Rise of The Strongest Monarch-Chapter 74: The Descent [2]

The feeling in my arm isn’t too bad but I can definitely feel her squirming around within it.

"We’ll probably see a lot more zierel as we head deeper," Airi speaks up.

"Of course, they probably went down here to avoid us in the first place Airi," Zeno responds with a laid back tone. "We’ll just have to hunt them down as we continue our descent."

"Do they know when you guys are coming?" Amelia asks with a curious tone.

"Hybrids tend to scout for us but I don’t know about the other ones," Zeno answers before Airi can.

Like before, Hybrids are the ones that might be the bigger problem in the long run. If they are watching for light bearers, of course it’ll be a big pain in the ass.

It means that the other zierel will constantly get information that helps them move into the depths.

But I don’t think they are just running away from light bearers... It is something more than that. I think they are getting stronger while we try to find them.

Zierel are capable of adapting so we need to move faster.

"What’s with the concerned look on your face Liam?" Airi notices as she asks.

"The zierel are capable of adapting... So I think we need to move a lot faster than we are now," I respond with a serious tone.

"It’ll be fine Liam. They don’t even know what to expect since Zeno isn’t really well known," Airi says with confidence.

Wriggle. Wriggle.

I grab my arm as I look towards the edge, thinking of what the next best option is.

Staying here for too long will be suicide, so it is best to move on. Climbing down with haste until we potentially reach the next platform could work in our favor.

I don’t want to give them the slightest chance to get stronger than anyone in our current group here.

Without saying a word I hunch down and begin to continue the descent.

"Liam wait up!" They all shout.

I start to pick up my pace as I notice that the wall going down from here is a lot easier to climb than the previous one. Each groove in the wall is a lot easier to grab.

Grab. Grab.

The feeling in my arm isn’t getting any better but I have faith in Celeste for the time being. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

I can hear the others following from above but I definitely got a bit of a head start on them. Wasting time isn’t really something I want to do right now.

"DEEPER! YES HEAD DOWN FURTHER!" Celeste shouts with a sinister tone.

I don’t acknowledge her this time around since it doesn’t feel like a good time to do so.

The climb down is starting to feel a bit tiring on my arms but it isn’t enough to make me stop yet. Below me isn’t another platform for us to stop on yet.

I don’t really know what’s happening with celeste but I don’t want to give her the opportunity to overtake me. Pushing through this is the best possible solution.

The others wouldn’t understand that I need to take care of this problem as fast as possible... Even if it means me going ahead without their permission.

Airi and Zeno probably didn’t want me to head down here because of the infection in the first place.

But I won’t let this dictate every decision I make.

CRACK!!!

The sound of something breaking beneath my hand immediately takes my attention away from my thoughts.

Slip!!!

"Shit! Shit!!" I shout as I begin fall.

"Liam!!!"

"Liam!!!!!!"

I hear them shout my name as I fall down the pit, slowly losing sight of them the further I fall.

Honestly I didn’t expect this to be the way that I die, falling deep into the depths of darkness. Should I have waited for them in the first place?

Nah.

Pushing ahead is just how I am, it couldn’t be helped if I tried. Someone else might’ve fallen in my place if that was the case... Would it make a difference?

Someone is destined to die in the pit here and it might be better for me to be the one to do so.

I extend my hand out as I continue to fall, reaching out into the darkness.

The pressure from below is only getting more intense with each moment that I fall, making celeste squirm around even more. Slowly the pain is starting to return to my arm.

"Wait... Are we falling?" Celeste asks with concern in her voice.

She no longer sounds like she did before.

"We are," I answer calmly.

"You aren’t panicking, why?" She questions.

"Panicking won’t change anything that’s happening right now," I answer without hesitation.

Before I can hear anything else from her, a sharp pain goes through my stomach as I realize I landed on something sharp.

I slowly look down towards my stomach to see that a large spike like object is sticking out from it now. Almost like I fell into a spike trap...

Blood is dripping down it and I can’t really move in the slightest.

The ability to scream doesn’t even seem to exist anymore, is this really the end of my path?

I try to reach my hand out for it to give myself some sort of leverage but fail miserably. The pain is only getting worse and worse by the second.

I don’t think I’m going to survive this time around celeste... Hate to break it to you.

"This isn’t where we die," Celeste replies with a serious tone.

I’m impaled by a giant spike of some sort with no way to really get off of it, plus I’m losing a lot of blood. Humans aren’t capable of surviving such a predicament like this.

It also took everything out of you last time to just heal a wound from a blade...

What does that say when it comes down to a giant spike coming out from my stomach?