Chapter 152- Somewhere Or Nowhere

Chapter 152: Chapter 152- Somewhere Or Nowhere

Chapter 152- Somewhere Or Nowhere

The light was so bright that the entire forest was illuminated for a brief moment, revealing everything hiding in the darkness. The whispers stopped, and the mist retreated rapidly into the darkness, trying to escape the burning light that ate away at it. Meanwhile, in the heart of that light, Rize lay motionless and completely. He wasn’t harmed or affected by the light as he tried to understand what was happening.

Eventually, the light subsided, and things calmed down once the mist disappeared. The forest was submerged in silence again for a bit. Nothing moved, and it felt as if everything that had just happened was merely a coincidence and not real.

"U... gh...."

After what felt like ages, Rize finally moved as he let out a dry groan and tried to reach into his pocket. His hand was shaking, and he could barely even think or control his body as he finally was able to pull his storage device out and pull one of the potions.

It fell next to him so he clenched his teeth as he grabbed it and tried to open it with his other hand. However, he couldn’t do it...

’Ugh... my arm... I think... It’s broken.’ He exhaled as he put the bottle against his mouth and bit the cap with his teeth before he spat it out and tried to chug the liquid hungrily. Most of it poured on his face while some entered his mouth as his body absorbed it instantly.

The healing process accelerated quickly as Rize started regaining sensation in his body, and with it, came a whole lot of pain. He bit his tongue to stop himself from letting out a groan as he grabbed another potion and chugged it fully, increasing the speed even more.

He felt better and better quickly as his body recovered some basic movement capabilities. Rize knew these injuries would require a lot of potions and time to rest for him to make a full recovery; however, as long as he could at least move and fight, he was fine with that pain.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!!" He coughed several times, spitting out blood because of it, before he finally exhaled a long sigh of relief.

"Hah... Hah... Hah... What... Just happened?" He muttered under his breath. He looked left and right, but there was no trace of his two companions or the mist itself. ’I was half-conscious, so I could only see bits and pieces of it. But what was that light that fell on me?’

Rize had seen how bright it was and the way it stopped the mist from consuming him.

He looked up above, but the sky was completely normal with no traces of where the light even came from; then he looked down at his body. He felt traces of it left around him, but those were dissipating rapidly.

’Who did this...? And why?’ He frowned. ’What is really going on?’

Rize had a thousand questions about it. He didn’t even think anybody could find him in this forest, and yet that light came to save him just in time. Almost as if whoever sent it was constantly watching him, and that only confused him more.

But for now, Rize decided to think of what he had to do next. Venera and Rose were nowhere to be seen, and he was still injured and could barely move.

’I need to, ugh, find them before they hurt themselves.’ He thought to himself as he stood up and leaned against the tree as he breathed heavily.

"I don’t even know if the mist will come back or not, but I don’t want to wait. Whatever they will do to Venera and Rose... I, agh, can’t let that happen!" He clenched his teeth as he pushed himself off the tree and started walking.

He had regained enough power to move, and with a stamina potion, he was also able to regain energy. His condition was far from ideal. In fact, Rize was certain he would be defeated again if he fought the two, but he had to do something or their lives were truly in danger.

’They aren’t dead. They’re just being controlled by the mist. I need to break that curse, and things will be easier.’

The plan seemed simple enough on paper, but executing it was bound to be extremely hard. For a few minutes, Rize continued walking where he assumed the mist had retreated. He wasn’t sure whether he was going in the right direction or not. But he kept walking as he spread his senses everywhere he could, searching for traces of the mist.

Luckily, he almost immediately detected the traces, and they started leading him deeper and deeper into the forest. Rize didn’t know where he was going, but the mountain was a good guide as he kept approaching it.

However, the sense of unease in his heart kept growing. ’Where am I being led?’

After walking for what felt like an hour, Rize passed through a thick tree line before he found himself in a vast opening that had a clear view of the mountain. There were no trees in this barren patch of land, and no greenery grew on it. There, in the heart of that land, was a big hole that led somewhere into the depths of the ground.

"..." Rize frowned before he approached the hole and looked down. It was pitch black and, as far as he could tell, was bottomless. However, the traces of the mist coming from it were very strong, and he was almost certain the mist had come from here.

"Sigh, I really need to go into this dark hole, don’t I?" He rubbed his face before he sucked in a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing."

Taking a step back, Rize then ran forward and leaped into the hole. He didn’t care if he was going into a very dangerous place. He had to save Venera and Rose before this mist did whatever it wanted to do to them.

’I will surely figure something out.’ He clenched his teeth as the darkness swallowed him completely.

After falling for a few seconds, Rize suddenly sensed the ground approaching, so he readied his body.

*TAP*

His landing was extremely quiet and almost silent. He had naturally learned how to make large jumps as quietly as possible, especially if he was on a mission to sneak into some place. Looking left and right. Even in the pitch-black darkness, Rize could see to a certain extent, and what he saw before him was a long and dark tunnel that stretched deep into the ground on an incline.

He couldn’t sense anything coming from there, so he braced himself and started walking through the tunnel. His only guide was the traces of mist he was following that kept going deeper and deeper.

There were no sounds coming from the tunnel except for Rize’s feet as they stepped into the mud.

’What even is this place? How was this tunnel even dug into wet dirt?’ He thought to himself as he looked all around him. ’And it looks almost fresh too...’

But as he continued walking, Rize eventually came across another tunnel that went in a different direction.

He looked deep into it and saw nothing. Then, he walked a bit further and found another one, then another one.

The more he walked, the more the tunnels branched into more paths, almost like an endless maze that spread across the entire forest.

"What the hell..."

Rize knew that if he decided to walk into one of these paths, he might end up lost, and that would make his situation even worse. So, instead, he decided to continue on the main path as it had the most traces of the mist.

So, he continued walking, and for a long time, all he did was walk. Nothing changed; he walked and walked and walked till he lost track of how much distance he crossed and if he was even going anywhere.

Eventually, he had to stop to rest. He felt like he had been moving for hours with his already exhausted body.

’This can’t be something real? This tunnel is gigantic. I reckon it spreads across the entirety of the forest and maybe even under the mountain itself.’ He mused. ’I’ve walked far enough that escape is realistically impossible if I find Venera and Rose...’

Chugging some water, Rize looked back on his path and cursed. The more he thought about it, the more Rize realized how bad the situation was. He didn’t even know how he would find the two, or if fighting them and the mist at the same time was a viable option.

But did he have another choice? He wasn’t going to let them die. It had to work out somehow. With that, he stood up and continued walking.

The journey continued for a long while, and at some point, Rize started contemplating going back on his tracks or choosing another path.

However, he decided not to do that and continued down this tunnel as if his life depended on it. It either leads him somewhere or nowhere.