leonardwarren Chapter 48: A Short Reprieve
Chapter 48: A Short Reprieve
Chapter 48: A Short ReprieveSeveral hours had gone by before Min-ho and his cohorts finally decided to rest up.
Once again they were battered and bruised to a degree that would have been deadly had it not been for their armor.
Though many of them were afraid the durability of the Commoner’s Armor was at risk. A quick System check had revealed to them that they still had a while longer to be with the armor.
Now huddled up in the first floor of a storey building, the fighters in the team lay sprawled on the floor, breathing hard while wincing from pain.
It hadn’t been an easy couple of hours, because after they had dealt with the Worm Hounds they threw into the pit. Not long after, they ran into another Worm. Then another, and another, and another.
More than half of those hours had been spent battling one Worm Hound or the other. According to Ji-su, they had left the Safe Zone for approximately 5 hours, yet they only managed to cover a distance of 10 kilometers. Which did seem like much, but not according to their schedule.
This thought bothered Min-ho, which made him get onto his feet with a slight groan.
He turned to Ji-su and called.
"Ji-su."
Ji-su turned to him, his eyes wide with curiosity.
"Please follow me," he said, then turned toward the corner of the building that housed a stairway.
He found it at the far right of the room, then wasted no time heading for it.
Though everyone thought to speak, no one really questioned why Min-ho called Ji-su or where they were headed. It was clear that they didn’t know one another very well yet, it was evident that each person here needed the other if they wanted to survive.
So Dok-su ruled out murder as a possibility for his brother being called. He didn’t like to admit it, but due to their successes so far, he had found himself more inclined toward trusting Min-ho.
As they walked off, Im-hee watched, an issue running rampant in her heart.
Min-ho and Ji-su made their way up the stone steps, which had gaps every now and then.
The stairway was a corkscrew that spiraled to the top of the building, with doors on either side of the cylindrical shaft every few meters, which evidently led to the different floors of the building.
Not long into their walk, Ji-su finally decided to speak up when he judged their voices would be out of earshot from the others.
"Is something wrong?" Ji-su asked.
Min-ho hesitated, his right foot almost missing a step when a sharp pain burned in his waist.
He paused on the steps, took in a deep breath and then gave an answer.
"Just wanted you to do some rough estimates for me," Min-ho said, his voice cold and flat from both the pain biting at him from all sides and the thoughts he was dreading.
Ji-su didn’t say anything, he kept quiet for the remainder of their trek up the steps.
As they made their way closer to the top, the sun’s light radiating from the first floor began to dim, because there were no windows in the shaft.
Though visibility was getting harder, it wasn’t completely gone, as there were bits and pieces of those glowing crystals from back at the temple present on the shaft walls.
Looking at them, Min-ho and Ji-su could tell that these glowing crystals were reaching its last legs, as their glow seemed to dwindle in pulses like a beating heart.
The more they thought about it, the more realization that the
They needed to get to the Safe Zone.
"How long?" Min-ho asked, staring into Ji-su’s eyes.