Chapter 255: Groping Around in the Dark
The fact that Jonas had become incapacitated without getting injured was baffling to Elmo. When he'd checked Jonas' stats, the only thing that stood out to him was the fact that after his 'Shadow Sight' ability was the word 'overextended.' What that meant, Elmo couldn't be sure, but he had a feeling that it related to how Jonas was currently.
Whether it was related to how Elin would get when he to use up her MP past her available MP, or how he had been when he'd gone over his maximum MP, HP, and stamina, he couldn't really say. He suspected it was the case, though at the same time couldn't be sure if there was any way for them to find out.
If Jonas was going to ask his tutorial, Elmo suspected that he'd need to first recover a little. Otherwise he didn't see Jonas being in any state to ask, let alone understand any response he might get about it. Especially since Jonas didn't seem capable of even continuing on moving through the cave on their search for an exit.
However, as Elmo did his best to carry Jonas, he could tell that he was really wearing himself out as he couldn't lift Jonas very far, nor was he able to do that as quickly as he'd like, but he could feel himself getting close to running out of his stamina. He wasn't surprised that it was occurring, but it didn't help their situation out.
When they entered an open area in the cave, Elmo nearly didn't notice it. Primarily because he was in the middle of moving Jonas again. He estimated he was able to move Jonas five feet before he had to set him down. Then as he tried to lean against where the cave wall was, he suddenly found that it wasn't there.
Unfortunately for Elmo, he didn't realize that until he fell over. When he did, he paused for a moment as he climbed to his feet. He wanted to ask Jonas if there was anything that Jonas was aware of, but eventually dismissed the idea. Jonas didn't seem like he was capable of taking care of himself at the moment, so Elmo didn't think it would be likely that he'd be able to actually let Elmo know what this chamber was like.
So, Elmo started to feel his way around, wishing he'd thought of bringing some of the luminescent moss that had been growing around the chamber where the stellar bear was sleeping. When he'd left the chamber, he was still reeling from the size of the bear, as well as what he'd learned from checking its stats. Even now, he still felt rather uneasy even thinking about the bear.
Regardless of the fact that he wasn't able to see, he wasn't going to let that stop him from finding out what he could about this place. He wasn't going to just stop simply because he was on his own and out of his element. If he did, then he knew that he might as well kill himself now and spare himself the pain of the slow death that would be waiting for him while he waited and did absolutely nothing.
He had once tried using the window that appeared when he checked his stats to see if he could use the light that the window seemed to provide. Yet, whether it was a gimmick that was for the aesthetic value of the window or was because it was only in his mind, which would explain why only he could see it and the others were the only ones who could see the window on their own stats, the light wouldn't illuminate anything of his surroundings. Which meant it wasn't something he could work with on this endeavor.
As Elmo explored the chamber with his hands, he felt surprised to learn that there was a depression that went down several feet. Inside it, the stone had puddles that were a foot or two deep, but otherwise didn't have any water. Elmo wasn't sure what to make of this, but he had a feeling that this might have been another place that the water from the river had flowed.
The fact that it was dry now made Elmo wonder if something had happened to stop the water from flowing this way. Such as maybe a cave-in somewhere else. Which would also explain why the water level had started rising in the chamber that he and Jonas had first been in.
Sighing, Elmo continued his search, wondering if they had merely reached another dead end, or if they should travel down where the water used to be and hope that whatever had stopped the water would clear and send the water down this way again.