19 Chapter 14 (1/2)
*Fwoooosh*
A cold wind passes through, the group shivers as they're walking down the cluttered stone ground. The other side of the pathway is smooth, they could slide through there, but Tokaya told them not to since they don't know what to expect down at the bottom.
”Brrr, so cold” said Chika.
Tokaya only glanced at her. She kept the focus on her surrounding, and keeping search of hidden pathways or something that might be coming, that's... sneaking on them. Because Chika kept complaining, she took the torch off of her hand. None of them seems scared of the darkness. Their lines of sight is also not reaching very far.
Talking about distance, it hasn't been long since they left the camp. The path from there was straightforward, they saw a rail on the said before coming down here, and then they decided to follow it since there is no other path, at least none where they can see them.
Clever as always, Tenko balanced her polearm stance with one hand while the other is holding the torch. After a while, they arrived at the bottom. ”Phew” Chika breathes a sigh of relief and sat down to recover her stamina.
Tokaya gave the torch back and then walked to Tenko, she's eyeing the surrounding area, trying to catch a glimpse outside the fire. With a bit of time, her eyes adapted to it and then saw many sparkling things in the area.
”Tenko” called out Tokaya.
”Mm?”
”Did you notice it?”
”…”
Tokaya glanced around and then said, ”This is supposed to be a mine, but there's no one here. Had there been one, they should've probably set up a light or something.”
”Maybe this world don't have access to that kind of thing?”
”No, that can't be. Looking at the kingdom alone, it's easy to tell that they have already passed that. At least, we should've seen a torch or something, but we didn't.”
”So, this place is…”
Tokaya nodded, and gazed at Tenko, ”Mm, abandoned.”
”Since there is a monster outside, that's really the case, huh. All right, I'll be careful.”
Tokaya nodded once again and regroup to the other three.
It is not necessary for the group to take a break for their stamina to replenish. If they're just slowly walking, it will still regenerate, but it would be faster if they're not moving. Thus, Tokaya decided that whenever someone low on stamina, they all would take a short break to replenish them until they are ready to go.
”You're okay?” Anko asked.
Chika nodded, ”Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'm not used to this at all.”
”Need a rub?”
”No really, I'm fine” sighing, ”Once I level up, I'm going to add points to my stamina.”
”Yeah, guess we need that.”
Arriving at the group, Tokaya asked them to get ready, and soon after, they did.
With Tenko in the lead, they're somewhat calmed. Especially with all the darkness surrounding them. At the bottom of the mine, the space is wide open than it seems. And because of that, they are a little bit more tense than usual.
[Kusanagi Tenko lv. 0]
HP: 75/75 / MP: 365/400 / SP: 114/125 ~ FP: 68%
Tenko's FP is decent enough in numbers, but her eyes tell otherwise, and she knows that her body too… is a bit exhausted. It is undoubtedly true for the others, they indeed push themselves too hard this time, and deep down inside… they're all sleepy and tired.
Tenko shook her head, mumbling to herself, ”Stay focused.”