Within minutes, Atlas was ready, but was his heart willing to take that step?
Indeed, he could not firmly convince himself that he was absolutely sure of his plan, but come this far, what else could he do?
It took him a while, but finally, the young man walked toward that dreadful lair at an even slower and shrewder pace than before.
'Slowly... Slowly...'
The first foot entered the room...
And the second immediately followed...
But only silence reigned supreme among that darkness.
It was still early to exult, but it seemed to be working.
Three, four, and five footsteps followed in succession, and the creatures were still silent, unaware of the little mouse between their beds.
Within a couple of minutes, Atlas had already passed the position reached earlier and proceeded further, accompanied by that silence.
The adventurer had gone far into the clutches of that gloomy room, and for the first time, he encountered something other than the usual pile of dust or layer of cobwebs.
Illuminated by that dim, bluish light, an object appeared a few steps from his feet.
Although he could hardly detect its shape, Atlas immediately knew what it was.
'Hmm... a chair... what else is there?!'
Of course, that was not the only thing he encountered along the way.
In fact, more objects appeared, including long tables covered with plates, cutlery, mugs, wooden crates, and barrels.
Atlas did not allow himself to be distracted much longer and continued on.
Before entering, he had thought of also taking advantage of the incredible ability of his prized cloak. Still, the possibility of being discovered due to the use of Chaos Energy prevented him from doing so.
He even encountered candlesticks and baskets of unique metal and precious crystals, but he did not let his greed for treasures overwhelm him.
There were so many things in that room, but there was no sign of what he was looking for.
'There must be an opening around... where is it? Should I go this way or that way? This sucks...without a light source, I don't know where to go. I've been lucky not to run into any trouble, but I can't stay any longer in this room...'
Luck was definitely on his side, but sometimes, luck could turn out a bloody bastard.
It had already been fifteen minutes since he had entered, and although it might have seemed few for the young man, it had seemed many, especially with that acute sense of danger over his head.
Fortunately, the luck that accompanied him everywhere had not deserted him, for suddenly, a mighty wall of stone blocks blocked his way.
'At last... I found a wall... now all I have to do is unearth an opening so I can leave this damn place.'
After choosing a random direction, Atlas skirted the wall, and a few seconds later, a giant wooden door popped up in front of him.
'I found it!'
Thrilled by the discovery, Atlas didn't fret his pace and instead kept his steps as light as possible. Finally, the old wooden door appeared only a step from him, and luckily, there was a tiny gap large enough to let his body pass over.
'Just a few seconds, and I'll be out... Just a little bit...'
Indeed, Atlas was one step closer to his freedom, but as his foot crossed the doorway, a deafening noise shook the stillness that hovered in the den.
Perhaps due to the particular shape of the room, the noise did not rumble once but instead echoed over and over again, terrifying Atlas so much that his foot stood motionless in midair.
'... ... SHIT! What the hell? There was something right in front of the door???'
Of course, that noise had been caused by his clumsy movement, precisely from the toe of his boot.
'... Let's hope we didn't wake up that demon. Otherwise...'
But how could the creatures in that lair have remained asleep after such a thing?
SKRII!!!
SKRIII!!!
'You bastard!!! Who... who dares to enter my kingdom? Damn, goblins... Don't you understand yet? Who's in charge down here? I already warned you... How dare you greedy bastards disturb my rest! ARGH!!!"
By now, there was no more time, and indeed, after hearing that anger-filled cry, Atlas could not stand there motionless like an idiot.
His foot, previously stationary in midair, went further and carried the body of the unfortunate adventurer.
In that situation, Atlas no longer had any reason to be careful, so once he had crossed the two worlds, he spurred his body forward with all his might.
'I must run away from here! Away! Away!'
The ground was probably covered with junk because every step he took brought a rather unpleasant noise. Still, he didn't care and tried to not fall over the ground like a stupid.
"ARGH! Find that bastard! He's hiding somehow from my eyes. I want to know how he does it! Bring him to me alive..."
'Why doesn't that demon act alone?'
Atlas had feared that the one speaking could act against him, yet to his surprise, that ferocious beast was simply giving out orders to its underlings.
The room was now far away, but the annoying screeching of those creatures did not seem to recede; on the contrary, it was getting closer.
'Heck... the head of the Solifuranus was huge. So, their bodies should be too big for that small opening. But I can't underestimate them because I don't know their abilities.'
Suddenly, a mighty roar reached the young man, and it was apparent what had happened...
"Useless bastards! Your bodies will never get through that door... Catch that intruder with your webs!"
Hearing the ruler's orders, the creatures ceased their stupid actions, and one of them released a powerful jet from its snout.
Despite being aware of their upcoming actions, Atlas was at a completely different level from them, and something grabbed his boot instantly.
"Man! They are so fast!"
The situation was critical, and there was very little time to react, but the adventurer did not let fear rule him and let his foot slip out of the boot.
"Stupid boot, it's all your fault I got into this mess. Pay the price for your actions!"
The boots had been helpful during the journey, but his life was worth much more than a trivial item.
Having solved the problem, Atlas started running again without looking back, abandoning the culprit to his inevitable doom.
The creature sensed that the weight had decreased, but it was still a ferocious beast with inferior intelligence, and when it found that damned boot in its jaws, death was the only reward it got.
"You idiot! You can't tell the difference between a living being and a damned boot!? YOU ARE USELESS!... Damn you... who dared to enter my realm??!?"
"...Mhm!? This... this is the scent of human beings! HUMANS? Those filthy rats dare to come all the way here? And you let him go?! You bastards!"
The shrill voice of that creature echoed in the long tunnel, reaching further in the distance.
Atlas could hear that clearly and, still fearful of the worst outcome, kept running until a bright golden light appeared in the distance.
"Are there torches burning? Maybe there are goblins... Hmm..."
By now, the danger had passed, but he didn't want to stay any longer in that corridor, so he grabbed his faithful companion and dashed toward the light...