章 30: Before a Few Days Later.
He was cold.
"Adam, please!"
She hugged his cold body. Her embrace tightened and she gripped his shoulders as hard as she could while thinking that things may change.
"Adam? Please. " Her voice was soft yet it cracked.
Tears flowed down her cheeks and her eyes were swollen. She was being a bit too emotional.
"Oh."
She just noticed. Adam still had a pulse.
"Oh! Thank you! Thank you for not dying."
It was a cause for celebration and she was happy. You might expect her tears to stop but on the contrary, it flowed with relative ease.
She was tearing up more than earlier. She was too happy that Adam didn't die.
"Sniff."
She began recollecting herself. She wiped her eyes of tears and her nose of snot. Having experienced a roller coaster of emotions, Lilith focused more on the current issue.
"How will I take him out of here?"
She asked. It was at this moment that she took the liberty to look around herself. It was eerily quiet for a raid. There were bound to be screaming creatures if she's at the heart of the cavern.
But there were no Folinrs. Within the enclosed space, the Folinr were nowhere to be seen. There was only dirt, rocks, Adam, and that pile of viscera beside him.
"Wha- What is this?"
Lilith now realized that she has been sitting beside a pile of flesh. It was bloody and it was mushed, but more importantly, it was slimy. It was enclosed within a viscous membrane. It was stomach acid as Adam regurgitated it earlier, but she doesn't know that.
"Yuck."
She decided to ignore the big pile of bolus and continued looking around. There was nothing else. Of course, there was the boulder that was crushing Adam's lower half.
"I can't move this on my own."
She understood what she had to do. So she worked on it and stood up. She ran back towards the hole she made and carefully crawled to it. Once she was out of the hole -
"HELP!"
She screamed for help.
"Help me please!"
But it all went to deaf ears. Everyone in the Vault was currently busy dealing with the large numbers of Folinr.
However, unlike earlier, the numbers thinned down and the situation was a lot better. The cadets were working in squads to take down wandering Folinr and the main force swept through the areas that had more creatures to kill.
The ones in charge of evacuating trapped people were the stationed guards. And one certain guard stood tall before the biggest of the holes. It was the first guard to encounter the Folinr. The one guy that tried to diffuse the situation and warned people to back off.
He was still alive, he was still standing.
"Sir! I need your help!"
Lilith pleaded to the guard, whose body was covered in blood but not necessarily his blood. He was the nearest person to ask for help and Lilith was very desperate. She doesn't know how long Adam could survive in that condition.
"I'm kind of - HAaaaaa"
The man kicked a Folinr away, it didn't die from his hit but he managed to throw it off. He does not have the ability to kill the creatures in one shot. His Gift was not a gift for murder but a Gift to protect.
"-busy right now! Haaaaaaaa."
He replied. He was having a hard time breathing, mostly because his stamina was already drained as he was fighting since the beginning of the battle. However, this man is relentless, he seemed to have endless energy as his eyes were burning with passion.
"I must protect everyone! Child! Do what you must!"
He said to Lilith. Lilith nodded and continued running. The man just indirectly said that he'll hold all of the Folinrs here by himself. He was confident that he would not die from any of their attacks.
Lilith ran and ran until she reached a hall. She did not care where she was heading but she heard a couple of explosive sounds. She thought that there were soldiers in the area she was going to. As she turned a corner -
"Oof"
"Ouch."
She bumped into someone, a girl smaller than her. The girl was wearing the standard children's clothing of the Vault and had brown hair.
The little girl fell by herself. Lilith had the body coordination to not fall from such an obstacle but the little girl did not. Looking behind, Lilith saw Brian right behind the little girl and he was unfeeling of the happening.
His eyes were looking towards the holes on the walls. He was looking straight at the blocked tunnels and did not care for Lilith and Eve's event.
"Brian! You have to help Adam!" Lilith exclaimed as urgently as she could.
Brian heard her statement and affirmed the situation. His earlier hypothesis was correct due to Lilith's request, and due to that same request, he now knew that Adam was in serious danger.
"No time! Let's go!" Lilith said to Eve.
Lilith reached out her hand to Eve. Eve accepted her hand and stood with her help. They were in a rush and Eve could not be bothered to be angry. She knew that lashing out at someone because of running at this crisis would be stupid.
"Hey. I'm sorry about what happened."
Lilith asked for an apology. They were running towards the hole that Lilith dug herself. She led Eve by hand and Brian followed suit. Due to her apology, Eve got to thinking.
Eve looked at the hand that was holding hers. Lilith's hands were badly injured. They were no mere scratches and almost all of her nails fell off. Seeing this made Eve awkward, she did not know how to console someone who was staying strong despite going through that.
"It's alright. You are also heading towards Adam, right?"
Lilith said to Eve. She only said that to catch Eve's attention and that is because Eve did not reply at her apology from earlier.
And hearing Lilith's statement, Eve's curiosity piqued. She was worried about Adam but they were held up by the Folinr within the halls. That explained why they couldn't go to Adam as fast as Lilith did.
"How is he? Is he okay?"
This time, Eve replied vehemently with a question of her own. She didn't answer Lilith's question but her question was an answer enough. She was worried.
"He's -"
Lilith had a rough smile on her face as she said that. She could not continue her words because she doesn't want to admit that Adam was dying. They reached the hole before she steeled her will to speak up.
"Crawl through here. There are no Folinr here for some reason so we are safe."
Lilith explained to both Brian and Eve. She crawled into the hole first to demonstrate.
"See? The coast is clear!"
Upon seeing her crawl inside and saying that the area was clear of enemies, they both followed her one at a time and crawled into the hole.
"There he is." Lilith pointed towards a boulder.
From where they were standing, Brian and Eve could not see Adam. They looked at Lilith and she just shook her head at their inquiring gazes.
"He's crushed under that rock."
Brian and Eve suddenly bulged their eyes. They were both attached to Adam and losing him right now was not the best of scenarios they had in mind. You would expect Eve to angrily shout at Lilith but -
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WOMAN!" Brian screamed at Lilith.
Lilith backed off with both of her hands held up free for anyone to see. She shook her head continued her words.
"Don't worry Brian. He's still alive." Lilith said with a pained voice.
Hearing her say that, Brian felt her pain. Brian used his magic to make things clear.
"Magelight.
And upon brightening the cavern with his magic, he could now see Lilith's swollen eyes and her dirty face. He looked closer and saw her hands that did their best to dig through the earth to make a hole.
"I -. I'm so sorry." Brian apologized and did a bow before Lilith.
"Oh. Let's do that later."
Lilith did not think much about Brian's sudden excessive voice. She was more worried about Adam's current state than she would feel about suddenly being screamed at. She had her priorities straight.
Lilith jogged towards the boulder and the rest followed. Getting closer and closer to the boulder, they could begin to see Adam's head. Peering ever so slowly, they made it to the boulder and soon Adam's side.
"How? How could this happen?" Brian cried as he rushed to Adam.
Eve silently stood still. She was being considerate of Brian's feelings even though she herself was feeling very sad at the moment. Clutching her hand and biting her lips, she cried without making a sound. Silently shedding a tear with Brian's cries as ambient music.
Lilith moved to Brian. She walked with steps that echoed in the whole cavern and when he reached Brian-
SLAP~
A resounding slap landed on Brian's face. This was her payback for Brian's scream earlier and a reminder that there were things to do.
"Brian. Focus! He's still alive." She reminded Brian that she did not say Adam died.
She pointed towards the boulder as she held Brian's shoulder.
"Can you break this boulder?" Lilith asked Brian to use his power.
Brian thought about her request. He looked at the boulder and thought.
'Explosion magic could probably break it.'
However, he shook his head at this thought.
'Adam's explosion already did enough damage to this place, even more would put all of us in peril.'
'And plus, even if it were to be broken to pieces. The fragments would all stab and further Adam's journey to death.'
Brian thought logically. His emotional self was kept in check by Lilith and now he was thinking straight.
'Maybe I can just move the boulder?'
Brian stood and motivation was evident on his face. His eyes, filled with a blazing passion to help his friend, focused at the boulder before him. He gathered his mana and began manipulating the ground around him.
"EARTH PILLAR!"
Two pillars suddenly shot from the ground. They were pushing the boulder off of Adam. The boulder moved but it wasn't enough.
"ARGHHH. ANOTHER! EARTH PILLAR!"
Two more pillars pushed the boulder. All four pillars slowly pushed the boulder and it soon rolled off of Adam.
Adam was no longer in immediate danger but he was still badly injured. His lower half was flat that you would doubt whether or not it contains bones.
Eve relieved at the sight of Adam being out of the boulder. She could feel his breath becoming lighter and lighter. He was recovering.
"What?"
Eve was alarmed. His breath was soon steady and clear. It was a breathing rhythm that people have when sleeping soundly. She could feel that Adam was not having a hard time breathing and was confused.
"Hey. Don't worry about it." Brian said to Eve with sweat covering his face.
Brian sat down and relaxed. He saved his best friend from certain death so he was feeling great.
"He'll wake up soon, that's just how his power works." Brian confidently said.
"For now, let us just carry him out of here and get to safety." He continued.
Eve and Lilith relaxed at Brian's claim. He was the one that knew Adam best so his words were credible. And seeing that Adam was visibly healing, both of them believed Brian and made their way out of the cavern.
The situation in the Vault was getting better and better. There were little to no Folinrs that were running around and almost every area was secured. It was only
A few days later, everyone, including Adam's parents, had the same question -
"Why is he not waking up?"
Adam did not wake up as Brian said.
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