Chapter 322:The underground spring.
The cavern wasn’t particularly enormous compared to some of the chambers he’d encountered earlier, but it was large enough that several sections extended beyond the most comfortable range of his senses.
Silver didn’t immediately enter, remaining near the tunnel mouth as he listened. He could here the sound of bubbling water but nothing else.
He deactivated Spatial Sense.
He moved forward until the tunnel ended. Silver stepped into the cavern. His eyes immediately searched for the river he’d been hoping to find, then stopped.
"Oh, come on."
There was water, a lot of it, actually; unfortunately, it wasn’t going anywhere.
A natural pool occupied a large portion of the cavern, surrounded by uneven stone formations and several patches of pale underground vegetation.
Clear water filled the basin, and somewhere near its center, bubbles periodically rose to the surface before disappearing.
Silver stared blankly at at the spring and walked closer.
"Of course."
A cluster of bubbles broke the surface. Silver stared at them.
"I spend hours following water, and you lead me to a bathtub."
The spring didn’t apologize not like he expected one.
He heavily sighed. He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t disappointed.
For the last stretch of the journey, he’d been imagining a river cutting through the mountain, something he could follow until it eventually reached the surface. He hadn’t expected to simply walk outside within minutes, but at least a flowing water source would have given him direction.
This gave him water so it was extremely useful but not an exit.
Silver approached carefully. The disappointment didn’t make him careless, if anything, the sight of the pool made him more suspicious.
Underground water sources attracted animals, animals attracted predators, and this was still Death Row Valley.
He stopped several meters away.
[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated.]
His awareness expanded across the cavern. Silver searched the walls, the ceiling, the tunnel behind him and then the pool but everything was clear on surface level.
His expression became more focused. Spatial Sense spread through the water. The basin was much deeper than it appeared, especially near the center.
He searched for movement,but found nothing obvious. He expanded farther, still nothing.
He maintained the skill for several more seconds until his head began aching slightly before deactivating it.
"Looks safe."
He didn’t immediately believe that. Silver picked up a loose piece of stone and tossed it into the water.
Splash.
Ripples spread across the surface. He raised his handgun but nothing happened. He waited for almost a minute but nothing emerged.
He picked up another rock.
This one he threw farther toward the center. There was a larger splash but the results were still the same.
"Either you’re empty or whatever lives in there has impressive patience."
He crouched near the edge. The water was surprisingly clear. Silver could see the stone beneath the shallow section closest to him.
He reached down and touched it. It was cool enough to feel refreshing against his fingers. He brought some closer to his nose; no unusual smell.
He wasn’t stupid enough to drink it without treatment, especially when he already had purified water from the system, but the spring itself appeared clean.
Silver stood.
He looked down at himself, then immediately regretted doing so.
"God."
His clothes had somehow become worse during the journey.
Dried blood covered much of his shirt and trousers, mixed with dirt, dust, sweat, and whatever he’d crawled through while opening the tunnel from the lower cavern. Several tears exposed sections of skin, and the smell wasn’t something Silver wanted to think about.
He lifted one arm and sniffed. His expression immediately changed.
"No."
That decided it.
Silver glanced toward the spring, then toward the tunnel, then back toward the spring. He had clean clothes waiting in his storage, and water.
His body desperately needed to be cleaned. More importantly, he had absolutely no idea when he would find another safe water source.
He walked around the edge of the pool first. He wasn’t taking chances.
The cavern had only one obvious entrance that he could see, although several narrow cracks ran through the surrounding walls. None looked large enough for the queen, and most weren’t large enough for anything much bigger than the small cave creature he’d encountered earlier.
Silver checked them anyway.
[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated]
He marked the tunnel he’d entered from, then he found a relatively flat section of stone beside the spring. His sword came off first. Silver placed it within arm’s reach.
Then the handgun. He hesitated, looking between the water and the gun. He moved it closer.
"Paranoid." He thought about the queen. "I’m still alive."
Silver removed what remained of his clothing. The damage beneath it was considerably easier to see now. Bruises covered his ribs and abdomen.
There were long marks across his side where the queen’s attack had torn through him, although the system’s emergency recovery had already closed most of the wounds. His left shoulder was badly discolored, and several smaller injuries covered his legs.
He touched the worst scar forming along his side. He remembered the impact from falling.
He shook his head.
"Could’ve been worse."
He looked toward the water, then stepped in. Cold immediately climbed around his ankle.
Silver stopped.
"That’s colder than I thought."
He continued, still, until the water reached chest level. He inhaled sharply as the cold fully hit him. For several seconds, he simply stood there, then his body gradually adjusted.
He moved toward a shallower section near the edge where he could comfortably sit while keeping his weapons in sight.
The moment Silver lowered himself into the water, tension he hadn’t realized he was carrying began leaving his shoulders.
He exhaled, a long breath.
"That’s..." he leaned his head back against the stone. "...actually good."
Silver sat quietly.
For the first time since the expedition entered Death Row Valley, he wasn’t running, fighting, searching, arguing, or trying to keep someone alive. He was simply sitting in water and enjoying something relaxing despite the danger he was in.
The silence was almost uncomfortable. Silver’s eyes moved toward the handgun again and them to his sword before settling on the empty tunnel.
He relaxed slightly. He doubted he’d completely relax until he was outside the valley.
Silver began washing. The first time he scrubbed dried blood from his side, the water around him briefly turned pink.
He grimaced.
"That’s disgusting."
He washed his hair, his face, and his arms. Then carefully cleaned around the injuries that hadn’t completely healed. Some hurt when touched while others had already become little more than tender scars.
The system had done an absurd amount of work while he was unconscious.
He understood that without it, he wouldn’t be sitting here. He’d probably be somewhere inside the queen’s digestive system by now.
He paused.
"That’s not an image I needed."
Silver continued washing. He didn’t rush since there wasn’t any reason to. He needed to decide what he was doing next anyway, and this was the safest place he’d found since waking.
His thoughts inevitably returned to Ravenna. He lowered his hands, water rippling around him. He wondered where she was. IfAntony had followed his instructions, they should have reached the observation center.
After that...
He frowned.
What would Ravenna do?
The obvious answer was refuse to leave.
Silver smiled faintly.
"Please don’t get arrested."
The smile disappeared almost immediately as something else came in in. She would blame herself and that bothered him.
Ravenna had refused to leave because she didn’t want to abandon him but Silver had forced the decision. When Ravenna woke and discovered he wasn’t with them...
Silver closed his eyes.
He didn’t want to imagine that part. She’d think he sacrificed himself, which, admittedly, wasn’t entirely inaccurate but Silver hadn’t planned on dying.
He had simply needed enough time to get them out but ghe falling-through-the-floor part hadn’t been included.
He opened his eyes.
"She’s going to be furious."