Chapter 167: Setting Out
Ryan rubbed at his brow.
Hopefully, he was only overthinking things.
What were they supposed to do next? They had spent the whole day wandering around this damned place, and all they had found was forest and swamp. The forest was filled with those silver-gray trees, all of them identical, so that if you walked long enough, you were bound to get lost. The swamp was full of those black monsters, endless and impossible to wipe out.
And after finally killing one of the big ones, a hole had appeared.
A hole leading underground.
Those steps stretched downward, vanishing into the dark, with no telling where they led. But it was obviously an entrance, one that had only appeared after that toad was defeated. Just like a stage in a ga: beat the boss, and only then could you move on to the next level.
Except this was not a ga.
Would there be even more dangerous monsters below, or sothing else entirely?
Ryan thought of what Syl had said.
“An Elf could never exist in a place like this.”
“If it used to be pure, but later sothing happened… then whatever happened must have been terrifying.”
This forest, this swamp, those black monsters, and that hole—
What did any of it have to do with the Elves?
Ryan could not make sense of it.
He lifted his head and looked up through the gaps in the canopy. The sky was fully dark now, but there were no stars to be seen, only a bottomless stretch of blackness.
A log in the fire cracked again, sparks jumping out and dying almost at once when they hit the ground.
He lowered his eyes and looked at the wounds on his body. None of them were serious, but they needed ti to heal. Rex and Lillian were in worse shape than he was. Those two had nearly died here today. If they went into that hole tomorrow, it would be far too risky.
But if they waited too long, would the people who had already gone in claim whatever lay below before they ever got there?
Ryan thought of Parker, of Vincent, of all those people who were desperate enough to risk their lives for the ruin.
They would not wait.
He drew in a deep breath.
Forget it. He would deal with it tomorrow.
Ryan leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes.
The fire was still burning, crackling softly.
Rex’s snoring rolled out of the tent like distant thunder.
Lillian’s tent was silent.
Listening to those sounds, Ryan gradually relaxed.
He would take the first half of the night watch. Lillian would relieve him for the second half.
That still left ti to sleep for a while.
He closed his eyes, and his awareness slowly sank.
Nothing happened that night.
When Ryan opened his eyes again, dawn had already co. Gray, muted light spilled through the gaps in the canopy and fell across the tents and the ashes of the fire. The flas had long since died, leaving only a heap of blackened charcoal giving off thin wisps of white smoke.
Rex’s snoring was still going strong.
There was movent from Lillian’s tent—she was awake.
Ryan sat up and rolled his stiff neck. He had only managed a few uneasy hours of sleep while leaning against the tree during his watch, but it had been enough to count as rest. The swelling on his right hand had almost completely gone down, leaving only a faint pinkness behind, and the claw marks on his arm had scabbed over and no longer hurt much.
He took a sip from his waterskin.
Lillian crawled out of her tent with her hair in disarray and yesterday’s mud and blood still streaking her clothes. When she saw that Ryan was already awake, she paused for a mont, then turned her face away.
“Morning,” Ryan said.
“Mm.” Lillian answered and walked over to the firepit, crouching down to look at the ashes. “Should we light it again?”
“No.” Ryan rose to his feet. “We won’t need it during the day.”
A muffled thud ca from Rex’s tent, followed by his yelp.
“Ow—!”
The corner of Lillian’s mouth twitched, but she held back her laughter.
Rex crawled out of the tent, rubbing the spot on his head where he had smacked into the tent pole, still half dazed. “Morn… morning… Is it light already?”
“It is,” Ryan said.
Rex blanked out for two seconds, then suddenly rembered sothing and looked down at the wound at his waist. He lifted his shirt to check it and grinned. “Hey! It’s almost healed! Miss, your dicine really works!”
Lillian rolled her eyes at him. “That was my dicine, not your young lady’s dicine.”
Rex scratched his head. “Isn’t that the sa thing?”
Lillian could not be bothered to answer. She turned and went to fetch her pack.
After a simple bit of tidying up, the three of them sat around a fallen tree trunk and started on breakfast.
Rex pulled out a strip of jerky from his pack and bit into it. The at was hard as stone, and he chewed until his cheeks puffed out before finally managing to swallow.
“This stuff is really tough,” he muttered.
Lillian said nothing, nibbling at a biscuit in small bites. It was hard too, though not as bad as the jerky. She ate slowly, chewing each mouthful for a long ti, as though she were counting them.
Ryan took out several energy tonics from his pack. They were an alchemical product, each in a small vial, enough to sustain soone through half a day’s exertion. He handed one to Lillian and one to Rex.
“Drink this,” he said. “Save the rations.”
Lillian accepted hers, looked at the milky-white liquid inside, and frowned before taking a cautious sip. The taste was odd—sowhat sweet, yet also bitter. As she swallowed, warmth spread through her stomach.
“What is this?”
“An energy tonic,” Ryan said. “The kind they teach you to make in Academy alchemy class.”
Rex knocked his back in one gulp and smacked his lips. “Doesn’t really taste like much.”
Lillian glared at him. “Why did you drink it that fast? You’re supposed to make it last!”
Rex scratched his head. “I was thirsty.”
As they ate, their eyes kept drifting toward the brook not far away.
The stream looked crystal clear, with fine sand and rounded pebbles lining its bed. You could see the water flowing, see the light shining through its surface and flickering over the sand below. But there was nothing alive in it—not a fish, not a shrimp, not anything at all.
Ryan watched the brook for a while, then looked away.
“We can’t drink that water,” he said.
Rex blinked. “Why not? It looks clean enough.”
“There’s nothing alive in it,” Ryan said. “No fish, no insects, nothing. This place isn’t normal. The water could be contaminated.”
Rex thought about it, then nodded. “That makes sense.”
Lillian said nothing, but she quietly tightened her grip on her waterskin.
After breakfast, the three of them started packing.
The tents were taken down, rolled up, and stuffed into their packs. The pouch of beast-repelling powder was empty, and Ryan tossed it into a corner of his bag. The used potion bottles had already been burned in the fire, leaving behind nothing but fragnts of glass.
Rex slung the greatsword over his back and rolled his shoulders. The wound at his waist had already scabbed over, and moving no longer hurt much.
“So we really are going into that hole?” he asked.
Ryan nodded.
“There could be more of those giant toads down there, right?”
“Possibly,” Ryan said. “Or sothing worse.”
Rex swallowed, then straightened his chest. “Then we’ll fight it together! Three people are still better than two!”
Lillian glanced at him and said nothing, though the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
Ryan slid the long blade back into place and checked over the gear on his body. He still had several potions left, enough rations for seven or eight more days, and everything in the spatial magic tool remained untouched. Those were his last-resort lifelines.
“Let’s go,” he said.
The three of them turned and headed toward the center of the swamp.
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