Chapter 541: Don’t Go Down

There was something at the far end of my senses. It gave off a chill worse than anything I’d faced so far, which was saying something.

’I just can’t get enough of this place, can I?’

I didn’t know if it was the right way to go. But it seemed like the only way if we wanted to survive.

So even though I felt an immense repulsion at the idea, I let it happen.

I dragged myself up, pulling Ilse with me, and as the water swelled again, both of us pushed forward, working our legs for everything they had left.

The adrenaline that warned my body and drove it on ahead of the wave of death was quite fascinating. Every brush with death in this damn place seemed to feed it a little more, in some terrifying way.

I was numb to it. Well, not entirely numb. I still feared Death, of course.

But I found myself making cold calculations, even precise decisions, despite the way it loomed over me.

Like the decision to keep going, even with something dangerous clearly waiting ahead.

’It will either kill us, or we will kill it. Again.’

The water swelled and came after us with a furious pull, and when we fought our way closer to the edge, something slammed into us from behind. Even though it was only water, it hit like a wall. The air went out of our lungs, and the world blurred.

My vision blurred.

I still managed to move, arms crossed against the fog of it all, and at the edge of the cave, carried along with the water, we broke through the rock. Space opened up around me, larger than I’d expected.

My elbows stung painfully, but the broad cavern expanse that suddenly unraveled before my eyes distracted me from it.

The water rushed down, and we went with it. It was like a flood breaking through a blocked ledge and turning into a waterfall. Only this time, the waterfall brought two people down with it. Well—one human and one Drakonir.

The water flooded down with immense force and quickly filled the dry lake at the center of the cave, but it didn’t go any further than that.

It was as if all that ferocious power had suddenly been reined in. It pushed against the edge of the lake but never went past it, still pouring steadily from the point where we’d broken through.

Amid the water, we swam for the surface. And there it was.

The dangerous thing my Death Sense had picked up on.

But it wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever noticed.

It was a human. Or at least, it looked the size of one. And it was seated on the edge of the cave.

The thing, the human, raised its head and looked down at us, treading water at the surface.

It wasn’t until then that I could confirm he was a man.

And he didn’t look so old.

He had bright amber eyes that seemed to glow even in the dark. And his skin was alabaster, almost white.

"Hello! Did you get lost?!"

Hearing his childlike voice was disturbing. And I wasn’t the only one who seemed to think so.

Ilse and I carefully made it to the edge and pulled ourselves out of the water. Neither of us said anything.

Perhaps it was because we were so used to being alone in the dark that it was disturbing to see this boy in the cave at all, sitting in front of the tamed water as if he’d been waiting for it.

I studied him carefully.

He had long hair, long enough that it probably reached the middle of his back, and the strands hanging in front were long enough to hide most of his face. His amber eyes were cold, and looking at him too long felt like a bad idea.

He had a scarf slung over one shoulder that had once been purple, gone dark now under years of dirt. Only God knew how many years’ worth of death that thing had soaked up.

And the rest of his body was nothing but tattered clothes. He stood up from the rock he’d been sitting on, looking at both Ilse and me with excitement.

"Are you both from the surface? How did you survive getting here?"

I frowned immediately and settled into a guarded stance.

"Don’t listen, Ilse. There are different ways beasts down here can lure you in, just to eat you."

The boy’s voice came back at us.

"I wouldn’t deny that, but I promise you, I’m not a monster. I’ve actually been trying to catch this for several months now, but it was thanks to you that I was able to succeed."

I glanced at the pool and frowned.

"Catch that... why would you try to catch that?"

He chuckled.

"If you were coming from the surface, you should have just stayed at the surface."

He sighed.

"Although it’s a monster, this is the only water I get to see around here. So I worked hard to dig a trap so it couldn’t leave. I’ve been digging this hole for months, and now I’ve finally secured a permanent water source, while annoying a certain insufferable creature stuck beneath this cave."

He said all of it so casually, with a proud expression on his face.

And I was there, busy processing it all.

’There’s no water here? How scarce does water have to be, that you’d settle for drinking something that’s basically a monster.’

It was around then that I realized things were most likely about to get very dangerous.

Meanwhile, the boy smiled and asked:

"Are you going down?"

I nodded.

Then he asked again.

"Why?"

"Because it seems like the only reasonable way out of here."

The boy chuckled again and shook his head.

"Well, you’re right. I felt the same way when I first got here, and I tried to go down too. But I’m on my way back up now... I’ve been trying to go back up for the past ten years, or as far as I’ve kept count."

He sighed and still managed a smile.

"Going down is a trap. I can tell you’re strong. But all that strength is nothing. You will definitely die if you go down."

I frowned at him.

"I am getting somewhat immune to death, you see."

This time he laughed.

"Good, good. You’ve got jokes, huh."

His face suddenly turned grave.

"Have you ever heard of the mother of dragons? That thing, as powerful as the gods, lives down there..."

The boy pulled his scarf away, revealing a whole side of his body burned and wrinkled, his other arm included. It was disturbing to look at.

"All it did was look at me, and I burned from inside out. For the last time, I warn you. Do not go down. You will die."