Chapter: 134
Lian had found quite a bit of amusement in tossing the orb he was holding into the air, then catching it over and over again. Meanwhile, the old man, clutching at his heart, slumped to the ground.
“Gah, gahhh!”
It felt like the dizzying sensation you get from bungee jumping off a tall building!
Despite his feet being firmly planted on the ground, he felt as if he were floating in the sky, endlessly rising and falling. The old man’s face went pale, as if he had just come out of a face painting contest gone wrong.
Seeing the old man’s flailing on the ground was quite the gruesome sight, but for Pia, it was the perfect opportunity. She dashed over to the kids and began shaking them awake. If she could, she’d have scooped them all up and run away, but there were four kiddos sprawled out in a faint, which was practically impossible to manage alone.
“Ugh…?”
Fortunately, the kids began to stir, furrowing their brows one by one.
“Pia unni?”
“Where are we…?”
“Mommy…?”
“Wahhh…”
The Nest organization kids had seen their fair share of horrors and remained calm, but the village kids were petrified by the musty, foul-smelling darkness of the cave. Despite trying to keep quiet, their cries echoed off the cave walls like a sad, screeching symphony.
Pia quickly covered their mouths and gestured for silence. The Nest kids nodded stiffly, while the village kids clasped their hands over their mouths in wide-eyed agreement.
Pia turned her attention back to the old man, who was still face-down on the ground, clutching his chest. As she watched him writhe in agony, the kids nervously scanned their surroundings.
Then, they spotted something.
“Eek…!”
In a dim corner where light barely reached, they saw a black prison. Inside lay tiny skeletons and rotting bits of flesh that were still in the stages of decomposition.
One child turned to stare, freezing in horror, and the rest followed suit, their bodies rigid with fear.
“Uagh… bleh!”
One daring child couldn’t hold back their nausea and turned away, wretching. All that came up was the bitter bile from an empty stomach. Meanwhile, Pia realized the exit and turned to the kids urgently.
“Come here, kids!”
She lined them up in a row, placing herself at the back, and pointed towards a passage where faint light was trickling in.
“If we go through that passage straight ahead, we can get outside. If we stay calm, no one will get hurt. Got it?”
Maybe it was her steady voice, but the frightened kids quickly calmed down. Just as they nodded and prepared to move forward.
“Gah, Gahhh…”
The old man, curled up and shrieking, suddenly gasped for air and slumped down as if his suffering had ended.
Just then, Lian, tired of playing with the orb, carelessly dropped it onto the pedestal.
“Run!”
Pia, catching a whiff of the situation, raised her voice, prompting the kids to bolt ahead. Lian followed the children, but glanced back. The old man was rising unsteadily. The sword in his hand glimmered with a blue light.
“Gahhh… geez…”
The old man was gasping and fumbling over his chest.
‘Intruder… an intruder has entered!’
That once-kind face was nowhere to be found, replaced by a grotesque mask as he looked down at his own body.
‘I have to get to the dungeon right away. I need to go grab my heart…!’
As he was thinking this, he suddenly turned rigid, scanning his surroundings. He saw Pia and the children running away.
‘That girl can’t be let go!’
No matter how magical the old man was, there was no way he could withstand a swarm of guards. Getting his head chopped off or stabbed in the chest with a knife was one thing; after all, his heart was in the dungeon!
If he got buried, he could just dig himself out, and if dumped somewhere, he would just have to take care of his own body. Then he could retrieve the dungeon and find a brand-new village to start all over again.
But if the existence of his heart was revealed, he’d be burned alive, or they’d try to raid the dungeon. This dungeon was more than tough enough for the guards or villagers to clear, and knights from the empire might even come.
Regardless, if the secret leaked out, the old man was likely a goner. He began to stagger forward.
Thud… thud, thud!
His once-slow pace suddenly picked up like a bolt of lightning!
Thud.
A strange symbol appeared around his ankle. A devilish mark, granting him a speed beyond human capability, but it left his ankle appearing strangled and stained red.
As long as his heart remained intact, his body could return to its original state, and by munching on the woman and kiddos in front of him, he could quickly heal any wounds.
“Sweetheart?”
Despite his ghastly expression, the old man’s voice was oddly sweet.
“The outside is dangerous! Come here quickly!”
Pia, sweating bullets, bit her lip. No matter how fast she ran, the kiddos in front would be slow.
The old man’s voice chased after her like a persistent shadow.
“I’m, talking, to you, you know, aaa!”
“…! Aaaaah!”
Just as the old man’s glimmering blade closed in, Pia’s legs gave way, and she fell to the ground. The scythe-like motion came at her like a snake ready to strike.
Crack!
Just as Pia’s neck was about to meet its severing end, the sword suddenly slipped and got lodged into the cave wall. The power of divine strength was at play. Pia gulped, looking up at the old man.
Was it the sheer terror of running madly, or was she just losing her nerve? Her legs were quaking uncontrollably.
“Unni!”
“Sister!”
“…! Kids, run away!”
At Pia’s desperate shout, the leading child burst into tears.
“There’s… a wall… this, this is a wall… waahhh!”
“What does that mean…?”
The child’s wailing echoed throughout the cave. The old man chuckled grimly.
“Well, aren’t you all just trapped like rats now?”
With a sickening crunch, the old man’s left wrist twisted grotesquely. It was the price of forcing the devil’s power to erect a wall blocking their way. But he had no regrets.
Seeing the old man’s monstrous demeanor, some kids crumpled to the ground, crying. Some even wet themselves in fear. In the face of such overwhelming terror, all Pia could do was cling to her deity.
“Lian… please grant me salvation…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll send you on without pain.”
The old man mistook Pia’s strong divine aura for a call to the dark fantasy deity, and he showed a merciful face. Concerned for his own heart, which seemed on the verge of exploding, he immediately lifted his sword.
“Go to the side of the divine!”
Just as the sword was about to pierce Pia once more.
Rumble, clunk… smash!
“Ah..!”
While examining some contraption on the altar, Lian ended up accidentally dropping the orb. With its fragile durability, it cracked upon hitting the floor, shattering into numerous pieces.
Whoooooooosh!
As soon as the old man’s heart shattered, the magic he’d placed began to unravel one by one, dimming the bright light that filled the room until it became pitch dark. Simultaneously, a rumbling sound began, as if the dungeon was collapsing.
“Yikes! It’s… it’s collapsing!”
Lian covered his head with his hands and frantically scanned for a way out.
‘Isn’t there supposed to be a portal leading to the entrance once I reach the end of the dungeon?!’
Despite his inner complaints, his eyes diligently searched for a potential escape.
“…! There!”
On one of the glowing blue walls was a small door. Lian wasted no time in opening it and slipping inside.
“What… is this… a tunnel?”
Bending slightly to get through, he found a path that seemed to stretch on like an endless corridor.
Rumble, thump…
“Yikes! Let’s get out of here!”
If he got buried alive in here, it would take ages to escape. Lian quickly sprinted down the passage.
After running up a few inclines, he finally spotted a flickering light in the distance. Without hesitation, he hurled himself towards it.
Bam!
“Yikes!”
The door burst open and Lian tumbled across the ground, rolling a couple of times before crashing into something. Gathering his wits, he scanned the area.
“What’s… this place?”
He stood amidst densely grown trees, overlooking a village in the distance, standing on what seemed to be a back mountain.
‘Hmm… First, I need to get back to the village… ah.’
It suddenly dawned on Lian that he was nearly naked! His clothes, torn in multiple places, were barely recognizable.
‘Phew… if I had just gone back to the village like this, I would’ve been dragged off by the guards for sure.’
Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, he summoned the Magic Sword.
[ Partner, it’s way past dinner time….. Hmm? ]
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