The Beginning After The End

Chapter 159

Chapter 159: Down Within

There were radical implications if the dwarves were really allied with the Alacryans, but regardless of my hunch, I needed to make sure my suspicions weren’t just me being over skeptical.

It took me another hour or so to locate one of the hidden entrances to the dwarves’ underground kingdom, but even that was only possible with the help of Realmheart.

Ignoring my bond’s nagging, I tried pushing at the concealed entrance once more. Despite the added mana to strengthen my body, the earthen door refused to move.

There should definitely be some sort of way to open it. I’m missing something. I continued sliding my hands, which were surrounded in earth attribute mana, across the length of the hidden door.

I immediately kneeled, sending Sylvie tumbling out of my cloak with my sudden movement.

After several minutes of trying to find the handle, button, lever—anything—to open the lock mechanism, I finally found it. At about four feet from the ground, near the ridge of the door, my left hand sunk into the cliff. At first, it felt like I had accidentally touched some sort of sap or glue-like substance, but when I highered the output of mana into my hand, the viscosity of the wall changed. As I played around with the unique mechanism of this door, I realized that it wasn’t about how much earth attribute mana you put into your hand, but the precise pattern of mana levels you invoked as you inserted your hand deeper into the hidden lock.

If the mana output levels could be measured from a value of one to ten, then I needed to find the right combination between those numbers to successfully unlock this entrance.

Every time I guessed the output level wrong and attempted to push my hand through deeper into the lock hole, the earth surrounding my hand turned more viscous, pushing my hand out of the lock.

“Damn it,” I cursed under my breath after the twentieth failed attempt at unlocking the door. Half tempted to blow open the door, I took a deep breath and released Realmheart once more.

Immediately, a searing pain flooded out of my core and into body and limbs. I buckled and fell to my knees into a series of intense coughs. I didn’t just vomit food and bile this time but blood as well.

A wave of dissatisfaction and concern washed out of Sylvie.

With a feeble nod, I put weight on my legs to prop myself back up only to end up flat on my back. With the little mana I had spent on maintaining Realmheart, I rescinded the mana I’d coalesced into my legs to save for unlocking the entrance.

I could feel the emotions of my bond once again as she peered down at me. Staying silent, Sylvie helped me into a sitting position by pushing me back up with her head.

Taking breaths felt like I was swallowing needles, but I was thankful that I could even activate Realmheart again. Wasting no time, I focused on the area where the keyhole was, my hand barely reaching it with the help of Sylvie. Using the last bit of mana that I’d saved, I willed earth attribute mana into my hand.

Immediately, I could see the fluctuations of mana particles gathering around the concealed keyhole. When I willed the correct amount of mana into my hand, the particles lit up and dispersed, allowing my hand to go further into the hole without fear that I’d have to start over.

I turned back and shot my bond, who was still keeping my broken body up, a proud wink.

Working with a single-digit percentage of my mana barely allowed me the luxury of being able to use my mangled legs, and even then standing was an arduous task.

Using the wall as a support, I got up and spared no time heading down the narrow corridor. The passageway that was about five feet wide and had a ceiling that scraped the top of my head even when hunched was more like a crude tunnel than an actual hallway. Fortunately, there were candles casting a dim light inside little cubby holes dug into either side of the walls. Without the need for mana aside from strengthening my legs, I was able to take advantage of this brief down time to use Mana Rotation and replenish my empty core.

I could feel the heat from the candles, but after venturing through the harsh sandy winds I wholeheartedly welcomed it. I stuck to the left side of the hallway, partly to be somewhat hidden and also because I desperately needed to lean against the jagged wall for support while walking down the small slope. Meanwhile, Sylvie trotted carefully a few steps ahead, checking and testing anything remotely suspicious that could be a hidden trap.

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The tunnel curved slightly the closer we got to the still light and my ears were able to pick up distant echoes of sounds. The sounds grew louder as the two of us continued down the tunnel but there were too many things going on at once for me to pick apart specific sounds. There were conversation and echoes, multiple sharp footfalls, as well as the clanging of metal. Finally, after about another few minutes of steady staggering, the exit of the tunnel laid just ahead.

With my back against the wall, I sidestepped toward the exit, careful not to accidentally kick any pebbles or create some other noise that might alarm a guard that might be around the corner. Sensing no signs of activity just outside the tunnel, Sylvie and I shuffled quickly to the edge of the exit where a curtain of shadow hid us from any unsuspecting eyes.

We gazed blankly at the magnitude of what we had stumbled onto. The hallway opened up into an enormous cavern with a domed ceiling so without imperfection that, for a second, I doubted that we were still underground. Rather than candles, massive torches lined the walls to reveal just how large the cavern actually was and who were within.

I let loose a string of curses in my head as I peered down. In the center of the cavern floor—roughly two stories down—was a massive teleportation gate surrounded by dwarves and steadily trickling out from the shimmering gate were Alacryan troops.

Before I was able to get a closer look at what was going on, the sound of footsteps approaching the tunnel we had come through made me whirl back. The massive cavern seemed like a beehive, with dozens of other tunnels dotted uniformly along the wall. Dozens of staircases carved of stone lined the walls, each one of them leading to a different tunnel, and approaching the tunnel that Sylvie and I had come through was a platoon of Alacryan soldiers.

Using the opportunity, I quickly picked up my bond and held her tightly against my chest. Flattened myself against the corner of the entrance and wall as much as possible, I mustered more of the mana I had gathered on our way here and willed a curtain of rock from the wall to surround us.

“Just a loose rock. Let’s go,” the soldier leading the platoon grunted.

Inside a coffin of earth, I was surrounded by complete darkness. I could hear the synchronized marching of the soldiers as they went past us, their deliberate footfalls echoing against the tunnel walls. They were so close that I could hear the hushed whispers of the soldiers.

“When do you think we’ll go back home?” a voice murmured.

“Why? Miss your family already?” a husky voice mocked. “Just focus on racking some achievements through this war. Your blood will be thankful if you can finally afford to move them out of that little hut you call a home.”

“Great Virtra, both of you hush,” a gruff voice hissed. “Our whole team is going to be on night watch if you two keep it up.”

I couldn’t help but become absorbed in their conversations. Their way of talking was rather similar to ours but certain terms, like ‘blood’ and ‘Great Vritra’, I could only guess from their context. This got me thinking. How can two different continents that had almost no contact with each other be so eerily similar in their language?

Sort of like how you asuras granted us the artifacts way back then? I asked.

As minutes slowly trickled by, the soldiers’ conversations did little to alleviate the discomfort of our situation. Without even cracks in the conjured coffin to provide breathable air, it became almost unbearably stifling and hot. I tried to focus solely on keeping up Mirage Walk to hide us from anyone with a keen sense when a loud thump shook the enclosed crevice we were in.

“What are you doing?” another soldier whispered impatiently.

The earthen crevice shook once more as the same soldier hit the wall I had conjured once again.

“This end of the entrance was different from the other side,” the soldier replied hesitantly to his comrade. “And it sounded a bit hollow when I hit it.”

There was a brief pause where I was almost afraid that they’d investigate further, but to my surprise his comrade just let out a scoff.

“Merciful Vritra. I know you’re green but don’t hold the others back just because you see something weird. We’re in a different continent.”

I almost let out an audible sigh of relief as the sound of footsteps resumed, slowly subsiding as they made their way up the tunnel we had just come down from.

After making sure the soldiers had all passed by and no one else was coming, I opened a tiny hole to survey our surroundings. Only after another few minutes did I revoke my spell.

Yeah, let’s go, I agreed. Even with Sylvie’s unique healing techniques using aether, my legs were on the verge of collapsing and the only brief rest I had gotten was when I passed out on her back while coming here.

Already contemplating the best way to tell this critical news to Virion and Aldir and the precautions I would need to take just in case things went south and I needed to fight against the two dwarven lances, I merely took a glance back at the domed ceiling cavern when the Alacryan soldiers that were present suddenly all kneeled, facing the transportation gate.

After confronting two retainers and even defeating one, I thought that I’d be prepared to face a scythe. Even under the suspicion that the dwarves were betraying Dicathen, I was confident in being able to win this war. But as a figure clad in obsidian stepped out of that gate, I couldn’t help but feel shaken. Being here, barely standing on my own two feet, I felt like a mere flicker against the wind. I felt despair.