Chapter 108 Intermission Alistar

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"Damn it!" Alistar looked left and right after waking up, but everything was dark. When the ceiling caved in, he shielded himself with his arm, but the ground he was on caved in too, and he fell to the lower level. He didn't know how long he was unconscious. Maybe just a few minutes, perhaps a few hours. He didn't even know if he was looking up or looking down when he regained consciousness.

Alistar could not see anything. Sometimes there was a glow. Sometimes, there wasn't. He tried to feel his surroundings with his fingers as he crawled on the cramped tunnel. He continued dragging his body for who knows how long while occasionally shouting for help.

"Heyy!" He shouted, but no reply came forth. More rocks blocked his way, but he pushed the rubble with his strength. His blessing has saved him once again. As he pushed and pushed for who knows how long, he was finally out of the rubble and lay before him in a dark cave.

He stood up and patted himself. Took one of the feystones and a white ring in his pocket and sat down while humming, trying to concentrate his mana into feystones to produce light. He also brought the usual fire ring all elven mages have, but he judged that the light ring to make light was more efficient than fire.

He was a graduate of Hoeth and an exemplary student at that. Even though he registered at the same time as Edelweiss, he graduated from the academy ten years before her. However, he was not a prodigy like Edelweiss. His scores were always enough to pass and good enough to take pride in, but he was no genius.

His magic proficiency was even worse than Rhander but he certainly can compete well enough that people would praise him. After all, we could use magic other than the usual fireball stipulated in the academy. After about three minutes of pondering, he activated his mana and a dim light glowed from his feystones to illuminate the surroundings.

Then he stood up, walking so slowly while concentrating on his feystones. His attention was divided into three now, staying alert, diverting mana from feystones, and stepping forward. He judged his surroundings and sighed again. His shield was shattered and he could not find his axe. It must have been lost inside the rubble.

"No need to worry. This time too, It will be just enough to prevail." Alistar muttered as he walked alone in the dim cave.

He constantly pondered why the gods gave him blessings. The gods gave him herculean strength and armor just like that when he graduated from the academy. He hid his gifts and continued on with his life. When the undead conquered Northlandgard, he barely escaped with his life with Edelweiss. And before he knew it, he was the lord of Reminiscence. The province bordering the undead lands.

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Even now, he was barely holding it off. The undead grew more numerous each day. But he always barely holds them off. The council only looked at his success and never knew that most of his success was bordering on luck, not his skill.

"I need to find Edelweiss. Even if I were to die, she needs to live on." Alistar muttered as he continued toward the dim cave.

Meanwhile, Sig, Niece, Alith, and Sana were struggling. They were surrounded by multiple Titante Abyss worms. In this dark cave, their only saving grace was Niece, that was together with them. They would get lost in this dark cave without the torch she gave them from her item box.

"Damn it, my sword could not even injure it." Alith and Sana cursed as they switched roles from attacker to baits and defender. A position not suited for their petite and agile body.

"Bring 'em here!" Sig shouted as he slammed his warhammer down to its hard carapace. It cracked under the heavy blow, but the worm was still going strong. It would take several more clean hits to its head before it was down.

"So this is why there was no Titan ore before. This worm eats them all!" Sig cursed and pummeled another worm's head with his warhammer fueled by rage.

"Are you guys okay?" Sig asked after five more hours battling four Titanite abyss worms. The group was exhausted and sat down to rest. They still held minimal awareness as Niece pulled out cups and water from her item boxes. The worm was the same one that Lily faced in a different room. However, because they didn't know their weak spot, it was a lot more dangerous and tiring than it was supposed to be. Well, even if they knew the worm's weak spot, accurately hitting its eye was another matter entirely.

"Wait! There are footsteps!" Alith stopped and looked toward its back. Even when they had torches, it was still difficult to defend against ambushes properly. They had no eyesight of the elves, but they still had hearing skills from the tailfolk, which were a blessing in disguise. Without it, they would have to prepare for needles flying out of nowhere or skeletons appearing right next to them.

"Behind us." The group stood up from their rest and faced backward, prepared for another fight. A glowing light shone from the dark cave as the footsteps grew louder.

"Hey!! You guys are still alive! I am glad!" Alistar shouted. The group could not see any figure but a dim light, but Alistar could see them standing with their torches.

"Lord Alistar! You are alive!" Alith and Sana rushed to him and gave a deep bow. They were fighting their urges to hug Alistar. Tailfolk were fine with skinship, but elves did not, so they greeted him with the usual greeting taught to them from the Synctail Academy.

Alistar welcomed them fondly. It was easy to read emotions from tailfolk since they wore it on their tail. Just by looking at it, he figured out they were happy to have met another survivor. He was also glad he was not alone in surviving the cave-in.

"Are the others safe?"

"I do not know. But multiple footsteps were walking in different directions before the cave-in. The cave branched when the ceiling collapsed. I think the probability of the others surviving was high." Alith and Sana reported based on their hearing.

Alistar felt relief as he had not failed his primary objective of keeping Edelweiss safe. He then walked on together with the rest of the group.