351 The Pulse of the Ground

Thales stayed for quite a while in the dark.

He composed himself before turning and carefully taking his leave in the darkness.

'What did that man mean?' Thales carefully felt around the ice-cold cavern wall beside him as he thought with a heavy heart. 'I just have to turn around to find the way out?

'But…'

Thales raised his head and stared at the darkness before his eyes. He felt extremely troubled, because he could practically see nothing.

Once he thought of the possibility that he might touch an unfamiliar head on the dark rock walls or suddenly see someone's stiff face, the prince felt his skin crawl, and he decided not to activate the Sin of Hell's River to find a path. He used both his hands and legs to feel the cavern wall beside him and the ground beneath his feet in an attempt to search his way out. He did not dare to relax at all.

But the Black Track was more perilous than what Thales had expected. He had only taken a few steps when he felt something strange beneath his feet!

*Rumble…*

There was the sound of rock tumbling down.

Shocked, Thales could not react at all. He felt the ground beneath his feet disappear. He screamed and lost his balance. His upper body tilted forward and he fell!

'What…?'

He knew that the situation was very bad for him right then, so he subconsciously hugged his head to his chest to prevent suffering more damage from the impact.

However, Thales' luck was clearly worse than that. Even though his elbows hit the ground, he could not stop his body from moving downwards at all. He was still slipping downwards because of inertia, and he even rolled forward!

'Shit!'

Thales thought while panic-stricken and in pain. 'This is even a damn slope!'

*Crack—*

The stones on the wall scratched him, and he collided non-stop against the rock formation. Thales covered his face and curled up like when he was beaten at the Abandoned House a long time ago, trying his best to avoid being injured from the tumbling.

In the darkness, the impact made his back ache, there were quite a lot of scratches on his knees and elbows, many parts of his clothes were torn from the abrasion with the coarse ground and a burning sensation spread through his entire body. Thales could not help but to curse the damned place again.

Finally, after rolling around for either six or sixteen times, the dizzy Thales finally stopped moving, though that came with a loud bang and an immense pain in his left elbow.

He crashed into a piece of flat ground that was not so hard.

"Damn it…"

Thales laid on the ground in the dark and moaned in pain.

'How in the world… do I go out?'

However, an airy, deep, cold and soft moan appeared in the pitch-black darkness. "Aaaaahhhhhh…"

Thales was rubbing the wound on his elbow, but when he heard this sound, his blood immediately ran cold!

"Who is it…?" the voice spoke falteringly and was completely without any sort of rhythm. It rang airily in the cavern, and was light and mysterious.

"Who disturbed my beauty sleep…?" These words traveled into his ears. They resembled the pants belonging to a person struggling to breathe before he or she died.

Thales felt a chill down his spine.

'It can't be?'

Thales exhaled in pain and cowered a little from the cold air in the Black Track.

He could not believe that he had encountered those things again.

"Which idiot is it?" The voice continued with a bone-chilling rhythm.

"How dare you…?"

Thales bit his lips hard, held his breath, and laid flat on the ground. He did not dare to move at all or make any sound. He only wished that he was a rock that had no perception or consciousness right then, because he was afraid that he would be discovered by some unknown being in the dark…

"How dare you do this when I'm resting…"

'Huh?

'Wait.'

Puzzlement surfaced in Thales' mind as he listened to the frighteningly low moans that rang beside his ears.

'This voice…'

He lifted his head swiftly and spoke with a quivering voice in the dark.

"Kurtz?"

Thales asked probingly in the dark with surprise, delight, and puzzlement, "Is that you, Kurtz?"

The pants in the dark stopped momentarily.

A few seconds later, the creepy and mysterious voice turned into an even colder laughter.

"Hehehe…"

The echoes of her sneers resounded in the air, and it even spread out further, though those sounds were soft. "Oh, it's you, brat."

'She sounds…'

Thales felt a chill running down his spine once again. 'Why does she sound so strange?'

He gulped and asked, puzzled and terrified while trembling in fear.

"You, you, are you still alive?"

The silence in the dark continued for a very long time.

During those few seconds, Thales could even hear his increasingly rapid heartbeat.

"No."

The cold voice traveled into this ears again.

Kurtz sounded a little dejected, even feeble. There was a strange, eerie tone to her voice. "I'm already dead…"

Thales immediately stiffened.

He shut his eyes and sighed softly.

'Hah...

'Kurtz…'

At that moment, Thales said in a dispirited manner, "Sorry, Kurtz, that was my fault. At that time, I wasn't able to…"

However, as though she was aware of his mood, Kurtz's breathy voice traveled into his ears again.

But this time, her words were completely different. "But…

"If you get off my body right now…"

Kurtz's feeble voice became clearer and clearer, and Thales could slowly grasp the dissatisfaction and fury in her words as she gnashed her teeth in anger. "And stop pushing me down…

"I can still come back to life."

Thales felt his blood run cold. He then realized something and gasped in shock before climbing backwards in a flurry, away from Kurtz's poor back.

'And here I was wondering…

'Why this piece of ground was so warm and so…

'Soft.'

As Kurtz moaned in pain and hissed in dissatisfaction, Thales, who was embarrassed and terrified apologized non-stop, but at the very least, he did not commit the crime of manslaughter.

While he was still moving about in a mess of limbs due to his panic, he helped up Kurtz, who had escaped from her disaster and was lying on the ground while panting.

"You, you are actually alright… I saw you…"

In the darkness, Thales grabbed Kurtz's arm and cried out, surprised and excited. "You are actually alright!"

Thales could feel that Kurtz was rolling her eyes scornfully at him in the darkness.

"Listen to yourself. This is nothing…" The seamstress' voice was still faint and weak, but her tone was back to normal. "I grew up among a pile of corpses!"

The seamstress leaned against a protruding rock and panted. "I don't die easily!"

Thales exhaled loudly. The corners of his lips curled up.

"Is that so?

"I'm glad that you're alright," said the prince in a soft voice.

Kurtz stopped grumbling for a moment.

A second later, her boorish voice rang again.

"It's just that the rock formation caved-in for no reason." Kurtz seemed to be thumping her back hard in the dark. "I'm indeed pretty unlucky. It really feels like everywhere I go, the ground beneath my feet collapses…

"It's must be because I forgot to bring my lucky anklet when I left home…"

Thales raised his head.

"The rock formation caved-in." He nodded and repeated.

Then he said softly, "So you can't see those souls of the deceased…"

Kurtz's question rang in the dark. "Huh?

"Those what?"

Thales snorted. In low spirits, he shook his head.

"Nothing much."

So, he was the only one who could see them. He was the only one who knew that the rock-formation caved in thanks to the souls of the deceased.

Thales recalled the deceased souls which appeared on the cavern wall.

'Whether it was because the Sin of Hell's River made them show themselves and also act violently, or because my eyes were able to see those deceased souls after being baptised by my Power of Eradication…'

Thales sighed. 'It seems very convenient to strengthen one's vision or hearing using the Sin of Hell's River, but…

'This is practically 'hell's senses' that makes me see ghosts the moment I open my eyes.'

At this moment...

*Rumble…*

The ground vibrated once again along with the low and deep rumble!

Thales and Kurtz held their breaths in unison.

"No way," the seamstress said in disbelief. "Again?

"Does the ground really collapse everywhere I go?"

A loud crash rang beside their ears. *BANG!*

When he felt the debris blowing against his face, Thales instinctively lifted his arms to protect his head while he moved backwards.

The vibration of the ground became stronger.

A strange, ominous feeling surged into Thales' mind.

'No.

'This vibration…'

Thales felt bizarre feeling that he knew what was about to happen here.

The prince suddenly recalled what Silver Shadowman said before this and went pale.

"No, this time…" He tried his best to suppress his panic and fear. However, he was unable to stay optimistic. "This time, it's for real…"

Thales jumped up to his feet abruptly and pulled Kurtz's arm. There was an unsuppressable panic in his tone.

"Quick, go!"

In the dark, he placed his hand on the rock wall. His panic grew stronger. "The entire Black Track... the entire Black Track is going to collapse!"

Thales urged Kurtz to move loudly. "Quick, leave this place!"

"Ah," Kurtz said, confused. "But how did you…"

*Thud!*

Another piece of rock fell not far away from them.

Both of them swayed from the vibration!

"Motherf*cker!" Exasperated, Kurtz did not hesitate anymore. She struggled up from the ground like a rabbit without paying attention to her injured leg. She leaned against Thales' shoulder and limped forward with a hop.

*Boom!*

The slope they rolled down from was covered in crushed stone.

After walking forward in the dark for a few meters, Kurtz sighed loudly and pushed Thales off.

"It won't do."

The ground continued vibrating, but Kurtz said dejectedly.

"I don't know the route here… My lamp is broken, and it's too dark. I can't find the way at all…"

In face of the confused and anxious Thales, Kurtz said dispiritedly,

"And, my leg… we can't go fast…"

Thales furrowed his eyebrows.

'No.

'No!'

"Just go." Kurtz laughed mournfully while the rumbling sounds continued rising into the air around them. "If you're lucky, you might be able to feel your way out…"

Thales finally managed to find his footing in the tremors.

The anxious Thales instinctively grabbed Kurtz's arm. "No, we will definitely find a way. We can't give…"

But Kurtz stopped him!

"If you get out, tell the cripple that I had done what he entrusted me to." Kurtz panted and chuckled softly, "And ask him to forget that girl."

"No!" Thales refused resolutely and decisively. He roared furiously, "Get up!"

Thales placed Kurtz' arm around his neck and supported her waist, desperately trying to pull her up. "It's not the end yet… Get up, you damn idiot!"

There was a sharp sound, and the rock formation behind them cracked open inch by inch.

*Rumble…*

A cavern not far away from them seemed to have collapsed completely.

The teenager lost his footing and was flung against the rock wall together with Kurtz.

"Just go…"

Kurtz panted, pushed Thales' shoulder, and urged him to leave. "If you don't want to be buried alive now…"

'No.'

Thales gritted his teeth in the dark.

'It's just that we can't find our way, right?

'I just… I just have to see what's ahead of me clearly…'

Thales supported himself against the rock wall. Out of indignance, he almost activated the Sin of Hell's River without regards for consequences to gain the hell's senses he abhorred.

But before he could summon the Sin of Hell's River, the moment he placed his hand on the rock wall…

Thales felt tremors travel up his arm. However, his mind suddenly became calm at that moment.

'Strange.

'Something's different…'

Thales was startled.

He felt...

"Hey, if you don't leave now, both of us are going to die here…"

In the darkness, Kurtz cursed in exasperation when she found that she could not persuade Thales to leave. She started pushing Thales with all her strength.

But she then thought of something and laughed out loud.

"Ah, fine." Kurtz chuckled. There was weariness in her voice. "Dying together with a prince is pretty good. And before we died together, we even pushed and pulled each other, hugged each other…"

Thales was immersed in what he sensed around him, he had no time to care about other things.

At that moment, while Thales had his hand on the cavern wall to feel the coarseness and layers exclusive to rock strata, his heart pounded against his chest in a strange manner.

"When I was a girl." Kurtz sighed and leaned absentmindedly against the rock wall. "I had dreamed about this day. That one day, a good and influential man who is powerful, handsome and loyal would discover me, a beautiful little white flower who blooms in the mud. That he would come on a horse and carry his princess home…"

Thales paid no attention to Kurtz's words. With his hand on the rock wall, he sensed that the surroundings as perceived through his sensory organs had become different, and he became more surprised.

'This is…

'This feels like…

'I'm touching some living being's pulse…

'Wave after wave...

'As if…

'As if the ground is breathing.

'As if the mountains are dozing.

'As if the rocks are snoring.'

Thales trembled as he touched the rock stratum. He was extremely amazed and surprised as he felt the information passed to him from the rocks.

'What in the world is…

'No.

'This isn't important.

'What's important is...

'What's most important is…' Thales raised his head in a daze and looked slowly at a certain direction. "There."

Even though he could not see anything.

But he knew.

There.

It was there!

"Until that night when those drunk army ruffians entered my tent in the dark…

"Sons of b*tches…" Kurtz snorted and shook her head slowly. "Princes, weddings, all the stories we heard when we were young are fake. The prince will indeed marry a princess. But don't worry, there is only one princess, and it definitely wouldn't be you…

"You'll only realize in the end that the most dependable man is actually that foul-mouthed bastard beside you who has a lot of faults and refuses to repent his ways…

"And even so. He would never look at you, and would always be thinking of some b*tch in his dream…"

At this moment...

"We won't!"

Thales suddenly struggled up from the ground. As Kurtz cried out in surprise, he wrapped his arms around the seamstress' full hips and forcibly pulled her up.

Once he came to understand something, the prince took large mouthfuls of breaths. He could not help but tremble from excitement.

"We won't die here!"

The ground started to vibrate again.

Behind them, more and more rocks fell.

In the dark, Thales tried his best to move forward with Kurtz. He roared loudly and furiously.

"Come with me!

"I know the way out!"