Chapter 19: The grand escape
The luckiest thing about the whole situation was the fact that these creatures were not lucid enough to actually pose a threat to Asato right at that moment. It could change at any moment though, so he needed to hurry on out of the place before anything tragic happened here.
The more he moved forward, the more the place shook till it was difficult enough to even walk straight.
At this rate, it would rake eons before he could exit from here safely.
Asato held his breath as one of the rock creatures just barely brushed his side as it made its way past him. Now that their bodies were out, the crystals on their backs no longer radiated light.
They still sparked with electricity but it looked to be of the painful kind and happened in bursts of light. Kind of like when lightning struck in nature. It made the hair on his skin rise up.
However, luckily these creatures seemed to have poor eyesight, a notion he had observed even before he had entered the hole. After all, these creatures had ignored them when they had made the wall collapse beforehand.
All he had to do was to make some intelligent decisions and avoid getting crushed by their moment. Rest all would be ok.
Not all the crystals were out of the ground though and Asato held his breath as he allowed many of those creatures to settle down back into the ground before he exited his spot.
With his steps as light as he made them, Asato exited the hole. Once that was done, he needed to make haste with his steps. Erin and Ten had escaped almost two three hours ago and could be anywhere in the whole labyrinth.
But they had the messenger frog with them which would help them get out easier. Asato was more worried about himself since he only had a hunch to go off of on.
Luckily, he had studied dungeon design with his master before and even had some practical knowledge. The walls of the place gave away a lot of information if one knew how to look for it.
The current walls were thick and solid, rockier than clay which meant he was deep down inside the cave.
He needed to find a place that had a more muddy texture to it. The power inside the place was flowing all over it, which made no sense to his senses. But he could take a guess by the direction Erin and Ten had escaped in.
Talking the road which was obvious, he walked till he reached a standpoint.
“Nice, Erin finally remembered to mark the junctions” Asato let out a breath when he saw that one of the sides of the junction actually had a trace of Erin’s energy. It was standard procedure to mark your way if you had teammates.
Thankfully, Erin remembered to do so even when he was in a hurry. The traces were easy to follow from there on out. The further he went, the softer the walls got.
It indicated that he was almost on the right track. The whole place was built like a maze which made it frustrating to get out of without a clear pathway to follow.
Finally, he reached the most delicate part of the cave, the walls thin enough to even hear the wind moment which existed outside these walls.
There was a shadow of a moment in front of him, two bodies waited just shy of the entrance.
“Asato? You made it” Erin was the first one who saw him coming out, the relieved expression on his face made Asato feel better than he was feeling.
Ten looked happy too, but his expression was more relieved overall. The party of to had not existed in the place yet which was a little suspicious but not enough to raise any flags in Asato’s mind.
“Yeah, I needed those creatures to settle down or they would have caved over the whole place” Asato assured the two as he neared the pair. The end of the cave was actually curved upwards which made it a grind in the final stretch.
“Why did you not hit the exit yet?” Asato asked when he was near enough to the party that he could work at a normal volume. The two gave him a look that was a mix between panic and amusement. It did nothing to reassure Asato at all.
“Normally we would but the situation outside doesn’t look any better than inside here at all” Erin commented, the humour in his voice darker than any time Asato had heard it to be.
“He means that it’s not safe outside” Ten commented, his voice barely above a whisper. Erin passed him a mockingly irritated grin before his eyes moved back toward the exit.
It made Asato wonder just what kind of situation was happening outside that could warrant such a reaction out of the pair. After all, Erin was not someone who would shy away from any situation.
This meant that it was dire, whatever it was.
Asato positioned himself to have a look outside. It looked to be a mirror of the situation he had escaped from, the crystals occupying most of the space all over the ground. Except, rather than being on the inside, they now existed outside the place.
“This is unnatural. These creatures are not supposed to be outside at all” Asato observed a frown on his face. This made things so much more difficult and the feeling of wrong occupied every pore inside his body.
These creatures were bound by a contract to exist only inside the dungeons and such special places, their existence outside them was not possible.
And yet there one existed right in front of their eyes. It meant that Asato had to do something about this or it would be a violation of his duty.
However, before that, he needed to make sure that the people he came here with would be alright. He needed Erin and Ten to actually get back safely in case anything happens here.
Not that his concerns would be appreciated. Knowing Erin, he would be cursed out and then his plans foiled to the max. It was better to plan the whole thing in a way that would keep Erin out of it and yet make him feel as if he was doing enough in the situation.
Asato had a few ideas which could work.
“We need to be careful and seal this place. I’ll report it to Nate and hopefully, he’ll take care of it” Asato commented as Erin pulled a face at that.
“Why the demon side and not ours? We are just as capable as them when it comes to cleanup” Erin grumbled, his voice whiny. Why was he being such a child in such a precarious position? Had he forgotten just where they were?
“M-Maybe because it’s the d-demon territory?” Ten said, his voice more of a question than a statement but Asato just nodded his agreement.
“It falls under their section, but you can always negotiate for those rights later with them. For now, we have more important things to focus on” Asato called out to the two as they gathered right behind the opening.
Just like inside the cave, the crystals were the only part that was visible and covered around 200 m^2 of the area in a circular fashion. There were around 50 of those creatures if Asato had to guess which was a great number when compared to their bulk size.
But luckily, these things were not fast or vigilant at all. Rather, these almost operated on instincts.
The worst part though? The worst part was that this was not a dark dusty cave but a sunny valley. Whatever advantage he had inside would not work well here since their vision would not be hampered in the slightest.
That made their options much more restricted in nature. It was bad already but there was still a large chance to pull it off without any hitch.
Besides, it was Asato’s job to handle such things after all.
“Erin, I would need your help here. Fancy giving me a hand?” Asato asked the older who let out a full-blown grin. However, there was something savage about this one, the atmosphere has shifted from the cosiness of before to something colder and dangerous.
Small fangs were visible in that human mouth and despite looking human, that person on his side was anything but so. No, this was a demon through and through.
The one he had asked the help of, the unconscious part of Erin who had responded just as Asato had asked him to.
Somewhere in the vicinity, Ten gave out a gasp of awe which Asato understood. Erin’s power was a vision to behold in this form which awed even Asato sometimes when he got like this.
Beyond the hole, those creatures shifted a little, the crystals lifting from the ground a little to give a glimpse below the darkness and the rocky parts of these creatures.
They were rock solid and just as dangerous looking as they had looked before. They were just now their problem all of a sudden.
“Control your aura. I need you to do a lot of work here” Asato warned the person, Erin who’s aura was almost going feral. It was no doubt a result of the higher demon’s blood in his system which was causing all this reaction.
But Asato did not care as long as no lasting harm was done. It was a part of Erin he had accepted a long time ago, one that had saved him a lot of time and effort.
And one he intended to make use of fully right this moment. Thank god he had Erin with him right now for this made things a lot easier now for him than him before.
"Ten, hide yourself. It's time for some fireworks" Asato warned the scared teen, his mind a mile per hour making plans. Yes, what he thought would work after all.
(Update schedule would be once in two days from here so please keep up. Bookmark it to never miss any future update from me)
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone