Chapter 81 - 79: Fighting for One’s Life

Chapter 81: Chapter 79: Fighting for One’s Life

’Fucking hell!’

’Dig faster, dammit!!’

Outside the cave, while Mirana bit down hard on her tongue, desperately fighting off the overwhelming wave of drowsiness, Lu Wei stood before a pile of earth and rubble dislodged by a wolf-toothed stick, using his sword, Confession, as a shovel to dig furiously.

It shouldn’t have been such strenuous work, but after only a dozen or so seconds, his movements slowed against his will, his clothes already soaked through with sweat.

The dizziness in his head grew worse, and he even began to feel a sharp, stabbing pain, as if being pierced by needles.

It was proof that his Magic Power was being rapidly consumed.

That’s right. The reason those two Leader Level Goblins were suddenly "squashed" was that Lu Wei had created a Gravity Field.

Half a minute ago, he had rushed back and into the tunnel, only to immediately spot the sealed-off cave entrance.

Lu Wei, of course, had no idea what had happened, but in any case, the commotion from the other side of the rubble pile sounded dire.

So, he immediately created a Force Field to conduct a bit of "X-ray Vision" Reconnaissance.

Well... obviously, Lu Wei didn’t actually have X-ray Vision.

This was actually another extended application of the [Force Field] ability he’d discovered just a moment ago while mowing down goblins—

Reconnaissance without sight.

According to the description for [Force Field], the gravity effect’s valid targets were "enemies" within the field’s range.

And without a doubt, the Gravity Gemstone wasn’t intelligent enough to determine who qualified as an "enemy" on its own.

So, in the end, that definition was left up to Lu Wei himself.

He then discovered that within the Force Field’s range, he could clearly sense the presence of every life form and decide which ones to apply the gravity effect to.

Furthermore, this sensation wasn’t based on his five senses.

Even with his eyes closed, he could still perceive basic information about a life form, such as its position, size, and shape.

It was a bit like a sonar system, or the "domains" wielded by high-level Cultivators in the web novels from his past life.

And since such an exploitable "loophole" existed, "reconnaissance without sight" was entirely feasible.

He just needed to create a Force Field with a multiplier infinitely close to 1x, consuming 0.5 Magic Power per minute, to easily detect all living creatures within a 10-meter radius.

And because the gravity multiplier was so low, the detected creatures wouldn’t notice anything amiss.

For example, just now, to investigate the situation inside the cave, Lu Wei had created a Force Field with a 10-meter radius and a 1.1x multiplier.

And he had clearly sensed three life forms.

Two were large and standing.

One was smaller and lying on the ground.

The information was limited, but it was enough—

Obviously, the intelligence had been wrong. There were actually two Leader Level Goblins in this nest!

And Mirana hadn’t been able to defeat them!

’Is she an idiot? Why didn’t she run when she saw there were two of them??’

’Did adding 20 points to her Power make her think she was invincible??’

’And what’s with this pile of dirt?’

At that moment, Lu Wei’s first reaction was, ’This woman is insane.’

However, considering there was still a chance to save Mirana, he immediately cranked the gravity multiplier to the max, pinning the two Leader Level Goblins down through the wall to give her an opening.

As it turned out, not even a Leader Level Monster could withstand the terrifying 5x gravity.

But who would have thought that faced with two lambs ready for the slaughter, Mirana would remain completely "unresponsive"!

She remained on the ground, completely motionless!

’Something’s wrong!’

Sensing this, Lu Wei immediately understood that Mirana must have already lost the ability to fight, or even to move.

And he didn’t know if 5x gravity could directly "crush" a Leader Level Monster to death.

If he still wanted to save her, then, there was only one option—

Dig through the loose earth blocking the entrance and kill the two Leader Level Goblins himself.

Yes, the plan was perfectly feasible.

The problem was...

’Holy shit, this feels so fucking awful...’

Gritting his teeth, Lu Wei plunged Confession into the dirt pile again and heaved, sending countless bits of soil and stone flying.

Although he had shrunk the Force Field’s radius from 10 meters to 7—just enough to cover the two Leader Level Goblins—the 5x gravity effect meant his Magic Power Consumption had still reached a staggering 14 points per minute.

After subtracting the 10 points he’d just used to kill those 22 Ordinary goblins, he only had about 7 points of Magic Power left after just one short minute.

He could last 30 seconds at most...

’No, if I can’t break through with this next shovelful, I have to retreat.’

’If I run out of Magic Power and pass out here, and those two Leader Level greenskins aren’t dead, then I’m the one who’s going to die.’

’Fuck! It doesn’t even feel that thick! How am I still not through!’

’Forget it, just one more time... motherfucker!’

’One more time, this is the last one!’

’Fuck... This time is really the last one!’

CRUMBLE!

Suddenly, accompanied by the sound of sliding earth, on his "final" fourth thrust of Confession into the dirt wall, Lu Wei at last saw a faint glimmer of light.

The intensifying headache and his nearly frozen mind robbed him of the strength to think. He acted purely on instinct, shoving his hand into the opening and clawing at it frantically a few times before beginning to crawl through with great difficulty.

Honestly, it was a good thing the wall of dislodged earth was relatively thin.

Otherwise, his thrashing about might have triggered a "secondary collapse," burying him alive.

Well... he probably wouldn’t have been crushed to death.

But suffocating after passing out was a very real possibility.

Then he could unlock the Gelan Forest achievement: "First Adventurer to Bury Himself Alive."

THUD!

After squirming for seven or eight seconds, Lu Wei emerged from the "dirt wall" in a pathetic state, stumbling and falling onto the sticky, foul-smelling cave floor. His hand, however, still tightly clutched the hilt of Confession.

At this moment, he was down to his last 3 points of Magic Power.

He could hold on for another eleven or twelve seconds, at most.

It was too late for regrets now.

In such a short amount of time, even if he could crawl back out, he wouldn’t be able to escape the nest.

If the two Leader Level Goblins weren’t dead, he was a dead man.

So he had to kill these two damn things...

CLINK...

Planting Confession in the ground before him, Lu Wei rose with excruciating slowness. His brain was like a crashed computer, with only one final command left running.

He didn’t even look at Mirana, whose fate was uncertain, or survey his surroundings. He simply staggered over to the two ugly, oily-green monsters that were trembling and struggling on the ground.

Then, with great difficulty, he raised Confession and plunged it into the first one’s head.

CRACK—!

The tip of the sword met a hard layer of resistance—it must have been the skull.

Although Lu Wei theoretically had plenty of stamina left, his brain was incapable of issuing any further commands. After a brief stalemate, he could only lean his body onto the hilt, using his own weight to slowly drive Confession into the creature’s skull.

If this had been an Ordinary Sword, that amount of force would not have been enough.

Fortunately, Confession’s blade was coated in a layer of incredibly sharp Saracenic Steel.

And so, with a harsh grating of metal against bone, the first Leader Level Goblin’s struggles finally ceased.

Then, he slowly pulled the sword free and moved to the second one.

This time, Lu Wei’s movements were even slower. Fortunately, having learned from his first attempt, he chose to plunge the sword into the creature’s back, where there was no bone to protect it.

Immediately after, he released the Force Field. At the same instant, he swayed and collapsed to the ground.

THUMP!

The dull thud of his body hitting the ground was proof that he had been unable to make even a subconscious move to break his fall.

Mirana, who had watched it all unfold, found her vision already blurred by tears.

The extreme weakness brought on by exhaustion and severe injuries could not be overcome by "willpower" alone.

Thus, though she was still conscious, she couldn’t move an inch no matter how hard she tried. She could only watch helplessly as Lu Wei fell, stood up, and fell again... until he finally collapsed before her, his fate unknown.

Guilt, pain, worry, struggle, gratitude...

Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes, cutting paths through the blood and grime on her cheeks and dripping into the foul-smelling mud. DRIP... DROP... Each one was the only sound in the dead silence.

An unknown amount of time passed like this before Mirana suddenly saw Lu Wei’s shoulder twitch.

Then, she watched as he miraculously propped himself up again and slowly pulled a small, half-palm-sized wooden bottle from a deerskin pouch strapped to his leg.

It was the bottle of Diluted Healing Potion they had prepared before setting out.

...

Staring wide-eyed, Mirana’s heart instantly began to race, and a look of immense relief flashed in her eyes.

She didn’t know why Lu Wei also looked so gravely injured, but with the Healing Potion, his life was probably no longer in danger.

’Thank goodness...’

A sense of relief mixed with her tears. Mirana closed her eyes, finally at ease.

She didn’t care if she lived or died; she only wanted Lu Wei to survive.

But...

’Wait...’

Suddenly, the feeling of something supporting the back of her head made Mirana freeze.

Her eyes snapped open, and she saw Lu Wei’s face, contorted in pain.

’What are you looking at!’

’If this Healing Potion could restore Magic Power, you wouldn’t be getting a single drop!’

Gritting his teeth and glaring at Mirana, Lu Wei squeezed two sentences through his clenched jaw.

"What the hell are you crying for..."

"Drink the potion..."