THUD. THUD.

Ever since the Earth Sage arrived, I would sometimes feel the ground shake while walking around the bottomless pit. Whenever she nodded to herself and stamped her foot, Tantalus pulsed as though it had acquired a new heart. It was an artificial heartbeat in the bottomless pit, a place as far removed from life as could be.

After all the bustle and noise of preparing to escape, we were simply waiting for the moment to arrive when a voice rang out.

"Preparations are complete!"

It resounded throughout the bottomless pit. The Earth Sage was calling us.

We had been waiting, and immediately got moving.

Tyr set off with her enormous coffin, while the undying one filled a crate with food and drinking water and shouldered it. Callis looked restless, having been left with no choice but to hand over even her own bag when he declared,

"I cannot let an injured person carry luggage! Give it here. I shall carry everything!"

Azi quietly emerged as everyone gathered, a disc in her mouth. The damned puppy apparently had no concept of patience. Which was why she was a dog, I supposed.

Nabi hadn't even come outside, never mind packed. Just you wait.

Once everyone ready to escape had assembled, the Earth Sage asked,

"Is everyone here?"

She stood in the center of the square courtyard beneath the daytime lamp. Looking exactly as she had upon arrival, with clay-doll earrings and five rings around her arms, she welcomed us, standing firm as an ancient tree.

Beside her stood what looked like a freshly made concrete structure. It resembled a clothes rack, but its purpose was hard to guess.

As everyone looked around, she checked their faces, nodded, and began explaining.

"Then allow me to explain my plan."

Though whether this really counted as an explanation was debatable.

"I intend to turn Tantalus upside down."

Questions sprang into everyone's minds.

What did that mean? Why? Upside down in what sense? Was she going to turn our stomachs?

Fortunately, this was the very incarnation of concrete, whose work spanned the Military State's history. She knew how to explain her designs clearly and concisely.

"My investigation has shown that enough people have lived in this prison for long enough that it has earned the right to reach the bottom of the bottomless pit."

That was her roundabout way of saying that, thanks to the Military State continually shoving people into this prison to die, this land had accumulated enough history to reach the Overlord's massacre.

"It should therefore have reached the bottom. However, this land and the bottom of the bottomless pit are separate lands. To reach it, I needed to make the two into one."

In other words, even after accumulating enough history to reach the same space, they occupied different layers and could not meet.

Which meant the solution was...

"Earth Sage, does that mean we must dig a hole and descend?"

"It does not. Distance has no value in this space. We must truly reach the final land, the land without a bottom."

I wondered whether I had read that correctly.

Because even after reading her thoughts, I couldn't believe them.

The Earth Sage held out her hand, palm upward. Then she said,

"I intend to turn this land upside down, in the most literal sense. By rotating it half a turn."

With that, she flipped her hand over, leaving its back facing up.

Having confidently declared that she would flip the land like her own hand, she tapped the structure beside her while the rest of us stood there stupefied.

"This is a support frame I made. It will not break easily, so tie yourselves to it with ropes while I turn the land over."

"But how could you..."

"For now, I earnestly ask that you follow my instructions. Tie yourselves securely enough to remain unharmed even upside down."

At her earnest request, we put aside our questions and began tying ourselves to the frame. People and all sorts of luggage dangled from it like fruit. While the undying one tied Callis in place, I approached Azi with a rope.

"Azi, come here."

"Woof, woof! I hate restraints! I like freedom!"

Perhaps it was the memory of being chained up last time. Azi vehemently refused to be tied down. I tried to reason with her gently.

"Don't come crying to me later. This ground is going to flip over. If you don't secure yourself—"

"Woof! It makes my stomach turn!"

"Your vocabulary keeps improving. Where are you learning this stuff...?"

Azi barked furiously, constantly dodging my hands. Seeing my predicament, Tyr made a suggestion.

"Leave her be. A Beast King can dig in her claws and hold on. If she seems likely to fall, I shall catch her with my darkness."

"I suppose that'll have to do. This damned animal, honestly."

As I growled at Azi in a battle of wills, with her keeping just beyond my reach, the Regressor, who had been quiet until then, suddenly remembered Nabi.

"Tyrkanzyaka. When Nabi comes running out in a little while, could you catch her too?"

"That poses no difficulty. Beast King or otherwise, I shall catch anyone who falls. You too, Shei."

"I'll be fine. I can use energy arts to keep my feet attached to the ground and stand upside down. And even if I fall, I can fly."

Why? Why could she hang upside down like a bat? How did she fly? She was human, just like me. Wasn't there something a little wrong with her?

Tyr made me an offer.

"Hugh, my coffin can float as well. It requires the absence of light, but that is no concern in the bottomless pit. Would you care to ride atop it with me?"

"No, thank you. When else will I get to experience the ground turning upside down?"

"Is that so..."

"And be careful yourself, Tyr. From what the Earth Sage said, I think we need to stay attached to the ground. Don't float too high. Keep a firm hold on it. Otherwise, we might be separated forever."

At that, Tyr hurriedly seized the frame with her darkness.

With our preparations finished, we all stared blankly at the Earth Sage. Having confirmed we were ready, she exhaled deeply and waved her hands with gentle grace.

Her movements were as soft as a butterfly beating its wings. Yet every time her fingers caught at the air, the ground heaved. Concrete that should have been solid churned slowly and thickly beneath her power, like acorn jelly.

"... Earth arts," the Regressor murmured.

Known as Mother Earth's divine power, it was an authority only her apostles could wield. The power that had overturned every inch of the Military State's land was now flowing from the Earth Sage.

Having firmly compacted the ground with her earth arts, the Earth Sage announced,

"I shall begin."

Then she stamped her foot hard.

BOOOOM.

The energy that erupted from her foot spread throughout Tantalus. An impact that powerful should have shattered the ground beneath her, but her Earth energy arts, honed to their ultimate heights and supported by her earth arts, distributed the force evenly throughout Tantalus.

Perhaps that was why the ground beneath her feet remained intact despite the tremendous impact.

"Oh! It seems she intends to overturn the ground with earth arts!"

The undying one murmured with fascination, like someone witnessing a miracle. Beside him, however, Callis was utterly terrified, her teeth chattering.

Well, it was hardly strange for an ordinary person to be frightened by such tremendous power.

"S-something to hold on to..."

"Of course. Those who die easily might find this frightening! Do not worry, the blood fiend will catch you with her darkness! If you have nothing to hold, I shall lend you my hand!"

He extended his hand. Callis took it with a trembling hand of her own, then, when another shock came, let out a shrill scream and pulled herself into his arms.

Puzzled by the distance that had vanished in an instant, he said,

"Hmm. Did I tie us this close together? We might bump into each other! My apologies. I shall hold you for a moment!"

"Please do...!"

The undying one wrapped his arm firmly around Callis's waist and pulled her close. The two were pressed tightly together.

Nestled in his arms, Callis's eyes gleamed sharply.

... Apparently, she wasn't an ordinary person either.

After watching them for a moment, Tyr spoke to me.

"Hugh, might you also bump into something?"

"There's no one tied up anywhere near me."

"... I merely thought I should ask."

For a little while, we chatted like that, oblivious to what lay ahead.

BOOOOOOM.

A far heavier, greater impact rolled through the ground. The frame shook, and my body shuddered beneath it.

As I marveled at the strangely unreal vibrations, the undying one asked,

"Huh? Where has the Earth Sage gone?"

He pointed to where she had been standing just moments earlier. She should have been there, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Has she stepped away for a moment? Ha ha. She must have had some urgent business!"

The answer to that question soon reappeared.

Because the Earth Sage came falling from the sky.

BOOOOOOOOOOM.

A fall, then impact.

An enormous earthquake shook all of Tantalus. Even her earth arts and Earth energy arts seemed insufficient this time: a massive fissure had opened beneath her feet, spreading outward from that spot.

I could feel the vibrations spread, strike the walls of the bottomless pit, and return. The power was on the scale of a natural disaster. It was hard to believe a single human being had produced it.

"Aah...!"

This time, Callis's scream was genuine.

Such utterly unreasonable power could frighten even someone far from ordinary.

"... Ha ha. This is insane."

I laughed in disbelief. Because my body was swaying from side to side.

That could mean only one thing.

The ground was tilting.

"Holy shit. This actually works?"

My body felt like a seismograph. So this was what feeling vibrations was like.

Just as I was musing to myself, the Earth Sage kicked off the ground and shot upward. An impact much like her landing shook Tantalus. All she had done was jump, yet it felt as though the earth had caved in.

"... Earth honed to perfection. Water brought to mastery."

Without budging an inch on the sloping ground, the Regressor coolly assessed the situation.

'The instant she lands, she disperses the impact throughout the ground, then harnesses the reaction force directed at her body to leap back up.'

Reading her thoughts helped me understand. But sometimes, even after reading something, I still had to wonder what on earth I'd just read.

'Right now, the Earth Sage is... essentially a giant rubber ball.'

That was exactly what I was asking. How did that work?

The human body wasn't rubber. Falling from that height should normally kill you.

And above all else...

Why was the ground actually turning over?

RRRRRUMBLE.

"Woof! Woof, woof! Earthquake, woof!"

"Myaaah! Myaaaagh!"

Azi and Nabi's screams rang out. Each Beast King had flattened herself in a spot that looked safe, claws digging into the ground.

Served you right, you animals. Did you think I'd tied myself up because I wanted to?

Regardless, the Earth Sage leaped up again and slammed back into the ground. A sound like grain being pounded in a mortar rang out, and with each impact, Tantalus tilted further. Callis clung tightly to the undying one in genuine terror, while Azi and Nabi howled loudly enough to shake the bottomless pit.

THUD.

Then, when the Earth Sage jumped higher than ever before and slammed down into the ground, there was a dry crunch.

The concrete rim that kept Tantalus from falling had failed to withstand the impact and was crumbling.

From there, everything happened at once. The Earth Sage shouted one last warning.

"It will turn over now! Everyone, hold tight!"

She hardly needed to say it. Everyone was already holding on to something for all they were worth.

And then she leaped into the air one final time.

CREEEEAK.

My body sways. The world tilts. Or perhaps I'm the one tilting.

Tantalus was a tray resting on a stand. Press one side down with a finger, and the stand, unable to bear the pressure, crumbles. The tray overturns and falls toward the ground.

Only now did I realize why Tantalus's buildings were clustered on one side. An L-shaped building and an oversized courtyard. No wonder it wasn't symmetrical.

It had been built for this from the start.

RRRRUMBLE.

The final collision. A human being struck the earth. Under ordinary circumstances, we would have called it a fall.

But not now.

The Earth Sage had "collided" with this land as its equal.

WHOOOSH.

The ground turns over. Instead of jumping again, the Earth Sage now used her Earth energy arts to anchor her feet firmly to it.

It already had momentum without her help. With the weight of Tantalus's prison added to it, the rotation accelerated.

Amid the barking of a dog, the yowling of a cat, human screams, and every kind of thought...

The wind blew.

Wind that should never have existed in the bottomless pit began blowing once more as the space beneath us opened up. Air rushed into the gap created by the void.

It was a bizarre sight. The ground I had stood on only moments ago had become a sloping wall, and the prison building had become an outcrop on a cliff. I didn't even want to imagine it, but if my rope snapped, I could fall onto the building's wall and stand there.

A tremendous crash came from the prison building. Unable to resist gravity, the large water tank broke free and plunged into the depths. Desks, furnishings, crates, and chairs poured from windows and openings as though the building were vomiting debris.

Then, unable to support its own weight, the prison snapped with a crunch partway up. Watching a four-story building turn into a three-story one was quite a spectacle.

Once everything that could fall had fallen, the last thing to break was the towering daytime lamp.

The artificial light that had illuminated the bottomless pit all this time. That lamp, which had dared to imitate the sun, snapped in the middle and plunged into the depths. A light that had illuminated the entire prison was no more than a faint candle in the darkness of the bottomless pit.

Darkness swallowed everything.

But it wasn't over yet.

Gathering speed, the land kept turning. My body swung mercilessly.

"Woof, woof!"

"Myaow!"

"Aaaaaagh!"

Dog, cat, and human screams formed a trio. Naturally, the last one was mine.

I reached upward, careful not to "fall" onto the frame. Turning upside down and crashing into it would be its own ordeal.

There, in the bottomless pit, with darkness filling every direction and nothing to hear but screams and thoughts...

The moment this land, designed from the outset to turn upside down, fulfilled its purpose...

The world twisted.

SPLASH.