"Oh….oh God…."
I heard Isabella mumble in horror, stumbling a step back, her back hitting the rocky walls of the tunnel, covering her mouth in fear that she might scream. She looked like she might vomit any second now.
I wasn't any better. I had to bite my inner cheek, to force down the vomit, as i stared intently at the corpses. Something about them didn't feel right. Everything was a bit too abrupt.
Before I could continue this train of thought, however, I saw the torch light somehow dim, darkness engulfing the tunnel once again. I immediately realized that the mysterious assassin was about to attack once again. My eyes scanned around the darkness, with [Probability Pryer] active, I began searching for where the assassin would hit.
"A slice to Isabella's throat from behind, 100%…"
My heart raced. My mouth opended before I could even react.
"Isabella! Behind you!"
I couldn't see in the darkness, but from the ruffle of her dress-tunic, I knew she had turned around. Then, there was the soft sound of wind moving, a second later— I heard a loud bang that immediately made me want to run and hide.
Covering my face instinctively, I lowered my hands, as I felt a delicate finger tugging at the sleeve of my tunic.
"I created the explosion. That might have scared away the assassin. For now."
That turned out to be wrong. As [Probability Pryer] immediately caught the outcome of another attack. Grasping the sleeve of Isabella, I rolled out of the way along with her, quickly summoning [Fool's Rapier].
"We can't relax. The assassin knows we can't see in the dark and is using it to their advantage. I think they are trying to make me run out of innate spirit, by keeping [Probability Pryer] active."
Even as I was speaking, my eyes were darting around. Looking for any signs of the assassin, but i was none. Yet, just the moment my shoulders relaxed ever so slightly, the assassin attacked again. I saw the probability.
Without taking any chances, I moved out of the way, my back hitting something— which I guessed was the other rocky wall of the tunnel. Isabella was still with me, using her mastery over wind to see where exactly I was. Yet it seemed to be fruitless against this mysterious assassin, especially when the tunnel lacked alot of wind.
As I backed away, my eyes still darting around carefully, I felt my feet hit something. I immediately realized that it was the corpse. Yet something felt off. When my ankle touched the corpse, I realized that my sensations of feeling the touch are delayed, for some odd reason. Whenever I moved my ankle, the feeling of the corpse would only come a second later….
I didn't have time to be focusing on this odd thing, however. As another attack from the assassin came, without giving us a break. This time, it came from my side, almost piercing my kidney, but I managed to move out the way. [Probability Pryer] has been an immense help.
The attacks have started becoming more fast-paced. Just as I dodged, another one came. Then another one, then another one. It was getting difficult, moving around in this narrow tunnel, in the darkness, while carrying Isabella with me. It was too much of a burden.
"Morgan! Let me…"
I suddenly heard Isabella exclaim, as he pushed me away. I didn't quite understand what she was doing, but I felt a bit worried with her not having me by her side. If even wind sense didn't work against this assassin, how was she supposed to deal with the blows from the dark?
But, with [Probability Pryer] active, I immediately realized what she was going to do.
"Are you crazy?! Don't release such a violent explosion! You'll cause the tunnel to collapse!"
The air around us grew colder. It seemed that even the assassin had realized what she was gonna do. Frantically, they moved towards Isabella in hopes of killing her before she could explode the place.
Biting my lower lip, I gripped the [Fool's Rapier] tightly, used [FeatherMountain] to increase it's weight, then threw it like a bowling ball towards the rushing assassin. I knew where the assassin was, judging by the probability shown by [Probability Pryer], the assassin still wasn't too close to Isabella.
I need to give her time.
Whistling through the air, the [Fool's Rapier] reached the assassin, just before the assassin could raise their hand and strike down Isabella with a single stab through the throat. [Fool's Rapier] pierced right through the assassin's side, or atleast I assumed it did from the sound that was made. Followed by a groan.
Isabella didn't waste this opportunity, as she was able to successfully create a dense sphere of air at the palm of her hand. This one much more potent and powerful compared to the one she used during her fight with the tiger. No, this one would be enough to even hurt her, if she doesn't run away in time.
"Here's a gift for you, assassin!"
She said unnecessarily, as she threw the sphere towards where the Assassin was— Isabella knew judging from the movement of the wind. The darkness still blocking out our view.
Then, using her wind sense, Isabella rushed towards me. With [Probability Pryer] active, I was able to see that she was close and had the intention of just jumping into my arms before the explosion occurs. So, in preparation, I had them open.
The moment I felt her warm body, glistening with sweat, press against mine, was the moment we heard the explosion.
BANG!!
It was violent. Of course, it wasn't like the explosion of a grenade, or any kind of bomb. It was just dense air expanding, releasing a violent Shockwave in the process. But it was enough to cause the tunnels to begin crumbling, debri falling around us.
In the darkness, I couldn't see. We both couldn't see. But Isabella had wind sense she could use to dodge them and I had [Probability Pryer] where I saw the safest place for us to be in.
The tunnel we were in came undone, completely and utterly crumbling to the ground, leaving behind nothing in it's wake, nothing but a simple connection to another tunnel inside the endless tunnels we have been stuck in.
Grunting, I pushed some of the debri off me, poking my head out of what was left of the crumbled tunnel. Isabella was just only a second late, poking her own head out. We both exchanged grim looks, then climbed out.
Out in the darkness, there was now a faint light. A faint light coming from above, where we both turned our attention to.
"The corpses, Morgan…..where are they?"
I snapped out my thoughts at her question, looking back down at her. She was nearby me, so I could see her fairly clearly. Her eyes were darting around, searching for the corpses.
"They weren't real."
A familier voice said. As i saw a figure walking up to us, holding a torch, jumping down from above. As the figure grew closer, I finally saw who it was.
"Nico?"
Behind him was Zeke.
"I thought you…."
Zeke laughed. The same obnoxious laughter he always had.
"Morgz, it was just an illusion to scare the shit out of you both. Anyways, us both, we were transported into the pocket dimension Morgz got himself into."
Isabella's eyes widened, even I was surprised by this information. But it sort of made sense. The delay of touch I felt spoke of the imperfections the illusion had, if I had looked carefully, I would of realized slight inconsistencies too. The realization dawned on us both. Eventually, I asked.
"So, was it number three and number one that attacked us? Did number one try to trap you guys?"
This time, it was Nico who spoke up. Holding up the torch, giving light to the area, he said.
"Yes, it seemed like it. We managed to escape the pocket dimension the same way you did, Morgan."
Isabella seemed curious, but didn't say anything. After all, I had refused to tell her what exactly I did to escape the pocket dimension. Before any of us could open our mouth to say anything, Zeke continued. His voice laced with excitement.
"Now, we don't have time to be sharing stories! Look up, folks. Both me and Nico might have just found the entrance to where Lord Tanmi resides!"
My eyes widened.
"Where?"
Both me and Isabella blurted out simultaneously, surprise evident in our expression and voices.
Zeke laughed once more, clearly very excited. Then, he raised a hand and pointed upwards, where the faint orange light was coming from.
"Up there."
Our eyes followed. Noticing our confusion, Nico took the time to explain.
"After dealing with number one, we realized that the Abyssal Heart wasn't inside the tunnels at all. Rather…."
He looked back up, as well.
"It's outside it, existing right above the tunnels."
This was not what I expected at all. Outside? The key to escaping the Dreadful Tunnels was outside it? What kind of misleading stuff is this? Even Isabella seems to share the sentiment, as she said.
"Outside? Are you kidding me? We went through all this suffering, just for the Abyssal Heart to be right above us? How exactly did you guys figure this out, anyway?"
Zeke sighed, as he lowered his hands and looked back at Isabella.
"Easy with the questions, izzy. We figured it out by interrogating number one. We managed to capture him for a short while, but he escaped."
Nico shook his head.
"That slippery bastard is like a cockroach clinging to life. He should be our top priority next."
I nodded in agreement. Number one has been a problem ever since he saved the ass of my duplicate.
"How do we get up there, anyway?"
I said, pointing upwards. Isabella also seemed to have had the same question, looking at them both expectedly.
Zeke slumped his shoulders in defeat.
"That…..we don't know. We will have to figure it out."
I sighed. I should of known it wouldn't be that easy, especially considering the fact that nothing has ever been so easy inside the Dreadful Tunnels so far. It's been problems after problems.
Nico studied my face for a few minutes, before he cleared his throat and said.
"Did you figure out anything useful about number three?"
I turned towards him, furrowing my eyebrows in contemplation, before nodding my head.
"Yes, number three fights like an assassin and can use illusions. But they are imperfect in some ways, like if you touch the illusions, the senses will be delayed by half a second, or they will sometimes have no weight at all."
Isabella nodded her head, continuing where I left off.
"She seems proficient in fighting in the dark. We were almost killed several times, but after using a wind explosion, we managed to create this hole. Hell, she might even be dead. Im not sure yet."
Nico furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought, as he rubbed his chin, while nodding his head along to our explanations. They seem to add up with what he had suspected already. Zeke, meanwhile, stood silent and looked around the destruction, whistling slightly.
"Didn't know you could be so destructive, Isabella."
She looked at him and laughed lightly.
"I have alot of secrets, you know. But it has left me a little low on innate spirit. Im gonna need some time to recover."
Nico gave her a brief nod, as he said.
"We should have time. After everything that had happend, they likely wouldn't try another ambush again. They have lost too many forces— plus, only number three and number five can really fight, while number one is more of a utility guy. Plus, we know how to escape his pocket dimension— by commiting suicide. It's worthless trying to attack us now."
Zeke nodded in agreement.
"They will likely try to fight alongside Lord Tanmi in hopes of defeating us now. So, either this Lord Tanmi is gonna come to us, or they wait for us to go for them."
I smiled ever so slightly.
"So, things are now reaching the final phase…."