"System, I totally didn't expect this." Varian snickered as the underground tunnel shook.
[....] The System didn't answer.
Varian didn't bother and sped up.
Zap!
Boom!
The ceiling behind him collapsed, and dust rose into the air.
According to his original plan, he would have plenty of time to escape.
But of course, after the recent 'surprises', Varian developed a habit of planning for the worst.
As he ran farther, he created a lightning shield to guard himself from the sharp and fast debris.
"Roar!"
Boom!
Zap!
The lightning strikes struck the tunnel and the whole underground facility shook violently.
"Fuck!" Varian cursed and put the yellow flower in his space ring.
Above, the Calamity Tiger was using its lightning sense and blasting the ground.
It was severely injured from the battle with Berserk Honey Badger and was bleeding all over.
The Honey Badger was a crazy beast. Fully knowing that it was suicidal, it still lunged at the Tiger's lightning barrier.
Despite its impressive defense, it was severely injured and died after attacking the tiger once.
But…
"Roar!"
The Calamity Tiger dragged its broken body as it chased the perpetrator. Its aura and breath were weakening every second.
The single attack was enough to mortally injure it. After all, for a Level 4 Lightning Awakener, a serious body injury was fatal.
So the Calamity Tiger rushed back to its habitat for its only hope of survival.
The Aureum flower. But the flower was nowhere to be found.
This wasn't just a matter of stealing, this was a matter of life and death.
"Roar!"
It growled and spread its lightning sense. After the intense bout, and severe injury, its lightning sense was drastically weakened.
Add that to the fact that the tunnel was much deeper underground, it wasn't able to pinpoint the perpetrator's location.
"Roar!" The Calamity Tiger created a huge lightning hammer and blasted the ground.
Boom!
Soil exploded in all directions, and part of the tunnel under it was buried.
Varian glanced back and continued to run. Three passages appeared in front of him.
Two were the original passages and one was his recent work.
He dashed into the passage he dug.
Boom!
Zap!
The ground was ripped apart and the calamity tiger could finally perceive the three passages.
"Roar!" The Tiger's roar was full of fury, but it was growing weaker.
The three passages diverged, and it would only be able to follow one.
Boom!
Unfortunately, it picked Varian's route.
Varian sighed. Thankfully, he dug up enough tunnels.
Even if his luck was bad, he should be able to escape.
Second passage choice.
Boom!
"No worries, it'll be already next time." He consoled himself.
Third passage choice.
"Fuck, pick the other one already!" Varian gritted his teeth.
Boom!
Fourth passage choice.
"Fu…phew, finally." He sighed in relief.
The Calamity Tiger lost him.
Or rather, it couldn't chase anymore. It collapsed from its injuries.
Its aura attracted many non-boss magic beasts and soon, the location turned into a bloody battlefield with the boss's beast core as the prize.
Varian didn't know and didn't want to know.
After pushing himself to the limit, he finally reached the exit and climbed out of the tunnel.
"Ha! Ha!" He panted and gasped for air as he collapsed on the rocky surface.
'I'd be surprised if things go as I planned.' He stretched his arms and felt sore all over. It was a short but very intense run.
Despite his body's complaints, he climbed the hilltop and watched the surroundings with his binoculars.
He was safe. For now.
'I can't fight Mid Level 4 yet. But… with this, I might.' He retrieved the strange flower.
"Hmm~" He breathed in the dense lightning mana and sighed.
The lightning mana in his body surged and rumbled. There was a deep affinity from within towards the flower in his hand.
It was screaming at him to immediately devour it. He didn't.
There could be unknown effects. The reason he didn't hesitate to claim the prize in Special Location was that there were no more monsters to threaten him.
But here, if he were to fall asleep, then his safety would be in jeopardy.
Another danger was that the aura itself could attract other magic beasts. He put it back into his space ring and swiped his comm.
Somehow, it was still functioning.
He heard Maya's father was one of the members of comm project and worked extensively to ensure its resilience.
'Kyle's father-in-law… maybe I can request for a better comm?' He wondered and opened the database.
'I thought database was taking too much space, but just wow.' Even though he couldn't contact anyone, the comm's database was larger than supercomputers of Old Earth.
Soon, he found it.
{Aureum Flower
Formed from the special nurturing of two lightning beast cores. It would turn useless two hours after picking up.
Can be ingested by Lighting Awakeners.
After ingesting, it paralyzes the body for 6 hours and gives a great boost to the lightning mana.}
"Damn! I knew it!" Varian cursed and ran down the hill.
Staying still for 6 hours in Inner Zone was suicide. What if some, no, even one magic beast sniffs out the aura and finds him?
That'd be a tragic death after everything he had been through.
So Varian rushed out from his hiding and headed towards the Outer Zone.
The aura concentration fell rapidly, but he didn't care.
He reached the outskirts and found a desolate cave near the white barrier.
As he was about to enter it, his lightning sense perceived a familiar aura.
His body blurred, and he found the aura's source.
Blinking his eyes in confusion, Varian muttered. "Boss?"
"Droah!" The Irontail Sandworm shook its head and rushed towards the white barrier.
"It's dangerous!" Varian yelled.
"Droah!" The Sandworm yelled back.
'I was having peace here. But if you found me even here… then there is no peace.'
Sandworm recalled its peaceful days and sighed.
Then it jumped into the white barrier.
Boom!
It was blasted away and crashed to the ground.
Then it looked at Varian and then at the white barrier, then headed to the white barrier.
Varian "...."
"Fine. I'm leaving." He waved his hand and searched for another location.
'Why do I feel like a bad guy?' He wondered, despite fully knowing why.
After finding a suitable hideout, he cleared out all the magic beasts in the radius of a few miles and took out the Aurera flower.
With one bite, he gulped it down.