Chapter 5: The Hidden Dungeon

Once inside the castle, Chris immediately realized that hiding here wouldn’t be easy. Large cracks covered many of the walls, while several windows had been completely shattered, leaving plenty of open spaces through which the flying beasts could potentially spot him.

If they entered the castle and started searching, there was no way he could guarantee they wouldn’t find him.

Without wasting any more time, he rushed through the halls, jumping over the debris from collapsed walls as he made his way toward the main room of the castle. If he could find a good hiding place there, he could stay hidden until the beasts left and then decide what to do.

He soon entered the main hall, which was enormous compared to the rest of the castle. Looking toward the far end, he noticed a section of collapsed wall with a small opening underneath it, just large enough for him to slip through.

That should work.

He immediately ran toward it, but before he could reach the opening, the floor beneath his feet suddenly collapsed.

"Fuck!"

His body dropped through the broken floor.

*BOOM!*

He slammed into the hard stone floor below, pain coursing through his entire body from the impact. Gritting his teeth, he quickly pushed himself back onto his feet and looked around.

’That was too loud.’

If the flying beasts had heard it, they could come searching for him at any moment.

He immediately ran toward the nearest wall and stopped behind it, using the curve of the passage to conceal himself from the area behind him. Moments later, a deep roar echoed through the castle.

One of the creatures had come to investigate.

He covered his mouth with his hand and forced himself to remain completely still while listening to the sounds behind him. Something was moving through the ruined hall, searching for the source of the noise, and every movement made his heart beat faster.

After several tense moments, the sound gradually began moving away.

Only after he was certain the creature had left did he slowly lower his hand and breathe a sigh of relief.

’That was close...’

Looking around, he finally realized that he was standing in an underground passage beneath the main hall. The area was almost completely dark, with only a small amount of light coming through the opening he had created when he fell.

He couldn’t see very far, but there appeared to be a torch attached to the wall nearby.

Walking over to it, he grabbed the torch and tried to pull it free, but it wouldn’t budge.

He pulled harder, but instead of coming loose, the torch and its holder began vibrating slightly.

"Hmm?"

There was probably some kind of enchantment placed on it, either on the torch itself or on the holder.

Since he couldn’t remove it, he took out his flint and lit the torch where it was.

The moment the flame appeared, something unexpected happened.

Several torches farther down the passage suddenly lit up one after another.

Then another, and another.

Within moments, flames were appearing every few meters, spreading farther and farther into the darkness until the entire passage was illuminated.

Yet even with all the torches burning, he still couldn’t see the end.

Turning around, he looked back toward the hole he had fallen through and realized that the collapsed floor had blocked the passage behind him. He also couldn’t return to the castle while the flying beasts were still there.

’Seems like I can only go forward...’

With no other choice, he began walking through the passage.

After fifteen minutes, the tunnel gradually began sloping downward. The farther he walked, the deeper he went beneath the ground, and although he had originally hoped that this hidden passage might lead to an exit, descending deeper into the earth made that possibility seem less likely.

Still, he had no choice but to continue.

Several minutes later, he finally reached an opening.

Stepping through it, he found himself standing inside a massive underground hall.

Chris looked around in amazement.

’Who made all this?’

The place was far larger than the passage he had just traveled through, and the walls looked as though they had been carved and constructed rather than naturally formed.

He walked a little farther into the hall before suddenly stopping. Something about the stones beneath his feet looked strange.

He crouched down and examined them carefully before taking out his iron sword.

Rather than stepping forward, he threw the sword toward one of the suspicious stones.

*CLANG!*

The sword struck the stone.

Immediately, the tile sank into the ground.

*BOOM!*

A massive stone pillar suddenly dropped from the ceiling and crashed into the floor where the sword had landed.

After a moment, the pillar slowly withdrew back into the ceiling.

His expression became serious.

"This place is filled with traps..."

If he had been standing there instead of throwing the sword, he would have been crushed instantly. He breathed a sigh of relief before reaching out his hand.

The sword immediately flew back toward him, pulled by the Recall enchantment.

He caught it and looked at the weapon. The enchantment had already proven incredibly useful.

Looking around, he noticed several more strange-looking stones scattered across the floor. Some were slightly out of place, making them easier to notice than the others, but he wasn’t willing to gamble with his life.

Instead, he continued throwing his sword ahead of him, testing each suspicious tile before moving forward.

A few minutes later, he had mapped out a safe route through the hall.

Following the path he had tested, he crossed the entire room with quick steps and entered another tunnel on the opposite side.

The tunnel continued downward. This one was much longer than the previous passage, and it continued descending farther into the ground.

’Damn... I’ve been walking deeper and deeper for so long. Who made such a long tunnel this far beneath the ground?’

After walking for a while longer, he finally reached another entrance, but this one was different.

A wave of heat came from the opening. The air was extremely hot and dry, making him immediately realize that whatever waited ahead was completely different from the previous underground hall.

Chris carefully stepped through the entrance and froze.

"What the..."

This wasn’t another hall.

It was an enormous cave, dozens of times larger than the underground chambers he had passed through before.

A massive ravine stretched through the cave, with several stone bridges crossing over it.

He first looked around and checked the ceiling, making sure there weren’t any obvious traps before cautiously stepping onto one of the bridges.

Looking down, his eyes widened.

Lava flowed through the bottom of the ravine, its intense glow illuminating the entire cave.

’No wonder it’s so hot down here.’

Something suddenly caught his attention. There was movement below.

He leaned over the bridge and looked more carefully.

Several creatures were moving around near the lava.

They looked like lizards.

His eyes widened.

"That... that’s a fire lizard."

Excitement immediately surged through him.

Chris had traveled deeper into the Wilds and continued heading north in search of the rare lizards described in ancient records.

And now, he had finally found them.

But how was he supposed to approach them?

He began thinking before deciding to test something.

Taking an arrow from his quiver, he nocked it into his bow and aimed at one of the larger lizards below.

Most of them were only around fifty centimeters long, but one of the larger ones was slightly bigger than the others.

He took aim.

*WHOOSH!*

The arrow flew downward and struck one of its legs.

The fire lizard screeched and began tossing around wildly.

Seeing that it was still alive, he immediately tested the Recall enchantment on his bow.

To his delight, the arrow suddenly began floating upward.

"Excellent! It works even on arrows shot from this bow!"

The arrow slowly returned to him, its movement noticeably slower than when he recalled the sword, probably because it was carrying the weight of the lizard.

When it finally reached him, he carefully grabbed the creature by the back of its neck before it could turn around and attack him.

The lizard immediately spat a burst of fire, but he managed to avoid it and held it tightly.

He quickly struck the back of its head with the hilt of his sword, making it dizzy enough to stop struggling.

Then he activated his Beast Taming skill.

[Contract Failed.]

[Target does not qualify.]

"FUCK!"

His voice echoed through the cave.

This had been his chance.

After everything he had endured, after years of searching and suffering, the moment he finally found one of the rare beasts he had been looking for, the result was still the same.

His hands tightened around the lizard.

All the pain, hunger, loneliness, and near-death experiences he had endured suddenly came rushing back.

Would it ever pay off?

Would he ever be able to tame a beast?

In a burst of rage, he threw the lizard back toward the ravine.

The creature struck the hard ground below but somehow remained unharmed.

It immediately turned around and looked up at him.

Then it began screeching.

The other fire lizards suddenly turned toward him as well.

One after another, they began climbing the walls of the ravine, rapidly making their way toward the bridges.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck my luck!"

Chris immediately turned around and began running.

There were far too many of them for him to fight, and he had been careless in his moment of rage.

The lizards were surprisingly fast for their size.

He crossed one stone bridge after another, running as quickly as he could while the creatures continued closing the distance.

Then he suddenly realized there was nowhere else to go. The stone bridges ended ahead of him.

Beyond them was only a steep drop.

He quickly stopped and looked down.

The fall itself was only a few meters, but the stone below was tilted steeply downward, meaning that if he jumped, he would probably continue sliding down.

He couldn’t see where it ended.

Turning around, he saw the fire lizards rapidly approaching.

They would reach him in only a few seconds.

"Damn it!"

With no other option, he turned toward the ravine, took a deep breath, and jumped.

*BANG!*

His body struck the stone wall several meters below, and he immediately began sliding down the steep slope.

He couldn’t see what was ahead of him.

There was no way to know whether the slope ended a few meters later or continued for hundreds of meters.

But it was his only option.

He continued sliding for nearly a full minute.

Then...

*Whoosh...*

The stone beneath him suddenly disappeared.

His body flew off the end of the slope and began falling.

"FUCK!"

*BANG!*

His shoulder slammed into the hard stone floor below, and a sharp pain immediately shot through his body.

His shoulder had dislocated.

"AAAAGHHH!"

He clenched his teeth and forced himself to stand before quickly approaching the nearest wall.

Using his healthy hand, he grabbed his injured arm and carefully twisted it, trying to align the shoulder properly.

The position was correct, but he still needed to force it back into place.

He couldn’t use his other hand, it was too hard, so he clenched his injured hand into a fist and swung his body toward the wall.

*BANG!*

His fist slammed into the stone, and the impact forced his shoulder back into its socket.

The pain was almost unbearable, but at least the joint was back in place.

His fist, however, was now bleeding. He took a piece of cloth from his backpack and wrapped it around his injured hand.

Once everything was taken care of, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Somehow... I’m still alive."

For a moment, there was silence.

Then a powerful rage began building inside his chest.

"FUUUUUUUUCK! DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL! WHY AM I SO UNLUCKY?! AM I CURSED TO NEVER HAVE HAPPINESS IN THIS LIFE?! ARE THE HEAVENS AGAINST ME?!"

He kicked the stone wall as hard as he could.

"I HAVE ENDURED SO MUCH SUFFERING! SO MUCH PAIN! FOR WHAT?! I COULDN’T EVEN TAME A STUPID LIZARD!"

He grabbed a nearby rock and threw it with all his strength.

"DAMN YOU, HEAVENS! I WON’T GIVE UP! I WILL FIGHT YOU UNTIL THE DEATH!"

He grabbed another stone and was about to throw it when he suddenly stopped.

Something about it felt strange.

The stone was much lighter than it should have been for its size, and its shape was oddly hollow. Its surface was also unusually smooth.

"What the..."

He placed it on the ground and took another piece of cloth from his backpack. Wrapping it around one of the sticks he carried in the backpack, he used his flint to light it and created a makeshift torch.

When the light illuminated the area around him, he froze.

"What the fuck!?"

The object he had been holding wasn’t a stone.

It was a human skull.

He quickly looked around and noticed an entire human skeleton sitting against the stone wall.

The skeleton was still leaning against the wall, its bones covered in dust from countless years of being left in the darkness.

But something else caught his attention.

The skeleton was holding a large, round object in its hands.

Chris approached it carefully and stared at the object.

"Is this... an egg? How did this guy end up here, and why is he holding an egg?"

Confused, he stepped closer and placed his hand against the large egg.

The moment his fingers touched its surface, a system message appeared before his eyes.

[Contract Successful.]

"WHAT?!"