Chapter 52 - Where It All Really Started. (1/2)

— Five hours after the third pulse of the cube. —

”Hmmm...” Luke groaned, with great pain in his chest, as he opened his eyes, which were burning quite badly due to the blinding light he saw before he became unconscious.

Although the limbs of his body were numb and the burning, he felt in various parts of it, Luke stood up and before scanning his surroundings, he checked himself.

The half-beast looked down and saw that he was wearing his routine worn clothes, which he had been wearing for over a year, and only washed when he could. His leather boots had almost no soles. His pants were full of internal patches, which he had to learn to sew himself. And his sweater, which might have kept him warm on cold nights, protected him even less.

Shaking his head negatively to get rid of the pessimistic thoughts, Luke huffed.

”Where am I?” he wondered, beginning to scan his surroundings.

On the walls of the enclosure, there were small gray crystals, whose luster appeared to have faded long ago. On the ceiling, huge pointed stalactites created shadows under each other, which increased the pitch in that place.

”Fung... Fung...” He sniffed twice and smelled the same rotten smell that he was beginning to get used to. ”I'm still in the Dungeon, apparently...”

Without rolling around too much, the man opened his inventory and picked up the Return Stone, a pebble-shaped like an icosahedron. Since he never had to use his own, he didn't have much practice, but he mimicked what Nathalia used to do.

”Exit, please.”

The stone rose from Luke's palm, glowed a little, started spinning at a very high speed, and then died in his palm again, losing its glow.

”You're kidding, right?” The man had a crooked smile on his face, disbelieving that this was happening. ”Get out, please!” Luke yelled at the stone, and it didn't even move.

Luke sighed and inhaled a few times until he lost his patience and threw the Return Stone away, however, the stone made no sound as it fell. Discouraged and frustrated, he finally looked down, and that's when he saw, at the edge of his feet, an oval object.

The half-wolf's eyes sparkled when he saw the Black Egg. He immediately tried to pick it up, to put it in his Inventory.

[Living items are impossible to store].

Luke did not know whether to be happy or disheartened, because the voice message meant that the egg was not rotten, but since he did not know where it was, his return would be further delayed by the egg.

”Buuuf...” He huffed, stressed. ”I have to get that egg out of here fast because I have no idea how to take care of it I need to sell it as fast as I can.”

Crec! A snap rang out through the cave, alerting Luke. In pure reflex, the man jumped back, still slowed by the pain in his abdomen, and tried to draw his saber. However, when he put his hand where the dragon handle should have been, he caught only air.

'Oh! Shit...' He thought as he raised his arms to defend himself.

In the next instant, a kick from something so fast he couldn't even see, hit his belly and made him feel his organs being crumpled. Thrust backward, Luke had the strength to try to strike the thing that kicked him, but the creature deflected easily.

Still, the half-wolf didn't let this attack go in vain, as soon as he heard the creature's footsteps retreat, he charged forward and simultaneously used his natural ability that made his hands as sharp as daggers.