Chapter 15: The Fall Into…

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We’ve barely survived the Grave Moles’ deadly attack, escaping down the nearest corridor. Yana collapsed it behind us to buy us enough time to flee.

“Maybe you were right when you decided to stop at Christian’s this morning.” Yana whispered to me as we progressed through the dimly lit corridors. “Did you pick up anything useful from that shed?”

Did I feel validated for going to Christian this morning? No, at least not yet. None of the items I took had been of any use against the Undead Wolves or the Grave Moles and Void Spiders. Did I leave the Gethril Root in my second inventory because of the Void Spiders, or are we going to encounter another enemy with poisoning abilities?

That guy Goren, the one Chronos warned me about, had been pestering me the entire morning. I evaded him as much as I could, trying to use Echo Sense to hear my past conversations with him, but the echoes were so faint and indistinguishable, they barely helped. Still, I believed I’d managed to fool him well enough that he didn’t suspect I didn’t remember him. Erebus' mark on him was a lot more intense than on Yana.

Checkpoint’s anchor had been wasted on me this run. I’d set the anchor right before the wolves attacked, and it expired a few minutes ago, right before we killed a few Undead Warriors. I thought about attacking the Grave Moles, utilizing Checkpoint to reawaken, but I just couldn’t leave Yana’s side. The memory of her dead body in my arms, the only one I retained from my previous runs, continued haunting me.

I glanced at the system menu.

[Déjà vu System: Level 4]

[Loop Count: 5]

[Experience Points (XP): 976 / 1300]

I was fairly close to the next level.

“Are you alright?” Yana asked, and I realized I hadn’t answered her question.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Just a bit overwhelmed.”

“Are you sure?”

I glanced at her and gave her a reassuring smile, only to notice a large mural behind her, stretching across the entire wall.

“What the hell is that?”

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Once we reached an intersection at the end of the corridor, I noticed a glowing orb on the ground next to left turn. At first, I almost spoke up to ask the group about it, but as I focused on it, the familiar interface of the Déjà vu system appeared.

[Temporal Trace Mark #1]

It displayed above the glowing orb, and I realized I was the only one who could see it.

“What are you looking at, Aidan?” I heard Yana say behind me. “We need to take a right here. I sensed people that way.”

I left this mark for myself using Temporal Trace, likely intending to investigate the continuation of the mural in the left corridor. Had I taken the left turn in any of the previous runs? Or would this be the first time?

“Aidan?” Yana called my name, confused by my unresponsiveness.

“Oh, just leave him behind.” Jax snapped, moving forward down the right corridor.

“Wait for me, Master Jax.” Henry called after him.

“I want to take a left here.” I said calmly, aware of how it was going to sound.

Yana’s eyes widened. “Why? I told you, I sensed people down the right corridor. It’s likely Lady Mikaela. I sense nothing down the left one.”

“Also, we shouldn’t split up.” Lena added, pointing toward the right corridor where Jax and Henry had already disappeared into the darkness.

Melissa stood behind Yana, remaining silent but clearly ready to stick with Yana until we were safe.

I pondered what to do. Yana was probably right. But she didn’t understand the predicament we were in – I was in – and I couldn’t tell her.

I had to move forward. I had to level up. But being unable to retain my memories was slowing my progress so much. What choice did I make here last time?

I tried focusing on past echoes using Echo Sense, but the only thing I could hear was: “…Let’s go…”. It was the clearest echo I’d heard so far, yet it could mean anything - and at the same time, it meant nothing.

Surprisingly, Goren’s words from morning came into mind: “None of this matters.”

I sighed, shaking my head. “I’m taking a left here, Yana.”

She watched me for a long moment, and I was afraid she’d protest, but her response surprised me. “Fine, I’ll come with.” She then turned to Lena and Melissa, pointing toward the right corridor. “Continue down this corridor together, please.”

But I didn’t want Yana to join me. I mean, I did, but I couldn’t let her come with me. I’d already made a mistake that now left her marked by Erebus – a mistake Chronos was kind enough to never let me forget. I didn’t know what awaited me in this left corridor, but following me would only endanger Yana further. I couldn’t agree to that. The Grave Moles were already targeting her more than any other adventurer earlier.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yan, you should escort them to Lady Mikaela.” I said, trying to make sense. “Think about it: Lena is a healer, and Melissa is an enchanter. With Jax and Henry already ahead, no one will protect them if anything happens along the way.”

“And leave you behind in exchange? No chance.” Yana replied, her tone firm.

“I’ll wait for you here.” I lied. “I’m not crazy enough to go in alone. Not after everything we’ve seen.”

Yana seemed thoughtful, and I used the opportunity to press on. “I’ll just analyze the mural until you get back.”

“What if you get attacked? By the Grave Moles or worse?” she fired back.

“Then I’ll run down the right corridor, and you’ll meet me halfway and save me.” I felt awful for using her heroic character to manipulate her, but it seemed to be working.

Forgive me Yana, but this is for your own good.

Melissa was the final nail in the coffin. “Please, Lady Yana, I don’t want to die.” She said, beginning to cry.

Yana shook her head and took a deep breath, turning to me. “Okay. But don’t you dare take even one step down this left corridor without me, got it?”

I nodded, smiling weakly. “I promise.”

“Follow me.” She told Melissa and Lena, leading them down the right corridor and leaving me alone at the intersection. Once they were far enough that I couldn’t even hear their footsteps, I turned to the left corridor and took a step forward.

Before I could even light a fire, the ground gave way beneath me. My feet slipped, and I was yanked down into the darkness. It wasn’t a straightforward free fall but more of a relentless, bumpy tumble. Mud slicked under me, rocks jabbed into my ribs, and the path twisted and curved in unexpected ways.

I scrambled to slow myself down, grasping at the walls and even the ground beneath me, but all I managed was to scrape the palms of my hands at the rough terrain. The tunnel suddenly took a sharp turn, and I was smacked against a wall with my shoulder. Hard. I winced, but there was no time to dwell on it as the tunnel grew even steeper.

Reacting quickly, I unsheathed Nightfall and drove it into the ground, attempting to halt my descent. I only managed to slow down a little. Eventually, the ground leveled out, and I skidded to a full stop.

I lay back, catching my breath, my body screaming with pain.

[Health:36% - Consume a Healing Potion]

I took a deep breath, relieved I didn’t have any lasting status effects like bleeding.

I selected three lesser healing potions from my second inventory and consumed them, feeling much better.

[Item Consumed: Lesser Healing Potion x3]

[Health: 96%]

Once the immediate problem was out of the way, I realized I was sitting on the cold, muddy ground, surrounded by complete darkness. It was so dark I couldn’t even see my own body.

But then I recalled the Lumindew I’d picked from Christian today.

[Item Consumed: Lumindew x1]

[Night Vision activated. Duration: 30 minutes. Visual range enhanced in low-light areas]

With my vision now adjusted to the dark surroundings, my heart sank.

I realized I was at the bottom of a large pit, and the walls around me we draped with thick, dense, sticky webs stretching over the walls and the ground itself. Spider webs – huge ones. Big enough to house those giant monstrosities that attacked us in the main antechamber.

I glanced up and caught sight of tunnels set high in the walls, likely used by the spiders to traverse the tomb. The hole through which I’d fallen was nowhere to be seen, as if it had closed itself after spitting me out. Yet there was a larger hole there – the size of two carriages at least.

Around me, there were no corridors, tunnels, or anything else - just a pit. A pit full of webs and the promise of death once its inhabitants returned home.

“No, no, no…” I muttered under my breath. Was this how I was going to die? By becoming spider food at the bottom of some dark, forgotten pit? Panic washed over me at the thought.

I tried using some of my offensive spells on the walls, but nothing left even a scratch.

I paced around the room, my mind racing as I thought about what I could do. The Lumindew’s effect would also end in around twenty-five minutes. Good thing I had two.

I needed a plan for when the spiders returned. I opened up my second inventory to see what I could use.

[Inventory #2]

* Lesser Health Potion x1

* Lesser Mana Elixir x2

* Lesser Stamina Elixir x2

* Gold Coins x30

* Gethril Root (Consumable) x3

* Lumindew (Consumable) x1

* Skyroot Powder (Consumable) x2

* Ironbark Brew (Consumable) x2

* Heartspore Tonic (Consumable) x2

* Ember Flask x3

* Oil Flask x2

* Spark Bomb x3

I’d already accepted the fact that I was going to die here.

Each Void Spider was level 65. They were fifteen levels stronger than me, but not entirely out of reach. The problem was, given the setup of this place, they’d likely overrun me by sheer numbers.

Before I die, I need to take as many of them with me to the grave as possible, to gain maximum XP from this encounter.

The Ember Flasks could help with their numbers - an area-of-effect fiery explosion that could damage a lot of them at once. Combined with the Oil Flasks, I would also be able to make the fire damage last for longer, sapping away their health slowly. I just needed to draw them all together. Insect-type monsters usually had a weakness to fire damage. This idea had to work.

I’d also have to evade a lot. Thankfully, I had twenty points in Agility, so while level 50 was as mediocre as it gets, having that many points in agility was still considered quite good.

Based on what I’d seen when the Void Spiders attacked us in the main antechamber, they moved quickly and also possessed ranged attacks. I’d use Skyroot Powder for increased stamina regeneration, so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting tired throughout the fight. And I’d take an Ironbark Brew to increase my durability by 20% and minimize the damage I’d take, as given the level differences, each attack they landed would likely reduce my HP to lower than 20%. I only had one healing potion left – two, if I counted the one in my original inventory – not enough.

The Heartspore Tonic would also be beneficial. I'll consume it once I get injured, it will restore 10% HP per minute to increase my sustain. I’d also need to use the second Lumindew when the first one’s effect ran out, as the effect couldn’t be stacked.

Other than that, I’d activate Bladesurge to enhance Nightfall’s stats, and use Dash Step and Blade Rush for quick evasions, with some basic, weak fire spells to boost my damage slightly and capitalize on the insects’ weakness. All in all, this would drain a lot of mana, so I’d have to keep an eye on my mana bar and use a mana elixir when it got too low.

I took a deep breath. This was going to be a challenge unlike anything I’d ever faced before. Originally, I just wanted to continue exploring the mural, but this unexpected turn of events posed an interesting opportunity.

I commenced my final preparations. Not long after, a faint sound reached my ears – a soft, rhythmic scraping that echoed down from the tunnels above. It grew louder with each passing moment. The scrape of countless legs against stone, the hiss of bodies brushing against webs.

My skin prickled, my heartbeat quickened, and soon enough they were here.