Witches in ditches...
Ruiki let out a groan as he pushed the rubble aside, taking a moment to breathe before examining himself.
Since he'd already worn the apprentice robe, the damage was minimised although the robe was now in tatters, so was his body beneath it.
Collecting his breath slowly, Ruiki looked around. It was dark once again with a bit of light seeping in from the sides, probably from lanterns... He thought after judging their low intensity.
Then, he carefully sat straight, bumping his head along the way as he then proceeded to crawl out disgracefully.
After crawling over from where the light was seeping in, he closed his eyes briefly before opening them in pain.
The light was killing his eyes but he soon adjusted as he looked around.
Surrounding him were mottled black walls which had colourful engravings on them.
Few of the engravings shone in red, others emitted a black light while most of them shone in a white golden lustre.
Blinking, he turned back as he realised how lucky he was that he survived.
Hah... A disbelieving laugh escaped his lips, seeing that two sharpened rocks that had fallen from above had acted as pillars, blocking a rock on the top from falling forward, saving himself from being squashed into a potato.
He soon felt chills though, realising if he had bumped his head any harder, not only would the pillar have fallen, so would have the rock above.
Scary... He heaved a sigh of relief at the turn of events, thanking the Goddess of Fate as he shifted his attention back to the situation.
In his vicinity, there were ruins of fallen rock all around along with dead butchered animals hanging down from the top, ropes, water satchels and, Dead bodies.
Coming closer to the dead bodies with small splashing sounds due to the blood below soaking his boots, Ruiki came to a pause.
Ahead of him lay a headless corpse, it's head separated as it lay a few feet ahead with lifeless eyes.
The head though, was split in half with brain matter and blood leaking out still anew, the tongue falling in the middle with eyes rolled back.
Looking at the scene, Ruiki suppressed the nauseous feeling he was feeling in his stomach, quickly bringing his hand near his mouth as all the thoughts he had of taking the studded-leather armour for himself vanishing as he looked away quickly.
But that didn't help at all, as there were dead bodies crushed brutally surrounding him, all wearing the elite robes of the Order of the Black Pits.
Ruiki took a step back.
But he soon had second thoughts, as his robe was ripped everywhere with his white shirt being dyed red, offering him no protection whatsoever lest something attacked him in the depths.
I heard four-eyed Fagosins lurked in 'the river of Undead'... Recalling one of his textbooks, he steeled his resolve as he searched for a human corpse that was in better condition and soon found one,
For it was right next to the place where he had fallen.
Coming closer, he noticed that the corpse was of a man in his early thirties with sharp facial features, whose legs were crushed beneath the same chunks of rocks that had protected him.
Ruiki realised he hadn't looked properly in haste as he knelt down, forcing the brewing emotions down his chest as he proceeded to undo the man's leather robe before he looked at the armour below.
Damn, a full-fledged steel armour. It probably weighs fifty kilos! The man was a mercenary, Ruiki realised.
Just as he was about to stand up to search for a light weighted armour, he saw the corpse twitch before it instantly grabbed at Ruiki's legs.
Ruiki's heart skipped a beat and he almost fell down but managed to balance himself as he ruthlessly thrashed his leg around, freeing himself from the grasp.
"H-help me..."
Breathing heavily, Ruiki frowned as he noticed that the so-called 'corpse' was still alive and breathing, Well... Barely alive.
His composure still lost, he looked at the deathly pale man who was currently looking above Ruiki, his face instantly paling further.
Surprised, Ruiki cautiously looked up only to see insurmountable darkness as he refocused his gaze back on the man.
"There's no danger to your life, you aren't bleeding," Ruiki said, trying to calm both himself and the man. "I will bring you some water."
Amidst the man's weak cries Ruiki quickly distanced himself from him and gathered his breath, looking around at the shimmering engravings to calm down.
What are those... Inscriptions? Ruiki neared the "inscriptions" as he had presumed, and observed them for a few seconds before not understanding anything and turning around.
But he still made use of their shimmering light to quickly search for water puddles, which were probably from the stored water cans they kept above in the prison.
He used to hear many inmates talking about it, complaining that the pure water from the water cans weren't available for the inmates but only the guards.
But now that the water was dirty, Ruiki grabbed a nearby satchel and thoroughly wet it in water before he carefully held the satchel and neared the man who was struck beneath the stone.
"Open your mouth," he said as he knelt down slowly, making sure the man couldn't grab at him.
After the man had done so, Ruiki held the ends of the satchel and twisted them, the water dripping frequently in the man's mouth.
After doing this for two to three times until the man had finally regained his ability to speak, Ruiki questioned him.
"What happened above?"
"I... I d-don't know." The man replied, stuttering and gathering his breath. Clearly traumatized by either pain or fear. "I am just a hired mercenary..."
"One of the Wizards of the Order, he... He suddenly shouted something and cast spells, before all the Wizards were alerted and started hurling spells at something..."
"T-that was the last thing I saw before I knew the entire thing was falling apart and that I was here."
Ruiki nodded. "Your legs," he asked. "Can you feel them?"
"I don't know..." The man replied with uncertainty before shaking his head. "No."
Regaining a bit of his composure after realising he wasn't in immediate danger, the man asked, "You are a prisoner?"
"I was a prisoner, yes." Ruiki emphasized, though he doubted his current situation was any different from before. His life was in danger even more now, afterall.
Seeing the man nod, Ruiki questioned him further.
"Where was the prison located? River Strenzo?"
"Yes, 'the river of Undead' near Black Weed mountains." The man confirmed, but suddenly grunted.
His movements came to a halt as he looked at Ruiki with a change in expression.
"My legs... I can feel them!" The man said, unmoving, yet with renewed vigor. "Can you try moving the rock?"
Ruiki nodded dryly, "I'll try," but he didn't move from his spot but merely stared at the man.
Seeing Ruiki's expression, he quickly said. "I won't attack you, besides, I don't even have any weapons on me."
Ruiki nodded once again. "So true,"
The man in his early thirties grit his teeth as he quickly came to a decision, his expression hardening.
"There's a dagger in the pouch tied near my shin, take it. But please..."
Ruiki nodded, taking the dagger and checking the man's torso and pockets before he even tried to move the rock.
It wasn't that difficult though, all he had to do was push the rock on the top with Levitate Spell and his own strength carefully so it wouldn't hurt the man, and pull at the rock crushing the man's feet with all his might, and the low-level Third Dimensional Spell, Levitate, which was basically being used as such because he couldn't levitate heavy objects yet.
He heard a bone-piercing scream from the man after the rock moved, the scream soon dying down as the man had no energy.
"T-thank you..." The man in full-fledged armour said weakly, that Ruiki barely heard it.
Ruiki's expression contorted slightly as he saw that the man's legs were a mess.
...
It had been around half an hour or more since Ruiki had arrived in this weird cavern.
He and the man were currently sitting near a campfire made with joint efforts, talking.
"...and then it was like bang, one stone fell after another, one ceiling after another."
Ruiki nodded, glancing at the man's legs.
One of his legs was thoroughly crushed up to the thighs while the other remained somewhat unscathed though it was bandaged, and the man remained enthusiastic for someone who had only recently lost his leg.
A wooden stick lay beside him as the man continued on, "Damned bastards, brought this upon themselves after conducting weird experiments."
"Weren't you working for them?" Ruiki stated, the man laughing at his words.
"I... We work for whoever pays the best, good or bad, king or peasant. It doesn't matter,"
Ruiki nodded, having learned quite a bit about the man after talking to him.
He was a part of the group of mercenaries hired by the Order of the Black Pits.
Though his companions fate lay unknown, the mercenary in front of him, James Hardwick, was quite happy that he survived.
"Ofcourse, we prioritize our safety first and research thoroughly before signing a contract." James Hardwick said with a laugh, his shoulder leaning against the wall. "Good thing we found some food, although it's deformed."
Ruiki nodded, biting into a jerky found on one of the bodies of the members of the Order.
It wasn't seasoned or anything, but it could fill an empty stomach nonetheless, and for that, both of them were happy.
"We should conserve our supplies, who knows how long we'll be trapped in this damned place." James said, looking at the campfire and placing his hands above the fire, rubbing them together.
"Otherwise, we will die of starvation before the things down here kill us."
His voice echoed, Ruiki staying still.
Indeed, unknown caverns or in particular, underground areas like this one were pretty dangerous.
Although the various Wizards of the Order and adventurers had explored the underground and slain the things beneath, such areas still weren't safe.
Especially areas where experiments were conducted.
Ruiki's expression hardened as he stood up.
"Where are you going?" James Hardwick asked, biting and splitting the jerky. "Blergh, the jerky's got a weird taste down here."
"To search more bodies," Ruiki replied. "Stay here, I will be back soon."
"Eh, don't you noble boys detest touching corpses?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ruiki merely glanced at him, heading back to where he came from as he clenched the black dagger tightly in his palms.