Building The First Adventurer Guild In Another World

Chapter 306: Swallowed

For a long moment after the last beast vanished into the shadows, the arena was enveloped in silence. It was so quiet that even the faint sound of blood dripping from fallen corpses echoed softly against the curved stone walls.

Boren lay on his back, motionless, his chest rising and falling heavily as he stared blankly at the faint golden ceiling above him. His mind felt empty, as if everything inside him had been drained away along with his strength.

Beside him sat Lyana, her legs slightly bent as she leaned back on her hands. Her breathing was uneven but more controlled than Boren’s; strands of her green hair clung to her cheeks and forehead, damp with sweat that slowly dried under the dim light.

While her expression appeared calm on the surface, it betrayed a deep fatigue, not just physical but mental as well. For a while, neither of them spoke; they simply remained there, allowing their bodies to settle after the intense battle they had just endured.

Time passed slowly, each second stretching longer than it should have and eventually Boren shifted slightly, letting out a long groan as he rolled onto his side and pushed himself into a sitting position.

His movements were sluggish, as if his body no longer belonged to him. He wiped sweat from his face with the back of his hand and glanced around at the arena, his gaze lingering on piles of corpses scattered across the ground.

After a few seconds, he let out a weak laugh devoid of humor and said, "I think I just saw my ancestors waving at me... calling me over like ’come join us, Boren; your time has come.’ I almost went...I swear I almost went."

His voice was hoarse; though he tried to joke about it, fear lingered beneath his words. Lyana glanced at him from the side; her lips twitched slightly as if she wanted to smile but lacked the energy.

"You talk too much," she said quietly but steadily.

Boren snorted weakly and leaned back on his hands again before replying, "Talking means I’m still alive, so I’ll keep talking."

There was simple logic in his words that Lyana didn’t bother to dispute because after what they had just experienced, being able to sit here and complain felt like a luxury.

After resting for a bit longer, Boren straightened up slowly; seriousness crept into his expression as he closed his eyes and began focusing on drawing mana from their surroundings into his body.

The flow felt slow and uneven compared to normal due to his depleted reserves making it harder for him to absorb and circulate energy. Lyana mirrored him beside him,her posture composed as she sat upright with hands resting lightly on her knees, guiding what little mana remained within her body to stabilize it for recovery.

For about half an hour they cultivated quietly together; faint traces of mana in the air gradually gathered around them while stillness returned to the arena in the aftermath of their battle.

When Boren finally opened his eyes again, he noticed a slight improvement in his condition. His breathing was more stable, and the trembling in his arms had mostly subsided.

However, exhaustion was still etched on his face; his skin appeared slightly pale, and his movements remained slow.

He let out a long breath before standing up with some effort, stretching his arms and shoulders as he muttered, "I don’t feel like dying anymore... so I guess that’s progress."

Lyana also opened her eyes and stood up more smoothly than he did. Her expression remained calm, but her pale face revealed that she wasn’t fully recovered either; her mana was only partially restored, enough to function but far from optimal.

"We should clean up," she said simply, glancing at the corpses surrounding them. Boren nodded in agreement because they both understood that these strange beasts still held value, especially in a place like the Vault where every resource counted.

They began moving around the arena slowly but steadily, approaching each body one by one. Boren bent down with a slight groan each time as he used his sword to cut into the beasts, retrieving small glowing cores from within their bodies, objects filled with condensed energy.

Meanwhile, Lyana used small vines to hold the corpses steady or pull them closer, making the process easier.

The work wasn’t fast but it was steady. As they moved from one corpse to another,

Boren couldn’t help but grumble quietly under his breath about their situation: "Why do there always have to be so many? One or two would have been enough... no, even just one would have sufficed... why dozens... why always dozens..."

Lyana mostly ignored him but occasionally reminded him to focus when he slowed down too much. Despite their fatigue, there was a rhythm to their actions, a simple cooperation that had formed during the fight and carried over into this moment.

After some time, they managed to collect all the beast cores along with a few usable parts from the bodies; though there wasn’t much else of value left behind.

Boren straightened his back with a tired sigh and stretched again as he said, "Alright... I think that’s everything... can we leave this place now? Please tell me we can leave."

Lyana scanned the arena walls and ceiling for an exit but found nothing obvious no doors or pathways, just the same circular structure surrounding them.

"This place doesn’t look like it has an exit," she replied after a moment of contemplation, her brows furrowing slightly.

Boren’s face fell at her words. "Don’t say that... please don’t say things like that! I just survived one nightmare; I don’t want to live in it forever!"

Just as he finished speaking....

The arena began to move.

At first, it was subtle, a faint vibration under their feet, like a low tremor passing through the ground. Both of them froze, their expressions shifting as they scanned their surroundings.

Despite their exhaustion, tension gripped their bodies. Then the vibration intensified; the stone beneath them shifted slightly, and the air felt charged as a deep rumbling echoed throughout the structure.

"What... what is happening?" Boren asked, his voice rising in panic as he tightened his grip on his sword and glanced around frantically. Lyana didn’t respond; she was just as bewildered, her gaze locked on the walls where something was beginning to change.

The circular walls of the arena started to split, not randomly, but in a precise, mechanical manner. It was like pieces of a giant puzzle separating into large segments that began to shift inward.

The grinding sound of stone filled the air as the entire structure reconfigured itself. Boren’s eyes widened in alarm as he stepped back.

"No... no no no... don’t tell me this place is doing something weird again," he stammered.

Lyana’s expression turned serious. "Be ready," she urged quickly, though even she had no idea what they could do in this situation.

The movement escalated.

Faster now.

The segments of the arena walls lifted and tilted, closing in from both sides like a massive jigsaw puzzle snapping together. The gaps between them vanished as the pieces aligned perfectly, forming a constricting structure that shrank the open space around them.

The ceiling above lowered slightly too, with golden light flickering ominously as the arena morphed into something entirely different, something that felt less like an open battlefield and more like a trap.

"Wait... WAIT!"

Boren shouted, panic lacing his voice as he searched for any escape route or opening, but there was none.

The space closed in too rapidly. Lyana stepped back beside him, her eyes focused and body tense; even she knew there was no way out and no time to react properly, the speed of change overwhelmed them.

The walls drew closer. Until there was nowhere left to go.

And then with one final heavy sound, the arena clamped shut,

Swallowing both of them whole.