Chimera Tunnels (1)

-Rumble-Rumble

Little tremors began vibrating across the charred earth of the waystation.

First, it was a little shake that briefly made a person stumble and made the flames burning the ground waver.

Then, the vibrations increased as the earth beneath a particular spot began bubbling and shifting beneath the flames.

As if the earth beneath it were about to erupt.

And finally…

Grrrr-grrrr-grrrrr-grrrrrble

A sinkhole formed, rapidly spreading outward as it caved in the charred ground before spreading into the paved road and sidewalk of the city.

It continued to spread along the waystation border, destroying the burning ground, the road, and collapsing buildings before finally stopping.

Grrrr-grrrr-grrrrr-grrrrrble

Then the rumbling began again, and the hole continued to deepen and spread at the will of one person.

And when the earth finally settled…

The damage was a half-mile stretch of city roads and buildings dragged into the large sinkhole that separated the waystation land from city buildings.

Cars and other small vehicles were dragged into the cracked ground, and pieces of concrete and metal signs and poles fell like dominoes, cracking cement and smashing windows.

The only blessing was that people had evacuated because of the raging flames, which had been spread recklessly.

Deep inside that sinkhole, a red sludge-like liquid seeped from several enormous metallic pipes into a stagnant pool of the same sludge. Emanating faintly from the pipes was a familiar white fog.

The fog was pushing forward, spreading slowly past the pipes and pushing through the earth while the stagnant pool of red sludge occasionally bubbled and rose as it encroached onto the land of the waystation, eating away at the earth and staining it red as it filled the gaps in the soil.

Cyril, finally sensing the thing below was exposed to open air, lay on the ground with a satisfied sigh even as his body was continually wracked with chills and pain once more.

"Done?"

"Mm. Let's check it once the flames die down. And you can tell that angry wolf that I was right, there was something below, and it owes me mo- Hey, hey- Be gentle; this face is precious!"

"I doubt that."

Easily dodging the weak kick that came flying at his head, Alexei continued his rough motions, harshly scrubbing the blood on Cyril's face while deep in thought.

No matter how he looked at it, Cyril's body was too weak, which was odd. He was always very healthy, and, apart from his sleep sensitivity, he never really got ill.

Ever since this black band appeared, Alexei has felt a reduced need for sleep and more energy. His body was faster and stronger without his prowess skill, and even when he strained himself using his ability, it had never reached the point of physically impacting himself enough for a nosebleed or a fever to happen.

Even if Cyril overused his ability that wasn't made for combat, did it make sense to be constantly bleeding from the nose? Or to be getting sick and running a fever?

Was this brat hiding something or was it this stupid job he was tied to?

Staring at the bloodshot blue eyes glaring at him in irritation, Alexei chopped the pale forehead while swallowing what he really wanted to say.

"What the hell was that for?"

"Roasting marshmallows while monsters are about? Next time, I'll just throw you at them so they can remove a body part or two. It will lighten the load when I have to lug you around"

"Go for it. I'm not the one who will cry once I die while cursing your name with my last breath."

CHOP!

"You bast-!"

CHOP!

Swipt.

Stick.

Another swift chop struck Cyril's forehead, and before he could retaliate, a cooling patch peeled and stuck on his head.

" I'll go check out your gardening project, and I'll make sure everyone eats and behaves so go and rest. Your head is burning, you're shaking like you have Parkinson's disease, and your face is uglier than usual."

"I hope your hair burns off and you become bald."

Alexei: ಠ_ಠ

"So you've chosen to die?"

Before the black chains could come flying at him, Cyril opened a door beneath him and fell on the couch in the room where the sanctuary spark lay, surrounded by Fen's bulk.

Seeing the black wolf glaring at him with yellow eyes and beginning to growl, Cyril flipped it off before gesturing tiredly as he collapsed.

"Come here."

The wooden ball containing the sanctuary spark floated to rest on his chest before opening up and exposing the dim, iridescent feather. Although the light coming from it was much fainter than usual, the size had increased a bit, and the luster was returning.

Scratching at it gently as if it were a dog, Cyril spoke to it.

"Little Oasis, how are you?"

Little Oasis: 🪫

It was a sensation of completely low energy, and Cyril couldn't help but laugh because he felt completely the same way.

It was a completely miserable feeling.

"I think I found the cause, so hopefully, I can take care of it once the flames die down and things go back to normal. So hang in there, okay?"

Little Oasis: ( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ

It was a sensation of it toughing it out.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

Little Oasis: 💵₊˚⊹💲🫲✧～(ゝᴗ ∂ )♡💲 ⊹˚₊💵

"I don't have any more coins, And I can't transfer it to you when selling plants, hmmmm."

"Little Oasis: 💵🔥🌍🔥💵

It wanted to absorb the crystals on the land while the fires were still burning.

Although Cyril was tempted, he shook his head.

If it was Alexei alone, he would have taken it all cleanly with no regrets, but when others were involved, it became messy.

"No, let's not be excessively greedy. The people who stayed and fought didn't have to, but they stuck around when others left."

Little Oasis: ( -᷅ ⤙ -᷄ )=3

"Even if you sulk, there's nothing I can do about it. Let's wait for Alexei to get rich again, then rob him."

After dissuading the sanctuary spark, Cyril continued lying down while waiting for the flames outside to die down and for the ground to cool off.

Remembering the damage that the different fire and wind abilities combined had created, Cyril absentmindedly began browsing through the Employee store to see how much a skill like that would be.

Wind Blade Lv 1: 100000 Employee Store Point

Attack by sending blades of wind in any direction. It can be combined with other wind blades or wind-based attacks.

Fire Blast: 100000 Employee Store Point

Attack by sending blasts of fire in any direction. It can be combined with other fire blasts or fire-based attacks.

That…made no sense.

Those skills shouldn't be more expensive than the landscaping skill (10000), which could be used very flexibly.

On a whim, he searched for an ability that he thought of while messing around with the landscaping skill:

Earth Spike Lv 1: 500000 Employee Store Point

Attack by repeatedly hardening the earth surrounding you and launching it as a projectile or a platform. It can be combined with other earth-based attacks.

His conclusion was that it was very expensive with a limited scope when compared to the landscaping skill.

Suspecting a trend, he looked around for a harmless skill to compare.

Cooking Fire: 10000 Employee Store Point

Create and control a flame to cook the most delicious meals, from baking bread, the food of life, to grilling meat, the essence of strength.

The name sounded stupid and mundane, but with some creative thinking, wouldn't this work as an offensive ability?

If you were brave enough, everything became a meal to cook and eat. All humans and animals were sausages, and plants were deconstructed bread, right?

If he considered all his enemies a pizza, would the cook fire ability turn the air into a pizza oven?

He would have to test it out when he got more coins.

For now, Cyril spent his time rolling around in pain, going through the employee store, and watching out of the window as five people argued how to split the crystals he could see gleaming all over the ground.

And finally, when enough time had passed for the charred ground to cool off and the flames to die, he opened a personal Door to the edge of the waystation.

Crunch-

As he stepped on the blackened ground, Cyrill carefully peeked over the crater he had created and saw the red sludge slowly filling the crack as it spread out.

It looked and smelled like a sewer, the stench causing him to frown. Occasionally, a large bubble surged up before popping, releasing a noxious fume of gas and trash, and other unidentified objects floated on the sludge.

Shining a flashlight both ways, Cyril flipped a coin in his mind and began walking in one direction.

"Be careful near the edge. I'm going to check the inside." Alexei's voice called out as he used a chain to pull himself into the large sewer opening covered in fog before entering it.

"Got it. Be careful." After lightly responding and backing away, Cyril continued to walk along the edge of the sinkhole he made, shining his flashlight around repeatedly.

It was eerily quiet.

The only sound was his crunching footsteps and the faint gurgling he could hear from the red liquid and the smoke.

Even the expected human noise from the dark city streets wasn't there, the fires having chased everybody away.

As Cyril continued moving his flashlight around, it seemed to reflect against something in the red liquid.

Crunch-

Stepping a bit closer so he could see what it was…

Crak-crak-crak-

The ground beneath his foot suddenly collapsed, sending him sliding downwards.

As he tried to open a Door to take him back to the Waystation-

Nothing happened.

He was over the waystation boundary.

"Lex-"

His body silently sank into the red sludge, immediately sinking him past his head.

Glurp-glurp-glurp-

Almost reflexively, he gasped as his entire body began stinging with a familiar sensation.

It felt like ants were biting every single pore of his, crawling up his nose and into his eyes and ears.

Years of swimming forced Cyril to close his eyes and exhale, trying to force the thick liquid out of his nose but instead, it seemed to get stuck, putting pressure on his lungs.

He began trying to swim upwards through the thick liquid.

But the more he struggled, the faster his body sank.

Briefly flashing his eyes open and shut, he noticed that the area around him seemed darker than the beginning.

He was sinking deeper.

Fast.

His lungs began burning as he wanted to take a deep breath, and his body craved rest and relief as the stinging liquid continued to bite at him like ants.

As he continued forcing his stinging body to move and not give up, his eyes opening and closing every couple of seconds, he spotted a familiar glowing light.

[Dungeon: Chimera Tunnels]

[Level 2]

[Time before break: 98: 46: 34]

Not questioning why the same dungeon he had seen a couple of days ago would be here, Cyril forced the last bit of energy into his limps, basically crawling through the thick sludge toward the light that felt like his last hope.

His mouth began opening as his lungs tried to exhale, the pressure in his head felt immense, but finally, with a burst of unknown strength-

He entered the glowing portal.