Chapter 541 Deep Underground (1/2)

Edward crushed into the wall heavily. He hadn't given up all hope yet. Even though his head was spinning, the hisses around him made his hair stand. He instinctively jumped onto his feet to escape, but an excruciating pain came through from his right leg. Then, an immense strength hauled him back. ”No!! Help m—”

The screams came to an abrupt end.

”Father!”

Emily had as though forgotten about the dangerous situation that she was in. She gazed blankly at the tunnel and a violent gust of wind blowing against her ear dragged her back to reality.

Boom! The Stone Giant crashed to the ground and its gigantic body had been severed by a dozen blade marks. Although the Stone Giant could absorb the surrounding rocks to repair its body, its self-restoration ability was too weak in the face of Rhode's wild attack. ”Be careful, Miss Emily!”

”Eh? Ah…!” Emily looked up, frightened.

At this moment, the 'paralyzed' Stone Giant had turned its attention toward her. The magical radiance in its two eyes flickered brightly from the dark tunnel. Emily froze to the spot and this was exactly the instinctive response when a life was confronted with danger. In this instant, Emily had never felt this clear-headed. The time around her had as though slowed down incredibly. She witnessed the horrifying creature widening its mouth and bellowed at her. It extended its right arm and the gravel hovering around its arm merged into it. Then, it blasted forward.

Clang! A shadow emerged beside Emily and rolled away with her to dodge the Stone Giant's attack. The ice-cold, solid punch brushed the top of her head and the engulfing air pressure swept her fiery long hair. 'Miss Seren's' voice sounded in her ears. She looked up and 'Miss Seren' had hacked into the Stone Giant's head, and she retreated swiftly to her side. Without speaking a word, Rhode carried Emily in his arm and darted into another tunnel. Shortly after, Emily spotted a glaring radiance flash across them, along with ear-deafening roars and rolling dust striking her face…

”Argh…”

After a while, Emily regained her senses and it was pure darkness before her.

”You're awake?” Rhode asked.

”Argh… Where am…” Emily turned to the voice.

'Miss Seren' sat beside her while she leaned on the tunnel wall. The coldness on the rock wall spread through her thin clothes and woke her up entirely with a shudder. ”This is… I…”

”We're still in the mine, Miss Emily,” Rhode said with a smile.

He patted off the filthy dust on his body and stood up to scrutinize the blocked tunnel exit. After dealing a fatal blow to the Stone Giant, it had chosen to self-destruct. However, Rhode had seen through this possibility and he carried Emily into another tunnel to decline its 'fervent invitation' to end in mutual destruction. Although the might of the Stone Giant's self-destruction was powerful, it was too hard for a level 30 creature to harm a Swordsman who had truly entered the Master Stage. On the contrary, Emily had fainted after she crashed into the wall from the explosion.

But even though both of them weren't gravely injured, the explosion had left them in huge trouble because the fragile tunnel wasn't as fortunate. The Stone Giant's self-destruction had entirely buried the tunnel entrance and a portion of the main tunnel collapsed. It was no longer possible to exit through the original route. In other words, they were trapped in the mine.

”So… Miss Seren, what should we do?” Emily asked in a shaky tone after listening to Rhode's explanations.

Rhode pondered for a few moments and said, ”It's simple, Miss Emily. We can continue to head down and search for another exit. It has been completely blocked off here and I believe that even though the people outside will be trying to rescue us, they won't succeed in a short period of time. There will usually be a few emergency escape routes in the mine for the miners to flee from swiftly. I think that we're better off searching for exits instead of resigning to our fates.”

”But…” Emily said with a distressed look. ”The mine is so complicated. What if we get lost… And those creatures…”

”I've been to many different mines and I do know a thing or two about mine structures so I don't think it will be a huge problem. As for the creatures… I've searched around before you woke up and it seems that they are equally frightened and have left here. So, don't worry, Miss Emily. If anything were to happen…” Rhode kneeled down and held Emily's hands into his. ”I will protect you, Miss Emily.”

”…” Emily gazed in astonishment. ”Miss Seren… How do you remain this calm?”