Chapter 177 - Little Bastard

A week later, Leonel stepped out from the Segmented Cube. His features seemed quite haggard, an unkempt beard 'gracing' his jaw and his messy dirty blond hair sweeping across his shoulders. But, his eyes remained as sharp as swords.

When the youths noticed Leonel's appearance, they all perked up, traces of anticipation painted on their faces.

Leonel smiled lightly. "I've succeeded."

They were simple words, but they alone made the youths feel that a massive burden had been lifted from their chests.

"There's no time to waste." Leonel said with a confident air. "We've already long since decided who would go and who would stay. Let's move out if you're all prepared."

The lineup that chose to follow Leonel was quite interesting. Thunderous Clap, Roaring Black Lion and Flowing Wind all stood to move with him.

Thunderous Clap's ability was similar to Jian's vibration ability, but much stronger by several levels. The mysterious Quake Force he used could be considered a Force Strengthening Deviation, so he would be joining.

In addition, Flowing Wind, despite being from the Eastern Lookout, was also willing to help. Her Wind Elemental Force output was a level beyond Chasing Wind's. In addition, she had much more auxiliary applications to her ability like the power to use wind to scout out her surroundings. So, she was an ideal choice.

Finally, there was Roaring Black Lion. Among the remaining youths, he had the strongest defenses. In addition, there was no guarantee they wouldn't run into beasts on their journey. His ability to dampen their strength would be greatly useful.

As for the rest of the top rankers, they stayed behind to protect the group from any unforeseen circumstances. It was simply impossible for them to take so many with them.

With that, the group of four set off.

"We're going to cross over into another network of tunnels. I found this place while I was looking for ores previously." Leonel explained as he quickly made his way toward the hole he had created a week prior.

He knew that he was running out of time. Much of the reason he left Pisces and the others behind was because he was afraid of this hole being found.

According to Jian and Quinn, they were meant to report in a week. When they didn't report as they were meant to, Simeon would most definitely check in on the network of tunnels they were assigned to. By then, there was no guarantee that this hole wouldn't be found.

It wasn't long before Leonel had led their group of four to the hole, crossed to the other side, and diligently covered it back up again.

After he was done, he dashed forward again, snaking through the tunnels as though the map of their pathways was tattooed to the back of his hand. Soon, he made it to his destination: the point with the most direct path to the Force Crystal Mine.

Leonel came to a sudden stop at a seemingly ordinary wall and turned back toward Thunderous Clap, Roaring Black Lion and Flowing Wind.

He pushed through it with slightly more difficulty than it would take to walk underwater. Still, it wasn't too bad. The only disadvantage was that he couldn't see anything and his Internal Sight was severely restricted in this kind of environment. However, he could rely on his obscene calculation abilities to maintain his sense of direction with relative ease.

Like this, the four youths formed a train, the three to Leonel's back closely following by linking their arms. What was especially magical, though, was that the wall of earth they left the range of reverted back to their original states soon after.

Though Leonel could see nothing but a vast darkness before him, he could feel himself getting closer.

He kept his hand in the lead, ready for it to enter clear air once again. And, a moment later, that was exactly what happened.

Leonel felt the resistance against his hand suddenly vanish and came to a grinding halt.

'Argh...'

Leonel wanted to groan, but he kept it in. He felt a sharp pain in his hand as though it could be lacerated to minced meat in but another few moments.

Without hesitation, he pressed his first coy fish scale against his body, causing a radiant blue to cover him like a thin layer of skin. He had already long since taken off his chain necklace, saving it for a critical moment.

After this, using his hand, he extended his Soul Force forward, stretching his Internal Sight outward.

What he saw made him grind his teeth in anger.

There was a vast underground space. Its ceilings were at least 100 meters tall and it was over a kilometer from end to end. It was filled with shimmering crystals so bright that had Leonel been looking at them with his eyes, he was sure he would have to squint.

Of course, all of these dimensions were just Leonel's approximate guesses. The Force was so volatile that his Internal Sight was incredibly fuzzy. The sharp range was severely reduced, causing his calculations to be lacking.

What had made him angry, though, was the fact that there was someone who had gotten here before him. More accurately, there was a beast that had gotten here before him.

Leonel's hand had appeared near the ceiling of the wide space. So, if he stepped out now, he would fall 100 meters to his death. Down below, there was an adorable creature, taking a nap without a care in the world.

Its fur was a lustrous black, its whiskers and small nose twitching as though it was having a particularly good dream.

Its body was long in considered of its proportions. It had such a small head, but it was easily a foot and a half from head to toe.

This adorable creature was actually a little black furred mink. But, despite having never seen it in its true form before, Leonel couldn't help but grind his teeth.

This little bastard was definitely the beast that had been harassing him for so long.