Into the Caves

Rena shook her head and turned back to face me.

While slightly squinted, her eyes subtlety shifted from side to side, and she held her head with her hand as if she found it difficult to concentrate.

"What... what was that?"

She was clearly dazed, and her first instinct was to look to me for answers.

Watching her tightly grasp her other arm, I waited for the ringing to fade away, only to be replaced with a dull pain; it was like I'd been slapped on both sides of my head, yet seeing her self-soothe in such a manner stung far more than any such slap.

In some way, she had already started distancing herself from me, and it hurt, but I couldn't blame her for it...

At the very least, it didn't seem like my eardrums had burst.

Looking away, I decided to explain.

"Blindness mirage. It's the demons' magic, and now we know where they are..."

At my words, her pondering expression suddenly grew shocked, but it soon fell away into one of destitution.

"Why now..? Of all times... Of all places... This is so unfair."

I could only sigh at her rather perturbed exclamation.

Unfair? Tell me about it...

Opening my mouth, I went to speak again, but Rena suddenly held her hand up to my face.

What is she doing?

Her eyes unnaturally drifted... she was listening.

Abruptly, she turned to the side and stepped back, looking over the tree line, and I watched on as the colour drained from her face.

"What is it?"

It was instinctive—of course, I didn't actually expect a reply; instead, I turned around and used my height to see above an unnaturally curved trunk.

There were dots in the sky, numerous dots; they were like a swarm of insects whose carapace shone with a domineering luster. If it wasn't for that shining reflective armour catching the light and flickering in my eyes, I wouldn't have recognised them so soon.

Angels...

"So fast."

I sounded quite aggrieved.

"I guess you've got the better hearing now, huh..."

The joke sounded a little awkward, but I wasn't really listening to myself.

Rena still seemed to find it a little amusing, and she turned to me with a light smile and some more confidence that I would have it under control.

Meanwhile, I was actually quite stressed...

I couldn't just leave Rena here now; I couldn't just send her to some town, or even have her set off on her own. What if she was caught? The Angels are likely to be scowering the land for Demons, and there's no world where they don't find her...

Yet, if I bring her with me, she could be rushing into a battlezone with me.

Tch... In and out, grab the stuff, leave, and if I really have to... I'll put her in my inner-world.

"Wait a second."

Rushing over to the side, I looked down at a corpse now partially buried in the ground.

It was being consumed.

With a wave of my hand, a jade swirl surrounded the earth below me. It only took a second for the energy to dissipate into the air, and both the corpse and the ground surrounding it vanished.

To Rena, I was hiding our tracks, so I didn't have to explain myself.

"You'll have to come with me..."

She nodded seriously, and I immediately started running.

I didn't want to reveal my inner-world to anyone who I wouldn't keep there... and I didn't want to reveal my true self to her.

In my eyes, the angels owed me their lives, and the demons I'd give a choice without going into the finer details—I'm not going to force anyone.

Glancing behind, Rena wasn't too far away.

If I explained everything to her, maybe she'd be glad to go... so why don't I?

A part of me doesn't want to control her fate, and I'm not really sure why... At the same time, she hasn't really lived, so it's not much of a choice.

It feels like I'm making excuses, but if I actually tried to convince her, then that would feel manipulative.

Hah, whatever.

I'll do whatever I have to—whenever I need to.

.

Come to think of it, this was the first time I'd seen her run as fast as she could, and it wasn't much slower than me.

With that strange magic, I have no idea what level she is... but if I ignore mana, then maybe she's around level 8—that is, if most of her points are in agility.

That's... not actually that far behind me, but I guess my abilities are more important anyway.

Fuck, I really should at least check out those other highlighted skills; if I could upgrade my lightning, then we'd be much safer.

Before long, we came up to an opening.

Huge stones had shattered rows of trees; clearly, the cave entrance ahead had been blown open by the pressure of the blindness mirage alone.

I didn't give it much thought and directly ushered Rena inside while opening the interface and focusing on my lightning magic.

[Conditions Satisfied]

[Every magic has its paths, and each path has the potential to become its own magic. Few are born with the talent to ascend a path beyond a mere derivative.

Lightning is one such derivative.

[Will you tear away the path of lightning and fully form this new magic?

Results will depend on Exyin: 0-120]

Hah?

The familiar dull scenery of the caves passed me by; rushing through here was instinctive, even though I hadn't spent much time as an imp wondering these caves.

Keeping my eyes on the interface was an easy task, but I was still finding it hard to understand.

Could it not be something simple for once?

"Wait!"

I quickly shouted for Rena to stop, and the cave suddenly shook.

A cloud of dust that had gently settled on the walls over the years was thrown into the air, and the clattering of loose stones carried far into the depths, compounding into a discordant cacophony.

They were already fighting...

Rena clasped my arm tightly, obviously terrified the walls would fall in on her.

She wasn't used to this darkness nor the lack of direction; it was likely she could barely even see.

Focusing through the waning disharmony, the rhythm of sprinting steps picked up in the periphery of my hearing.

"Try to stay close behind me."

"Mm"

After whispering to Rena, I leapt forward and handily withdrew the sword I had retrieved.

A moment later, an angel rushed into the intersection point of a few tunnels.

She turned to face me, and I instantly activated [Boost].

My blade cut through the air as fast as an arrow, and my form flashed directly past her.

She wasn't prepared, nor did she immediately see me as an enemy; as such, her hand still rattled against the hilt of her weapon, but her head had already slid from her body and rolled onto the ground.

A howling cry came from my side, and I aptly stepped back, narrowly avoiding the edge of a sweeping sword.

His attack, wrought with a terror-filled fury, had slammed into the rigid wall of the narrow cave, sending a shocking backlash up the man's arms.

Before he could recover, I threw my leg around and kicked straight into his side.

His arm snapped and his ribs folded around my attack before his body even had a chance to be pushed away.

When the momentum caught up to him, his face had already lodged itself in a small, jagged gap in the wall.

He slumped to the ground, and blood gushed down the black stone walls, saturating the dry surface.

[You have killed lvl14 Angel]

[Exp +(256/287) * 1205 = 1075]

[You have killed lvl12 Angel]

[Exp +(256/287) * 776 = 700]

[Exp Store: 0 --> 1775]

With my enormous strength and boosted speed, the power of my attacks is huge for my level... They didn't even stand a chance.

Rena quickly caught up and chose to not spend very long—or really any time at all—looking at the bodies.

Without batting an eye, I activated my mana sense and turned to the left path, following the trajectory of the soul light.

It went up, not down, but I had an idea.