Chapter-32 Trapped in Darkness

Deep underground, In a room enveloped in eerie darkness, with only a flickering candle in the corner providing a feeble source of light. In the center of this dark room was Kira, who had crashed through the ground and instantly passed out after hitting her head.

As her consciousness returned, Kira awoke, finding herself sprawled face-first on the cold ground. "Ahh... the entirety of my body hurts." she groaned, her voice bearing the strain of both unevenness and dryness.

Shaking her head to dispel the lingering drowsiness, Kira placed her hand on the ground to push herself up but as she found the ground very weridly uneven. In the dim light of the flickering candle, she looked down as she quickly discovered the room was filled with thousands of human bones.

"Ahh!" Panic and fear gripped Kira as she attempted to rise, but she felt a sudden pain in her legs that quickly transformed her cries into pained moans. "Ow!"

A sharp, searing pain emanated from her left thigh. Glancing down, Kira saw a jagged femur bone protruding through her flesh, the ground around her leg stained with blood. Why does this hurt so much? It's like every nerve in my body is screaming.

Suppressing the surge of panic, Kira controlled her breathing, but she kept calm to avoid movements that might worsen the pain and bleeding. Her heart raced, almost leaping through her throat. Peering through the darkness, she could barely make out an old, rusted gate next to the flickering candle, slightly ajar.

With her teeth gritted, Kira first carefully removed her bow from her back, each movement causing sharp jolts of pain to run through her throat. In a deliberate, measured sequence, she took a sharp intake of breath before attempting to flip herself over. Multiple deep breaths and clenched fists helped her suppress the pain. "Ahh," she stifled her agony under her breath, her left leg dragging on the ground causing the femur to hit other bone in, each motion sending waves of pain through her body.

"Alright, priority one is staunching this bleeding," Kira muttered aloud, her focus honed on the immediate task at hand so she wouldn't loss much more blood.

'I should have been more careful. How did I end up in this situation? This pain is unbearable," Kira muttered to herself. Assessing her injuries, as she remembered what Morgana did to her, slowly she grabbed her shirt and ripped it, fashioning a makeshift bandage to staunch the bleeding slitly lifting her tight off the ground she quickly staunched her thigh. But the cloth, quickly soaked up all the extra blood, but she grateful the blood flow at least slowed down.

Examining her surroundings, Kira spotted her satchel she quickly prepared before leaving to enter the grove after, mentor Kage gave her his badge. "There goes my health potion," she sighed in annoyance, seeing the wettiness on her bag. However, she took comfort in the Night Insignia necklace she wore, which heightened her physical abilities and accelerated her natural healing, because if she channeled her nexus energy to heal herself with the femur in her thigh it will be bad for her in the future.

Taking a moment to compose herself, Kira formulated a plan to get up and escape. Lacking anything to assist her, she decided to use a bone as a makeshift walking stick. After a deep breath, she quickly grabbed another femur, the longest bone available, using it to push herself up and support her weight as she limped across the bone-filled ground, wincing in pain with each step as her foot hit each bone on the ground.

Upon retrieving her satchel, Kira headed toward a rusted gate, entering a long hallway filled with even more bones. Something caught her attention the bones seemed half-bitten, giving the impression that someone or something had been consuming them. Despite the eerie sight, Kira pressed on, her path illuminated by strange symbols on the walls similar to Morgana's ritual markings.

Moving further down the hall, Kira detected a peculiar sound the dragging of metal against the ground, accompanied by an odd rhythm. It stirred her curiosity and heightened her senses. What could be making that noise? She cautiously advanced.

Finally, emerging from the shadows cast by the flickering candles, Kira laid eyes upon a short skeleton. It clutched a rusty old sword, its bones appearing bleached and drained of color. Weirdly delicate and intricate black runes adorned the surface of the bones like it was placed there, Having hollow eye sockets stared into nothingness, and certain areas of the skeleton, particularly the joints and extremities, were accentuated with pitch-black markings, creating a stark and eerie contrast with the overall bleached appearance.

"Damn, not at this moment," Kira exclaimed in frustration. The skeleton threatened to impede her escape and delay any chance of seeking assistance.

In the dimly lit hallway, Kira found herself unable to use her bow due to having to hold herself up with one hand using the femur. Instead, she quickly conjured a shadow blade and sent it forward, aiming for the skeleton's head but it missed hitting the stone wall, as the skeleton didn't even have to move away from its head because of the darkness that obscured her vision hindering her accuracy, prompting her to devise a strategy bring the skeleton closer before attacking, and have two shadow blades ready in case one failed to destroy it.

As the skeleton arrived a few feet away, Kira swiftly sent two shadow blades at it. As one blade slammed into its skull, not destroying it but instead cracking it, while the other landed, further shattering the weakened skull bone until it crumbled to the ground. Kira noticed something weird while looking at them, these skeletons differed from the typical white skeletons, they bore strange symbols on their bones, not like the markings of Morgana's rituals.

Feeling a heightened sense of unease due to the eerie hollow atmosphere and the bizarre symbols, Kira cautiously moved forward, encountering two more skeletons that moved toward without warning. Determined to end them quickly, she conjured over eight shadow blades, straining her body and causing pain in her thigh but she had to endure it she quickly destroyed them.

Continuing down the seemingly endless hallway, Kira finally noticed she was approaching the end. Another skeleton stood in her way, and with swift precision, she conjured a shadow blade, slamming it into the back of the skeleton's head.

Reaching the hallway end she clenched her fists tightly, with frustration and confusion lingered in her thoughts as she questioned, Dammit, what's happening here now?, Why does this happen at the worst possible moment?