Chapter 344

"..."

There was supposed to be a deep silence in the cave but the sound of ice daggers skewing meat could be heard.

The carcass of the dead wolf was quite big so it was taking more time than usual to skin it open and do what they needed.

Ray calmly gazed at Nebula while thinking back on what she had just said.

"So... the gate appeared on other worlds? I’m not questioning that information because we all know that not all of humanity is on Alcatraz and we are scattered on different planets.

But then, was it not recorded? If the red gate opened on worlds, instructor Sony should have told us about it," Van stated with a slight frown on his face.

Nebula shrugged indifferently.

"I don’t know about all that. I’m more concerned about why they lost. From what I saw; it seems like they were many. A whole group, yet only one survived and left the Spire but at the end of the day, didn’t make it."

Ray rubbed his chin then pierced her with a look.

"Did they maybe jot down what they encountered in the Spire?"

Nebula thought for a few seconds then shook her head.

"Not at all. All I saw was the map detailing the whole regions of this world; the different dangers on each of the regions, the world cycle. It seemed like they didn’t know anything about the Spire until they went in. And since they didn’t really make it out, there was nobody to update the information."

Van’s brows twitched as he looked at her.

"You said you spawned near the Spire?"

Nebula nodded in agreement.

"And there was nothing guarding the Spire? I mean if you said you got attacked by a wolf the moment you appeared... which is plausible; how did you survive long enough to encounter these two?" Van questioned as he pointed at Caster and Felix.

Nebula’s smile faltered for a slight second before she proceeded to shudder a bit and slowly, she began rubbing her arm.

Felix sighed and decided to take up from there.

"She was lucky. She had been hiding in the cave all day. As for the both of us; we had fallen together so no need searching for one another.

Seeing as the rest of you weren’t with us, we had thought maybe you fell near the Spire so we embarked on a journey towards that area.

That was when we found her surrounded by two wolves and straight ahead; circling around the Spire were hundreds of wolves and strange bird creatures flying around it."

"Hm?" Ray lifted a brow at the boy’s words.

Caster nodded in confirmation.

"Yes. Nebula was unconscious and about to be devoured by the wolves when we saved her in the nick of time.

We couldn’t proceed towards the Spire because of the wolves in that area so we retreated.

It took her a day to recover before we decided to explore this region in the hopes of finding the rest of you.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find you all so we stopped and decided that today, we would head over to the next region which by Nebula’s words was the Bone Ridge region only for us to encounter you all on the way."

"I see...." Ray mused as he watched the girl turn her attention back to the carcass.

By now, they had finally skinned and cleaned the meat with the water stored in a pink bottle off to the side.

It was finally time to begin roasting it.

Ray stared at the pink bottle as Nebula could be seen washing her hands with it.

Feeling the gaze, she lifted her head and looked in his direction.

Seeing as he was intently staring at the bottle, she waved it at him.

"Want a drink?"

"...."

Ray shook his head.

"No. Was just wondering where you got water from."

Looking back at the bottle, Nebula blinked then smiled.

"The bottle is mine. During the mission, I had it with me because it’s a special gift from my father before he passed away so it’s always with me. Anyway, I filled it with water from a small pond nearby."

"Oh," Ray muttered then turned his head away.

Van leaned in towards the Tribrid with a whisper.

"See what I’m saying? Who would take something that’s so ’precious’ to them on a dangerous mission? Won’t it get damaged if it’s so precious? Something doesn’t add up, I’m telling you."

Ray looked at his friend then turned his gaze towards Felix, who was now looking in their direction with a frown.

"Hm. You both are suspecting her?" the werewolf asked.

Ray smiled then shook his head.

"I’m not."

Van stared at the werewolf, totally forgetting that it wasn’t only his best friend who had incredible hearing.

"And Van definitely is not. Right? Van?" Ray asked as he looked at his friend, who was quite shook.

"Huh? Uh... right. I’m not. Just that this whole world has exerted a pressure on me that’s making me overthink a lot," Van replied with a shaky smile then rubbed his face and turned away.

"I see," Felix nodded then turned his head away to see the girls already roasting the meat.

Kai and Caster were also helping them where they could.

Ray decided to not stare at Nebula so much anymore and just chose to close his eyes while piecing everything he had heard and was told one by one.

’A trial of some sort in the Spire, huh? Before they could finish jotting down the threat, they were killed.’

«Uh... She never said that.» Elyon interrupted.

Ray smiled softly and subtly and then nodded.

’Yea. Right. Right.’

Then he snapped his eyes open and looked at Nebula tending to the meat on fire.

"Hey uhm... Nebula. Do you mind taking us to that cave of yours sometime?"

The girl froze immediately for a fraction of a second. Her fingers twitched a bit.