Chapter 358 Volume V - Chapter 76: The Last Hurdle of the Dungeon
The soothing blue energy he had been using so often lately enveloped his body once more. It was quickly drawn into his right fist, concentrated.
Soon, the mana joined it.
He didn't care to be noticed, he didn't care to be pounced upon by the creature in the darkness.
He just... clenched his fist, tensed it, and waited.
A few meters stood between him and the creature.
And, still, he waited.
A few inches between the creature's claw and his face.
And, finally, he stopped waiting.
The breath he had been holding was released. Without changing the position of his feet, he twisted his body, causing the creature's attack to meet the void. But he did not stop. He grabbed its arm with his left hand, pulling it downward.
The creature tried to take advantage of this. Its jaws, full of sharp teeth, opened wide, ready to take a huge bite out of his stomach... but at that very moment, he swung the fist he had clenched so far at its face.
I watched as its teeth shattered, I saw its skull fracture, and even though I wasn't the one punching it, I could feel its brain disintegrating in my own fist.
Yet, Adrian was not satisfied with just that. He opened all his clenched fingers, grasped the creature's head, which was disfigured by the shattered skull. Then, he slammed it into the ground as hard as he could.
A slight cloud of dust rose into the air, obscuring my vision. A final crash echoed through the cave, or rather... a punch. Then, a deep silence fell.
Adrian emerged from the dust cloud, his fist bloodied. His dull eyes turned to mine, not seeming to care about the dripping blood from his fist.
"That was the last of the creatures."
At his words, the dust cloud dispersed enough to expose the entire corridor, revealing the carnage that happened there.
There were four creatures of the same species on the floor, two of them parents and two offspring.
One of the cubs had a huge hole in its chest, killed by a single, sudden attack.
The other cub's body was split into three pieces. Its death also seemed to have been quick.
One of the parents had one of its arms brutally severed from its body, killed by a spear through its skull into its torso.
The last creature was... punched to death, just seconds ago.
Each of these creatures was C+ grade. The hatchlings were C, though, yes... But...
Adrian expressionlessly removed his spear from the creature he had impaled in the skull as I watched him. Then, he turned back to me.
"Let's continue."
I couldn't say anything, I could only nod, keeping my eyes fixed on the floor.
"Okay..."
And Adrian turned around, moving slowly down the cave corridors.
He had been like this ever since he lost Sue. It had been almost a week since it had happened, but... he couldn't get over it. So much so... that he had become ruthless, more violent than he normally was.
If we spotted a powerful creature, we would hide and wait for it to sleep or get away from us. That's how we got this far...
But what we fought was different. Adrian made sure that every single creature he had to fight was dead in the end, not a single one of them was allowed to make one last attempt with a heavy wound. He was scared, terrified that they would try to escape, just like that one-eyed creature had done. It wasn't hard to understand.
I looked at his back as I walked behind him, and I couldn't stop my eyes from narrowing.
I'm sorry too. I also wish things hadn't turned out like this.
But it's too late, the past is the past.
There's... There's nothing we can do.
Especially in a place like this, in a dungeon where our lives are in danger at any moment, we have to try to survive before we can mourn.
Only after we get back to Lunerra can we truly grieve. I... I'm sure that's what Sue would want, too.
It's not that Adrian doesn't realize it.
But... he doesn't care. And I... I don't really know what to do about it.
Should I let him continue like this? Should I try to talk to him somehow?
What if... what if I make the situation worse?
I let out a deep sigh, refocused.
We're okay for now, I guess... But I've made up my mind. If this continues for a while, I'll talk to him, I won't put it off any longer.
I nodded my head in agreement.
The next time we go for a rest, I'll discuss this a little more. For now... it's better not to disturb him.
So, I cleared my mind of these thoughts, slightly widened the flame I was using to light our path, and focused on our path rather than Adrian.
The cave... had changed a lot during this one week.
The corridors were much wider now. And... it was also much warmer inside.
Thanks to the Temperature Stabilization, it wasn't much of a problem for me. But it was hard to ignore because Adrian was constantly sweating. I could tell it was uncomfortable just by looking at his face.
So why had the cave gotten so hot? The reason was simple... because we kept going further and further underground. During this one week, the corridors had a constant downward slope. Sometimes it was almost like a downhill slide.
We went so deep that, if I am not mistaken, we must have been one and a half to two kilometers below the plain.
With that thought, something else occurred to me, and I couldn't help frowning slightly.
This cave... how much deeper will it go?
Are we really on the right track? I... can't be sure at this point.
But still-!
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the thing I bumped into. I raised my sword in self-defense as I looked around, but what I saw... was only Adrian's back. That's what I bumped into.
"Adrian...?"
I took a few steps back, relaxed a little, although I didn't lower my sword. Then, I called his name again as I turned my eyes in front of us.
"Adrian, hey?"
But then... I paused too, my eyes fixed on a single point, a deep silence enveloping the cave.
"This..."
The slope of the cave had finally come to an end, there was a truly straight corridor ahead of us.
But that was not the important thing. Because... this straight corridor was blocked by something.
"A huge door...?"
Yes, what was in front of us was... literally a huge door. But it was not a simple 'door'.
It was a door with countless skeletons in front of it. Truly innumerable skeletons... So much so that after a few steps, the floor was no longer visible. It was only full of bones that were dusted or about to be dusted.
"It's not just a giant door, Lucia."
My eyes widened at Adrian's words, the gears in my head finally clicked into place and my mouth fell open. Surprised, a little scared, but mostly... after so long, finally, truly hopeful.
"It's the door of the Boss room."
*******
I couldn't help clenching my fist as I looked at the door in front of me.
We had made it. We had finally made it to the boss room. The end of this dungeon was indeed near.
But... Sue wasn't with us.
There were two of us, not three.
And not only that.
Normally, boss rooms are guarded by mini-bosses. It was a common feature of every Recta-type dungeon. The countless skeletons in front of the door were proof of this.
However... there was no mini-boss in sight.
This dungeon, which was different from normal dungeons in every single aspect, was also different here.
The mini-boss was already dead, somewhere in this endless pile of bones. I was sure.
So... as long as I entered the boss room alone, it was impossible for us to suffer any casualties. At this point, once Lucia and Sue were inside, they would simply have to hide and it would all be over.
So... Sue was dead because of one simple, little mistake on my part.
And the more I thought about it... the more frustrated I got.
"Adrian..."
When Lucia's voice echoed in my ears, I snapped out of my thoughts and turned slightly around. Lucia... opened her mouth again, her red eyes showing traces of concern.
"How about we get some rest? We'd better make the best of the boss room, right?"
She was right. This moment was... probably the most important moment in this whole dungeon. What was going to happen in the boss room was really important.
But... did I want to wait any longer?
My mana reserves were almost full, and I hadn't used a single bit of my mana storing ring. My body wasn't aching or anything. It hadn't been long since the last time we rested, after all.
"No, let's go straight to the boss room. My body is fine and my mana reserves are full. We'll only waste time."
I took a deep breath and looked into her eyes.
"Don't you want to get out of here as fast as possible?"
Lucia couldn't say anything. She could only bow her head and let out a deep sigh like me.
"I..."
It was as if even she was unsure of what she was going to say. But, finally, she clenched her fist and answered honestly.
"Yes, I do."
"Then..."
I turned back to the door of the boss room and approached it with slow but confident steps. When I was right in front of it, I waited for a while.
I inhaled a deep, really deep breath, then slowly exhaled it. I braced myself one last time, then placed both my hands on the door.
"Let's go."
I pushed the door with all my strength. The whole cave started to tremble slightly, the dust on the door fell one by one to the floor... and it started to open with a loud noise.
It was really heavy, it was straining my muscles... But I didn't stop, I didn't even rest. I pushed and pushed until I got the opening we needed to pass through... When I finally got the opening I wanted, I paused, stepped back slightly, and looked behind the door.
What I saw was... endless darkness.
There was a tiny light ahead, but it was so small that it seemed to be at least half a kilometer away.
The last hurdle of this dungeon was right in front of my eyes.
It was waiting for us.
*(A/N: I wanted to do a little mass release as the end of this volume is near. I will probably upload three chapters again tomorrow, but I'm not sure about the day after that. Though, this volume will probably end in two or three days. We will talk again in the epilogue. For now... thanks for reading as always.)*
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