Heir Of The Supreme
Chapter 56: Underground Odyssey (1)

Chapter 56: Underground Odyssey (1)

Little did Mack know it, but his predictions were spot on.

Not only was Blaine in a life-threatening situation, but anyone else in his shoes would have died a long time ago.

Sadly, it looked like Blaine’s devilish luck was slowly running out.

After standing still for several moments, Cecelia quickly realized something.

Whatever it was that killed the long-eared monster, that being didn’t seem too keen on ending the lives of the two adolescent humans.

At least for the moment.

But why was that?

Shortly before the long-eared creature attacked, it let out a large shriek.

That same creature died seconds later.

It was killed the moment it made a noise.

’Wait... Noise?’

Did the creature in the darkness only kill things that made a sound?

Now, Cecelia could understand why Blaine was so adamant about being silent.

If she’d screamed earlier... Both of them would have met the same fate.

While Cecelia had her internal dilemma, Blaine stared into the darkness before them.

The princess had yet to notice it, but it didn’t escape Blaine’s attention.

The faint sounds of breathing echoed from the darkness, too faint to usually hear but too loud to be that of a human.

And that sound... It was getting closer.

Blaine’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Within moments, the monster was close enough that he could feel the hot air from its nostrils hitting his soaked skin.

Luckily though... The two youths had managed to apply a coat of a smell-masking substance.

While it was tough to completely hide a human’s unique smell at this close range, the creature in the darkness didn’t seem to have a sharp enough nose.

If it did, they would already be dead.

Not that they were in much better of a situation.

(HUFFFFF HUFFFFF)

The breathing sounds came from a solid meter above their heads.

This meant that not only was the creature deadly... It was huge as well.

The monster began to curiously smell the air as if debating if it had indeed smelled new prey.

Cecelia began to shiver in fear but refused to close her eyes to reality, no matter how much she wanted to.

She had been close to death before, but never had it felt so... Close.

It was like she was walking a tightrope, with the possibility of dying at any moment from a single misstep.

This slow torture was even worse than death.

Worst yet, there was nothing she could do... Again.

All she could do was wholeheartedly trust her companion and pray that he somehow managed to carry them out of this hell.

Unfortunately, there was not much Blaine could do in this situation.

Blaine would be instantly heard if he took as much as a step.

He would die so fast that he wouldn’t even be able to process it.

However, if he stayed still, the creature would soon reach his location.

Still though... He needed to do something.

Being trapped between a rock and a hard place meant that the longer he waited, the worse he would be off.

It was time to do or die.

Channelling his mana into his mana art, Blaine created several energy constructs around him several feet above the air.

Blaine’s range to create objects was roughly 5 feet, and he couldn’t create constructs inside other things, whether living or non-living.

Of the constructs he could create, he could freely control their shape and size, given that he provided enough mana to do so.

Other features like their weight or texture were dependent on their shape.

However, the constructs were brittle, shattering like glass after taking a single attack from most enemies from beings above Rank-1.

Well... This might just be because Blaine was a 1-Star himself.

Thus, creating several thin shard-like constructs above the ground would naturally cause them to fall with a crash.

As the cacophony of shattering glass filled the air, Blaine used that exact moment to utilize the noise buffer to put some distance between him and the monster lurking in the depths.

Not even a moment later, the sounds of the ground exploding filled the air, originating from the location they just fled.

(BANG)

As the smell of dust and shattered rocks filled the air, the two struggled to hold back an instinctual cough.

While Blaine’s stunt bought them some time, it wouldn’t be long before the creature found them again.

When it did, there was no other option than to repeat his earlier maneuver and summon more glass-like constructs.

Sadly, Blaine couldn’t keep this on for too long.

His mana was finite, after all.

Eventually, it would run out, and when it did... Their little game of Marco-Polo would end there.

But what if he tried to kill it instead?

Trying to kill the monster was better than letting it kill him without fighting back.

Blaine gripped his daggers tightly at that thought.

If he tried... There would only be one chance.

He needed to strike its vitals with enough strength to kill it in a single blow.

However, he didn’t know how strong the creature was or if it could even die with one attack.

If it could kill a Rank-2 so effortlessly, the thing in the darkness was at least a Rank-2.

...Maybe even a Rank-3.

Being blind in their current situation didn’t help either.

If he couldn’t see where to strike, how the hell was he supposed to kill it?

Maybe if he couldn’t kill it... He could at least act as bait to keep Cecelia safe.

While it would be nigh-impossible for her to survive on her own, it was still better than her dying here.

As Blaine began to steel his heart for the oncoming clash, a loud noise reverberated through the cave.

"ROAAARRRR"

It was a shout filled with pain, like the last struggle of a dying creature.

Blaine sensed the ground before he trembled slightly at the sound, and then a loud rumbling filled the air once more.

Luckily, this time... It was slowly growing more distant.

As a loud crashing noise in the distance echoed through the cave, Blaine’s surroundings began to flicker with light.

Once again, bathing them in their soft blue glow.