Chapter 107
“Hey, what are you—huh?”
Just as Karin, who was sitting in front, felt something strange and turned to check Carlton, something caught her attention.
She quickly checked inside her clothes at the light seeping through his robe.
The crystal orb nestled inside his robe was glowing brightly.
“Why is—?”
The crystal orb, made to locate Vane, was reacting for the first time.
A cold voice echoed over Karin’s panicked head.
“Vane has appeared.”
Karin and Carlton both turned to look at Lebron.
And at that moment—
Bang!
An enormous explosion thundered around them.
Black smoke billowed from the epicenter, filling their vision with darkness.
“Vero! Hurry!”
“Krek—!”
Vero’s heartbeat quickened as he increased speed.
Carlton’s eyes trembled with unease at the sensation.
“Belia—!”
His desperate cry was swallowed by the chaos surrounding Lebron.
Where am I?
Belia opened her drowsy eyes.
Her mind kept going blank.
Her body felt like it was floating, and she couldn’t fully open her eyes.
She had no idea what had just happened, or why she was like this.
Her vision was all black; she couldn’t tell if she was truly seeing or still with eyes closed.
Could she be dead?
Just as panic started to set in, a figure suddenly appeared in the darkness, moving as if being swept along by a whirlwind.
A man walked steadily, wearing a robe marked with a symbol representing God.
He appeared to be a priest, carrying a book, walking forward endlessly.
Was that book a Bible?
Belia followed the mysterious man through her blurry vision.
How long she had trailed him in her daze, she couldn’t tell, but eventually, the man stopped.
“God is great.”
A beautiful, familiar masculine voice.
Thud.
The man closed the book.
“But is He really?”
His voice now carried a note of anger.
Soon, children appeared before him.
The man silently gazed at the neglected children.
The children huddled in the darkness, not daring to look at him.
“God is a hypocrite. Nothing is great.”
With that brief statement, the man vanished.
Belia, feeling as though something was just on the edge of memory, stared back into the darkness.
Not long after, the priest appeared again.
This time, unlike before, he seemed frantic.
Something was cradled in his arms as he ran.
What could that be?
Belia squinted to see the object in the man’s arms.
Gleam—
As the object briefly reflected light, the man turned around.
His robe fell, revealing dazzling blonde hair and a strikingly beautiful woman, who looked extremely urgent.
Vane?
“Kyah—!!”
At that moment, the woman’s piercing scream struck Belia’s mind.
“Get up!! He’s here!! This is the first time—!”
“Hah—!!”
Belia gasped and lifted herself up.
Everything she touched felt coarse, her whole body ached, and above all, it was hard to breathe.
“Gah, ugh—!”
She vomited a thick, black substance stuck in her throat onto the floor.
The pitch-dark surroundings and thick dust around her quickly brought back her memory of recent events.
A dream—what she had just seen must have been a dream.
Before she could dwell on it, she recalled the moment just before she lost consciousness.
“Ru, Rud!”
Belia hurriedly scanned her surroundings.
He wasn’t there.
“Miss! Get out of the way!!”
Before she could even react to the sudden explosion, the ground shook violently, and the floor collapsed under its force.
“Huh?”
Startled by the sensation of falling, Rud also threw himself down as the earth beneath them gave way.
“Miss!!”
The last thing she saw in his arms was everything around them plunging into the depths.
It seemed the explosion had caused all the surrounding ground to collapse.
“Rud!”
Ruu-Rud—
Her frightened voice echoed through the cave, but no response returned.
Surely he was nearby, since she had been in his arms, yet there was no sign of him.
“Rud!!”
She called again into the darkness, but there was no answer.
All she could hear was the uneven beating of her own heart.
Belia took a deep breath, calming herself despite the panic.
It was hard to stay composed, but she had to. Something very serious had clearly happened.
With an explosion like this, people would be moving around even near Lebron.
Even the border knights might respond.
It was impossible for her to escape this underground or unknown cavern alone.
Suddenly, she remembered a similar situation from the past.
“Carlton.”
Uttering his name like a spell calmed her mind.
Karin and Carlton, who were on their way here, must have seen the explosion and would come to rescue her.
So there was no way she would die here—or end what might be her last life in a place like this.
Huff—
Belia took a deep breath and blinked a few times.
Now that her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, she could barely make out the wreckage around her.
Items from the barracks, objects from outside, dirt, and rocks were all mixed together underground.
She couldn’t tell where the ceiling was, but light seemed to filter in through the piled debris.
Belia grabbed a nearby chair and tried to lift herself up.
Crack—.
“Ah!”
The chair broke beneath her, and she collapsed to the floor, fully aware of her weakened body.
“Ugh—.”
Her back and legs ached painfully, but her ankles hurt the most.
“Ah!”
She twisted her ankle slightly and let out a scream of agony.
She couldn’t walk properly.
But she couldn’t just lie there, so Belia struggled to stand.
She took the longest wooden piece from the broken chair as a crutch and took a step forward.
Standing still for a moment, she felt a faint breeze from somewhere.
Belia reached out to the wall for guidance.
She needed to find Rud.
Slowly, she limped forward.
Moving through pitch darkness with her weakened body was not easy.
And honestly, she was scared something might jump out at her.
Suppressing the creeping fear, she tried to think clearly.
Why had the explosion happened?
Did something like this usually occur in Lebron?
She had never heard of it in her past life, but perhaps in Lebron, such explosions were quietly overlooked.
Could it be related to the saint? But the timing didn’t match.
“Or is it a conflict within Lebron?”
Her rough, dust-filled whisper echoed faintly.
It was a plausible explanation.
At that moment—squelch.
Belia stepped back.
She traced the wall and slowly touched the ground.
“Ah!”
She sank to the floor, gasping.
She couldn’t see, but she knew.
The figure that had been alive moments ago was now a corpse.
Belia steadied her trembling breath, touched the wall, and rose again.
There had been many people around the barracks, so this was entirely possible.
Nothing to be surprised about.
Belia shook her head to avoid complicated thoughts.
Now was not the time to think—she had to keep moving forward.
She repeated this mantra to herself and continued walking.
The path sometimes widened, sometimes narrowed into small tunnels.
Moving slowly, she had no sense of how far she had gone or how much time had passed.
Hah—. Huh.
Belia’s breath grew heavy from exhaustion.
“Ugh—.”
Following a moan nearby, she quickly turned her head.
“Rud? Rud?”
She groped her way toward the source of the sound.
Something squishy underfoot, and then a faint whimper nearby.
“Rud!”
“Ugh—.”
Belia sank to the floor and realized it wasn’t Rud.
Still, she felt relief at seeing someone.
Meeting a person in the dark for the first time, Belia groped the injured body.
“Are you conscious?”
“Ugh! Ah—you—!”
The voice triggered a faint memory before she even asked who it was.
“I’m Danny, from Frey.”
The man who had brought Rud and herself here.
“Danny?!”
“Ah—.”
“Hey! Are you okay?”
Belia quickly scanned her surroundings and noticed a slightly brighter area nearby.
If she moved there, she could check his injuries.
“Can you get up?”
“Ugh—!”
His breathing grew more labored, indicating serious injuries.
