I slid down into a pit filled with rainwater and blood. The smell? Absolutely foul, it didn't seem to be just human blood down here. It was like a mixture of filth, blood, and something like monster saliva.
When I reached the bottom of the pit, I saw Arthur standing in front of me. I couldn't stop myself and crashed into Arthur's body, leaving both of us filthy with mud and mixed blood. Luckily, there were no monsters here. Otherwise, we might have been eaten immediately in the darkness.
"So you followed me. Thanks." Arthur said as he helped me up. He tried to wipe his dirty hands a few times, but since the filth wouldn't come off, he eventually ignored it.
"You owe me." I said, and he just let out a small laugh.
The place was dark and damp. There was no sound of geckos, which meant this wasn't their nest. Even in the darkness, we could feel that the place was vast, and the sound of water from various directions suggested that many tunnels led outside.
Arthur raised his hand into the air, and sparks of Mana gathered, forming a ball of light that illuminated the darkness. So he had already learned basic light magic. That was one of the harder spells to master, and he had done it. Talent aside, I wondered who was really backing Arthur.
Arthur's rapid growth like this might allow him to defeat Travis. But the monster Travis had also changed drastically, far beyond what I knew, as if he had reached a higher stage. In the original story, Travis still had a somewhat human face, but the monster earlier looked completely sharp-featured and horned.
"Come on, I don't hear any screaming anymore. We might be really far behind." Arthur said as he walked in a direction even he didn't truly know.
"Hey, are you sure about that way?"
"...."
Sigh, this idiot.
"Umbros, can you scout the surroundings to find the monster's nest?" I communicated with Umbros through my thoughts, and he immediately flew into the shadows. Since Umbros possessed shadow powers, it was easy for him to explore dark spaces.
"Sure. This place is quite large, so it'll take some time." Umbros said before disappearing into the darkness of the cave.
Meanwhile, I followed Arthur toward a direction even he wasn't sure about. Yet he didn't look confused at all. Even while holding the light orb, he seemed to already know where he wanted to go. Occasionally, he glanced into empty space before continuing onward.
"Tell me, why do you keep looking into nothing?"
Arthur stayed silent. Of course, he was hiding something I didn't know. I could read Arthur because I had already "been" Arthur hundreds of times and knew what he would do. Even if I didn't fully understand him, at least I knew he was hiding something.
A strong sense of justice, someone who stood up when others gave up. Arthur was described as The Chosen One, but there was something that made him different. He liked to hide things. If this were a game, I could probably already read what he was thinking.
Suffering, strength, and knowledge. It was as if he believed he should suffer more than others. That was what I hated about him, always thinking that only he should bear the sacrifice. You call it sacrifice, I call it arrogance.
"So, what did you want to say in the library earlier?"
Arthur fell silent. It seemed he had changed his mind. Once again, he was hiding something. He glanced at me briefly, then shook his head as if it were too heavy to say.
"I'll tell you when the time comes." Arthur said without looking back and continued walking, leaving me full of questions.
So in the end, he still wouldn't open his mouth. Whatever it was, I should focus on our surroundings. For a while now, I had felt like I was being watched from every direction. I also kept seeing movements, but whenever I looked, there was nothing there.
Not long after, I saw Umbros flying toward us. Of course, only I could see him. I could sense Umbros's presence in the darkness, while Arthur could not.
Umbros hid within the darkness so Arthur wouldn't notice him and slipped back into my shadow.
"Front left. Get ready to see something horrifying." Umbros whispered.
Ahead, I could already smell a foul stench, and it seemed Arthur did too. We moved slowly, and Arthur extinguished the light orb. Since we were already accustomed to it, we could see in the darkness, though still somewhat blurry. But we could already make out the end of the earthen corridor.
At the end, something was moving.
It was crouching, eating something. Its body was covered in sharp scales, with a spiked tail. Its dark color radiated a piercing stench of blood. Its movements resembled a beast savoring its prey. Occasionally, it lifted something that looked like flesh and, with its long tongue, licked and devoured it.
"In 1…" Arthur whispered.
"What?"
"2… 3…!"
Arthur raised his hand and fired a light cannon that instantly flooded the space with blinding brightness. Luckily, I managed to duck. Otherwise, I might have gone blind from the intense light.
The startled monster was immediately blinded and rolled on the ground, thrashing while covering its face.
Arthur charged in with his sword to attack the lizard monster. However, the decorative sword couldn't cut through its hardened scales. Even while blinded, the lizard raised its massive tail and slammed Arthur into the cave wall.
HSSSS!
Thanks to Arthur, the lizard couldn't see, buying me time to rush in and save him.
The humanoid lizard's form was horrifying. Its entirely black, solid scales rendered ordinary attacks useless against its steel-like body. I picked up a bone from the ground and threw it in another direction to divert its attention.
Hearing the sound, it raised its tail like a slingshot and moved with incredible speed toward the source, shattering the wall with a single strike.
"Damn, how can it move that fast?"
I lifted Arthur's body from where he was embedded in the wall. Luckily, he wasn't injured. But as I pulled him out, some rocks fell, alerting the lizard to our presence.
Silence.
Without turning around, I could feel its rigid body staring at us. Arthur stood frozen, looking at the monster standing upright behind us. How could it move that fast without making a sound? I had to be careful. It was still blind, so I shouldn't make any noise.
Just the sound of its breathing made my breath catch.
CK.
CK.
CK.
Its head tilted left and right, as if deliberately urging us to make a sound. Forcing us to bow and fear it. The savage nature of a beast that enjoyed playing with its prey.
Its tongue hissed like a snake calling for its victim. I had to do something, or it would attack us without giving us a chance to react.
I brought my mouth close to Arthur's ear and whispered, "Jump to the left."
Arthur stayed silent and nodded. Our hands and feet tensed, ready to strengthen our muscles and leap. Slowly, I tried to position myself closer to the monster.
Without warning, I turned around and called Umbros out from my shadow.
"Umbros!"
As he emerged, he flew toward the lizard's face and made a sharp noise that disrupted its concentration. Umbros's agility allowed him to dodge all the monster's attacks. With his advantage in darkness, he could move swiftly.
I jumped to the right while Arthur jumped to the left.
Arthur then grabbed his sword and attacked again. This time, he infused fire magic into the blade, igniting it with blazing flames. Instead of striking the body, he aimed for the joints, where the scales were thinner. As a result, Arthur managed to wound the monster's neck.
Meanwhile, Umbros slipped back into the shadows, restraining its movements.
Not stopping there, Arthur followed up with lightning magic, burning the monster with high-voltage arcs and knocking it to the ground.
"Is it over?" Arthur asked.
"Don't say that dangerous line…" I said, as the monster's body began to move, retreating from us.
I looked at Arthur, whose face was filled with disappointment.
It rose and faced us, its vision restored. Its expression clearly showed rage. With both arms raised into the air, it let out a scream so shrill we had to cover our ears.
The ground trembled, and from all directions, various venomous insects emerged from beneath the earth. Monsters both large and small that dwelled underground, creatures from various regions, all gathered here.
A monster's instinct for survival was to submit to a stronger monster, and it seemed this lizard stood at the top of the food chain here.
The monsters bit and restrained us. As if victorious, the lizard monster sneered, baring its sharp fangs. It moved like a king who had won a war, and that made me slightly angry.
"Ahhh!" Arthur cried out, enduring the pain from the venomous insect bites. Meanwhile, I searched for an opening to escape. Suddenly, I remembered what Arthur had said about compressing the flow of Mana from my heart.
"Umbros, can you press my Mana sac?"
"You mean the Mana heart? I can, but why?"
"Just do it!" I endured the pain as acidic venom burned through my body.
"This will hurt."
Umbros flew in front of me and shot straight into my chest. It hurt, like being stabbed through the chest by a spear. Then I felt something hot flowing through my veins, compressing, forcing something from within to surge out.
With all my strength, I tore away the small insect biting my arm. This was bad, I was close to losing consciousness.
URGH!
I felt something gripping my organ from the inside. It was Umbros pressing my Mana heart. If so, maybe I could save us with magic!
"IGNITE!"
Imagining sparks of fire that burned everything, Mana flowed to manifest my intent, and its physical form appeared in my hand. Three stages had been passed. It was time to unleash magic!
Dark red flames erupted from my hand, spreading across the ground and incinerating all the insects. The small flames spread into a massive inferno, jumping from one monster to another. The fire then engulfed the lizard monster, setting its entire body ablaze.
SKREEE!!
For some reason, the flames would not go out, making every monster there suffer.
"My crystallized power entered your Mana heart, creating flames that never extinguish without their master's command." Umbros emerged from my body.
"And thanks to this idiot for giving me the idea."
I dragged Arthur's body and carried him out of the nest. We had to be fast before the poison spread through our bodies and killed us. If that happened, everything would be meaningless.
Just as we were about to escape, I felt my leg being grabbed, and we were pulled down.
Amid the roaring flames, it stood up, laughing horribly. The lizard monster still refused to yield. My vision blurred, and my body grew weak.
"You bastard, so you want us to die with you?"
CK. CK. CK.
The last thing I remembered before losing consciousness was its flaming tail being swung overhead and my heartbeat accelerating. Its laughter filled my ears as I saw its body melting, revealing that only its skin had been burning. That was why my flames had no effect on it.
Thump. Thump.
'Ah, shit. Here we go again.'