“Ueek! Ugh!”, crouching on the ground with my hands holding my head I couldn’t help but curse the damn portal that made me feel even sicker than before.
I was suffering from extreme motion sickness, a pretty common thing that a person experiences when passing through a portal, after all
My entire head was spinning and I felt like I would faint any second now but then clenching my teeth I tried to calm my mind and after sometime I was finally able to get over the harsh feeling in regards to which I felt quite relieved as I looked around my surroundings for the first time.
Around me there was a dense forest with extremely tall trees that looked scary to me for some reason, but not minding them trees I got on my feet and started my search for the thing that I have come here for.
“*Chriii~*”, tearing away my bloodstained clothes I hid them behind a nearby tree and started walking towards the depths of the forest.
On my way there I encountered a few monsters but I made sure to keep my distance from them and thus, was able to cove a large part of my journey with relative ease.
***
After walking for like around 30-40 minute I reached one of the stoppage points of my journey.
According to what I remember, Adam was supposed to visit this place in the late- middle portions of the story and gain a reliable comrade so the chances of me succeeding at this place was highest as compared to the other places like the Plethora Heaven or The Dark Ruins where the chances of Adam finding my whereabouts was at the maximum.
Coming back to the present scenario,
I kept on walking through the forest’s trail, following some of the hints that I had previously written in the novel, for example the tree with a white bark and three branches, the blood-red colored large boulder, and lastly the tree with blue leaves.
The three of these things were arranged in sequence such that after walking around 1 kilometer straight from the last hint, the tree with blue leaves, I would finally reach the place where I was supposed to find the possible treasure that might help me get rid of Astaroth for good and also subsequently help me to counter Adam perfectly.
So, the moment I reached the last hint, that is, the tree with blue leaves, I stopped for a moment and looked around my surroundings. Right now, everything seemed too quiet around me, as if there was no one in this part of the dungeon apart from me, which was by some coincidence, true, I hope.
But I know for sure that my presence wouldn’t go unnoticed for too long, so after straightening my back for a few minutes, I continued in my journey towards my destination, ‘The Tomb of Love’.
***
It took me around 10 minutes to cover the next kilometer, although the speed wasn’t anything good, it could be considered somewhat satisfactory if I were to take my inexperience and the terrain as the factors in the assessment, well actually, no, if there is something that I have learned in this world, it is that no excuses are valid in here, if you lose your focus even once then you will die, that’s how this world works.
Well, coming back to the topic,
Standing in front of me was something that seemed like an abyss, no, actually it seemed even more spooky than that.
It was a cave.
Honestly speaking, I doubt I have seen more than 10 caves in my entire life, after all, I used to live in a city where there were no caves, or forests, but even so, out of all the caves that I have seen in my life, none of them comes close in terms of spookiness in front of the cave before.
It was as if the cave was releasing some kind of cold energy that was grinding through my bones, making me feel like giving up before I could even try. But I knew that I don’t have the luxury of giving up, after all, if I lose this opportunity then I won’t ever be able to save my life from Adam, not to mention, the vicious S-Ranked or lower beasts in the forest would probably leap on me before I even manage to get a chance to defend myself.
An S-ranked dungeon is a dungeon where the boss or the strongest monster who was deemed as the owner of this space was an S-ranked monster like the Thunder Chilling Dragon, or maybe the Mystical Vermilion Bird. These monsters are considered to be natural calamities, meaning that even if someone manages to defeat them, they won’t be able to save their surroundings from getting heavily damaged due to these monster’s innate strength and lust for destruction.
The only reason I am alive until now is because none of the monsters have paid any attention to me as of now, the weakest monster in this dungeon should be around C-grade in rank, so the chances of them being busy fighting others was very high. But I know for sure that I cannot cross their ignorance as some kind of a blessing and continue venturing in here like it was my backyard, no, even if I hadn’t been found until now, the chances of me getting found out soon shouldn’t be too low.
So, not wasting too much of my time I directly entered the abyss-like cave, gritting my teeth and enduring the chilly cold waves that kept on coming at me from all sides.
The moment I had entered the cave, I don’t know how, but by some magic, countless lights got lit by themselves, allowing me to clearly see everything that was there before me.
“Guhhh!”, the chilly waves around me kept on attacking me from all sides making me feel an extreme amount of pain, it was a dreadful experience, to say the least, but the thing that scared me the most weren’t the cold waves that kept on attacking me at all times, no, it was an altar in the middle of the cave on which thousands of shining gems were placed.
For a second, I found myself to be tempted by the gems, but then taking control of my avarice I somehow stopped myself from dying, after all, it was such an obvious trap that anyone who would fall for it would be nothing but a braindead person.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Calming my raging mind, I once again looked at the gems before me, and this time when I looked at them, then instead of gems what greeted my view was the countless skeletons that lay spread before me. The scene was straight out of a horror movie but I didn’t let it affect my will too much and thus kept on walking inside the cave in search of the thing that I had been looking for.
On my way I got to witness countless oasis like the previous one, each one as if it had been etched by a magic spell that seemed to attract even my entire soul, but somehow controlling myself and my emotions I was able to get through them without bringing much damage to myself.
As I kept on walking through the abyss-like cave I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful way it was constructed, although from the outside it seemed kind of bland, from the inside it was nothing short of a piece of art as I found various rock sculptures depicting demons, gods, dragons, and other mythical creatures along the way.
Honestly, it was a weird experience for me, the entire cave seemed like the property of a king or someone with a high position which only solidified my belief that not everything in this world had changed and that the plotline is almost the same apart from Adam’s weird behavior which I also have somewhat of an idea about, but to be honest, I don’t really want to think about it as it might make me lose my spirit before I even get to confront him.
“Huaaakk!!!”, I was in the midst of thinking when suddenly I felt something pass by my back leading me to let out such a strange noise out of fright. The moment I turned my head backwards to see what was behind me I found myself to be dead shocked when I realized that I was all alone in the cave.
But then why throughout my entire venture in the cave did I kept on thinking that I was with someone in this cave, and why the hell do I still keep on explaining my thoughts as if someone is watching me, someone with so much power that they can scrap me whenever they would want to?
What should I do? What should I do? Oh god, I don’t want to die!
It was then that out of nowhere a voice resounded in my ears,
“Stop with your act, it’s embarrassing”, the voice although sounded calm but in reality, was like the tide of an ocean that swept everything alongside it as I soon found myself losing consciousness for some reason.
‘Not good’, I thought and quickly bit my lips to save myself from losing consciousness.
A fine trail of blood sped past the side of my mouth and the taste of iron touched my tastebuds snapping me out of my drowsiness.
“Haa… haa”
The moment I regained my complete senses I found myself panting heavily and my entire back to be drenched with cold sweat. This was the first time in my life that I have ever felt so much fear. Honestly, even the aura that Adam was exuding back then was nothing compared to that simple voice transmission that just resounded in my ears.
“You are really a good actor, aren’t you?”, the voice once again resounded in my ears, washing my entire being with dread once more. Honestly, I…
“Stop with the act now, brat. You really are bad when it comes to acting”,
Ah…
‘So, I was found out, hah? Figures, after all, I never thought that I would ever be able to fool the Queen of Beasts, Olivia, isn’t that right, Queen?’
The moment I thought of these words a huge pressure came crashing down on me, my knees buckled, and in the end, I fell to the ground with a thump, thereby injuring myself a bit.
But not showing any pain on my face or that’s what I believe at least, I looked in front of me and found a beautiful lady in her late twenties standing before me exuding a domineering aura that seemed to make me reconsider my place as a bottom feeder who only lives because of others’ mercy.
But considering who I was, the creator of this novel, I strangely found myself recovering from the massive pressure that came crashing down on me just a few moments ago and it didn’t take me much time to recover completely and get back on my feet.
The expression on Olivia’s face became ever more complex as the moments passed and she took an authoritative pose seemingly trying to guard the door behind her as if her entire life depended on it.
Others might find her behavior to be confusing, but for me, the author and in other words the creator of this world, I knew the reason behind her actions, and also the reason behind the formation of this cave.
“What do you want, human? State your wish and go away, I do not have much time to deal with the likes of you”, this time the figure before me opened her mouth and said these words in a clear voice, making it clear that she didn’t want to deal with me anymore.
‘‘Well, you already know what my wish is, don’t you, Madame Queen?’’, I said as I looked at the door that was behind her.
Seeing through my unmasked intentions she just nodded her head and said, “Sorry, but you cannot go there, something very important for me resides in there”
“And don’t you dare think for even a single moment that you, a puny human would be able to go there and be unharmed, I am way stronger…”
Fed up with her lies I decided to cut her in between and said, “You must really love your daughter, hah? I wonder what kind of expression you would make if I kill her in there”,
The moment I said these words the pressure once again erupted the only difference was that this time it was way more heavier but for some reason, this time I was able to stand her aura without much difficulty.
“You dare to mention my daughter!!! I will have you abolished to the lowest levels of hell, I will drink your blood and eat you flesh you mongrel!!!”, this time it seemed to me as if I have seriously pissed her off.
But even after listening to her threats I didn’t feel much fear, no, actually I felt somewhat excited when I listened to her.
‘I wonder what kind of expression I am making right now’, I thought as I touched my face only to find that my facial muscles were stretched into a smile.
“Woah scary scary~”, these words slipped from my mouth as I once again looked at the woman standing before me, her beautiful midnight blue hair, her deep abyss-like hair, each and every pore of her body seemed to be radiating a bone-chilling bloodlust that sent shivers down my spine every time my eyes met with hers.
But somehow withstanding her malice I stood my ground and kept on looking at her whilst trying to maintain the same expression on my face throughout our standoff.
But after a few moments Olivia took back her aura and kept on looking at me with wariness in her eyes.
Understanding her worry I came clean and told her my reason for coming to the cave, “Please forgive me if I came off as rude but the thing is, I want your daughter’s help to get rid of someone. The moment I get her help I will go back and I swear on my soul that I will never divulge information about this cave to anyone”,
Listening to my explanation Olivia looked at me for a moment and asked, “I don’t know what you are talking about, go away, my daughter isn’t here…”
“Oh, it seems that Madame must’ve forgotten a few things from the past, hah? Well, don’t worry I will jog your memory right this instant”, I said but Olivia once again tried to cut me off and said,
“Go away, I don’t have the time to deal with the likes of you…”,
But I didn’t let her interrupt me and said,
“Olivia, you sealed your daughter behind that door, right?”