## Chapter 353 – Dungeons and Adventurers (20)
And fortunately, she didn’t miss the wall, but her hands and feet, gripping the wall, also slipped downwards. Lucia ended up several meters below Anne.
“You… you trash…!!”
Lucia realized that the earth spirits had dropped her student above her, and she gritted her teeth.
It was a technique that could be quite useful for someone like her, who had lost mobility and was clinging to the wall. This meant that the students above were also in danger.
Soon, several students began to fall one by one, with slight time differences. Lucia struggled to catch them, but her limits were reached far too easily.
She managed to barely hold on to one or two with her strength, but after that, strength and balance became issues.
The students, panicked by the fall, were unlikely to stay still to help her keep her balance.
“Hee…!! Instructor…!!
Please…!! Don’t let go…!!”
“Esther…!! Don’t… move…!!”
“Kkyaaaa!! I don’t want to die!!”
Their frantic movements, fueled by fear, caused Lucia’s body to gradually tilt to one side.
To make matters worse, the wet and slippery clothes and hands caused Lucia’s hand, having reached its limit, to slip and lose another student.
Even the last dagger she was holding fell, flashing its last gleam of light, into the dark shadows.
“Esther…!! No…!!”
“Kyaaaaaaa!!”
– Thud
As if to say that falling objects are equal, another dull sound echoed.
Lucia, desperately trying to ignore it and focusing on what was in front of her, tried to help the student she was holding onto stand against the wall, just as she had done with Anne.
She was also starting to get tired, and unable to look down at the heavy student to exert force, Lucia stretched out her arm to try and prop her up. It was then that she began to hear a trembling voice mixed with the sound of rain.
“In… Instructor… Heuk!!”
“Nella…!! Grip the wall…!! Quickly!!”
But the student didn’t move at all. The moment Lucia looked down at the unmoving student,
Lucia could see an earth spirit clinging to the back of the girl she was holding, wrapping its legs around her waist and holding a dagger to her neck.
“Heuk!! Heup… I… I don’t want to die…
Heuhuk…!! Heuk!! I don’t wanna…… Heup!!”
Seeing the student gasping for breath and bursting into tears, as if she was almost in a daze, Lucia had no choice but to realize that the earth spirits would do anything to drop her to the ground.
Even now, they were preventing the hostage girl from acting recklessly, adding to Lucia’s burden as she struggled to hold on to her to save her.
Seeing the clear, sparkling eyes quietly staring at her from behind the girl’s back, Lucia glared back and gritted her teeth.
They knew she wouldn’t abandon the hostage.
They were truly evil and intelligent monsters.
“Kkyaaaaaaa!!”
In the midst of all this, two more students fell from above with screams. The impact of their bodies, combined with the weight she was already bearing and the acceleration of the fall, gradually caused Lucia’s body to lose its strength.
Considering the penalty of the wet terrain, it was almost amazing that she had managed to hold on until now.
But unfortunately, that wasn’t all she had to endure.
“Keuk…!!”
Lucia, unable to abandon the student as the earth spirits intended, was trying to readjust her grip on the girl’s hand when.
At that moment, one of her feet sank into the ground, causing Lucia’s body to stagger and tilt to one side.
“Euheuk…!!”
Lucia barely managed to stop her tilting head from hitting the opposite wall with her elbow. She was now clinging to the wall in an awkward position, with both feet on one wall and one hand on the other.
Even so, she stubbornly refused to let go of the girl’s hand.
“Don’t… move…!!
Hold on tight…!!”
“Y… Yes… Kyaaaaaaa!!”
Just as Lucia was about to encourage the student, the impact of a heavy weight slamming into her back caused her hand to slip. The girl screamed as she reached out her hand, and then fell into the darkness.
“Nella!! No…!!”
Moreover, what hit her back this time wasn’t a student, but an earth spirit.
Perhaps thinking it was time to finish off their exhausted prey, the earth spirits jumped off, using her back as a stepping stone. Lucia, enraged, desperately tried to grab them with one hand and pull them off.
“Keuheet… Get off…!!
You monster bastards…!!”
Since they were already climbing the wall, they dodged her hand more closely than she expected. Lucia, barely holding on in a collapsed posture, couldn’t stop the earth spirits from latching onto her.
More and more earth spirits began to cling to her body, and as their weight gradually increased, her free hand also had to be used to bear the weight.
Now, the moment of truth had arrived. Depending on whether her wrist or knee gave way first, it would determine how she would fall.
“Senior…!!”
Lucia’s knee buckled first, and just as she was about to fall towards the crevasse, someone grabbed her wrist and spoke to her. Lucia looked up and met Anne’s eyes, her voice becoming brighter than ever.
“Anne…!! You did it…!!”
Perhaps it was thanks to Lucia’s advice.
Of course, it was also thanks to the fact that many of the earth spirits, drawn by Lucia’s flailing and resisting like a live fish, were stubbornly targeting her. But Anne was lucky enough to grab and throw off the few earth spirits that had clung to her.
She had finally escaped from danger and come to help Lucia.
“Ugeueueu… Senior… Too heavy…”
Of course, Anne, who wasn’t as well-trained as Lucia, found Lucia’s weight, combined with the weight of the clinging earth spirits, too heavy to bear.
But fortunately, Lucia was no longer restrained.
“Fall into hell…!!”
As soon as her limbs were free, Lucia skillfully shook off her body, even while hanging.
No matter how nimble the earth spirits were, it was only natural that Lucia was a step above them in terms of pure ability.
– Keeik
– Keuiit
Every time Lucia shook her body, the earth spirits clinging to her body were thrown off, and those she grabbed and tore off fell to the ground, screaming.
After finally shaking off the earth spirits one by one and becoming bare, Lucia began to drop the armor she was wearing, one by one, for Anne, who was desperately holding on to her.
– Clang Clangclang
The armor that covered her body fell one by one, hitting the ground and making metallic sounds, making Lucia’s body lighter and lighter.
Now all she had to do was grip the wall again and regain her balance.
“Ugh… Damn it…”
But Lucia, feeling that she couldn’t put strength into her leg that had given way earlier, swore for the first time in front of others and gently readjusted her grip on Anne’s hand.
“It seems my leg has given out…
It’s a difficult request, but…
Could you pull me up…?”
“I’ll try… So hold on tight…!!”
With her feet on both walls and her hands tightly gripping Lucia’s, Anne wiggled her hips and slowly moved her feet upwards, alternating between them.
And so, the two women seemed to be slowly but carefully climbing towards the ground.
But if it hadn’t been for that, perhaps this story would have been a little different.
“I want to go back…”
“Me too… Ugh…
Let’s… get up… quickly… Heut…!!”
“We need to reorganize quickly…
And save the ones who fell…”
“That’s not possible…
Once they’ve fallen down there…
Especially since you don’t have your armor on now…”
“I have to.
It’s my duty as an instructor.”
“Aren’t you… scared…!?
I want to save them too, but… we’re…!!”
“I’m scared. I’m afraid I won’t be able to save them.
I feel like I want to see my teacher right now…
Maybe I’m just an ordinary woman…
Then when we get back… I wonder if I should propose to my teacher.”
Perhaps feeling depressed after thinking about the students who had fallen below, Anne’s body trembled at the name Lucia mentioned with a self-deprecating smile.
She would probably reorganize as soon as she got back to the ground, and then go back to save the students who had fallen.
At least, that was the kind of person Lucia had been so far.
She herself said that she was just an ordinary woman, but she was a woman who fulfilled her duty more nobly than anyone else.
Even that appearance was so dazzling.
Even her unsightly appearance of clinging to her was so brilliant.
“There’s not much left…
They’re coming again.”
“Ugeuk…!!”
But what stung her heart even more was her remark about proposing to Edward.
If such a woman became her real enemy, she would no longer be able to win.
She couldn’t help but know that she had been shown mercy so far.
As the earth spirits that had been shaken off began to relentlessly pursue them, Anne’s swaying movements began to speed up a little, but it was ultimately impossible to make up for the difference in speed.
“Ugh…!! Get off, you bastards…!!
Don’t… stop me…!!”
As the earth spirits, like demons crawling up from hell, climbed up the cliff and began to cling to her again, Anne’s hand, which was holding Lucia, whose weight had begun to increase again, was under tremendous strain.
In this situation, where both of them might be in danger, Anne didn’t give up and was putting all her strength into her arm to somehow lift her body up.
“Anne…!! Keuk!! My hand…!!”
“Almost… almost there…!!”
Eventually, Lucia’s hand, which had slipped once, flailed in the air and barely grabbed Anne’s ankle.
At the same time, Anne’s posture collapsed this time, and she was barely holding on to a considerable weight with only her upper body slightly on the ground, reaching out her arm.
“I… I’m going back…!!
I’m going to save everyone… and when I get back… I’m going to be praised…!!
They’ll say I did well!! They’ll say they believed I could do it…!!
Keueut… That’s how… that’s definitely how…
They’ll tell me I’m a good woman…!!”
While struggling to shake off the earth spirits, Lucia’s eyes, filled with firm resolve, were filled with a faint and venomous light.
Anne, looking down at Lucia, couldn’t help but feel her mind become complicated, not knowing who she was thinking of.
Without emptying her complicated mind, unable to bear the echoing voice of Lucia, who was shouting as if making a vow.
‘I guess we have nothing to say to each other.
Because I can’t just stand by either.’
‘Because I’m desperate too.
Lucia di Borgia, as everyone thinks of her, might not be like this.
But… I thought you would at least have some idea…
No, maybe I was just selfishly expecting to be understood.’
‘I’m happy enough now, Anne.
Putting everything else aside, I’m on an adventure with a ‘brave junior’.
How can I not be happy.’
Emotions welled up and surged.
Knowing that they were destined to be rivals, and that she couldn’t win against her, who she thought was so brilliant.
That’s why Anne’s eyes, thinking scary thoughts, were burning hot, as if blaming her for what she was about to do.
Hearing Lucia’s voice calling out Edward’s name, Anne bit her lip tightly and forcibly shook off Lucia’s grip on her ankle with her other foot.
“Ah…!!”
“……”
As she fell into the dark crevasse, entangled with the earth spirits, feeling the sensation of her hand being pushed away, calling out her name in a deathly scream.
“Why… Anne…!!”
Turning back for the last time, seeing Lucia’s face, which was growing further and further away from her vision, with all the blood drained from her face due to shock and betrayal.
Anne, feeling the sensation of something hot flowing down from her eyes without her knowing, squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to ignore it.
And after a little more than 5 seconds, only the dull and squelching sounds of someone rolling and falling heavily to the ground, a somewhat desperate or low voice, and the giggling laughter of the earth spirits could be heard.
Perhaps her betrayal was so shocking that there wasn’t even a single voice coming towards her anymore. Anne burst into tears and looked up at the sky.
It was raining, so she couldn’t delay any longer to go up.
Before her body became even heavier.
Before the wall slipped or softened.
Anne, her distorted lips twitching, hurriedly scrambled up the cliff, her feet still touching the cliff.
And finally, the moment her body reached the ground completely, Anne struggled to pull her body out of the crevasse and rolled onto the ground, lying down.
Anne, suppressing the painful groans as if her limbs, which had been under pressure without rest until now, were screaming, reached out her arm and barely grabbed the sword that she had dropped while falling, seeing that it had fallen right next to her.
‘No one’s… here…?’
Even though she had struggled to climb up, it seemed that no one else was here anymore.
Perhaps the rest of the students, except for the few who had fallen earlier, had managed to escape from the crevasse area safely, but that was as good as being abandoned by them.
Just like she had betrayed Lucia, thinking that there was no hope in this state, and out of petty jealousy.
They, unlike herself and the others who had fallen into the crevasse, must have turned back, saying that those who could live should live.
Anne once again clutched her trembling chest in agony and curled up like a shrimp.
She couldn’t even tell if what was flowing from her eyes was rain or tears anymore, but the slightest bit of heat felt in her eyes was telling her that she was crying now.
“I… I… Why… why…?
Why on earth did I do that…?”
Now that she had done it, regret was meaningless.
The only one among them who was capable of saving the students down there was Lucia.
She had pushed her into that cliff with her own hands, and even if she regretted it now, there was no way that there would be anyone else who could go down there and save them, including herself.
Lucia, who had fallen to the bottom of the crevasse, must have suffered considerable injuries, and even if she went down now at her level, it would only be a dog’s death.
In the first place, everyone else had run away, and even she, who was left alone here, couldn’t say that she was safe.
“Ah… Heuk… Euheueuk…
No… That’s not what I meant to do… Kyaaak!!”
– Rumble
Anne, who had been swaying without realizing it due to the suddenly shaking ground, started running forward with all her might, as her body told her to do, before she could grasp the situation.
Perhaps her hunch was right, the cracks that had been torn apart by the crevasse were collapsing, like dry rice paddies getting wet with water.
As the central part crumbled as it got wet, the ground shook like an earthquake, and eventually the wet soil collapsed, naturally filling the cracks in the crevasse.
“No…!! Senior…!! Heueuk…!!”
Eventually, a terrible scream was let out from Anne’s mouth as she turned around and ran.
After the collapse of the ground was somewhat complete, and she barely began to feel that it was somewhat safe.
Anne, still with dark clouds in her heart, like the sky, squatted down on the ground, which was covered in mud and soaked with the constantly falling rain.
As she blankly looked down at the dirt floor, where the cracks in the crevasse that had been torn apart were covered in collapsed dirt and there was no longer any way to go down,
She cried for a long time with reddened eyes, and soon after, she suddenly burst into a sorrowful laughter.
“Heuk… Haha… Ahaha…”
At her own mistakes, at her narrow-mindedness and malice.
“It was Senior’s fault… I… I just needed to have Edward…
If I could just have Edward… everything would have been fine…”
While regretting it herself, because she was too tired to cry anymore.
The broken laughter of the girl, desperately averting her eyes, was mixed with the sound of rain, echoing towards the rainy sky.
