren’t shutting him out. If anything, they were actively trying to include him.

These bonds, however, weren’t formed overnight.

"Ethan, be real with me," Leo called out. "I’ve done nothing to provoke this guy, but Williams has been messing with me non-stop for two days. What do I do?"

Ethan chuckled. "Sounds like you deserve it."

"Bullsh*t."

"See you down there."

With that, Williams grinned, flipped over the edge, and dove in.

Splash.

A loud splash echoed from below.

Ethan stepped up, gripping the rope alongside the others while peering into the well.

"Don’t worry, Ethan," Leo said, as if reading his mind. "Williams grew up around water. This is nothing for him."

Ethan chuckled. "And what about you? Your special skill isn’t actually being a virgin, is it?"

Leo’s face turned an alarming shade of green. His gaze flicked to Celeste, who was still resting near the village entrance.

Before he could fire back, the rope suddenly went taut. Victor signaled for them to let out more slack.

A few moments later, the rope stopped unspooling, Williams had reached the bottom.

But then, with a violent tug, the rope jerked, thrashing wildly. Ethan and the others immediately braced themselves and started pulling him up.

Splash!

Williams broke through the water’s surface, and Ethan exhaled in relief.

For a moment, he had worried something had gone wrong.

As they hauled him up, Ethan noticed he was gripping a dagger, and something was impaled on the blade.

His soul energy had only just started to recover, so he hadn’t been able to extend his senses.

Instead, he helped pull Williams onto solid ground.

The moment he removed his diving mask, they could see his grim expression.

Before anyone could ask, he flung the dagger onto the ground.

Ethan caught a glimpse of the strange creature impaled on it, and his breath caught.

It had an exoskeleton, that alone wasn’t shocking. What was shocking was its back.

The shape.

It was identical to the parasite mark on Celeste’s back, same grotesque design and size. Roughly the diameter of two stacked coins.

A mass of tiny, writhing legs curled beneath its body, almost like a mantis shrimp, except with even more limbs.

"There are a lot of these things down there," Williams muttered as he wiped himself off. "And it’s freezing."

Celeste had wandered closer, her eyes locked onto the creature.

"This… this is what’s inside me." Her voice was tight.

Understandable.

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No one would be calm after realizing something like this was crawling through their spine.

Williams had already changed into a high-density thermal wetsuit, the shivering gone from his frame.

"There’s a passage at the bottom," he said, tightening a strap. "Barely big enough for a person. Looks like a drill site—probably a natural spring."

"I was gonna check it out, but then I saw these things buried in the silt. No idea how they died, but there were a lot of them. And I wasn’t about to stick around to find out why."

He grabbed a safety harness, preparing to go back in.

Ethan stopped him. "Going alone isn’t safe. I’m coming with you."

He pulled a wetsuit and a small oxygen tank from his bag.

"How long will this last?" Ethan asked.

"You’ll get about fifteen minutes. I can stretch mine to thirty," Williams replied.

Ethan nodded. "No matter what, we turn back when we hit the halfway mark. No heroics."

He directed the last part at Williams.

Williams grinned but nodded.

As the others suited up, Celeste returned to the village entrance, while Doe remained in the shade, watching quietly.

By now, they had learned that it wasn’t fear keeping her out of the sun, she just didn’t like it.

Ethan sat on a wooden post near the well, pulling on his wetsuit.

But as he adjusted his gear, he discreetly reached into his bag and dropped a length of rope into the well.