Zephyr tries to grab onto the walls, attempting to slow himself down. But as soon as he tries to grasp his hands onto the wall, his hands immediately slip. They were too slippery to slow him down, and whatever trap was laid down at the bottom was most likely going to kill him.
Zephyr racked his brain, trying to find something, anything to save himself, when he heard a voice coming from up above.
"Zephyr, Zephyr!"
Veldris?!
"Grab onto my tendrils!"
Two spiky tendrils shot out of his sleeves and Zephyr grabbed them without hesitation. Zephyr winced in pain from the thorns piercing his hands, his face inches from meeting the smooth stone surface.
That was close, way too close.
Zephyr dropped to the ground, meticulously removed the thorns from his hands, and stood up examining his surroundings. Well, he couldn't see anything since it was pitch dark.
"Veldris, how did you find me? I thought you were fighting the drake."
"My power becomes much weaker the farther away from me. I was about to disappear if I didn't follow the thread of my life linked to you."
Zephyr nodded his head in understanding and breathed a sigh of relief. He had been so close to death again and knew he had to be careful, much more careful in the future. He didn't know what enemies Baek had made with people he knew, and blindly trusting someone that he met on the first day was a massive blunder.
"Veldris, about how far down are we, I had been falling for like a straight minute."
"About eighteen or so kilometers."
EIGHTEEN?!
"Why would the Obsidian Covenant dig so far down?"
"They're hiding down here."
A heavy silence lingered in the air.
"And you never told me about this?" Zephyr whispered.
"Well, you never asked."
Zephyr shook his head in disbelief.
"Alright, if you know this place so well, how do we get out of here?"
Veldris felt around the wall, seeing if anything was loose or if there was some secret to escaping the hole. Zephyr sat down, tired and drowsy. After feeling betrayed and being inches away from death, he just wanted to rest, just for a little bit. His eyes began to close when Veldris discovered something.
"Wait, Zephyr. This wall down here is hollow. It feels as if they tried to fill it up after everyone came threw," Veldris said, his hand at an area of the wall next to Zephyr's feet.
Zephyr got up and tried to kick it down, but it didn't budge.
"Forget it. I'll deal with it in the morning."
Zephyr sat back down, drifting off to sleep.
...
A static noise filled his brain, Zephyr wincing in pain as he woke up.
"Rise and shine for day 3!"
Ugh, this guy.
"Today's a special day! I have deactivated your needles. You can now use your qi! There are 5000 people left, good luck!"
Getting up, Zephyr remembered the situation he was in right now. Trapped in a hole with nowhere to go.
Wait, there was the place in the wall that Veldris said was hollow.
"Veldirs, where was the hole?"
"Right there," Veldris said, pointing near his feet.
Zephyr surrounded his qi near his feet and kicked it as hard as he could. The wall broke apart into a million different pieces, revealing a crawl space that might just be his salvation.
Alright, here goes nothing.
Zephyr crawls through the hole, sweating buckets from how far down he was. After crawling for a while, he hit his head on something in front of him.
What the hell? Is that the end of the tunnel?
Zephyr pressed his hand on the dirt above him, and it seemed loose enough to push away. After sensing nobody nearby, he pushed away the dirt and climbed out of the hole. He was in a small cavern, lit up by torches with only a wooden door across from him. He slowly walked towards the door when a mana circle appeared from under his feet; Zephyr jumped back as quickly as he could. A spike of water shoots up from the ground he stood on.
Mana in Kyomora? What the hell?
Zephyr had no time to think as five water-shaped people surrounded him. The water fell off their bodies, revealing five black-clothed people with black-scaled skin.
Water teleportation? That's like tier-10 mage magic. Who the hell are these people?
Two people carried a sword facing in front of Zephyr, sensing mana of different elements in both of them. An archer stood next to him, ready to shoot the moment he made a move. A mage far back behind the two warriors and a mage that stood behind him readying their water magic for the moment Zephyr moved.
Right now, the most my body and sword can take is verse 4 sword arts. Can I beat all of these people who are probably on par with Mystharow's strongest knights? No, there's no point in contemplating. If I want to survive, I have to fight.
Zephyr focused the Abyssal's energy into his feet and channeled his qi there as well.
Phantom moon step
He teleported behind the mage in the back, catching them off guard and slicing off its neck. The mage that was behind him before shot a spear of water in his direction, the arrow shooting into the spear of water, turning it into a deadly muddy spear. But immediately, without any cooldown, Zephyr teleports behind the archer, ready to slice off its neck. The archer reaches for its dagger at his waist, grabs it, and blocks Zephyr's attack as if they already sensed him about to teleport behind them.
"Haha, Abyssal's dominion, huh," one of the creatures said with a raspy force.
Dammit, so they are the Obsidian Covenant if they know about Abyssal's dominion.
Before Zephyr could react, he sensed qi next to him, the same qi he used to teleport behind the mage.
They can use qi as well?!
One of the warriors teleported next to Zephyr, slicing his left arm off, Zephyr was unable to react to the speed.
"AAAAHHHH," Zephyr screamed, clutching his left arm and dropping his dagger.
The warrior put his blade against Zephyr's neck, "What's your connection with lord Vel?"
"Zephyr, give me your body, quickly!" Veldris exclaimed.
Having no choice but to comply with Veldris to live, Zephyr clenched his teeth and let Veldris take over his body.
"Checkmate."