Chapter 336 Volume V - Chapter 54: Plain Reminiscent of Paradise
*(A/N: I edited the chapter, you can read now.)*
The dungeon that could have been my grave, or rather our grave, was... like a real paradise. At least during the daytime, it was very much so.
The otherworldly trees and plants, the lush green sky, the distant mountain ranges, the river that seemed to stretch into infinity... Everything was too beautiful. It was even mesmerizing.
But at night, it was the opposite of paradise, even if I hadn't yet experienced it as Adrian had and preferred not to.
I looked at the two walking ahead of me, Sue and Adrian, both with their backs turned. It was hard to guess what they were thinking because of that. But... it was also easy.
Sue, in particular, was very different from who she normally was. But I couldn't expect her not to be.
Because even though I pretended to keep my cool, I was scared too. I was keeping it to myself, putting hope ahead of fear, so as not to make the situation worse. But that fear hadn't completely disappeared.
Sighing, I checked the time.
We had been walking for an hour, but we hadn't yet found a suitable hiding place. It was difficult to find a cave at such a low elevation.
Still, we didn't stop. Considering how long daylight lasted the day we arrived here... we should have had at least three more hours. So we didn't give up, we kept going toward the mountain range where we thought the boss might be.
Finally, after another hour or so... Sue broke the silence she had maintained for hours.
"Over there, in the distance, the elevated area looks rocky."
Adrian and I both turned quickly to the spot she pointed to. Sue was... right. There was what looked like a rocky outcrop, not on our way, but somewhere we could reach in about twenty minutes if we walked fast enough.
"We don't have much time, let's go. We might find another cave if we're lucky."
Or the lair of a creature hiding from the light of the sky, I wanted to add. But I didn't. I kept the bad thoughts to myself.
After about ten minutes, we started to get a better view of what the elevation of rocks actually looked like.
The ground was not made of a single rock. But... many rocks had come together to fill a huge pit, a crater even. And neither the rocks nor the crater that they had filled didn't seem to have formed naturally.
A meteor, maybe... But it would be optimistic to think that it was a meteor that created this crater. How so much rock had gotten into the crater, how it had filled it, was another question... but that was not the point, at least for the moment.
"Is it possible for a C or B grade creature... to do something like this?"
I could only shake my head from side to side at Sue's question.
"No, any creature that could create a crater this big would have to be at least A grade..."
The crater filled with rocks was at least two hundred meters wide. In fact, a B+ grade creature could also create such a crater under favorable conditions, but it would not be easy.
The crater was at least two hundred meters wide. It was difficult to understand how deep it was because of the rocks, but I could guess. The force that could cause such a thing... could simply wipe a village off the face of the Lunerra.
So... something or someone capable of doing that would have to be at least A grade.
"Still, we don't have to worry... do we? We're in a grade B dungeon, after all."
Adrian asked, hoping he was right.
And he was actually right.
"Whatever happened here is none of our business, something may have happened in the past, but I'm pretty sure we won't run into what caused it."
I couldn't help smiling at the two who seemed slightly relieved, obviously genuinely scared, if only for a moment.
However, I quickly dropped my smile and started walking again.
"Let's hurry and find a place to hide."
And so we did. At least... we tried.
As soon as we reached the crater, we climbed on top of the hundreds of boulders that filled it and started looking for a suitable place to spend the night.
But... when we realized that we had spent almost half an hour in this place, where we had come expecting to find a suitable place, the fear that had been overshadowed by our hope slowly began to manifest itself.
At first, we were looking for a wide gap, a pit, or a cave where we could spend the night, jumping from rock to rock. But even as the minutes ticked by, even as we looked in every direction... we found no such place.
After a while, we decided to split up and walk around the whole crater separately, which took fifteen minutes. We looked in every place, in every hole, but... no, there was literally not a single cave in this huge crater.
The biggest hiding place I could find, if it could even be called a hiding place, was a tiny gap that we could barely fit three of us squatting down if we wanted to try. It was between two big boulders, but maybe not even three people could fit... it was that small a gap. I could only hope that the others had found something.
But when we gathered together again and discussed what we had found... all three of us had downcast, worried expressions on our faces. No, there really wasn't a single cave or a pit in this whole area.
The night was approaching. We didn't know how much more time we had, but... certainly not much. We had to be fast, much faster. But... even if we were fast, could we make it at this point?
Adrian looked at me and then at Sue. He spoke quickly, trying to smile slightly.
"I can move the rocks. It might take a while, but at least I can make a pit like bef-"
But he could not finish. Suddenly, he paused, his eyes quickly turned to the sky. Then... he stiffened and his eyes widened.
It didn't take a genius to understand what was happening. But... right after that, I too felt the change in the dungeon. The mana in the atmosphere... was indeed awakening.
"Fuck... Fuck!"
Adrian quickly looked around as he cursed. He seemed to be looking for something... and he must have found it because without waiting for us, he turned around and started running in a certain direction.
Sue followed behind him with a terror in her eyes that I had never seen before. She knew what was coming.
But I... I wasn't as fast as they were. At first I was, but only for a short time.
I couldn't really feel it in that small pit, there were layers and layers of rock between me and the outside. But here... everything was much clearer here.
I was dizzy, the amount of mana surrounding me had multiplied several times over. Because of my high charm, the amount of mana that was always drawn toward me was so much that it made my head hurt.
As the mana in the atmosphere continued to awaken, it became more and more aware of my presence. It descended on me even more heavily. The whole world came together step by step. What I saw, what I heard... everything blurred.
When all my balance was turned upside down, the thing I feared happened... I fell. I only understood this when I found one of the gray rocks in front of my blurred eyes.
But even my feelings were confused. Even the pain I should have felt when I fell felt strange.
"-ian, wa... -cia -ell!"
Sue's words, which I couldn't make sense of, entered my ear. But there was no follow-up. Instead... I felt myself being lifted off the ground, and then a strange... warmth.
Adrian had picked me up and was carrying me. It wasn't hard to understand. But... was Adrian's body always this warm? Strange... he had carried me for two kilometers before we found that pit and I had woken up a few times, but I had never felt like this.
I pushed myself, I tried to get used to the mana that was directed specifically at me because of my charm statistic. I tried to balance the mana that was constantly flowing into my body. And I succeeded... at least a little.
The voices got a little better. The blurring of my vision lessened a bit and my head stopped spinning even slightly.
When I refocused, what I saw was... Adrian dropping me down. I was surprised, for a moment, I even thought he had left me behind. At this moment... I was a burden after all. If they wanted to make sure of their survival, leaving me behind... was the natural thing to do. I couldn't even be angry with them.
But that wasn't the case. I didn't fall on the hard ground, I didn't suddenly lose consciousness. Instead... someone else caught me. Gently, but as fast as possible, put me down. Pulling my legs to my chest and making me take up less space.
Ah, I see... we ran toward that tiny gap where the three of us could barely fit. Right, it was the sensible thing to do...
But this tiny gap is wide open. What difference does it make if we hide here... than if we don't? Are we leaving everything to chance...?
I looked up with blurry eyes, the lush green sky slowly darkening. Just as Adrian had described, it would continue to darken until there was not a single green dot above.
But I couldn't help squinting slightly when suddenly a figure came between me and the sky. It was Adrian, right above us. But... he wasn't jumping down next to us.
I could barely make out his lips moving. I focused, trying to catch what he was saying.
Wait... for me...? He says wait for me...
After I could understand what he was saying and the sky was almost completely dark, Adrian suddenly disappeared from my sight. Howls grew louder, filling the air. My head started to spin even more. As if... as if they were enchanted.
I saw a blue glow rising into the sky, but... before I could realize what it was, everything was suddenly plunged into darkness once again. And then... a loud sound echoed in my ears.
My eyes widened slightly as I stared at the rock that had closed in on us.
The howling outside continued. They were hard to understand because of the rock that was closing in on us, but not impossible. But... all that was unimportant. The important thing... was that there were only two of us in this tiny gap, not three.
Adrian... did he just... stay out on purpose...?
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺