776. Into the Gap

"That was a surprise." Lydia sighed when she climbed out from the helmet, covered in blood. The others were also drenched in blood and sweat. The fight was not tiresome, but quite stressful. They were about to return to the top of the stairs when-

"It's too early to relax..." Archer mentioned moments before the others started hearing a rhythmic thumping. Boom, boom, boom, it kept getting louder and louder.

"We should run! It's the doors on the floor above being thrown open!" Archer suddenly said in a panic.

He had the best sight among them, so nobody doubted his words, even if they couldn't see anything of the floor form their position. It clicked immediately. If the guard was able to walk down the stairs, then the other mobs would be able to do the same. They were about to face a whole group of colossi!

They couldn't possibly fight a huge number of them at once. They had taken their sweet time, to go from door to door to kill them one by one, leaving ample time to recover in between. It didn't matter whether these guys were also guard, or not. They couldn't fight a group fight.

Ignoring the screaming of their knees and ankles, the party started running and jumping down the stairs at top speed. However, no matter how fast they ran, they couldn't possibly outrun the giants.

James jumped down several steps at once, rolling off and getting back to his feet. His dark past as a not-so-upright citizen had taught him how to face falls from great heights. Looking around, he saw the figure of a colossus at the top of the stair, but what made his heart ache was seeing Jess suddenly collapsing in the distance.

"Jess! Are you okay?!" she exclaimed and ran over to his girlfriend.

"I'm fine. It's just my shoulder..." she mumbled, her arm hanging limply down at the side of her body.

She had the same experience he did, however, when she tried to copy his move, she forgot that he had gained the stats of a tank, while she was a caster. He could take the fall of several steps, she couldn't without breaking her shoulder in an attempt to roll off.

"Ferdinand!?" James called out, but the priest wasn't around. He was still several steps above.

"James, watch out!" he heard someone call out, but it was too late.

The knight had little time to think about the priest when suddenly a colossus came barreling down the stair. He didn't come running down, but he had tripped somewhere above and was rolling down, over his dead comrade, in a chaotic manner.

"Hold on tight," he instructed the confused Jess as . She proceeded to clamp her healthy arm around his waist and jammed the broken one under his belt.

No time to evade, no time to wait, Jame instinctively used all the skills he gained as a tank and from his equipment on Jess and lifted the Shield of Cerberus, just in time to block the flailing arm of the falling colossus.

His shield held. His defense held. The couple was flung off the stairs and into the depth. Jess screeched in his ears as they fell through the gap between stairs. In a matter of seconds, they saw the steps they had laboriously climbed up, shoot past them on their way down.

They had no chance to maneuver as they already passed the floor where they initially entered the dungeon and kept falling deeper. Past that floor, only darkness surrounded them and they could barely make out the outlines of the steps they passed, even with Night vision.

"What do we do?" Jess screamed over the wind. He could see her tear being flung upward by the wind. This was not how they imagined their death. In that moment it didn't matter that one didn't actually die in a dungeon, this was as real as it could be.

"Brace for the impact. Don't worry, I won't let you die," James said with a calm smile.

"Wh-What are you talking about? What are you doing!" she cried when James suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace, activating even more skills.

"I will take the brunt of the fall for you. Then you just have to hide and wait for the others."

"What are you saying? We can just leave with Home Call!" Jess cried, even more tears flowing from her eyes when she saw his sad smile. He had already tried it, but Home Call was blocked in the dungeon. Maybe in the whole abyss. If they wanted to leave, they had to walk out, die, or clear the dungeon.

"I don't want that! If we can't get out together safely, we should leave together like this."

She complained and tried to get out of his tight embrace, but he did not budge.

"Do you really think I could let you die with a calm mind, just because we are both leaving at the same time?" he asked in derision.

He wore the Cerberus Shield on his back and the three translucent copies created by <Triple Guard> layered on top of it, all to dampen the impact. It wasn't like he had given up on his life completely.

With the effects of Pack Leader, Guard Dog, <Triple Guard> and <Shield Wall> that was copied to the three copies of <Triple Guard> he had low hopes for both of them making it. Though also used <Noble Sacrifice> which linked his life to that of Jess. In case both of them made it, he would absorb any damage she sustained, on top of his own.

"Like hell, I will let you sacrifice yourself..." she mumbled,

Quickly the couple was also surrounded in a two-layered fire shield, and a barrier that made them look like a tiny burning meteor. James only smiled, seeing her do her best to save them, too.

"I love you-" Thump!

Was the last thing Jess heard. His words were swallowed by the sudden impact. She woke up, feeling very sick. Her stomach was revolting. Absolute darkness covered her eyes as she tried to look around.

Trying to breathe thick clumps of dust and dirt filled her mouth. She was alive, buried alive. She coughed and struggled and instinctively pulled herself out from the loose dirt that covered her. Jess took a deep breath on the surface, only for heavy, stinky, rotten air to fill her lungs, making her stomach revolt even more.

Vomit-inducing was the right word, as her stomach emptied itself, while snot and tears were running down her face.

"James... James where are you!"

After her first terrible breath, which proved to her that she was alive, her first thought was to look for James. Maybe, if the loose dirt had cushioned their fall, maybe he was alive? Right? He had to be. She was alive, and James also had to survive. There was no other option.

Her bare hands clawed through the rubbish and refuse of the stairs above that had probably collected here for centuries. Barely able to see her hand thanks to night vision, she felt and dug around for a sign of James.

The longer she looked without finding a sign, the lower her heart sank, but she kept repeating that there was no way that James was dead. At this moment it did not matter to her, that James would just wake up in the adventurer guild branch at Mina Palan.

She kept looking, and digging, and searching until she finally heard and shallow gasp in the darkness. She would recognize his gasps anywhere!