Beneath the hill
Crack!
Luke gritted his teeth as the kick connected, knocking him off the ground. He felt like he had been hit by a truck and was sent hurling back with incredible force.
Bam!
Lukas' body crashed into the edge of a crack and his spine grazed the pointy edge which made him jerk up in pain, and he turned around only to see the massive hole of the crack.
Instinctively he tried to pull away from the crack, but his body was unbalanced at the edge and the sudden movement made Luke's body slide down the slope of the edge. His hands frantically reached for anything they could hold onto, but this could not stop him from falling into the crack.
"Aah!"
His scream echoed through the walls of the crack as his body vanished into the darkness of the hole.
Swoosh!
Luke fell deeper into the hole as his body bounced on the walls of the crack, which left him with cuts and bruises.
Bam!
As soon as he hit the ground, Luke's vision blurred due to the impact, and he felt an aching pain in his chest. Not only was he bruised and injured, but he was also exhausted.
"Fuck!" Luke grunted in pain as he felt too tired to try and move himself.
While the fight, running, dodging and the fall left him physically drained, all the planning, anxiety, and observation took a toll on him mentally.
As for his physical condition, it was far worse than expected since he sustained serious injuries including broken ribs, a few broken bones, minor cuts, and serious bruises.
He found it difficult to breathe as he grasped the chest and gritted his teeth in silence. This was made worse by the agonizing scream and pain that was slowly pushing his consciousness away.
However, Luke knew that if he lost consciousness here, there was a chance he wouldn't be able to wake up due to unknown beasts that may be residing in this tunnel.
It was no different from a death sentence.
He silently tried to regulate his breathing while enduring the pain. After ten minutes of lying on his belly, Luke's body had healed enough to move a bit.
While he let out pained grunts, Luke turned and laid on his back. He wanted to move a bit more, but it turned out his body had not regained enough strength.
With no other choice, Luke decided to survey his environment. The light from the crack above illuminated the tunnel considerably and made it possible to see.
The first thing he noticed was the growing moss on the walls of the tunnel. If it wasn't for his unique blood, his wounds from the fall would have been infected.
His eyes went on to scan the remaining parts of the tunnel, but to his greatest surprise there was nothing remarkable about the area and there was nothing dangerous present.
Luke let out a sigh of relief since he truly needed some time to recover, so he shut his eyes and remained motionless.
Not more than thirty minutes after the fall, light footsteps could be heard from the far end of the tunnel. It was a mole the size of a dire wolf that walked up to Luke's unmoving body.
Its head moved over Luke's face, casting a shadow on him, but also alerting him of the presence of the enemy.
Luke's eyes yanked open, and his hand shot up!
His left hand grabbed the beast by the head and plunged his bone weapon from the right side of the head, which penetrated its skull.
The beast let out shocked and painful screeches as its body swayed from side to side before staggering back while Luke sprang to his feet and watched.
The mole cried out one last time before crumbling to the ground. Its limbs twitched for a short while before it finally died.
Huff.
Luke exhaled deeply and sighed. His body had completely healed a short while ago, but such recovery required a lot of nutrients, which left him hungry and exhausted.
To deal with this, Luke decided that rather than searching for food, it was best he lay there and act unconscious. This would attract a beast searching for a free meal and allow him to catch it off guard.
Luke walked up to the corpse and fell on one knee. He placed his hand on it and accepted the call, which allowed him to absorb the nutrients he greatly needed.
[Molark Soul core absorbed]
[Counter: 32/1000]
"That didn't do much, but it's better than nothing," Luke said as he rose to his feet and surveyed the tunnel again.
One side of the tunnel was a dead end which was where he fell from and on the other side was an unknown pathway where the beast had come from.
This left him with a few options, but none were favourable to him. The first option was to climb back up or follow the path of the dark tunnel.
Climbing up meant facing the boulder beasts again, which was no different from suicide. Against them, his enhanced strength was a joke and his bone weapon was a toy.
Luke knew only death awaited him the moment he got to the surface. However, the dark path wasn't any better.
Not only was his vision limited when venturing deeper into the dark tunnel, but he also had a chance to meet creatures worse than the mole beast in such confined spaces.
This little space in the tunnel made manoeuvring almost impossible and for someone like Luke who lacked a direct and destructive ability, it was the worst situation he could find himself in. The space issue immediately made him reconsider climbing up.
To make matters worse, there was a chance that this dark path only led to a dead end, which would mean he was risking his life for nothing.
Luke knew if he chose the dark path of the tunnel, he may end up disappointed and need to climb back up at the end of everything.
"I still have no clue of what is on the other side of the hill…" Luke said with a deep frown on his face.