Dagger 114 Entering The Core

"That's one dark tunnel." Dorothy gazed at the pa.s.sageway. It was as if they were looking at a void.

From her and Allen's position, they could hear the faint sound of the water gus.h.i.+ng inside the tunnel.

Far behind them was the stairs from where they came from.

Around them were a few bits and parts of magical gemstones that were faintly lighting up the place.

"Our strength is still with us. Our eyes can adjust in that blanket of darkness." Allen said and took out the map of the underground pa.s.sageway.

"Follow me." Allen was the first one to enter, followed by Dorothy.

As they entered, they could only see darkness everywhere, however, as what Allen said their eyes adjusted and they could now faintly see what was at the end. It was the sight of a running ca.n.a.l at the end of the tunnel.

As they exited pa.s.sageway, they fully saw the features of the ca.n.a.l. It wasn't dirty nor smelly compared to the ca.n.a.ls in the big cities. It was also like a small stream, but with a faster current.

"This ca.n.a.l in front of us will lead us to the main exit." Allen determined from the map of the underground ca.n.a.l.

The two of them followed to where the current was flowing.

Allen was in front, still looking at the ca.n.a.l graph; while Dorothy inspected the dim ca.n.a.l walls around her.

She spotted some bits of the dark brick wall pieced out of order; some were already chipped apart, while another part of the walls were thoroughly devoid of bricks, showing a surface of a smooth stone.

"Such smooth stone layer!" She remarked then shook her head, "But it's a waste of mana and internal energy just for building an intricate underground waterway for a single city if this was done in our time."

"Magicians and skilled pract.i.tioners most likely didn't build this ca.n.a.l." Allen interjected without looking.

Dorothy: "Then who did?"

"The normal populace, should be the ones supposed to be living up the ground." Allen answered.

"Humans those times sure are clever." Dorothy added and thought, 'If commoners today will be the ones that would construct this kind of infrastructure. It will take a very long time or maybe never even be accomplished.'

"People long ago were more skilled than the people today." She vocalized her thoughts.

"Majority of the world became too dependent on mana and internal energy to the point that the average citizens were ignored of their necessities." Allen said.

"Yeah, I saw in a book about the history of alchemy that non-magicians and -internal energy pract.i.tioners before Supreme Dominions Era can concoct potions if they have enough expertise." Dorothy stated.

"You should duck." Allen suddenly said.

Dorothy: "Duck?"

-whoosh-

Several spikes launched out of the water at the same time, shooting towards their heads.

Allen unsheathed his sword without delay like water flowing through a river and deflected the projectiles that were heading towards him, as if they had met a wall.

Meanwhile, Dorothy was safe and sound after evading on time. She stood up straightly again and with a cautious bearing, gazing around her in search of the enemy.

After no more projectiles were shot to them, Allen approached one of the spikes on the ground that was deflected by his sword earlier.

Then he crouched slightly and sent out his hand to pick it up.

Before he even got to touch it, Dorothy said, "Don't touch it! It might be dangerous."

He paused and recalled back his hand. Standing up, he turned his head to Dorothy and said, "We need to turn around. I can sense a lot of movements to where this part of the ca.n.a.l is heading to."

"If you say so." She nodded and let Allen be on the lead again.

How was he sure that there were enemies on their original path? It was because after the spikes shot towards him and Dorothy, he immediately activated Energy External Sense.

Now, with a Mage-level strength, the said technique could cover a portion of the pa.s.sageway they were in.

Nonetheless, he didn't sheath his weapon yet and kept it on his hand at all times.

They resumed walking, but they didn't go far from their original position when Allen realized something, "We are being forced to go to the core of the ca.n.a.l system."

Even with an incomplete thought from the sentence, Dorothy knew what Allen was implicitly saying, and that was the Visergoroth Eater could be at that location where they were heading towards now!

"The Visergoroth Eater is actually inside the translucent protective barrier of the protection orb." She said while preparing to throw a few potions if something attacks, "We should hurry up, the monster could be suppressed by now."

However, Allen disagreed, "There are also many movements on this path. We need to be careful."

After saying this, he popped up a pill which replenished his internal energy.

'The Energy External Sense is still taking a toll on me.' Allen inwardly said.

Due to his internal energy depleted at a fast rate, he limited the range of the said technique to conserve his energy.

"Dorothy." Allen paused on his steps and looked at Dorothy, "Be alert, attack when you think it's needed."

"I know." She nodded firmly.

Allen adjusted his head a bit and looked behind her. He pointed, "A beast is charging at you."

Without even looking, Dorothy threw a potion at her back which hit the incoming figure. The figure couldn't be seen easily as it was dim within the underground ca.n.a.l.

The figure shrieked as it was set on fire by the potion on contact. Afterwards in a swift motion, it lunged onto Dorothy!

-whoosh-

As the monster was about to reach her, she turned around and sent out kick straight onto its head.

-pshew-

With a smooth wood-cracking noise, a head separated from the body. The head landed down on the ca.n.a.l and was taken away by the current, while the body drooped down the ground in front of Dorothy.

She inspected the remains of the figure, however, it instantly turned into dust after she exhaled a breath.

"It's a very weak body of some sort of a beast, but it's stronger than normal human beings." Dorothy commented, "The potion I threw would never be able to soften a normal monster's body, specially the bones, to the point of turning it to dust."

After that small engagement, the two of them resumed walking.

Travelling through the remaining distance, the both of them didn't encounter anything on the way and it was a relatively safe journey.

Finally, as they arrived near the entrance to the core of the underground ca.n.a.l, they halted their steps with the same thing in mind.

The current of the ca.n.a.l then paused, making it look like a dead stream contrary to the lively one earlier.

"I can hear numerous sounds coming to this direction from behind us." Dorothy said, "I can also hear movements near us."

"I can't hear the ones behind us." Allen replied without looking directly to her, "Take care of the ones coming from behind us."

-s.h.i.+-

In a flash, Allen stabbed his sword to the wall beside him, then a grayish liquid flowed out of it, followed by a body appearing out of nowhere in the exact location while cras.h.i.+ng to the ground.

Audible hissing noises then sounded out all around them, followed by numerous heavy yet fast footsteps behind them.

Five-legged green beasts jumped out of the ca.n.a.l and all lunged to Allen, while a swarm large six-limbed gray lizards closed in from behind.

Dorothy slid downwards towards one of the lizards that was about to attack her with its claws. She stood up in a quick pace when she was already behind it then jumped on top of it to avoid another lizard's pounce on her.

Taking out a vial, she threw it down to the lizard she was now standing on and flipped away from it.

As the vial broke and the liquid inside it made contact with the monster's skin, a bubbling sound broke out and the monster started to howl.

Not even a few seconds has pa.s.sed and bubbles spread throughout the beast's body, in an instant, the fearsome beast evaporated into gray smoke!

When the smoke touched another lizard, it also howled in pain and that lizard's body began bubbling and also evaporated into smoke!

Then the smoke made contact with more of the beasts and when they also evaporated, more and more of their kind was affected by it until a cloud of smoke appeared from where the two originally entered the ca.n.a.l!

Allen sidestepped and dodged one of the five-legged monster's swipe. Meanwhile, the other of the same green monsters took this chance to him!

As more five-legged beasts attacked, Dorothy was alarmed and was about to help Allen but she stopped on her steps when blurry silhouettes appeared wherever he stepped!

It was none other than Shadow Steps!

It might seem that the monsters were about to overwhelm him, but he perfectly avoided all of the attacks of the beasts without getting grazed!

When Allen spotted a chance, he planted his right foot on the ground and charged forward to the monsters.

-pshew- -pshew- -pshew-

The monsters were tackled and killed off one by one by him in succession, either through decapitation or slicing their bodies apart.

When all of the five-legged beast were killed, Allen glanced at Dorothy, "How long will that wall of smoke last?"

"About 10 minutes, depending on its thickness." She replied.

"We have 10 minutes to kill the Visergoroth Eater before another swarm of lizards will be able to attack us." Allen said and he stepped in towards the entrance while popping up another replenis.h.i.+ng pill along with Dorothy.

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