Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

"What is it, Ton?" Wrik asked, noticing the scowl on the face of Anton.

"You guys don't smell the rotten stench?" Anton asked again.

"Now that you said it, I do feel some rotten stink in the air." Tanya agreed with Anton.

Wrik similarly found a slightly rotten stink in the air. It should be rotten flesh or something like that.

"Don't you guys remember what the guy said? The one we helped a few hours ago." Anton recalled as everyone became quite tense hearing that.

Wrik frowned. He remembered what that guy said about the smell being the first sign. He opened the map again to notice that the red dot was moving ahead rather slowly. "We can't stop now. Remember, our goal was to rescue not engaging with the thing that the guy said. Be prudent, everyone."

Everyone nodded as they advanced into the tunnel. In dim blue light, they could see the long path edge growing narrower. And the reeking stench was rising each step they took in. It's almost at the level that they had to close their nostrils before continuing. Tanya was the first one to do that, then Anton and the others followed.

On the path, they saw what that smell was coming from: rotten human flesh in a mound with pests and flies all over it. Tanya vomited immediately, seeing the nauseous sight.

"Are you going to be alright?" Wrik asked, standing beside the vomiting figure. He kept his eyes on the girl.

The girl didn't answer, but coughed out. Wrik came nearer and detained her hairs above her head from falling as she puked out a few mouthfuls. Adding the unhealthy food they had these two weeks with the awful disgusting sight, she puked out everything she had on her stomach.

"I'm fine. .. now." She then stood straight, opening the bag to find water. After cleaning every bit of puke from her mouth and gurgling, she said. "Thank you."

"Anything you need?" He asked, but was interrupted by a red window in front. He was not the only one getting this window. Apart from Evan, everyone's expression turned stiff.

"Shit," Anton gritted his teeth.

[Emergency Alert: Find your lost colleague as soon as possible. They were in a life-threatening situation any moment of delay may harm their life.

The map has been readjusted.]

Wrik checked the map and surmised the reason immediately. It indicated the red dot: An Byul and Kevin were in life-threatening danger. The red dot was moving back towards them while another bigger red dot was chasing after them. There was no other information about the thing that was chasing after them.

"Hurry, let's hope we're not late."

• • •

In another corner of the crater, two figures came down from it. The one in front was a man with a bow—not that tall or muscular, barely a few inches higher than the red-haired girl behind. They didn't slow down a bit, moving straight forward with purpose.

"Michelle, are you sure about this?" Jacob asked for the third time. It's been about an hour since they were rushing towards the centre of the maze.

"Are you afraid? Jacob?" Michelle asked back with another question.

"No," Jacob answered hastily. No man would admit that he was scared in front of a lady. "A little."

"Is it enough to stop you from advancing?" Her voice didn't have the usual flavour, it's more stern on this occasion.

Jacob hesitated for a bit to voice out. "No."

"Good." She looked at the archer in the face. He looked a bit hesitant about something. "Is there something else?"

Jacob stood on his path hearing that. He looked at the pale exterior of Michelle, and then at the gloomy path ahead. "Well, the thing is: when you were unconscious. . ." Jacob didn't hesitate anymore, spill out everything the gang leader Aasan said about their expedition to l the central of the maze.

Michelle's expression turned pale. She bit her nails in anxiety. "You should have told me this earlier. .. I don't know how Byul is doing now."

"Your condition was not stable, and I thought it would be unwise to make you more worried."

"It isn't time for that. Hurry. We have to move faster." She said, "Don't worry about the thing that guy talked about, I have something that can take care of it."

The two of them continued in their rush, faster than before.

• • •

The horrendous screech raised as Byul grip her wand tighter. She stood beside Kevin, prepared.

The volume of the screech echoed throughout the passage before she noticed the thing that they have to fight against. It was moving haste in their direction.

It was an over three-meter tall humanoid monster, though not as straight as a human. There was not a hair on its body. .. all solid carapace like bones, its eye glowed red in the darkness with sharp fangs in its jaws. The jaws were almost as big as her head. It had long limbs, its lower part being longer than the upper part. Its legs were faster than any typical horse; with each stride, it covered over two metres, it's only a few seconds away before jumping at them.

Byul made up her mind. She prepared the strongest wind blade she could cast, then sped up it with an acceleration magic circle. She moved in front of Kevin as her eyes looked straight at it before shooting the spell when it was only a few meters away. Her target was on its left thigh.

A large growl came as it fell to the ground immediately on its face as the spell hit it.

"Run," Byul yelled, as she fled backwards. "It isn't something we can handle. Move faster."

She knew that her strongest spell was not enough to make it stop. She knew that Kevin's brute strength would not be enough, either. It was impossible to subjugate it with their current strength. So she delayed it with her shot and opened a chance for fleeing.

The two figures run side by side as the unsightly monster lunged up with a roll.

______________

END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: GRAVE PERIL.

NEXT CHAPTER: THE HUNGRY GHOUL.