Chapter 95: Run!!!

Chapter 95: Chapter 95: Run!!!

Thanks Jack_Blackshadow for the golden ticket.

.....

For several seconds, neither moved.

Kenny groaned.

"My back..."

Tolu pushed himself upright.

"Are you hurt?"

"I don’t think so."

Kenny sat up and looked around.

They were no longer outside.

They had fallen into a cavern.

The walls rose several meters around them, covered in dark stone and tangled roots.

A faint blue glow came from crystals embedded in the walls.

Tolu looked upward.

The hole they had fallen through was far above.

"We’re underground."

Kenny stared upward.

"Obviously."

Tolu gave him a look.

Kenny rubbed his back.

"Sorry."

Tolu stood and brushed dirt from his clothes.

"Can you climb?"

Kenny looked at the walls.

"Maybe."

He walked toward one side and examined the rock.

"It’s too steep."

Tolu looked around.

"There has to be another way out."

Kenny nodded.

"Probably."

They began exploring the cavern.

It wasn’t very large, but it stretched farther than Tolu had initially thought.

A narrow passage disappeared into darkness at the far end.

Kenny walked toward it.

"Maybe that leads back up."

Tolu followed.

They entered the passage.

The walls narrowed around them.

After a few dozen meters, the passage opened into another cavern.

This one was much larger.

A faint underground stream flowed through the center.

Tolu stopped.

Kenny looked at it.

"An underground water source."

Tolu nodded.

There were plants growing around the water.

Small ones.

Strange ones.

Some had pale leaves that seemed to glow faintly.

Kenny immediately became interested.

"Those might be worth something."

They approached carefully.

Kenny crouched beside one of the plants.

"I’ve never seen this species before."

Tolu looked at it.

"That’s good, right?"

"Not necessarily."

Kenny examined the leaves without touching them.

"If nobody knows what it is, we don’t know what it’s worth or whether it’s dangerous."

Tolu nodded.

They decided not to harvest it.

Instead, they followed the stream.

It led deeper into the cavern.

The further they went, the stronger the energy became.

Tolu could feel something.

Not a creature.

Something in the rock.

He placed his hand against the cavern wall.

"There."

Kenny looked at him.

"What?"

"Something is inside the stone."

Tolu focused his earth affinity.

He could sense a cluster of minerals several meters beneath the surface.

He looked at Kenny.

"Help me dig."

Kenny grinned.

"Now that’s something I can do."

They began removing the loose rock.

Slowly, a crystal formation emerged.

Unlike the dull energy stones they had collected earlier, these crystals were clear with faint blue light pulsing inside them.

Kenny’s eyes widened.

"Those are..."

He carefully wiped dirt from one.

"Spirit Crystals."

"Valuable?"

"Very."

Kenny’s excitement was obvious.

"Not the rarest thing in the world, but these are definitely worth good money. They’re used in artifacts, formations, and some cultivation techniques."

Tolu examined the deposit.

"How much?"

Kenny looked at the formation.

"If the quality is consistent..."

He calculated silently.

"Maybe one hundred gold. More if we find a buyer who knows what they’re doing."

Tolu smiled.

Their detour had already paid off.

But Kenny suddenly shook his head.

"We shouldn’t take everything."

Tolu looked at him.

"Why?"

"The deposit is still growing."

Kenny pointed toward the deeper section of the rock.

"You can see the newer crystals forming."

Tolu examined them.

He hadn’t noticed before.

The crystal wasn’t simply sitting there.

It was growing.

"If we harvest only the mature ones, the formation can continue producing."

Tolu nodded.

They carefully removed the largest mature crystals while leaving the younger ones untouched.

Once they finished, Kenny looked at the small collection they had gathered.

"This is already worth more than everything we collected earlier."

Tolu looked toward the passage they had entered through.

"We should find our way back."

Kenny nodded.

"Definitely."

They turned around.

Then Tolu stopped.

He felt it again.

This time, it wasn’t coming from the rock.

Something was moving.

Kenny noticed his expression.

"What?"

Tolu slowly reached for his hammer.

"We aren’t alone."

The underground stream continued flowing.

The blue crystals continued glowing.

And somewhere deeper inside the cavern, something scratched against stone.

The scratching sound came again.

Closer this time.

Kenny’s hand tightened around his sword.

Tolu slowly raised his hammer.

Neither of them spoke.

The sound stopped.

For a moment, there was only the gentle flow of the underground stream.

Then something moved beyond the crystals.

A large shadow slid across the cavern wall.

Tolu’s eyes narrowed.

Something was coming.

It emerged from the darkness.

At first glance, Tolu thought it was a serpent.

Then it moved closer.

It wasn’t.

The creature had a long, segmented body, but its shape was far thicker than that of any snake. Its body was covered in overlapping plates of dark grey armor, each plate shaped almost like a flattened stone. Thin lines of pale blue energy ran between the plates, pulsing slowly with every movement.

It had no visible legs.

Instead, several pairs of short, powerful fins protruded from along its lower body.

They weren’t true limbs.

They were more like broad, clawed flaps that pressed against the ground whenever it moved, allowing the creature to push itself forward with surprising speed.

Its head was the most disturbing part.

It was broad and wedge-shaped, with a mouth that opened vertically instead of horizontally.

Four curved teeth protruded from the upper portion of its jaw, while several smaller teeth filled the sides of its mouth.

There were no visible ears.

No nose.

Only two narrow, glowing eyes positioned high on its head.

And beneath those eyes were several thin openings that pulsed as the creature breathed.

Tolu felt the creature’s energy.

His expression changed.

"Kenny."

"I feel it."

Kenny swallowed.

"What rank?"

Tolu stared at the creature.

"Peak Advanced."

Kenny’s face went pale.

Neither of them needed further explanation.

They couldn’t beat it.

Not here.

Not together.

The creature’s head suddenly turned toward them.

Its glowing eyes fixed on Tolu.

Then it opened its mouth.

A deep vibrating sound rolled through the cavern.

Kenny whispered.

"Does it know we’re here?"

Tolu didn’t answer.

The creature lunged.

"Run!"

They sprinted.

Tolu grabbed Kenny’s shoulder and pulled him toward the passage they had entered through.

They rounded the cavern wall.

Then stopped.

The creature had already reached the other side.

It moved far faster than its enormous body should have allowed.

Its head slammed down in front of the passage.

Stone exploded.

The creature had blocked their escape.

Kenny stumbled backward.

"It’s blocking the way!"

"I know."

Tolu looked around desperately.

The cavern was too open.

There weren’t many places to hide.

The creature’s body stretched across the passage like a living wall.

Tolu’s eyes moved rapidly.

Water.

Rocks.

Crystals.

Roots.

Another passage?

He couldn’t see one.

The creature slowly lifted its head.

Its mouth opened.

"Move!"

Tolu shoved Kenny sideways.

A blast of compressed air and dust tore through the space where they had been standing.

The impact shattered several crystals behind them.

They dropped behind a large boulder.

The stone trembled from the force of the attack.

Kenny breathed heavily.

"That wasn’t a normal attack."

"No."

Tolu peered around the edge.

The creature was slowly advancing.

Its plated body scraped against the stone floor.

"What do we do?"

"Think."

Tolu looked toward the blocked passage.

They couldn’t overpower it.

They couldn’t outrun it.

And the cavern was too enclosed to simply keep running.

The creature suddenly charged again.

Tolu pushed Kenny down.

The creature slammed into the boulder.

CRACK!

The massive rock split.

Tolu and Kenny rolled away just before the stone collapsed.

Kenny grabbed his sword.

"Can we hurt it?"

Tolu looked at the creature.

"I don’t know."

He raised his hammer.

"We’re going to find out."

Kenny nodded.

The creature came again.

Tolu stepped out from behind the rocks and swung his hammer.

The hammer struck the creature’s armored head.

BOOM!

The impact made Tolu’s arms shake.

But the creature barely moved.

Its head turned toward him.

Tolu’s eyes widened.

"That did nothing."

The creature opened its mouth.

Tolu immediately ran.

A wave of force slammed into the ground behind him.

Kenny rushed out from behind another rock and slashed at one of the creature’s exposed joints.

His sword struck.

A thin line of blood appeared.

The creature twisted violently.

Kenny’s eyes widened.

"I hurt it!"

"You barely scratched it!"

"I know!"

The creature’s tail whipped across the cavern.

Kenny ducked.

The massive tail smashed into the rock behind him.

Fragments of stone flew everywhere.

Tolu grabbed Kenny and dragged him behind another boulder.

They crouched there, breathing heavily.

The creature circled them.

It knew they were hiding.

But the rocks prevented it from attacking them directly.

For now.

Tolu looked around.

They couldn’t stay here.

The creature would eventually destroy every rock in the cavern.

He studied the ground.

The underground stream.

The crystal deposit.

The roots hanging from the ceiling.

The narrow cracks between the rocks.

His eyes stopped on the stream.

"Kenny."

"What?"

"How deep is that water?"

Kenny looked toward it.

"I don’t know."

"Could we escape through it?"

Kenny stared at the stream.

"You mean swim?"

"Maybe."

He shook his head.

"Maybe it leads somewhere."

"Or maybe it leads into the creature’s nest."

Tolu looked back at the beast.

"Still better than staying here."

The creature slammed into another boulder.

The stone cracked.

Kenny grimaced.

"We need another plan."

Tolu nodded.

His eyes moved across the cavern again.

The crystals.

The stream.

The rock formations.

The ceiling.

The roots.

There had to be something.

A way out.

A weakness.

Anything.

The creature suddenly stopped.

Its head turned toward them.

Tolu froze.

It had found them again.

"Run!"

They burst from behind the rocks.

The creature charged.

Tolu swung his hammer at the ground.

Stone erupted beneath the creature’s body.

For an instant, its movement was disrupted.

"Now!"

They sprinted toward the stream.

The creature recovered almost immediately.

Its body whipped around.

Tolu and Kenny reached the water.

They stopped.

The stream disappeared beneath a low opening in the cavern wall.

It was barely large enough for a person to crawl through.

Kenny stared at it.

"That might be our way out."

Behind them, the creature roared.

Tolu looked back.

The beast was already coming.

"Then we don’t have a choice."

Kenny nodded.

Tolu pointed toward the opening.

"You first."

Kenny crouched and entered.

Tolu followed.

The creature slammed into the rock behind them.

The entire passage shook.

Tolu crawled faster.

Stone scraped against his armor.

Cold water soaked through his clothes.

Behind him came another violent impact.

The creature was trying to break through.

Tolu looked ahead.

The passage continued into darkness.

He couldn’t see where it led.

But it was their only option.

"Keep moving!"

Kenny disappeared deeper into the tunnel.

Tolu followed.

Behind them, the creature roared again.

The sound echoed through the narrow passage.

And then the rocks above them began to crack.