"Wai....wait. You said kidnapped, not dead. So, we can rescue her, right?" Liu's heart had become so heavy that you could feel its weight by looking at his legs.
"Oh, so glad you noticed. So, you aren't a total dummy. Who would have predicted that?" The seer continued reveling in his sarcastic ecstasy.
"Enough with your sarcastic comments," came more breaths than voices from Liu.
"Well, dum-dum, if you have the brain to understand this much, why let her go off on her own? I would not let my girlfriend go do something like that."
"Jeez, she isn't my..." he wanted to say but seemed like his embarrassment would not let him. All the heaviness suddenly evaporated and reached his face, which was now very pink.
"Are you kidding me?" said the seer.
"No, I mean we really are not..." Liu rambled, stuttering still.
"Are you seriously fucking kidding me?"
"No, we are not. No what, nothing there between... you know," Liu's eyes were now spiraling out.
Liu was a rather simple person with a rather simple dream. He wanted to head the Dragon Phoenix Corpus of the Murim Alliance. He had never before considered doing anything against his goal or his parents.
In short, Liu was an obedient boy. Liu realized he was doing something he should not be. Worry, doubt, stress, fear, and confusion, all swept into him instantly. His mind was in complete and utter chaos. Liu was a spoiled kid, although on a different spectrum than most other kids.
At that instant, Liu could not possibly comprehend his situation. The complex mixture of emotions that the seer very accidentally triggered.
"Are you insane, brother?" a voice then tore through the chaos.
"I mean, is it that obvious or is it?" Liu continued in his spiral thoughts regardless.
"What are you thinking right now, bro? We should be attempting a rescue. Not the time to be thinking such nonsense, is it?" Neon shouted in his face.
"Oh yes, rescue, right, rescue, rescue. We rescue," Liu's brain had now completely short-circuited.
The two were now at the miniature waterfall that was hardly the size of a human. There were no footprints that could normally be recognized, but the seer knew much of this world and about all that there was to know about mythical creatures.
The seer bent down to what looked like small but fresh holes in the ground at random intervals. Of course, though the victim and the aggressor were both out of sight, as is always the case.
Neon surveyed the complete area while Liu sat doing pretty much nothing but sorting his thoughts. Liu, after quite a while, finally approached Neon with the intention of providing any and all assistance. Neon, however, was done with his investigation. He already noticed Liu walking towards him.
"Seems like we are dealing with a ginormous spider," Neon told in a very low voice as he moved his hand over in a semi-circular path, likely pointing out the path of travel of the host and the hostage.
There was nothing for them to do but follow it. And so they did, all the way up until they reached the mouth of a cave. The cave was unique, which the seer found extremely discomforting as he finds anything that is, in fact, unique.
The cave had a strange yet soothing ghostly chill. It had these blue luminescent crystals inside growing out of the wall. It was almost as if the rocky surface was actually organic and alive, and the crystals were like some rotten, grotesque disease growing out of the skin. The cave was dark, but still dimly lit with blue light.
Soon enough, as they traveled deeper inside, they could no longer see colors. The walls were blue, and their skin had lost all its white. There were only constant discomforting surges of cold air that the cave seemed to breathe outwards.
They walked for hours on their rather straight path. They had already walked over a hundred kilometers with constant breaks and sleep. They could light no fire inside for reasons beyond them. It was getting harder to breathe. It was as if they were traversing towards the land of the undead, towards a cold and empty hell.
But it wasn't as if there was no progress. The tracks left behind by the beast were increasingly more obvious. Spider webs and a few accessories and skeletons were also frequenting as further they went in. Soon enough, there were echoes that could be heard coming from the far ahead.
*thunk thunk thunk*
They soon had their first encounter, for on the ceiling walked a much smaller spider than what took away their employer. It was very white, and some parts were very black. Its limb ends were sharp. It released its grip and fell onto the ground. The little spider had found itself some nice toys, and he wasn't going to tell Mommy or Daddy about it. He didn't want to share his toys with the rest of his siblings.
Normally, that would be considered lucky, but the two were not sure they could deal with even this little one.
"Alright, you do you, and I'll do me. That's the plan," Neon said as he unsheathed his blade.
And so did Liu.
"Earthen cloud steps!" Liu rushed in.
"Seven silver swords!" And then he attacked.
Liu's path of travel left cracks in the ground below him. And then for a split second, it was as if he sprouted 6 extra right arms as all six of them went in for a stab.
Although that did little to the spider. Two of its front limbs were enough to shield him. Although it did take some impact damage, as cracks on its exoskeleton were visible, and some green fluid started leaking out of those very tiny cracks.
"Alright, don't be disappointed. We can still get this guy. Keep doing what you did," ordered Neon as he ran toward the spider's left.
The spider now switched its target and moved towards it.
"Oi, you filthy little bug." Liu drew its aggro.
"Heaven's Descent!" And then there was a barrage of what looked like a hundred arms pulling and pushing blades in and out.
The spider could not ignore that threat. Slowly but surely, the cracks widened. The green fluid now had started to flow out more violently. A few drops landed on Liu's face.
"Don't stop. This is our only hope," shouted Neon, who was now somewhere at the rear of the spider.
The green fluid was like diluted acid to Liu's face, and his arms were barely still attached to his torso.
"AAAAAAARRRGGGGGG!" he yelled as he continued. It was no easy move he was executing. His body would not allow for it. He was too a mere boy not much older than the seer, after all.
"GGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" He went on despite putting his entire trust in the seer.
As he desperately kept hitting, the exoskeleton burst. Its exposed limbs now took the brunt, and it lost two arms. But with the burst came a huge wave of its greenish blood. Strangely enough, it did not burn. Neon had stabbed the spider in its underbelly somewhere.
Just as the spider was about to scream in agony, there was a swift movement. Neon slid in from below and pushed his blade up into its head, crushing its voice and skull. The first of many spiders was defeated, and the two teenagers wondered how they were going to face the others.