Chapter 246: Shut-in Caved-in

It was another tunnel. Ned and Katolin slid over a tight tunnel trying to get away from the massive beast.

Ned saw its claw-like spikes trying to reach for them from the breach caused by his fireball.

It was a split-second decision. Without the lights that were visible behind the cracked walls, Ned would force himself to fight the Evolved Kruthik.

Katolin was still half-conscious as they slid over the tunnel. As Katolin slid further away from Ned, he knew their fall would either kill them, if not, break their bones.

The last thing Ned heard from the desperate Kruthik was its shriek that was followed by a rumble of falling stones. Subsequently, closing the hole Ned made.

Ned and Katolin were like kids trying the first time a slide they couldn't fathom the depths of their fall.

Suddenly, the tunnel they were in was followed by the rumbles of stones. The stone wasn't big enough to cause much of an injured. But due to the descending tunnel and the stone's relentless rolling, it gains momentum. Too much that if either one of them gets hit, they sure to have broken bones.

Without much of a choice, Ned and Katolin let the descending tunnel decides their fate.

But as if Ned would let it happen. As they kept on sliding, Ned threw the fireball in an awkward position to cause some rubbles to fall to try to clutch the rolling stone.

But to no avail, it didn't work, the stone that was now a boulder in the eyes of Ned kept on rolling like a hungry beast trying to trample them before eating.

Ned conjured Egnious instead. With the help of his Emulator, Ned determined the right angle to hit the stone. So he did, he looked up as they kept on sliding and raised to throw the growing mass of fire. With a grunt, Ned let go of the spell and hit the rolling stone underneath it.

The stone crumbled, turning it to almost dust while shards of stones spew from the base of the impact of the skill.

As they kept their descend, Ned realized that the light that came in through the cracks before was actually a light coming from stones that were naturally fixed against the walls. These lights were mana stones in raw form, untainted, unpolished, and untouched.

The light was shimmering in blue and green. But Ned couldn't fully examine them as they were a series of blurs over his head.

A bright light caught Ned's eyes from the bottom of the tunnel.

Ahead of him was Katolin, leaking green blood, and painting the tunnel on a long line, and was now unconscious. The female arachne couldn't even let out a scream as they descend even if she was scraped between rocks, causing some bruises over her thin exoskeleton.

At first, it was a green light, then, as they slid down, the light turned blue.

Ned reached for Katolin, while he scrambled with his feet. His other hand blindly scraping for indentions that he could cling himself to.

To no avail, Ned fell with Katolin to a pool of ocean blue liquid.

Ned was basked with the warmness of the liquid. The liquid wasn't normal either. Over Ned's display was his mana nearly empty. But after they fell to the pool, his mana slowly rose. The pool of liquid was mana in liquid form. Ned could feel his veins absorbing the mana like a hungry beast.

While Ned was floating, Katolin was nowhere to be found. The pool of liquid was like a tiny lake with a diameter of about fifteen meters in width. The murky blue liquid was stopping Ned from perceiving Katolin underwater. With no time to waste, Ned used the Detect skill to detect Katolin around his surrounding.

Ned dove underwater sensing that Katolin was plummeting to the bottom.

—

Ned and Katolin rested at the edge of the lake.

After Ned used the skill Egnious, some parts of the tunnel cracked, along with rocks that came falling with them. The hole they came in through was now barricaded with rocks, completely sealing them inside the cave.

Blue light danced under Ned's silver eyes. The blue light shimmered under the lake. The cave they were in was double the size of the lake, it was almost thirty meters in diameter. The soil at the edge of the lake was damp. But as Ned crawled farther from the lake, the ground was slowly coming to dry, and warm. Around them were crystals sprouting both from above and from the bottom, forming countless shining crystals. Some were blue and yellow, and green, and violet. Aside from the shining lake, lights were coming off from the crystals.

Ned throws his back against the warm ground. With Silk Road's magical property, Ned's bruises were only visible over his arms and some scrapes on his face. Without the Silk Road, it could be worse.

Beside him was Katolin. Leaking with green liquid from her dismembered arm. Ned pushed her only to realize that her spider limbs behind his back, between her shoulder blades, were completely torn off. Her face was disheveled with scratches, and some open wounds around her neck.

With her current state, only time could tell if she would survive or not. If only she was awake, Ned could at least assess her current condition by asking her.

Instead, Ned pulled her through her legs back to the lake of mana. Aside from Hollows who couldn't utilize mana, Magic Capable uses mana to aid their bodies to perform actions Hollows couldn't, and so does the healing. Ned knew it would take time to heal her wounds, but he could at least try to dip her underwater for her body to absorb the mana.

After Ned left Katolin at the edge of the lake, with half of her body submerged in the lake, he strode along with the chamber.

Stuck inside the cave, Ned must find a way for them to get back to the Hive. With mana of 3, 480 out of 4, 000, he could wait for later to absorb the mana in the lake.