Chapter 336 Volume V - 54: Plain Reminiscent of Paradise

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. nove(l)bi(n.)com

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.

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...?