"This is all your fault!!!! You shouldn't have shouted like that!"
Ligi immediately blamed Resi. You could see in Ligi's scrunched up eyebrows that he wanted to blame Resi even if the room wasn't shrinking.
"Shut up!!! Do something useful and use that shield to force the walls back!"
"That won't work idiot!"
"Who says that it can't?!"
Even when their lives were on the line, Ligi and Resi still haven't settled their disagreements with each other. If these were their last breaths, they would probably blame each other to death.
Ligi had to think clearly. He doesn't want to die right now, he had to do something. Is there anywhere they could run to?
Ligi looked around his surroundings. The moving walls weren't helping him concentrate at all. It only sped up his heartbeat and give him anxiety. Should he dig? No, that won't work. Was there some kind of mechanism here that disabled the walls? No, it's just soil in here.
Ligi was overthinking every possibility that he could survive this mess. He had to close his eyes to think clearly but before he could think, he heard Resi scream.
"There it is!"
Ligi suddenly opened his eyes to see the reason Resi sounded so happy. He saw Resi looking up into the ceiling and up there was a sort of an opening at the top. He was so preoccupied in thinking there was a solution down here that he forgot to look up.
Resi gathered up his strength in his legs and crouched like a tiger. After a few breaths, he jumped the highest that he could, but it was out of reach. He tried again and again but every time he tried, he would reach lower and lower. After thinking that it would be useless to jump, Resi tried to climb over but there was nothing to hold on to. He would just slide down because the soil was like a lubricant that prevented him from catching on.
The walls started to accelerate. The room was now half of its size and if this continued, even the opening at the top would be covered in soil and they would have nowhere to go.
While Resi was busy doing all kinds of acrobatics to try and get up, Ligi was busy hard thinking. He had to figure out a way to get there. Was there a mechanism here that opened a staircase? There must be something. Wait, no. Why was he thinking that this was man-made? This may be a natural trap. Was that opening even safe? The probability is higher that it is safe there rather than get crushed here.
While he was thinking that, he saw Resi jump up and down which gave him an idea. As soon as that idea was formed, he quickly scrapped it. He even rocked his head left and right as a form of disagreement. There was no way he would cooperate with that guy. That plan would need Ligi to trust Resi but there was no way in hell he would do that.
He had to think of another way but he could feel the pressure of the walls bearing down on him. The scraping of soil to soil reverberated throughout the whole chamber. That eerie sound filled his whole mind and he couldn't think of anything else. He had to do it.
"Come here for a second."
"Hmph....why should I do that?"
Resi just ignored Ligi, turned around, and kept trying to climb or jump on the wall. Even with all this pressure, he didn't seem like he was nervous at all. He just kept trying to get over the wall even if it was helpless.
Ligi was so furious that he almost cursed at him. He had to calm himself. This was the only way he was going to survive. His previously scrunched up eyebrows started to relax as he closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and spoke to Resi.
"I have a way to get out of here."
That statement certainly got Resi's attention. He stopped jumping and looked directly at Ligi waiting for the answer.
"So, what is it?"
Ligi hesitated. Can he trust Resi? Who's to say he wouldn't just get out of here without helping Ligi out?
"You jump on my shield and use it as a launcher."
Without even discussing it, Resi suddenly ran over to Ligi and jumped over him. Unfortunately, Ligi wasn't expecting that Resi would just jump at him without any questions asked so his shield was positioned in the wrong place.
Resi jumped into the shield with both his feet and he ricocheted into the wall headfirst. He held his head as he stood up and glared at Ligi with a red face.
"You!!!!"
"That's not my fault!! Why did you suddenly jump here without any indications first?!?!"
"Don't you see that we don't have time to discuss?!?!"
It was true that they didn't have time to argue with each other. With each passing moment that they disagree, the closer the ceiling was to closing the opening. If that closed, they would have lost all hope.
"You have to help me when you get up there, alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, let's just get to it."
Ligi didn't have any confidence in Resi's nonchalant promise. He would have questioned Resi more if they weren't being buried alive right now.
Ligi positioned himself just below the opening and used his shield to cover himself, but not completely since he had to time the collision with Resi. He planted his feet firmly into the ground and steadied his shield. He was going over the plan numerous times in his mind.
Resi jumped multiple times to ready his legs in sprinting to Ligi. After stretching for a bit, he bent down and had his hands on the ground. He positioned himself in the most optimal way to have the highest velocity while jumping. After a few breaths, he sprinted to Ligi.
Resi had big strides while running to Ligi and jumped using both his feet and into Ligi's shield. Ligi saw this and perfectly timed his shield to collide with Resi's feet to launch Resi onto the opening. Everything went together and the force Resi used in jumping on Ligi's shield, propelled him up enough to get on the opening.
Ligi was thankful that it worked, but he was still not out of the woods. The part that he had been dreading the most had come. His whole survival here depended on whether Resi would fulfill his promise.
"Hurry and help me up!"
Ligi shouted into the opening. Thankfully, Resi showed himself and reached out his hand for Ligi to hold on to. Just as Ligi was about to reach the hand, Resi took it back.
"Before I help you, admit that I'm better than you."
Ligi was so furious that smoke almost came out of his ears. He was the one who came up with this plan and he had at least thought that Resi had the slightest decency to help him out. Now he was negotiating with him?
"What?! No?! Hurry up and help me up!!!"
Resi, hearing that he wouldn't get what he wanted, suddenly disappeared back into the opening and hid there.
"Hey! Hey!! HEY!!!!!!"
From anger, turned into panic. Ligi couldn't believe the situation. He shouldn't have trusted Resi. If he died right now, then it was because of his idiocy.
Resi, hearing the disappointed Ligi, snickered by himself silently. Just as he was about to go and reach his hand out to Ligi, he suddenly felt a vibration in the ground. It wasn't an earthquake but a vibration.
Resi quickly went back into the hole and looked into Ligi. He didn't want Ligi dead, he just wanted to mess with him. He looked around and saw that Ligi was gone. There was no one there for the walls to crush into bits.
"Hey-"
Before he could even speak, a hole formed in the ground and sucked him inside. He was sliding down the ground on a diagonal tube with nothing but darkness to guide him. He tried to hold on to the ground to prevent him from sliding but it was useless. He couldn't stop himself but he couldn't just do nothing, so he stood up and used his feet to slide. This way, he had full control of his body. He wasn't at the mercy of the ground.
---------------------
Ligi was furious at Resi. Just as he was about to curse him out, a hole suddenly formed at his feet as he started to fall in a diagonal tube. The ground felt like it was frictionless and Ligi couldn't do anything. The only thing he could do was to use his shield to protect himself as he slid down the ground.
After a few minutes of sliding down, Ligi finally felt himself decelerate to a stop. He looked around and saw that they were once again surrounded by walls made of soil. He flinched, but he saw that at the furthest part of the room was a tunnel leading to somewhere. He exhaled a big breath and steadied himself.
On his side, there was another hole that suddenly formed. Ligi instinctively backed away and drew his shield up. From the hole, out came Resi who was standing tall and observing his surroundings. They were stuck together again.