Chapter 20: Ch 20: I Caught You

"Something is wrong here. The ground is shaking. Isn’t this dungeon supposed to be a D-class one? This should not be happening."

Daniel immediately sensed the ground shaking beneath his feet as he quickly stood up to check what was happening.

He did not usually pay attention to such things, but this time it was different. This time, his instincts were telling him that something was going on.

"Oi, you lazy excuse for an esper, get up right now. We need to go and find Noah before it’s too late."

Ethan opened his eyes and looked at Daniel with an irritated expression. He could feel the sweet scent of guidance calling to him from Daniel’s body, beckoning him to obey. But he refused to heed its call.

He could understand why so many espers were eager to impress Daniel despite him never officially disclosing his rank. But he was not going to be one to fall for his instincts.

All he wanted to do was go back to sleep.

"Ugh, stop speaking so loudly. You are making my head hurt. If you are that eager to find your friend, then go find him yourself. I am not going to help...ouch, that hurts!"

Daniel looked even more irritated by his lack of help and decided to kick him. One kick turned into two and then four.

And it was even beginning to hurt now.

’Darn it. I heard that there are some guides whose strength is equal to an esper’s, but I never thought I would meet one here. Tsk, why did I have to get kicked?’

Ethan wanted to fight back, but he instantly realized that it wouldn’t be a good thing to do. The teachers would never take his side and his free time would evaporate.

So he decided to hold back, only to get grabbed by Daniel.

"Hey! Stop ignoring me and let’s get going. I am going to bring Noah back at all costs."

And that was how Ethan found himself standing on his feet. But the second he took his first step deeper into the dungeon, alarms started to ring.

They were close enough to the entrance that the teachers reached them instantly and started to lead them out.

"Please evacuate the dungeon. It is no longer safe for you to be here. We will get the others out as well soon."

The teacher reassured them, but Daniel did not seem to hear. Instead of rushing out, he was walking deeper into the dungeon.

Ethan was content to let him waste his life, but the teachers were looking at him with expressions that indicated they wanted him to grab Daniel and drag him out. So that was what he chose to do.

"Don’t touch me-"

Daniel almost snapped his wrist, but Ethan kept a light grip on his arm and somehow avoided being hurt.

"Sorry, but this is out of my hands now. The teachers are asking us to evacuate, so we need to go-"

"But Noah is still in there! I need to get him-"

"Orders are orders. If you are not going to obey, then I will have to knock you out."

Daniel gritted his teeth and, the next second, he was knocked out. Ethan let out a sigh as he grabbed the unconscious body and threw it over his shoulder.

"Hey, just don’t kill me when you come around. None of this was my idea, alright? If you are going to blame someone, then blame the teachers."

Ethan tried to justify his actions, not even realizing that the person he was talking to had already tuned him and the world out. Daniel was trapped in memories of a time he did not recall, and the feeling of loss overwhelmed him.

’I...left something behind again. I need to get it before it disappears-’

Daniel tried to reach his hand toward the dungeon that had gone up in flames. But this was all in his head. Even his adult hand looked small and pitiful...

’I need to keep fighting. I need to grab him-’

But unfortunately, the power holding him under was too strong, and Daniel was knocked out and taken away.

...

"Darn it! Just how fast is that bastard? It’s a good thing I trained to survive in dungeons. Otherwise, I would have died a long time ago."

Noah panted as he ran faster and faster to get away from Alan. But he could feel the esper closing in on him fast.

Alan’s eyes were glazed over and Noah already knew that nothing he said to him would get through at this moment. So the only option left to him was to run as fast as possible.

Crash

He almost slipped away to safety when he heard a loud crash. And when he turned his head around, he noticed that Alan was closing in on him even faster. Not only that, but he was throwing trees in Noah’s path to slow him down.

"Hey, you are not an animal! Stop destroying this dungeon!"

Noah yelled, but Alan did not even hear him as he continued his rampage. But Alan was not Noah’s only problem. He had an even bigger one, and that was the monsters that kept appearing.

Something was clearly wrong with them because they would never throw themselves into harm’s way otherwise. Their first instinct was to fight to protect themselves, but no one here was following that.

Noah usually did his best to avoid these monsters, but he was not able to avoid the one that recently came out of its hiding spot, and before Noah knew it, he collided with the monster.

The collision was not hard and Noah was fine, but when he tried to run, he realized that the monster had grabbed his leg.

"Tsk, let go of me!"

Noah cut the monster’s arm off, but it was too late to run. Alan was already in front of him and his presence caged Noah in.

"I caught you..."

Alan whispered, and Noah quickly started thinking of ways he could get out. After all, he did not want to be drained dry by Alan.