Chapter 554: Chapter 44: Krimasha Relics (5)
The dark underground world.
It was eerily silent, without even the sound of the wind.
On both sides were towering stone walls, and below them lay an abyss so deep one couldn’t see the bottom.
Andrew walked along the suspended corridor with Turuk, holding a fire signal in his hand, occasionally glancing down at the depths of the abyss below.
"Did you bring extra fire signals?"
"I did." Turuk hurriedly rummaged through his satchel and pulled out a handful.
"Light one and drop it." Andrew whispered.
Turuk fumbled clumsily, uncapping one and blowing on it forcefully. Soon, the fire signal ignited. He extended his hand and gently let go.
The fire signal slowly descended.
Andrew stood on the corridor, watching quietly.
The fire signal fell steadily downward. As it descended, its faint light revealed the surroundings.
However, there were only hard stone walls. Apart from stone walls, Andrew saw nothing else. The key was that even when the fire signal disappeared completely into the darkness below, he never saw it land.
This meant the abyss below was at least two hundred meters deep. At least—or perhaps even deeper.
Andrew took a slow, chilly breath and turned to continue forward. "Looks like jumping straight down isn’t an option."
"Master, are you thinking of descending?" Turuk followed closely behind Andrew.
"Logically, the important stuff should be down below. But if it’s that deep, jumping directly would be too risky. We might encounter something along the way. Let’s take it slow instead."
Not long after, they crossed the corridor, stepped through a stone door, and arrived at a staircase. Step by step, they started descending.
Faintly, Turuk thought he heard something and froze for a moment.
Andrew heard it too and stopped in his tracks.
"Master... I hear something."
"Shh, I know." Andrew’s eyes widened slowly.
It was an irregular "thud... thud..." sound, heavy and muffled. Due to the enclosed space and walls insulating the sound, Andrew couldn’t even determine the direction it was coming from. But he could feel it growing closer and closer.
Yes, something was approaching them—and there was no doubt it was something dangerous.
If you were in Andrew’s place, what would you have done?
I don’t know.
But I do know what Andrew was thinking at this very moment.
If he remained still, he would likely confront the dangerous "thing." And that could be a disaster.
If he ran downward or upward, two possibilities existed: One, they might directly encounter that dangerous "thing" sooner. Two, they might move farther away from it, successfully avoiding danger.
In these fleeting moments, Andrew decisively chose to trust his luck. He started sprinting downward along the staircase. After all, they were heading down anyway, weren’t they?
While sprinting, he focused keenly on sensing whether the sound was growing louder or fainter.
"Not good! It’s getting louder!"
This meant the dangerous "thing" was coming from below—and getting closer!
Andrew immediately stopped and prepared to turn back and run upward.
In that instant, two bats flew up along the spiral staircase and appeared in front of him.
"Andrew?!"
"Jones!"
In the blink of an eye, they recognized each other and immediately began madly dashing upward together. Behind them was a mass of Eye Demon’s tentacles, chasing after them ferociously.
In the chaos, Andrew also cast Gale Technique on himself and Turuk.
"Why are you here? Didn’t you promise me you’d leave right away?"
"Did I say I couldn’t lie to you?"
"You lied to me?"
"Is it so surprising I lied? Those tentacles are chasing *you*. You don’t want to die here with me, do you? Hurry up and get lost!"
"Alright." Jones, carrying Dora, quickly darted to the side and flew out of the staircase through a hole.
Soon, the tentacles passed by that hole and directly "ignored" it, continuing their pursuit of Andrew.
There’s no rule saying Eye Demon’s tentacles must chase a specific target. Obviously, they chase whoever is slower.
Between Andrew and Jones, who’d turned into a bat—who was faster?
"Help me! Don’t leave me! Come back and save me! I’m familiar with this place! We can work together!" Andrew yelled hoarsely and desperately as he ran.
"Familiar? Why are you familiar with this place?" Suddenly, Jones and Dora, those two little bats, popped out of nowhere and returned to Andrew’s side.
"Don’t ask—just know that I’m familiar! Save me! What’s the harm in trying?" Andrew shrieked as he ran.
Jones reached out a tiny leg toward Andrew, who immediately grabbed onto it. With Jones’s help, Andrew was lifted into the air.
Dora quietly swooped to the back and used her two small bat legs to hoist up the muscular Turuk.
Yes, just like that, the two bats carried a Blood Elf and a Beastman as they scrambled to escape.
Clumsily and awkwardly, the group weaved through the labyrinth-like underground world.
...
After roughly ten minutes of chaos, Jones and Dora were utterly exhausted, panting heavily. Finally, they managed to escape the Eye Demon’s clutches and landed on a platform resembling a hidden altar.
Returning to their human forms, both Jones and Dora were completely beat, slumping to the ground. Andrew and Turuk weren’t in much better shape—faces bruised and battered from the bumps and scrapes sustained during their harrowing escape. After all, you couldn’t expect two small bats to navigate routes perfectly while carrying two massive individuals during their flight, could you?