Chapter 352 Volume V - Chapter 70: Uneasiness
I narrowed my eyes as I gripped my spear tightly, and Lucia next to me did the same with her sword.
The cracking sound we heard didn't bode well in a cave like this, after all.
"Let's go slowly."
Lucia nodded in agreement, extinguishing the flame in her right hand.
We moved slowly and silently, impossible to see in the pitch darkness, but we didn't need to. We could sense the movements of the awakened mana and know if something was about to attack us. Both Lucia and I had a high level of mana perception.
After a short while, as we were getting closer to the crackling sounds we were hearing, I motioned for Lucia and Sue to stop. I could feel concentrated mana just ahead of us, where we would encounter it if we turned slightly to the right.
I closed my eyes briefly, discarded all my senses, and concentrated entirely on my mana perception.
Good, I can't sense any other creature, so... it must be one. And the mana concentrated around it is pretty low compared to what we've encountered so far.
I'll try to finish it off in one attack, and then we'll move on.
I opened my eyes, my senses came back one by one.
"Stay behind me."
I didn't say anything else. I moved slowly, knowing exactly where the creature was. I reached the point where we would turn in a few seconds... and then I gripped my spear tightly.
"Huuu..."
I didn't use my mana, I wanted this to be a surprise attack, and it was.
As soon as I turned the corner, I lunged at the creature where the mana was concentrated. Even though I couldn't see anything because of the darkness, I didn't care, I let my senses and instincts take over.
But I didn't stop there, I charged my muscles and spear with a huge amount of mana at the last moment.
It wouldn't be very effective since I started the attack without mana, but even a slight increase in power was enough.
First, I felt the tip of the spear touch something, something hard. A squeal echoed through the cave, but I didn't stop. I pushed the spear further, this time without hesitation to use mana.
The hardness I could feel at the tip of the spear suddenly softened. It pierced the creature's body, then pierced some more.
But I still didn't stop. I let go of my spear, took a single step back, and inhaled a quick breath. I clenched my fist, tensed, and spread mana throughout my body. Then I let go of everything I was holding and threw a punch at the creature.
The comforting feel of fur met my fist. Immediately followed by the softness of skin and flesh, then the hardness of bones crunching and crumbling.
I heard a momentary groan... but nothing more. The creature's body crumpled with my fist, slamming so hard against the wall next to it that the cave trembled a little. But... that was it.
A deep silence fell over the cave. Then, it was quickly broken by a low voice coming from right behind me.
"Is it over?"
"Yes."
Immediately after my answer, the cave was illuminated with an orange light. Lucia and Sue looked at me and the creature, and with the help of the light, I pulled my spear out of the creature's body. Then I looked at what it looked like.
"Is it... a cub?"
It looked like one. It had red fur and a small body compared to most of the creatures in the dungeon.
Actually, now that I think about it... doesn't it look like... a mole? No, it's something different than that, but for some reason... the first thing I thought when I looked at the creature was a mole.
"It's a big possibility. But even then, it was a C at worst, the skin felt pretty tough for a moment."
Lucia didn't say anything, her eyes were still on the creature. She looked thoughtful.
"Let's move on, we don't have time to waste."
Again, no one said anything. But, it wasn't long before we were back in the old order and moving forward again. We didn't dwell too much on the cub we had killed.
It took another twenty minutes of walking before we came across another creature. This one was different, it was not a cub... But it was also not one that could pose a danger to us.
Why...? Because it was sleeping. And so, it was quite easy to kill it quietly.
We moved on, and a few minutes after killing the sleeping creature...
"Hey, is it just me, or... is the cave expanding?"
I paused at Sue's words, my eyebrows raised slightly as I looked behind us, then back in front of me.
Sue... was actually right. There wasn't much of a difference, but the cave was indeed expanding.
Although, what does it mean if the cave is expanding...?
"We can get out into a big area."
I finally understood what the problem was with Lucia's words.
In the cave, which until now had been a sort of crooked corridor, the most likely place for the creatures to gather would of course be a high and wide area.
So... if we were really going to enter such an area, we had to be ready to face the creatures. Probably a lot of them at the same time.
"That's... a bit of a problem."
We've been lucky so far. Really lucky. The first creature we encountered was a cub and the second one was sleeping.
But this... was dangerous.
"Should we go forward? We can go back, of course. Or I can dig another hole into the wall to hide in. We've come a long way."
I saw the hesitation on their faces for a moment. They weren't sure what we were going to do, what we should do.
But then, Lucia finally opened her mouth.
"How are you feeling now?"
"I'm fine, I'm not tired and my mana reserves are rather full."
Lucia thought for a short while. Then... she simply sighed.
"Then let's keep moving forward. If there really is an area full of creatures ahead of us, there will be no difference between now and in a few hours or days."
She was not wrong. I was well aware of what she was saying, I just... I wasn't sure about them. They might prefer to rest, they might be tired. If I could understand anything from their faces, that was what I could. But... it seemed that they also wanted to see the end of this journey quickly.
*******
If we were going out into a really big area, full of creatures, it didn't make much sense to give away our position with a light. That's why Lucia had extinguished the flame in her right hand that had so far illuminated our path.
Just as we had done when we approached the creature cub, we moved silently and carefully through the pitch darkness, and the cave continued to expand, just as we had expected. But that was not the only thing that changed.
Soon after we started walking... we noticed something quite surprising.
"Is that... a breeze?"
Yes, it is. There's a breeze coming from up ahead, hitting us in the face. It's weak, so much so that under normal circumstances, it would be quite difficult to notice... But after walking for more than an hour in a cave like this, it's a change that can be felt quickly.
"In this cave...?"
I squinted at Sue's surprised voice.
This... changes a lot. But now, we have to deal with another problem. A breeze means either that there's something abnormal ahead of us, or that we're heading somewhere with a connection to the outside.
"Should we keep going?"
I turned back toward Lucia and saw her nod without saying anything.
"We keep going, then..."
Sue didn't react or say anything as if she was getting a little agitated. But when Lucia and I started walking again, she followed us.
After a few more minutes... the cool breeze in our faces was no longer the only change we could notice.
There was also a source of light.
The cave was faintly illuminated by a bluish light as we continued to move forward.
For a brief moment, I wondered if we were really going outside. But... it was impossible. Because since we entered the cave, we were going underground. And... we were inside a mountain covering a very large area.
It was impossible for us to get out...
So, even though Lucia and I started to hesitate too... we still continued.
And after a while...
"Oh..."
"This..."
At last, we reached the place where the breeze and the light came from.
And yes, just as we had expected, the dark corridors of the cave had led us to a large area. Really wide... But at the same time, there was a view we had never expected.
There were no creatures, first of all... At least not visible. They could have been hiding, and it would have been best to remain vigilant.
We would have to walk about thirty meters on average to get to the other end of this huge... room? Or something like that. It was really that big of a space. But it was definitely not the size that stood out. It was the ceiling and the floor.
The ceiling was where the pale light and cool breeze came from. Although, how accurate was it to call something that wasn't there a 'ceiling'? After all... above us was an empty space. A huge hole reaching all the way to the surface, connecting to who knows where on the mountain...
The floor... was also an empty space, just like the ceiling. There was plenty of room to walk around the edges of the room, but in the middle... it was a dark abyss with no bottom. Even the light seeping through the hole in the ceiling was not enough to illuminate it completely, it was frightening to imagine how deep it went.
And... that was it. The cave continued on the other side of the room, splitting into two paths, but that was really it. There was no danger whatsoever. On the contrary, it had a look that echoed what I had felt since I came to this dungeon.
It was beautiful. It was supposed to be dangerous and who knows, maybe it was... we just didn't know it yet. But it was still beautiful.
Quietly, I turned around and looked back at the two girls who were following me. They must have felt the same as I did, because they were just looking this way and that across the room.
"What do we do now? There are two ways we can go."
The two paused and turned toward me at the same time. Then, their eyes shifted to the two paths on the other side of the room and hesitation appeared on their faces once again.
Right or left... We had to decide.
"Let's cross the cliff first... take a closer look at both roads and then decide."
I nodded in agreement, tore my eyes away from the duo, and turned back to the road ahead. There was no need to question, maybe we would actually catch a clue and find our way... who knows?
And with that in mind, I took my first step, a step that for some reason felt like it echoed throughout the room, even though I was being very careful...
I frowned. For some reason, I felt... uneasy. An unpleasant uneasiness. So much so that I couldn't help grasping my spear tightly, my eyes scanning every corner of the room.
My uneasiness increased when I started to feel a slight tremor from the ring I never took off my finger. I spoke in my usual whisper to warn the duo behind me.
"Let's be careful, don't let your guard down. Something... seems wrong here."
And as soon as I finished, as if waiting for that to come out of my mouth all along... a flash of light from across the room caught my eye. Just a second, no... in a split second, my eyes widened as a shadow appeared in front of me.
I didn't even have time to react. The blurry shadow, which I couldn't even make out, just passed by me, right behind me... toward Lucia and Sue. My eyes widened in an instant.
*(A/N: I started uploading chapters to the new novel, "The Path of Ruin". You can read it whenever you want. Also, sorry for the delay once again... I was preparing for that novel, that's why I neglected writing chapters for the last three days. Though it's all okay now, thanks for reading and your understanding as always...)*
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on f(r)e𝒆webn(o)vel.com