*THUD! THUD! THUD! SPLASH!*
The sounds of soft flesh from the sole of the feet, swiftly stepping on the gritty rough cave floor and some puddles of water dropped from the stalactite were echoed clearly in the cavern. She was running barefoot while carrying her wounded body, desperately to escape the goblin's cave. Although exhausted and will collapse at any moment, with only a dagger on her right and a fire-lit torch on her left hand, the lady is very determined to save herself.
'I….can't fall….like this. I….had owed….too much….from everyone.' She said to herself while panting heavily from fatigue.
Also to her surprise, the route to leave the cave was just like what WuYan had said earlier to her, it's empty with only dead goblins on the floor. The lady felt a sense of relief in her heart, knowing that she could quickly return to the outside without any danger. With the lights from her torch brightening the area, she peaked at the dead body while still continuing her escape.
'Those are some….rather clean cut….that guy must….had disposed them swiftly but….all goblins….just by him….alone?' She quickly assessed the corpses and remarked on WuYan capabilities.
The lady then began to hear winds whistling and the sound was only getting louder with each swift step she took. The air quality is not so pungent anymore while also feeling the cool breeze gently caressing her skin. She looked to her front and saw sun lights not far from her, the lady was delighted by what she saw.
'That…. must be….the cave entrance! Ouch!'
Excitement had displayed on her face but not too vividly because of the accumulated fatigue inside her. After days of being stuck inside the cave while also suffering as the goblins' captives, she finally felt a sense of relief and wanted to continue her run. Unfortunately, the wounds on her feet had worsened, forbidding her to run anymore as the pain became intolerable.
'Just….a bit more….and I shall be….free.'
With the entrance near but her condition also aggravated, she leaned to her side, against the damp cave wall. She used them to carefully carry herself by holding onto their uneven surface, while limping towards the entrance.
'Shang Xiang…. DaQiao, XiaoQiao….I hope you all….are safe…. and alright. I truly hope that…. we will meet again soon.'
The lady prayed for their safety and also hoped to reunite with them soon.
When she's almost at the entrance, she saw a humanoid corpse on the floor. With just a look on him, the lady uncontrollably shed tears for the fallen one. She sobbed because she recognized the armors on him.
'HanJiang….I am so sorry for your demise. If it were not…. for protecting me, none of this…. would have happened. All of you….had suffered…. because of me.'
The lady kneeled to the ground then placed the torch and daggers on the ground. She gave her guardsman- HanJiang, a final and farewell respect. She kowtowed her forehead onto the rough floor, each of the hits are loud and filled with sincereness. Each hit took away some of the guilt that was accumulated in her, bringing her comfort that she longed for.
She had repeatedly done it till she felt a burning, tingling sensation lingering on the forehead then stopped. She touched her forehead and felt something damp on it but rather sticky. Unable to tell whether it's the dampness from the floor, sweat or blood, she gently rubbed it off then looked at her hand. The lady had kowtowed till her forehead had turned red and injured.
However, she still felt a sense of unease even after the kowtow. Her heart felt heavy as she was still concerned about the guy that saved her from the goblins. In a lethargic state, she started to hallucinate and saw the corpse in front of her has his face. Overlayed on top of it, she saw him die in an agonizing, shockingly painful death.
The hallucinations had the lady freaked out in fear. Her protective instinct had forced her to subconsciously fall back and lean against the wall. She quickly rubbed then slapped her face, attempting to wake herself up and free from the hallucinations. When she opened her eyes, what she saw was returned to normal and she let out a sigh of relief.
With her mind cleared from negative thoughts, the lady looked at the entrance that's just a few steps from her. She's weak and her wounded body is shivering from fatigues, yet her determination is still strong like burning fire. She immediately pulled herself up after picking up the dagger and torch from the ground, she walked the remaining steps with grit.
'I must….head to the villages…. or city….to request help….must not….let him die.'
Even in her worst state, the lady still thought of WuYan safety. The first objective that she had planned is not about herself but is about him. She had decided, even with inflammatory wounds on her body that's constantly putting her in pain, she must seek help from others to save WuYan.
The moment she stepped out from the cave, the bright sunlight from above had temporarily blinded her after being trapped for so long in the cave. Her eyes were forced to close involuntarily until it had adjusted to the brightness. After she slowly opened her eyes, she smiled as she's in awe of what she saw and missed the most.
The sky presented itself in a calming light blue. Accompanied with it are piles of white feathery clouds, seemingly torn apart by the winds that had them separated from a larger cloud. Everything seems so tranquil, no quarreling like heavy clouds arguing with each other through thundering storms .
The breeze in the forest is flowing cold but the rays from sunlights are warm. Together with the aromatic smell from the blooming colorful flowers, nature had created its own medicine for her poor soul.
The minty breeze delivered a tingling sensation on her skin, awakening every nerve and receptors in her. After being trapped inside the cold cave for days, the warmth from the sun had increased the efficiency of her blood circulation. Although she still stood near to an awful smelling cave, the fragrance infused air outside it, is much fresher to breathe.
Within just a few seconds, nature had started to rejuvenate her body but at a slow pace. She gently closed her eyes then repeatedly breathed in and out while basking under the sunlight and enveloped by the breezing winds. After a few seconds of meditation to recover herself, she felt better and could move further.
'Alright, I feel…. much better now. Now's to find a way out of this forest and head to any nearby settlements to ask for help.' She thought to herself.
Unsure of which direction that she needed to go in this lushful green forest, the lady observed everything around her to look for clues. Then she found traces on her left, broken grasses that were stepped on and also signs of plucked flowers. Those are the marks that WuYan left after he arrived at the cave.
'Fractured grasses, plucked flowers? Are these the tracks that were made by that guy? These are great, now I will trace the path and swiftly return to search for help. Thank You.'
Encouraged by traces that WuYan left behind, the lady looked at the open path with confidence and began to walk, hoping to find a village or town.
Just when the lady was about to move in the guided direction, the tall bushes just a few feet in front of her suddenly rustled. The sounds had even scared away the birds that were sitting on the tree branches, forcing them to quickly fly away from that area in fear.
Even though it's broad daylight, a lit torch may look useless but it could also be used as a weapon. An extra protection to protect herself and also wielding a dagger in her right hand.
The tall bushes still shaking and the rustling sounds from it are nerve-racking for her to listen to. She's unsure if whatever is inside or behind the bushes are friendlies, enemies or monsters. However, even with her shivering wounded body, the lady had vowed to seek help to save WuYan and will not back down from what she's about to encounter.
From the bushes behind came out an old man in a gray robe. When the lady saw his face, the tension inside her was immediately gone. She felt relieved and showed a sincere smile to the old man.
"Elder ZuoCi! I am glad to see you again." She spoke in excitement after longing for friendlies since her separation from Shang Xiang and the Qiao sisters.
As it turns out, the old man is ZuoCi. He also returned her with a smile while stroking his long white beard.
"Ah….So it was you. I was instructed by Goddess NuWa to meet someone here. Glad to meet you, your Highness…."
"Elder, I am no Highness now. Just my name would be enough."
Just when ZuoCI wanted to greet her name with the Royal Highness title, he was immediately stopped and was told by her that referring civilian titles on her are much suitable for her current situation.
"As you wish, Lady…."
*BAM!*
ZuoCi heeded her advice and prepared to bow politely while referring to her name. However, in a sudden, a loud explosion noise was heard from the cave. Both were attracted by the sound and quickly shift their attention to the cave entrance but the lady is more nervous than ever.
She feared that something bad had happened to WuYan.
(Minutes ago after the lady just escaped the deep section of the cave and from the Goblin Lord)
In the blinding darkness, both have their own unique method to precisely detect each other.
Ranked as lord and respected or worshiped by the inferior goblins, it had gone through countless battles and survivals that led him to grow into a much larger and strongest version among themselves. The Demon Goblin Lord sensed WuYan presence by utilizing its sharp hearing and smelling sense. Even before transformation, standard goblins are born with a quite large protrude nose and pairs of long-upward pointy ears, giving them natural talents in searching their prey through them. However, after a demonized transformation, its senses were heightened by folds.
For WuYan, he got an artificial intelligence- Ada on his side and a gift from her as well. A weapon with its own system called as - 'Longinus' but appears in some sort of combat suit appearance. Both systems provided him a night-vision function and an overall body boost to aid him in moving faster with improved strength. However, the body boost comes with a price as it constantly needs energy from his heart to sustain the functionality, hence putting a toll on his body.
With the Demon Goblin Lord in a much bigger body size and more strength per swing with its spiked club, every hit from it had partially shattered and caused a hole on the surface of grounds and walls. The shockwaves from those hits alone in such limited space shakened WuYan footings that sometimes caused him to tripped onto the ground.
Compared to WuYan, although his human body size is five times smaller than the mutated goblin lord and having less strength, the smaller size also has some advantages in this battle. In the goblin lord point of view, WuYan is just a small pest that can be crushed with just a single hit. However, he's fast and agile, constantly circling in between its legs while also slashing it with his sword but all of his attacks are futile as his weapon sharpness is unable to cut through its mutated thick scaly skins.
At the beginning of the battle, both gained equal footings as the monster gained better strength advantage but WuYan got better agility to compensate for what he lacked. They were in a stalemate against each other for the first few minutes but slowly and gradually, the body boost aiding system from Longinus had begun to affect his performance. He felt an uncomfortable burning sensation in his heart, all his nerves were emitting pricklings feels and his muscles became more sore as each second passed.
WuYan could feel that he's going to be out of breath soon but he couldn't spare even a second to stop himself from moving or else he will get hit directly by its spiked club, an instant death for him. With the slashes from his swords almost useless, unable to even scratch its tough skin, he had decided to flee from the battle and away from the monster.
Nonetheless, the monster eyes were too fixed and the taunts earlier from him had effectively angered it alot. It noticed WuYan had run up the slope and knew his intention was to flee from the area. It raised the spiked club up so high that it almost reached to the cave ceiling and with a full force, it swung its club onto the slope and immediately destroyed his only escape route to the outside.
Fortunately, WuYan saw the attack when he noticed the spiked club was raised high and in the nick of time, he managed to dodge it by leaping to the back. Although he successfully escaped death, the shockwaves from the impact had sent WuYan flying and hit the cave wall with his back. The suit had absorbed most of the damage but with him just a normal human being without any special powers or blessings, it can't draw more energy from his heart to further reinforce or repair itself.
'Warning. Suit integrity at the torso section dropped to 40%. Other areas dropped by 10%. Overall health and suit condition are critical. Recommended advice- flee to survive.' Longinus reported to WuYan.
Multiple red and yellow warning signs popped up immediately in his HUDs visor after he was sent flying to the wall then fell to the ground. Damage reports in numerical statistics were shown in regard to which body parts had suffered the most injuries. Ending with advice from Longinus himself, WuYan felt helpless for himself.
"Yeah. Thanks for the useful advice, Longinus. I will be sure to try my best to survive in this pitted death cave arena." WuYan replied to Longinus with sarcasm.
'Perfect! I am glad that you heed his advice.'
However, Longinus is not as advanced as Ada, who came with a tone and emotion analyzer to deduce the meaning behind every sentence. Only she could detect WuYan's sarcasm in his words.
WuYan quickly carried his injured body to stand up from the ground but the Goblin Lord was not giving him time to recuperate and saw it as a perfect opportunity to strike. It quickly landed another blow on him but his quick reaction and the body boosts on him were still active and saved him again when he quickly rolled to the side furtherly to evade the attack. In exchange for the extended roll, his heart took another stress again.
"Well, I will be damned. My sole escape route was destroyed by that big green meanie and now my sword can't even scratch its skin. Got any plan in your mind, Ada?"
WuYan asked after he rolled to the side and quickly stood up then continued his run.
'After analyzing what the lady had said about the monster used 'Yin' energy to mutate or transform itself into a 'demonic' form. I had performed a search on my stored data and found the mentioned 'Yin' was an energy that is similar to divinity energy- 'Yang' but its nature is completely opposite.' Ada reported her findings.
"Alright, I am listening but please make it fast and simple. I don't have much energy left to continue my run." WuYan advised her while running to evade the attacks.
'The 'Yang' energy is considered holy and is associated with divinity, which is the power my creators sensed and intended to harvest from the divines. However, the 'Yin' energy is the opposite of 'Yang', it is considered cursed and associated with demons. Hence, that's how the monster mutated into a demon-like creature.' Ada continued her report.
"Hah….hah….hah….So, the plan is?" WuYan asked in exhaustion, panting at his own words.
'Longinus was built with a summoning system that could imbue anything that it summons with anti divinity or demonic atoms. These atoms could easily slice through those energies. I shall now input the code to activate the summoning systems but I need approximately one minute to edit and recompile all the codes since the summoning was initially designed for my body but not yours. If there's even only one error in the calculations, the summoning system could potentially put you at greater risk.' Ada explained then began to input the activation key.
"Hah….Hah….I don't really have a choice here, am I? Just….Hah….do what you need to do while I will try my best to….Hah….survive for one minute."
Stuck in between two choices, WuYan is still running to evade the Goblin Lord attack but the exhaustion from the run is nearly pushing him to his limit. His hardworking pumping heart became more stressed after he heard that Ada needed a minute to complete the code. In the end and since he had no other better options, he chose to place his trust on her while trying to survive for another minute.