Chapter 193: Ch 193: Shard Behind Wall
Rin did not want to wake Serena up at first. She looked tired and he wanted to let her stay asleep. But Serena woke up on her own and had an expression that said she did not want to talk to anyone.
So Rin decided to leave her alone and focus on hunting down the other shards.
"The next shard should give us the locations of the remaining shards on the map...or something similar. Let’s hope we find it soon."
Rin commented as he packed up the food waste and stored it in his inventory to dispose of later.
They finally left the cave, but the mood around the group was different compared to before.
Albus and Shelly were keeping an eye out for danger, Amelia was slowly getting used to being here, and both Serena and Teressa looked tense and on edge.
Still, it was a group made up of high-ranking people, so they jumped into action as soon as they noticed the first sign of danger.
A small group of monsters attacked them on their way to a nearby shard location (according to Albus’s intuition, at least) and they were quickly dealt with. But the monsters’ presence assured them that there had to be a shard nearby.
"I knew it! I knew playing all those games in my youth would come in handy. Let’s look around the area."
Albus suddenly became active once his guess was validated and dragged Amelia behind him to help him out.
The poor doctor never stood a chance against Albus’s eagerness. She could only look at everyone else with a face begging to be saved. But everyone else turned their heads away from her suffering and pretended they had not seen her.
They silently followed Albus but eventually reached a dead end.
"Looks like your intuition was wrong this time. It’s fine. I am sure everyone makes mistakes sometimes."
Teressa tried to make Albus feel better, but her tone came out bitter. Her face looked even paler and more haggard compared to before, and her dark circles were even more prominent.
Despite seeing how bad Teressa’s condition was, Albus did not show her any mercy as he frowned at her.
"Don’t be so quick to dismiss my intuition. I am sure there is a shard somewhere around here. I am willing to bet my entire gaming career on it."
Albus doubled down on his words before he looked at the wall blocking their path forward.
He searched around the wall first, trying to find a secret door, but there was no gap to take advantage of.
Teressa looked a little smug as she watched Albus fail, and Albus decided that he needed to make one last desperate attempt to salvage his reputation.
"I am going to blow up this wall. I am sure there is a shard behind it."
Albus declared before gathering his power and blasting the wall apart. He barely gave everyone a second’s warning before debris started falling around them.
Everyone instinctively closed their eyes as the wall collapsed, but Albus did not wait for them to catch up before trying to step over the now-broken boundary...only to feel something stab into his leg.
The smoke cleared quickly and Rin noticed the monster that had attacked Albus. It was similar to the dangerous one from yesterday.
"Albus, retreat right now. Amelia, treat him while we cover for him."
Albus gritted his teeth but did as Rin advised him to. But the monster noticed his intention to retreat and followed him with its long limbs.
Serena moved immediately to try and slow the monster down. She unleashed her sword and an icy aura appeared around her body.
"Albus, dodge on the count of three. I am going to create an ice wall between you and the monster, so make sure to dodge forward."
It was difficult to tell whether Albus heard her or not, but Serena did not hesitate to use her powers exactly as she had described.
Albus kept running until the very last moment and it did not seem like he had heard Serena at all. But he rolled forward at the last second, causing an ice wall to appear between him and the monster.
The monster noticed the wall and immediately slammed into it, trying to break through. But it was sturdy enough to hold for the time being.
"The wall won’t hold for long. Should we retreat now-"
"We cannot retreat. I saw a shard behind the monster. I am sure we can get to it if we defeat this monster...or become a little creative."
Albus immediately told everyone with a proud look on his face. He felt validated by the fact that his hunch had been correct, but he also wanted everyone else to acknowledge it.
He earned a smack on the back of his head from Teressa for his actions.
"Do you think it is that easy for us to take down a monster like that? Let’s abandon this shard and find a safer one."
Teressa’s words started to lose their bite the more she spoke. She also realized how ridiculous her suggestion was.
After all, there was no guarantee that the next shard they found would be any safer. And they were on borrowed time. Their supplies would only last so long.
"I don’t think we can afford to hesitate now. Let’s fight with everything we have this time. And I do mean that all of us should put in the effort."
Serena looked directly at Shelly when she said that, and her reasoning was valid.
So far, the only person who had not put in any real effort to stop the monster had been Shelly. She had been happily standing by Rin’s side without moving an inch.
"Hmm, I don’t want to put in more effort than necessary."
Shelly grumbled beside Rin, but it was only loud enough for him to hear.
It made Rin sigh, and he decided to ask Shelly for a favor. He had a feeling that if anyone could get her to move, it would be him.
He placed his hands on Shelly’s shoulders and she instantly focused all her attention on him.
"Shelly, we won’t be able to take down that monster without your help. So can you lend us your strength so that we can get that shard and make it out of here alive?"
Rin asked, and Shelly’s mood immediately changed from slightly sour to one filled with glee.
"Well, how can I refuse when Rin is asking me like this? Of course I will help you out."
