Chapter 602: Descending from the Sky
Chapter 602: Descending from the Sky
"Mil, how long has it been?"
"Miss, it's been about two days," Mil replied.
In the flickering firelight of the mine tunnel, Vivian was conversing with Mil.
The two days they were referring to was not the time since they encountered the earthquake and became trapped underground.
Instead, it was the time since their last escape from the attackers!
The soldiers from the Forest Capital and the local residents of the mine tunnels had been trapped in the pitch-black underground for a long time.
Their food supplies were almost depleted.
They hadn't given up on finding a way out, but after the monsters blocked their path that day, they didn't stop pursuing the people in the darkness. Instead, they continued searching and hunting them down in the mine tunnels.
The two sides were vastly unequal in strength.
Vivian attempted to dig through the weak point of the second mine tunnel.
But each time, before they could dig very deep, the monsters would quickly arrive, halting their self-rescue attempts and forcing them to retreat to other areas.
This chase and escape continued.
In the darkness, their mental fortitude gradually reached its limits, and their sense of time became blurred.
Ironically, the food they had prepared at the beginning became the yardstick they used to measure time in their state of extremity.
"Two days."
"We dug about half a meter in the last attempt, so the distance to the surface should be... should be..."
Vivian tried to organize her thoughts.
Even in this desperate situation, she still refused to give up.
So, for the past few days, in addition to using the terrain to outmaneuver the monsters, every time she gained some time, she would return to the second mine tunnel and dig outward from the weak spot, gradually reducing the distance between them and the outside world.
But by now, her young body couldn't handle the workload anymore.
Just thinking about it made her feel sleepy.
"Miss Vivian, why don't you take a rest first?"
At this moment, you're the one who cares about me the most."
Mil, deeply concerned about the child, spoke up:
"We all know what to do during this time, but you're just too tired!"
If it were before, Vivian would have definitely refused.
But after enduring the torment of being underground for so long, her mental state had reached a point of numbness.
Mil's words felt like a hammer striking her at the back of her head.
The young girl leaned forward, and before falling into a deep sleep, or perhaps a state of unconsciousness, she could only mumble:
"Mil, you must, you must protect everyone."
"We have to get out."
"..."
Mil held Vivian, who had slumped into his arms.
He exchanged a glance with Redstone, their emotions palpable.
The two of them, one an Awakened member of the team and the other a trusted companion of Vivian's, had developed a strong bond during their life-and-death escape.
They looked around at the rest of the team.
The prolonged ordeal had blurred the lines between them.
Excluding the injured, the Forest Capital soldiers and the mine tunnel residents had each lost about a third of their numbers, an absolute devastating loss.
Redstone sighed:
"From now on, it's up to us."
Mil also smiled bitterly and said:
"Let's just stick to our usual plan."
"But speaking of which, what are those monsters all about?"
"We've been using every available moment, but they seem to never need rest. They catch up to us every time after a certain interval?"
Redstone smiled bitterly in response:
"If I knew what these things were, I would never have chosen to live here!"
"..."
"......."
Vivian woke up from a long coma.
Upon waking, she felt parched and her stomach rumbled with hunger and thirst.
At the same time, distant memories resurfaced in her mind.
It was the memory of the attack on the Aro Camp, where an Awakened had continuously drained her life with their skills, and then she was trapped underground, facing only darkness and despair.
But then, a figure emerged, pushing away the rubble and allowing sunlight to shine on her face once again.
"..."
"No, we can't give up hope."
Vivian struggled to open her eyes. The flickering torchlight illuminated her surroundings, and she realized where she was.
They were in the second mine tunnel, the closest to the surface, and the site of their excavation. But the scene before her was different from what she had imagined.
The people nearby were drowsy, and only faint, intermittent tapping sounds came from the direction of the excavation.
"Ugh..."
Vivian struggled to get up. As she tried to speak, her gaze fixed on the darkness in the distance.
The young girl's hair stood on end, and the cold sweat made her fully awake.
In the pitch-black tunnel, unseen by anyone, twisted figures were approaching from within.
Those were the monsters!
But due to extreme fatigue, no one reacted to their presence.
Instead, the monsters in the darkness held back their attacks, slowly surrounding the group.
At this moment, the escape route behind them, the way they had dug to reach the surface, had become their only path to death!
"..."
"Everyone, wake up! The enemies are here!"
Vivian's hoarse voice called out to the others.
Redstone and Mil, the elite warriors, immediately rushed over and entered combat mode.
However, most of the others only showed expressions of despair, some even feeling a sense of relief as if they had been spared.
Most people chose to silently accept their fate.
"You..."
Vivian looked around, wanting to encourage them, but she didn't know how to awaken their will to survive from the depths of despair.
Or even if they were awakened, where could they escape to now?
Crack!
Just at this moment of ultimate despair.
The tunnel, which they had been unable to break through, suddenly had a section of its ceiling collapse, revealing a perfectly square block extending from the wall above.
And the way this opening was created was different; it was not the result of their digging.
"..."
The light from outside illuminated the darkness.
The people, accustomed to the torchlight, were momentarily blinded by the sunlight.
But the soldiers from the Banyan Grove understood the situation through this image.
It was a tool given by the Lord that caused this phenomenon.
In the darkest hour, help had arrived from the outside world!
The next second, the square cave expanded.
But what appeared was not the human reinforcements they had expected. Instead, it was a group of terrifying, hideous insect monsters!
"Mutated Scabbardbugs!"
Vivian instantly recognized their identity.
Looking at her other companions, who were on edge, the girl spoke up:
"Don't be nervous! These are the Insect Tribe! They're on our side!"
More Mutated Scabbardbugs kept descending from the newly opened cave, forming a barrier between Vivian and the monsters.
Under the control of the Insect Hive, the Mutated Scabbardbugs were cold and ruthless.
Facing the twisted monsters, they didn't need to think; they directly pounced, and their mantis-like scythes effortlessly sliced their enemies into pieces.
Within a few breaths, the Mutated Scabbardbugs had driven back the monsters, even pursuing them into the darkness.
"..."
The sudden shift from despair to hope was so abrupt.
Many people, even after regaining their vision, lost their ability to speak for a moment.
It was then that a human voice echoed from above the cave:
"Hey! What's going on down there? Someone needs medical attention, right?"
As the voice called out, Lindsey descended from above.
He showed concern for their situation while simultaneously stepping on a monster's corpse, his Appraisal skill activated.
[Corpse: Erosion]
[A corpse thoroughly infected by Corrupting Venom. The rotten flesh is toxic and holds almost no value.]
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
