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In the Kong Canyon—
Hawk's form materialized silently at the edge of the underground tunnel entrance—the one still belching out yellow smoke into the canyon above.
The smoke didn't seem to be deliberately released. It looked more like a natural overflow.
It was possible that when the Iwi had escaped from below, they hadn't sealed the entrance properly. Which explained why Skullcrawlers kept crawling out.
But...
Why were Skullcrawlers coming up instead of Deviants? The Deviants were far superior—both in appearance and ability—to these overgrown lizards.
Was it because they didn't want to? Or because they couldn't?
Hawk was leaning toward the second option.
The Deviants weren't choosing to stay down there. They were trapped. But as for why they couldn't come up, he'd have to go down and find out for himself.
Decision made.
Hawk didn't hesitate. He stepped forward—and vanished into the earth beneath the Kong Canyon.
WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH!
Hawk let gravity do the work, free-falling through the tunnel. The wind howled past his ears as he plummeted. He glanced up.
The opening to the Kong Canyon had already shrunk to the size of a grain of rice.
Hawk looked down.
The tunnel was still choked with that thick yellow fog, visibility zero. Even his enhanced vision couldn't pierce through the dense smoke to see what was waiting at the bottom.
The next second, Hawk ignited his Cosmo. His descent accelerated instantly. At the same time, Phoenix flames wrapped around both feet—just in case. If he ran into anything hostile down there, this Flying Kick would obliterate it on contact.
Time became meaningless.
Then—suddenly—his vision cleared.
The Hollow World unfolded before him.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Hawk's body came to an abrupt halt mid-air. The forced stop created a sonic boom beneath his feet, blasting a donut-shaped hole through the yellow cloud layer below.
The shockwave echoed through the Hollow World, reverberating for what felt like forever.
Hawk looked up again.
Above him—
A thick layer of faintly glowing moss covered the ceiling. Massive, razor-sharp crystals hung down like stalactites.
Dense yellow clouds filled the sky. If you looked closely, you could see the smoke drifting upward through a single opening in the ceiling.
As for what lay below the ceiling...
Hawk looked down. Massive, jagged mountains floated in mid-air, held aloft by some invisible force.
The surface of each mountain was covered in the same faintly phosphorescent moss that coated the ceiling.
The mountains were connected to each other by enormous, semi-transparent crystal bridges and thick, glowing vines.
Beneath the floating mountains, the ground was cracked and fractured. Through the gaps, you could see that there was even more space below—not an abyss, but churning rivers of golden energy, like molten lava, flowing endlessly beneath every fractured piece of land.
On the surface itself—forests, rivers, everything that existed above ground existed here too.
And there were creatures here besides the Skullcrawlers.
A piercing shriek echoed through the air. A massive creature—over a hundred and thirty meters long, shaped like a red serpent but with a pair of crimson wings—unfurled itself from a coiled position on one of the mountains. It opened its gaping maw and shot toward Hawk.
Hawk snapped out of his thoughts. With a flicker of intent, he dove toward the creature, Phoenix flames wrapping around his right leg once more.
"Phoenix Flying Kick!"
WHAM!
The creature's head exploded on impact, spraying red fluid everywhere. Its massive body plummeted toward the ground.
But before the corpse could hit the surface—
A swarm of shrieking cries filled the air.
Hawk turned toward the sound.
He saw them—creatures that looked like a nightmarish fusion of owl heads and bat wings, massive bodies swooping in. They descended on the dead winged serpent, already fighting over ownership of the heaven-sent meal while still airborne.
Hawk glanced at them briefly, then followed his instincts and flew in a specific direction.
Soon, he arrived at a canyon formed by two massive floating mountains.
The canyon was deep, filled with dense forest.
But here, there were no signs of any strange creatures. Even the owl-bat hybrids that had been tailing Hawk earlier screeched and fled the moment they saw where he was heading.
Every living thing had an instinct to avoid danger.
Clearly, This deep canyon held something so terrifying that even the creatures of this Hollow World refused to go anywhere near it.
But Hawk didn't sense any fear from the canyon.
His gaze settled on something across from him—a temple that seemed to have fused with the mountain itself. It looked hauntingly familiar.
Right.
It was identical to the temple in the Iwi village. But unlike the one on the surface, this temple was completely covered in that faintly glowing moss. From a distance, it looked like it had become one with the mountain behind it.
Hawk took a step—and instantly found himself standing inside the abandoned temple.
The temple blazed with light.
Strange crystals embedded in the beams and along the tops of the walls radiated white light, illuminating the entire interior like daylight.
The first thing he saw were ten massive statues carved from the same strange crystal. Each one depicted a different figure.
Ten giant statues stood in a row.
There was a woman with a gentle expression. A tall, imposing man. A man with an exaggerated expression. A woman with an icy demeanor.
"The ten members of the Eternals??"
Hawk's gaze swept over the faces of the statues, his mind already piecing things together. Then his attention shifted to the murals covering both walls of the temple.
If the murals in the Iwi village temple documented their history after arriving on Skull Island, then the murals here depicted their origins...
After the last Deviant was eliminated, the solemn leader stood alone by the sea. Behind him, the nine other members each walked in different directions.
The woman with the gentle expression and the tall man went together. They came to the Hollow World and settled here.
The first Iwi was born.
They settled in this canyon. As dozens more Iwi were born, this temple was built.
Then, the tall man left without a word.
The gentle woman chased after him. Neither of them ever returned.
The first male Iwi was chosen as the patriarch. Over time, the Iwi population grew. Clearly, the dangers of inbreeding didn't apply when you were dealing with beings touched by the divine.
That first Iwi became the High Priest.
Countless Iwi lived in this canyon—peaceful, harmonious lives. Their extraordinary strength and abilities gave them confidence. They had never faced danger. They didn't even know what danger was.
And then everything changed.
The Deviants appeared, bringing catastrophe to a people who had never known fear.
Over time, the Deviants—who could evolve through combat and absorb the abilities of those they killed—quickly gained the upper hand in the war.
And then—
There was no "then."
The final mural stopped abruptly, frozen on an image of an opening in the ceiling of the Hollow World—the tunnel leading to the surface.
...
Hawk pulled his gaze away from the murals and looked down at the base of the ten massive statues. There, sitting on the steps with its head bowed, was a skeleton holding a metal staff.
Based on the murals, this skeleton was probably the first Iwi.
But, this skeleton hadn't been killed by Deviants.
Hawk's gaze settled on the gaping hole in the skeleton's ribcage—right where the chest should have been.
This Iwi had died because something—some incredibly powerful energy—had punched straight through his chest.
Hawk processed that information.
The next second, His gaze shifted to either side of the ten massive statues. From the shadows, silent and deadly, Skullcrawlers emerged. Their eyes glowed with murderous intent. The moment they appeared, they launched themselves at Hawk without hesitation.
Hawk raised an eyebrow.
Instantly—
The sound of Hawk's fists.
The shrieks of the Skullcrawlers.
The wet, sickening noise of fist meeting flesh.
All of it echoed through the temple in rapid succession. But the chaos came and went in a flash.
The moment Hawk finished off the last Skullcrawler, the temple fell silent once more.
And then, two angry roars—accompanied by the rattling of chains—echoed from behind the statues.
Hawk ignored the mangled Skullcrawler corpses scattered around him. His form flickered, and he reappeared behind the row of ten statues.
In front of him, A massive curtain of white light. It was this light that made the ten statues look like they'd been carved from pure jade.
The roars were coming from behind the light.
Hawk raised an eyebrow. He reached out and touched the white barrier. Ripples spread across its surface. His hand passed through without resistance.
There was another space on the other side.
Hawk didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, passing through the white light. His vision went white—and then cleared.
What should have been a paradise—a massive cavern filled with flowers and greenery—had become something else entirely. It was now littered with Skullcrawler bones and reeked of decay. It looked more like hell than heaven.
The rattle of chains filled the air. The roars continued.
Hawk followed the sound.
And then he saw them.
Deviants.
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