Aiden fell to his knees, his grip on Mai wavering. In that moment Aiden lost control over the little amount of soul energy he had left, and the soul energy following its primal instincts rushed to heal his wound.
Unfortunately, his soul energy was insufficient, and as it reduced Aiden felt a maddening hunger amidst the pain and confusion.
If he didn't consume a soul now, he would run out of soul energy, Aiden had no choice, he had to be decisive.
But by the heavy hints of uncertainty, evident in his eyes one could tell he was hesitant.
Fortunately, Aiden didn't waste time deciding, out of thin air, a blackish soul appeared in front of him, prompting him to gently lay the startled Mai on the desolate and rocky soil, and with that, he grabbed the soul.
The appearance of this soul caused a spiritual ripple that no human could sense but the being behind them wasn't a human.
"Skrichhhhh!"
The demon, seemingly seeing the soul, let out a shrill scream tinged with happiness as a feeling of vitality coursed through it.
If Aiden was paying attention, he would have noticed that the demon seemed to be absorbing these ripples.
Unfortunately, Aiden was preoccupied with the soul in his hand, which he swiftly stuffed into his mouth with little hesitation.
As soon as the soul hit Aiden's mouth his world blurred as the streams of pure energy overtook him.
In a second Aiden was overflowing with energy, the soul of a threat level 56 demon was no joke.
Unexpectedly, Aiden, losing control of his body jerked violently as he fell to the ground like a dead man, the demon's soul plunging his consciousness into darkness.
Aiden, confused and suspended in a cosmic void, looked around as the vastness of space enveloped him.
He felt like he was in a dream, a dream he had no control over whatsoever, he couldn't even move his body.
"Where am I?" Aiden asked himself, his voice, hazy and confused.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the air was filled with tension as the harshness of reality played its little game.
As soon as Aiden consumed the soul the demons sensed it as the ripples that it so enjoyed had stopped.
What followed was confusion, and then anger, the demon didn't expect such an opportunity to be used up in such a short period of time.
"Screech!"
The demon let out a deafening scream as it raised colossal war hammer-like fists, poised for a finishing blow.
"Whoosh!"
It brought its fists at the defenseless Aiden, who had long since passed out, but at that moment something happened.
Mai who previously lay like a dead woman on the ground suddenly twisted her body with a newly founded force.
"Why are you so heavy?" She thought as she grabbed onto him, swinging Aiden over her with a suppressed grunt.
"Boom!"
Shockwave reverberated, and the demon recoiled as its fists hit the ground with all the force it could muster.
"Grugru!"
The ground beneath them suddenly started trembling, prompting the demon to take a step back in shock.
At the same time, water gushed out of the cracks that adorned the dry and desolate soil causing the demon to panic even more.
Mai on the other hand groaned in pain as the shakey terrain stimulated her injured spine, she looked around and was shocked to find out that the earth beneath her was separating as water gushed out of the rapidly widening cracks.
Because of the demon, the immense pressure built up over countless ages underground was abruptly disturbed.
It all began with a resounding impact when its fist hit the ground, the earth itself recoiled from the force inflicted upon it.
The initial shockwave, triggered by this external force, rippled through the subterranean realm, awakening ancient echoes in the bedrock.
As the force collided with the dry rock layer above the concealed waterway, the vibrations emanated through the rigid structure causing a chain reaction.
The rocks, already unstable, succumbed to the relentless energy coursing through them. Hairline fractures, invisible to the naked eye, propagated like spider webs across the expanse of the dry rock, carrying the ominous prelude to an imminent rupture.
Beneath the surface, the waterway felt the second tremors of liberation. The pressure that had contained the hidden flow for decades was suddenly challenged.
With each passing moment, the fractures deepened and widened, fueled by the unyielding force unleashed upon the dry rock.
Abruptly, the already unstable surface yielded to the relentless assault, creating more fault lines that snaked through the subterranean labyrinth-like veins.
At the same time a colossal chunk of the dry rock layer, weakened by the relentless assault, finally succumbed. It detached from the ceiling of the underground waterway plunging itself into the water with an earth-shaking roar.
The impact reverberated through the underground expanse, causing further collapses as adjacent rocks yielded to the cascading pressure. Wet dust and debris billowed in the darkness, shrouding the hidden waterway in a cloud of chaos.
Amidst the turmoil, the demon backed off rapidly, its carb-like legs shuffling through the separating rocks as it tried its best to avoid the water that gushed out of the gaps of these rocks floating into the air in response to its presence.
Mai on the other hand lay sprawled on the ground with Aiden unconscious by her side. She was in so much pain that she could hardly move.
Simultaneously, the cracks grew wider as the very earth continued to split. In minutes Mai felt herself drifting.
Feeling startled by this realization she turned her head and was shocked to discover that the piece of earth that she and Aiden laid upon had now become a raft in the middle of a large water body.
They floated in a circler whirlpool as the rocks around them were swallowed up as soon as they reached the middle of this death trap.
The look of Mai's face right now could be described as one of utter hopelessness her once calm gaze now clouded with the shadows of despair.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
A shrill scream escaped Mai's trembling lips, as beads of sweat flowed down her pale face.
Due to the panic, she couldn't think straight, and as her eyes darted around for a way out the unconscious Aiden came into view.
Seeing Aiden seemed to trigger something in Mai as her face contorted at the sight of him, "it's all because of you," she thought to herself.
At some point, she had wanted to turn back and find another way, but Aiden just kept on urging her.
Suddenly Mai felt her world turn, and she knew that they had reached their wits end.
"FUCK YOU AIDEN!"
Mai yelled at the top of her lungs as the piece of rock she laid upon was swallowed by the relentless water body.
Before Mai could make head or tails of her situation she was plunged into the chaotic water body below and in that moment she let out a heavy gasp as she took in a mouthful of air.
The water's grip was far stronger than that of what she was used to, and Mai with her injured spine was no match for it.
Because of the shock, Mai was forced to close her eyes not daring to open them again, and as such she couldn't see.
The surrounding sound quickly became muffled, replaced by that of violently flowing water which overwhelmed her sense of hearing.
Mai felt her body flowing haphazardly in a confined spiral. She had only been submerged for a few seconds but the pain and panic caused her heartbeat to increase prompting a subconscious need for life-sustaining oxygen.
Despite the pain, her survival instincts flared up as she waved her hands and legs looking for something to latch onto.
In that moment she briefly came into contact with something thin but firm and her hand latched onto it with enough force to break something.
Despite the raging currents that twisted her in excruciatingly painful ways she held on but as the seconds passed she felt her consciousness waver.
"Bam!"
A sudden collision with something hard caused Mai to let out an involuntary gasp as her body was flung aside.
That gasp served as an opportunity for large amounts of water to flow into her mouth but just as she was about to drown Mai felt herself being thrown out of the water.
"Bang!"
A collision followed as Mai felt herself get slammed into a hard surface.
"Barfh!"
The force of the collision caused her to throw up the little water she had swallowed as she let out an involuntary gasp.
By now she had long since opened her eyes and upon seeing her surroundings, she gasped in surprise.
She seemed to be in a narrow cave, bathed in an eerie reddish glow. The cave seemed to be illuminated by thin lines of red heated rock, with thin dots of magma here and there.
Additionally, her surroundings felt hot, and the smell of sulfur and burnt mineral debris wafted through her nostrils.
Because of the heat, the water molecules in the air continuously evaporated creating a steamy shimmering effect that slightly obstructed her vision.
Looking around Mai was shocked to find another person in the cave with her, it was a man with dark hair and a lean but fit physique.
Obviously, this man was Aiden, and by the motions of his chest moving up and down, one could tell that he was still alive.
Seeing Aiden lying there unscathed Mai couldn't help but think with a dazed expression on her face.
She remembered grabbing onto something during her time in the river, and at that time she couldn't make out what.
Thinking about what she went through in her short time underwater and taking into account the fact that this was the second time Aiden had experienced this, she couldn't help but mutter with a strange expression on her face, "Is this guy blessed by the God of luck or something?"
"Argh!"
Mai, suddenly let out a gasp of pain as the severity of her injuries dawned on her, right now she could hardly move.
Reaching into her body armor Mai brought out two small pill bottles, "it's been a week right? I guess it's time to take that," Mai thought and with that, she opened the pill bottles baring the medicinal scent as she threw a pill in her mouth.
Looking at the other pill bottle Mai hesitated slightly, they were advised to take only one healing pill a day, which she had already taken, due to the severity of her injuries she considered taking another but decided against it in the end.
-------
Meanwhile, as Mai struggled with her injuries, the demon, who was the main reason for the chaos had long since made it out of the range of the collapse.
The land before it was completely unrecognizable. 500 meters in all directions, floating bits of rocks stirred by a violent and chaotic flow of water could be seen by any observer.
It was unknown how the demon felt about the disturbance it had caused, but by its movements, one could discern that it was dissatisfied.
Standing at the edge of this newly formed water body the demon's crab-like legs impatiently shuffled from side to side as if it was waiting for something.
The seconds ran by quickly, maturing into minutes, and the demon, showcasing its low intelligence finally began to show signs of impatience, it was as if it expected the two humans it had been chasing, to just strut out of the water and continue the fight.
As the demon recalled the pleasant feeling from earlier it stopped hesitating and decided to stay longer. Suddenly it sensed something and nimbly turned around.
"Whoosh!"
A projectile tore through the air and before the demon could react, the projectile had already hit it in the chest.
Fortunately, it couldn't penetrate its skin, but in the next moment, it felt a stinging sensation on its chest.
"Ski!"
An unintelligible sound escaped the demon's mouth as it leaned towards the source of the attack.
It could sense the presence of a few humans in the distance. This discovery made it shiver in excitement as it sensed that these beings were of the same kind as the ones it had chased earlier.
With that, it charged toward the group bearing the onslaught of poisonous arrows being fired at it.
The group on the other hand quickly moved into position as the demon approached, they seemed confident, but that confidence didn't seem to apply to all of them.
"Bruce, you don't understand, the strength of that thing is monstrous, we'll all get killed," a female voice called out.
If Aiden was here he would recognize Serena's voice immediately, right now she had a fearful expression on her face as she gazed at the approaching demon.
Bruce on the other hand looked calm and undisturbed, he reached for his large sword, and with a monotone voice he said, "You're not allowed to go anywhere until we get to Aiden, but first I have to slaughter the demon that possibly killed my friend."