'Where am I?'
She searched through her memories.
All she could feel was pain.
Pain.
Gut wrenching pain.
Not a single part of her body was normal. Every inch of her skin was broken. Every bone, every muscle.
'How did I survive?' She could feel her body but couldn't move it.
'Are… they alive?' She couldn't open her eyes. Her hearing was also non existent.
It was like she was thrown into a darkness. A hell where she could only be tormented for eternity.
Even surviving right now was a miracle and her own initiative.
Right when the Abyss duke asked Crimson to sense something underground, she used her water powers.
Jumping into the air, she formed water hands to push her teammates.
Right then, the explosion occurred.
She didn't know if she pushed them far enough.
Explosions intensity decreased exponentially with distance. That meant a few meters could decide life and death.
'Did I save them…?'
They were only level 5. Unlike her, they couldn't use dual defenses.
'I'm sorry.' Sarah apologized.
Maybe she should've just listened to them. Just quit the mission.
But this level of risk was unexpected. She knew the danger from explosives and was alert.
But neither she nor Crimson found them.
She never entertained the thought of explosives hidden under the floor.
Because the alloy made for the floor itself was very hard, for the explosion to actually hurt them would require a huge reserve of explosives.
This was the main hideout in the dungeon, not a warehouse of explosives.
Or so she thought.
"Arhg",
At last, she was able to open her eyes. The building, walls, everything was gone.
Beside her laid the grey faced Abyssal.
He was in a better position than her. He must have kept the defensive treasure ready.
However, there was a gaping hole in his chest. His heart was punctured.
He too had little time.
"Cough, cough." Blood trickled down his lips with each cough.
His throat seemed to be barely working, and he spoke in a hoarse voice.
Sarah's hearing slowly returned…
"—yone will die." He smirked, his face covered with his blood couldn't hide his pride.
Sarah wanted to move and strangle him to death.
Her luck was bad enough. She leapt into the air to escape, but after explosion fell right beside this abomination.
She did the only thing she could do at the moment. She glared at him with all her hatred.
'Not everyone… at least Varian is alive. He is like her.' She thought back to the eccentric junior and her face relaxed.
'What if he entered here? I can't rule out.' She frowned. She didn't understand Varian much, but he was different from normal people.
The Abyssal duke looked at her changing expression and sneered. "You're still hoping? Keke."
"I don't like taking chances. If I do something, I do it thoroughly." He stated.
Perhaps because he was going to die, and he knew it, he spoke his heart out.
"I wanted to assassinate your teammates one by one. But doing it outside meant there is a chance for escape." He looked into her eyes and declared.
"You all must die. So I revealed the location. You could've backed off. That'd be good for me." He grinned. "Then next time, you won't be able to find the location."
"But if you came in," his face showed a cruel and almost savage smile, "I'll kill you all, even if I die."
"Those other bugs should've died, but because of you, they are also barely alive." He twisted his neck and glanced in the other direction.
Sarah tried to move, but she couldn't.
However, despite knowing they would all die, she was relieved and her throat finally moved. She uttered "th-ey..w-l-ive"
'They will live' was what she wanted to say.
Perhaps Lucas could survive? He was a body awakener and had great physical defense and resilience.
If only he could move slightly and give the healing potion to others, their chances of survival would increase.
Sarah hoped. And prayed.
The Abyss duke watched her intently and chortled. His voice was drying out. "I said I will kill you all with certainty."
"Cough. " He coughed and continued, "Look to your right. This is what you came for. And this will kill you and everyone."
Sarah's breath stagnated, and she used all her strength to turn.
As she turned her neck, she spasmed in pain. It was like all the nerves in her body were cut at once.
Then she saw it.
A large circular formation. There was a barrier surrounding it, which slowly faded out.
The glyphs, the runes, and the arrays.
Cross Tunneling Formation!
Only then did Sarah realize there was another floor below.
After the blast, all walls and floors basically vanished.
They collapsed and crashed onto the final floor. The floor which held the Cross Tunneling Formation.
At that moment, there was only one thought going through Sarah's mind.
'If I were to die anyway, then at least if my death meant CTF falls into the hands of the army, I'd be happy.'
This was the last thing she could do, and she hoped someone from her team would heal and take the CTF.
She held no hopes of survival. Even if one of them miraculously survived, it'd take hours. By then, she'd be long done.
"One bug is twitching. He might wake up." The Abyss Duke spoke.
Hope glimmered in Sarah's eyes.
The Abyss duke's words mercilessly crushed them. "I said you'll die for sure. That thing will explode in a minute."
Sarah gave up.
Everything was over now.
Then she heard…his voice.
***
Varian peered through the smoke and dragged his injured body.
When the blast happened, he was half a kilometer away. Despite that, he was inflicted some serious wounds.
Without even thinking, he ran to the site. There was a huge cavity in the location where the building previously existed.
It was like a large cone was carved out of the land.
He slid down and reached the bottom. The metal debris littered the location. The rancid smell in the air almost made him throw up.
His greater human smelling only made it worse.
"Survive."
"Survive." He muttered and searched.
He wasn't sure if he could find everyone before they die. The radius of the bottom was almost two kilometers!
"There!" Varian spotted a body covered in dust. Its flesh was almost gone and bones were visible.
He tried to affirm whether that person was alive by hearing their heart beat with his greater human hearing.
However, his hearing was affected by his injuries and it would take a while before it went back to normal.
Varian rushed to the person. The faint pulse told him that this person survived.
Ecstatic, he poured the healing potion. It squirmed and slowly seeped in.
"This injury...would take hours." He judged and held the person carefully.
Upon closer inspection, he saw it was Olivia. She was laughing and joking with him a few hours ago and now…
Varian channeled his space power and, with five teleportations, reached the normal ground and placed her down softly.
After realizing that they might be barely alive, Varian pushed himself despite injuries.
He soon found Crimson, Luca and Ivy. After teleporting them up and placing them out, he sighed in relief.
"Only cap is left. She must've survived."
He used his teleportation blatantly to search. The situation was critical and if worst came to worst, he'd just admit he was a dual awakener.
If his hearing was still normal, he'd have heard the voice of the Abyss duke and found her.
But it was only a what if?
"Sarah!" He yelled her name.
In the distance, Sarah's eyes widened.
'Why…? Why are you here?' She was overcome by a mix of emotions.
'No...CTF will blast, he'll die.'
She struggled and yelled, "g--o...esc-ape."
Unfortunately, her voice was too quiet. But she continued to yell.
"P-le-ase...ru-n"
"L-ea-ve"
"B-las-t"
"B---"
With each yell, she felt her throat burn. In the end, she couldn't speak anymore.
The Abyss duke enjoyed the sight of Sarah's desperation.
It was then—
"Sarah?!" Varian saw two bodies, an abyssal and a human, lying side by side.
Without hesitation, a sword was plunged into the Abyssal.
The Abyssal duke's gaze remained on Sarah even as the sword pierced his neck.
His eyes were gloating.
Varian approached Sarah and saw she was awake.
He sighed in relief. "Thank god."
He administered the healing liquid to her and carefully picked her up. "I get the feeling of deja vu."
Sarah's eyes moved around frantically.
"My bad." Varian thought she was angry at his words.
Well, he was just trying to lighten the mood.
Her body didn't move in his arms. But her mouth opened and closed. Again and again. No words came out.
Varian realized she was saying something and followed her eyes.
There, he saw a strange circular array. There were many aura crystals around it.
At normal times, Varian would've been tempted to snatch them away, but now, looking at Sarah's expression, he realized something was amiss.
"Hold on tight, wait, you can't hold. I will hold you tight." He said and channeled his space power.
Sarah's eyes were still looking at the array.
Varian teleported and crossed some distance.
Sarah's eyes showed her shock at his space powers, but they were still dominated by the 'fear'.
Varian continued to teleport and was halfway through climbing the slope.
At that moment, his hair stood up, and he glanced back.
A blinding white sphere expanded at an astonishing rate.
In the blink of an eye, the distance between him and the white light was halved. In less than a second, it would reach him.
'This is bad.'
Varian teleported once again.
He was one teleportation away from the surface, and the white light caught up to him.
"Go!" Varian channeled his space power hastily, and the world once again went dark.
Then he stepped into the normal world, but this time, he was still a few meters away from the surface.
The white light was already behind him.
There was no time, and Varian threw Sarah into the distance.
As the white light engulfed him, he tried to teleport.
It continued to expand and disappeared just before Sarah.
Sarah's body was in pain as she crashed into the ground.
However, she couldn't care less about the pain at the moment.
Drawing strength from the deepest parts, she stood up. And fell down.
Her wounds worsened. The pain only increased.
However, Sarah's mind was long past the point of pain.
She stood up. Fell down. Again and again.
She didn't know how, but she finally managed to walk. The pain of her bones breaking didn't stop her.
Staggering, she looked around frantically.
Sarah witnessed Varian using space powers. But his teleportation distance was short and if he teleported, he should be somewhere near.
Her legs walked her the distances her condition wouldn't allow.
Her eager eyes searched everywhere.
But he was nowhere.
It was like he vanished out of the world.
Sarah's vision blurred as tears dropped like rain. Her dry, heart breaking voice resounded.
"Varian!!!"