Chapter 104: Escape from Certain Death 1

“AOOH! AOOH!”

The Hellhound had already sensed the prey that had injured it.

It let out an excited roar and charged toward the two figures only a short distance ahead.

“Damn it... this is supposed to be the way out?”

Kent carefully examined the ground and felt his scalp go numb.

The Earth Lizard’s tracks led straight to the edge of the cliff.

That could only mean one thing.

It had jumped from here.

Kent did not dare act rashly.

Standing at the edge, he leaned forward and studied the cliff face as carefully as he could.

At last, he noticed something.

Below and slightly to the left was a tiny stone ledge.

It was less than a square meter in size.

Had Kent not noticed the smooth marks left behind by animals repeatedly crawling over its surface, he would never have realized that this insignificant protrusion was the Earth Lizard’s escape route.

But even after finding it, Kent could only grit his teeth in frustration.

The ledge was positioned diagonally below them.

If he jumped with too much force, his momentum might carry him straight over it and into the seemingly bottomless abyss below.

If he did not jump hard enough, he would never reach it at all.

Yet if this was not the escape route, then how had the Earth Lizard avoided being hunted down by the Hellhound?

Kent closed his eyes for a moment.

Then he began stripping himself of everything unnecessary.

He threw away almost all of his belongings and used his own clothes to bind Daphne tightly against his back.

Fortunately, she was only unconscious.

But once the fabric tightened around her, more blood began to seep from her wound.

Kent had no choice.

There was only one path left.

Anything weighing him down could mean death.

With a painful reluctance, he even discarded his beloved alchemical pouch, keeping only a few mithril coins and some gold.

“HAH!”

Kent did not even look back at the Hellhound, which was now only a few meters away.

He pushed off with all his remaining strength.

His body flew toward the tiny ledge two meters away.

“BANG!”

Kent landed.

He did not even dare blink.

But immediately, he realized he had used too much force.

If he did nothing, the momentum would carry him straight across the ledge and into the abyss.

At the instant his feet touched stone, Kent threw himself violently toward the rock wall on his left.

His entire body slammed into it.

Had he been alone, he could simply have taken the impact with his back.

But Daphne was still strapped there.

So Kent had no choice but to take the full collision himself.

“AAAAAH!”

Agonizing pain tore a scream from his throat.

Yet instead of despairing, Kent almost felt relieved.

The pain was so intense that it kept him conscious.

His shoulder had gone completely numb.

It was probably broken as well.

Kent forced himself to look around.

Only then did he realize that the ledge actually led into another passage.

The tunnel sloped downward at an angle.

There was no time to investigate further.

Kent quickly lowered Daphne from his back and checked her condition.

His expression changed instantly.

She had fallen into a deep coma.

Her breathing was faint.

Her face was frighteningly pale.

Kent immediately tore open the clothing across her back.

Then he conjured a Water Ball and used it to clean the wound.

The moment he saw the injury clearly, his heart tightened.

The flesh around it had already begun to rot.

That was the poisonous effect of the Hellhound’s teeth.

Strangely enough, the decay had also helped stop the bleeding.

Kent did not know whether to call that fortune or disaster.

He could only continue summoning Water Balls and washing the wound again and again.

The injury stretched almost completely across Daphne’s back.

It was far worse than he had imagined.

After casting Water Ball several times to clean Daphne’s wound, Kent immediately began using light-element healing magic on her.

It was not that he did not want to use Water Healing.

Water-element healing simply worked more slowly, while light-element healing produced much faster results.

Kent cast more than a dozen healing spells in succession.

Most of their power was used to purge the poison from Daphne’s body.

One of the valuable properties of light-element healing magic was its ability to neutralize toxins.

Under the repeated treatment, the horrific wound across Daphne’s back gradually closed.

Before long, the torn flesh had completely healed.

Only a long red mark remained, where tender new flesh had grown over the injury.

Even then, Kent was still uneasy.

He reached down beside his boot and took out a tiny crystal vial.

Inside were the last two drops of Water of Life left over from when he had planted the breadfruit tree.

Kent carefully fed one drop to Daphne.

He had studied light-element magic before and discovered that much of its healing power came from stimulating the body’s own life potential.

That was why people treated with light magic often became weak and listless for a period afterward.

Daphne had already lost far too much blood.

Kent was afraid that even though her wound had healed, something might still go wrong.

The thought of using up a drop of Water of Life made his heart ache.

But when Daphne’s life was at stake, he did not hesitate.

The moment the drop entered her mouth, her breathing immediately became steadier.

A faint trace of color returned to her pale face.

She still did not wake, but her condition was clearly much more stable.

Kent carefully put away the crystal vial.

Only one precious drop remained.

Then he finally turned his attention to himself.

Kent slowly reset the broken bones in his arm and shoulder, gritting his teeth through the pain.

Afterward, he cast several Water Healing spells.

Roughly ten minutes later, his injuries had mostly recovered.

His body was functional again, though his mind still felt deeply exhausted from everything he had endured.

Kent gently lifted Daphne into his arms and carried her deeper into the passage.

He could still clearly hear the Hellhound roaring in the distance.

Its enormous body could never fit onto such a tiny ledge, but Kent had no intention of gambling his life on that alone.

There was no guarantee the creature would not simply attack with magic.

Safety came first.

Kent had absolutely no desire to be roasted alive by a Fire Dragon spell.

He moved forward cautiously, constantly examining the darkness around him.

He had no idea where he was.

He did not know where the passage led.

Everything ahead was unknown.

After walking for a while, Kent began to feel the consequences of the ordeal.

His entire body ached.

His muscles felt heavy and exhausted.

At some point, even the strange cool current that had been rising from the soles of his feet had disappeared.

But Kent did not dare sleep.

Who knew what sort of magical beasts might be hiding in this place?

“Which way should I go?”

Eventually, Kent reached another fork in the passage.

Three paths stretched out before him.

He immediately ruled out the one marked by Earth Lizard tracks.

The last thing he wanted was to run straight into the entire Earth Lizard pack again.

That left two possible routes.

Kent thought for a while, then decided not to choose either one yet.

He needed rest more than anything.

The junction opened into a relatively spacious cavern, and after examining it carefully, Kent felt that it was probably safe enough for the moment.

A large pack of Earth Lizards had only recently passed through this area.

Any ordinary beasts—or weaker magical beasts—would most likely have already been frightened away.

More importantly, Kent was simply too exhausted to continue.

He found a shallow recess in the stone wall and gently laid Daphne inside.

Then he drew a finely forged steel dagger from beside his boot and began digging through the loose earth and stones nearby.

He was looking for a particular kind of underground larva.

These creatures were extremely rich in protein, and each one was nearly as thick as a human thumb.

“...Twelve.”

Kent examined his harvest.

“Barely enough.”

He conjured another Water Ball and carefully washed the twelve nameless larvae.

He knew perfectly well what they normally fed on.

The droppings of wild beasts and magical beasts.

The thought alone was enough to ruin anyone’s appetite.

Kent certainly did not want to eat them.

But under the circumstances, he had little choice.

He roasted the larvae with a Fireball until they were thoroughly cooked.

Then he closed his eyes, hardened his heart, and took the first bite.

A moment later, Kent opened his eyes in surprise.

“Damn... these actually taste pretty good.”

He quickly finished the rest.

Kent had originally learned about these larvae from the kobolds.

At the time, he had only remembered the information out of curiosity.

He had never imagined that one day it would actually help keep him alive.

Now, sitting in the darkness of an unknown underground passage, Kent could only admit one thing.

Knowing a little more about the world was never a bad thing.

After eating his fill, Kent finally recovered a little of his strength.

With no better option, he bent down to carry Daphne on his back again.

But the moment his hands touched her, Daphne’s body gave a faint tremble.

Kent’s heart immediately lifted.

He realized that she was probably awake, but he said nothing and simply hoisted her onto his back as though he had noticed nothing.

“Daphne, are you awake?”

After walking a few steps, Kent finally asked.

In truth, he had already noticed that her heartbeat had suddenly quickened.

“I... where are we?”

Daphne struggled down from his back, then lowered her head as she asked the question.

“Heh. I don’t know where we are either.”

Kent stepped back slightly, giving her some space, and smiled.

“But at least we’re safe now.”

Seeing Kent smiling and apparently uninjured—though admittedly looking rather battered and miserable—Daphne finally relaxed.

Then she quickly asked,

“What happened to that huge monster?”

“It ran away. Its mother called it home for dinner.”

Kent did not want her to worry, so he deliberately answered with a playful joke.

He even winked at her after saying it.

“Giggle... giggle...”

Daphne burst into laughter.

Kent stared at her blankly for a moment before realizing that his ridiculous joke had actually worked.

But as Daphne bent forward laughing, part of her already badly torn clothing slipped loose.

After healing her earlier, Kent had used strips of cloth to tie together the torn fabric across her back as best he could.

Strictly speaking, during the treatment he had only seen Daphne’s smooth, pale back and part of her rounded backside.

Well...

He had touched her too.

But at the time, one of Kent’s arms had been broken, his shoulder had gone completely numb, and the pain had been so intense that he had nearly passed out.

Under those circumstances, how could he possibly have been paying attention to what anything felt like?