Chapter 62: Very Lucky Hero
’Something’s definitely not right here.’
Azaria had this thought as she analyzed the structure that had confined Zorat and Erica.
She bent low, running her hands over the cold ground where she had felt a strong mana reading from earlier, a location she had assumed would be the source powering the golden barrier that had sealed off both the hero of ’item box’ and ’bow hero’.
But suddenly, there was total silence. The mana reading she felt emanating from the ground seemed to have disappeared completely, like nothing had been there to begin with.
Azaria wondered if it was her imagination; after all, she hadn’t had a real rest since they entered the dungeon. But what else could have been powering the golden barrier then?
It reminded her strangely of what had happened on the first floor; even as she tried her hardest to perceive any flow of mana, or more unlikely demonic energy, she felt nothing, no trace, no patterns; yet, the teleportation happened, and the two heroes they had just rescued on the one hundredth floor were the proof.
’Actually, rescued wouldn’t be quite the right words to use,’ Azarisa muttered in her mind as she observed the two heroes they had gone through so much to save.
They both looked like they had been on vacation for the last six days, and maybe even looked better than they did when they had first disappeared, while the rest of them currently looked like homeless commoners.
She felt it was quite suspicious, and none was more suspicious than the hero of item box.
Something just doesn’t add up about him. And the fact that he was at the center of this whole event told her things might not be as simple as they seem.
Azaria always trusted her guts, and her guts were telling her to look more into things.
"Bow hero. Mind explaining to us what happened ?" Azara uttered aloud in her usual strict tone while she stood back up.
Erica, who was with Broddy, turned to look in Zorat’s direction; seeing him nod at her with a soft smile, she took that as a go-ahead to explain things from her perspective.
The other heroes paid rapt attention since they were all eager to know how these two ended up in such a situation.
"Nothing much, really, knight commander...."
"... Caleb and I saw some markings on the floor on the first floor, and as we went to inspect them, a purple portal opened up below us and dropped us here. And we’ve been stuck here ever since," she replied to the best of her understanding.
Zorat simply smiled and nodded in correlation, indicating that he also had the same experience as her.
He had seen Azaria inspecting the site where he buried Argon’s dome and the red mana stone, but she was too late because he had used his earth manipulation and space skill to move both artifacts through the ground and into his storage space the moment the dome was broken.
Zorat enjoyed watching the knight commander scramble for any traces that could explain all that she had seen, and wasn’t particularly concerned that she found him suspicious.
"Some markings on the ground ...."
"Is that so. Then I guess there’s not much else to look into, then..."
"Though something like this has never happened before, there is always the first for everything, and you two just happened to have been caught up in it." Azaria muttered in a strict but understanding tone.
"We shall begin our return journey back to the top. Only problem is..." she paused.
"We have run out of sustenance. Though I have already sent out a message for reinforcement. It will take them a while to get here," she said as she turned to the rest of the heroes.
"Granted, with your current Adept-level strengths, you all could now probably survive a day or two more, which would be required for us to make the return journey since most of the monsters wouldn’t have respawned yet, however..." she sighed as she turned to Erica and Caleb.
"You too are just still low-level individuals.... though, looking at how well you guys appear...." she said, eyeing Erica’s almost pristine appearance.
"Tell me, hero of item box...." she turned to Zorat.
"You didn’t happen to have an excess reserve of food on you per chance during the accident that brought you guys down here now, did you?...."
"Because if you did... that would have been quite the luck you have," Azaria uttered meaningfully, looking at Zorat with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
"Indeed, we were very lucky, knight commander. I even have some supplies remaining in my item box." Zorat responded, smiling.
"Is that so ?. How lucky indeed." Azaria muttered as she turned around and started walking to the edge of the cave wall.
"Since it seems you guys still have enough supplies for the journey, that simplifies things. If there is enough, do share with the other heroes...."
"..I will be taking an hour to recoup my strength, then we can all start our return journey back to the surface," She said, as she sat down cross-legged to begin her rest.
The other heroes who were so out of it didn’t even notice or simply didn’t give a hoot about the passive-aggressive and accusatory nature of Azaria’s statements, but someone did notice.
Zorat watched as all the heroes sat back slowly and began to rest, so, as expected of him, he brought out some of the remaining food supply and shared it amongst the heroes, giving each of them renewed strength and a filled belly.
Zorat reached the knight commander, who currently had her eyes closed in rest, and placing a piece of bread and a bag of water on the floor next to her, he turned to leave, but was interrupted when the knight commander’s eyes suddenly snapped open, and she muttered in almost a whisper.
"For your sake..."
"Do hope your luck persists," she said with a grin.
Zorat turned his head slowly to her. "And why would I need to remain lucky, dear knight commander?" Zorat followed up with a grin of his own.
"Just because," she added coolly before closing her eyes again.
Zorat turned back as his grin contorted into a wide, unnerving smile
Hehehe.
How exciting.