The Predator's Burrow (Ryuu)

(At that time, Somewhere far on the Island)

I found the lake at the end of the waterfall and was thinking about what I should do accordingly.

It was quite high, and jumping from such a height could damage my bones or skin. So it was me either jumping on the lake, or finding some other way to get down. But since it was too late for me to discover another way and help others just in time, I couldn't help but choose my first option. I still prepared myself to jump into the lake.

And in order to gather the necessary speed and jump, I walked a little farther and started preparing myself.

Before I jumped, I took off my clothes and tied my clothes around my waist. It was to prevent the clothing from weighing down and dragging me deeper after I fell. Because when the clothes on me got wet, it was heavier than I expected, and that used to pull my chest down whenever I did back then. And after I prepared myself, I started to focus on the only thing that I had to do.

I had to be careful about was around the lake and I didn't know what was waiting for me down there. So I had to be both quick and focused on what might occur.

So, I took a deep breath, stretched my legs, and started running a few meters away.

My legs were tired from running for too long, but I concentrated on a certain pace and continued to move as if I didn't feel the pain. I stepped on the place with my legs strongly, right from the end of the cliff, and jumped into the lake in a fish like way.

There was a noise in my ears as I jumped, like it was a big ringing sound. It was just like a sound caused by the collision of two swords. But before I realized what it was, the water hit my body. And when I dived into the lake, I couldn't see anything for the first seconds.

Then I saw that I was surrounded by electric eels.

My landing was not noisy or something big, but that ringing sound from outside caused a ripple in the lake. It was not long before the electric eels, upon a remarkable surge, noticed me. And now dozens of them were coming towards me.

I wasn't very good at swimming, so it would be inevitable that they would catch me until I looked for an exit. I thought about the idea for a short time and looking around, I saw a cave through the sea, behind the waterfall. I headed straight there, but as I thought, the fish caught up with me, and one of them was about to bite me.

So I swung my arms and swam to left at the last moment.

It was a very close call actually.

But the others came up behind me and wrapped their arms around me like chains. I had an electric eel on both my arms and it was quite uncomfortable. Despite their slippery structure and the fact that I could hear no sound, the slow crawling movements made me both nervous and disgusted.

I even tried to swim upstream, but they electrocuted me right after I did it. And then a few more came, this time hugging my legs.

In order for me to escape, I had to grasp the tightly stretched bodies of all of them, but in my current motionless state, it was difficult. It was as if they were dragging me somewhere, preventing me from going where I wanted to go.

I was deep in water, but I felt like I was going deeper.

Feeling out of breath.

Breathless.

And when they hugged me tight, they started pulling me to the bottom of the sea. I was getting angry, trying to go left and right, unless I could move. I was just moving my body in every way possible, just to get away from them.

It was useless.

But at that moment, I had an anger source inside me. That I didn't understand.

A wave of anger seemed to be growing inside, making me scramble and get angrier and do it again. So on, I realized I couldn't control myself. I just shook myself strongly and waved my arms around, just as I tried to scream underwater.

And once I opened my eyes and closed them. The electric eels, they let me go. The strong gripping feeling they put me on, was quickly vanishing away and I saw that they were no longer there. They were getting away from me before I knew what was happening.

*Did I scare them?* I thought to myself.

*Maybe it has to do something with the power that Ronk told me.*

So forth, my breath was getting less and less, so I swam quickly towards the cave before I had time to think about it. I was coughing when I got out of the water and it took me a while to get my breath back. I managed to get to the back of the waterfall. But it was cold all over, and the places were slippery because of the waterfall.

I couldn't see anything. I was wandering around the dark parts of the island for long, so I found myself in places that didn't hit sunlight.

But that continued until, after a short walk, I found a torch.

I was glad that I finally found something that would make it easier for me to see in front of me. So lighting the torch, I kept moving forward. But as I went along, I was feeling something quite strong and dangerous. Some kind of feeling that makes you freeze.

A feeling that shakes you with mystery and need to run away.

I couldn't figure out where the source came from, but it was getting stronger. It had a feeling like a strong creature, like the Bearos I had encountered before. And since the moment I fought the first Epic, I have never felt anything so powerful and demonic.

There didn't seem to be any traps or anything around. But the road of darkness I walked, ended in the light in front of me.

Dropping the torch on the floor, I walked to the light, and I found myself in a huge treasure room. The whole place was filled with gold, emeralds, and spoils of war. Although the entire room I was in was not bright, it could be seen that it was quite large. There were huge columns around the room and in the corners, and seemed to be holding this place up pretty firmly against collapse.

As I went along, I came across swords, armor, and many other things. It was pretty sure to be a captain's or a dangerous crew's ship, since it was messed all around and didn't stay in one piece. All of the wooden floors were crushed halfway and barrels were lying on the floor broken, the drinks in it completely dried off.

It was a ship that, to my guess, was a hundred or a couple more years old ship.

But to my shock, not only did I find skeletons lying on the floor with the clothes they died, I saw that they were lying beside the body of the person I was searching for.

It was Mila. Princess Mila herself.

She was on her knees. Her arms were tied in chains and was standing on her knees with her head down, leaning against the wall. I know it was an isolated place that was captured by our enemies but without even thinking for a moment about whether it was a trap or not, I decided it would be best to save her right at that moment.

She was also unconscious, and her eyes were closed. However, it still didn't look like she had received a vital wound and the only noticeable thing was the bruises on her body.

But how she was in a cave-like this, and why? Who hurt her and made her come here and get her tied with these chains?

It was all that needed to be expalined.

When I finally got close to her, I shook her and started talking to her,

"Princess Mila! Princess Mila! Are you all right?

The princess slowly opened her eyes, and looked at me in a confused way, as if she had seen a person after a very long time,

"Ryuu... Is this really you ?... But...How did you find me?"

"Don't worry about it, for now, we have to get you out of here and get back to your father as soon as possible!"

I was in so much hurry, I didn't realize what I was doing. I just tried to find a way to break the chain or find a weak spot where I can pull her hands out. And kept talking to her about we are going to get out of there.

But she didn't reply to my words, she just mumbled something,

"My father?"

"Yes. He came with a whole army to get you back. He had put himself in a much bigger job than you think. But he's only done it for you, and we can't let you go like this."

She then finally came to her senses and talked louder,

"My father... My Father! Ryuu! What is he doing with the whole army! What happened to him?"

"You can't worry about that now! We are getting out of here and I will do the explanation later! So please trust me now!"

I got up and loaded myself firmly into my hands to break the chains. But no matter how hard I hit them, they weren't breaking. I was only making them shake or move right to left. But no sign of breaking.

I was going to hit it harder this time, but I heard Mila scream loudly out of nowhere,

"Ryuu, watch out!"

I had no choice but to run away, or I couldn't afford to take any damage right now. So I crouched down as much as I could, trusting my senses. Fortunately for me, Princess Mila had warned me at the right time, a long sword had come up from behind me and was firmly stuck in the wall.

I felt lucky at that moment, because either a big hole was going to be drilled in my heart, or I was going to get out like this.

I had dodged the sword, and when I looked at the point where it came from, there was nothing but darkness. But that was what I thought so.

Until a voice came out.

"Welcome.... young warrior."

Even though she has been behind me all this time, I couldn't even feel it until she talked. From the fact that she could hide herself, to the fact that she spoke from an obscure place in the dark, it was as if she was hiding her existence like the wind in the air. It was obvious that the person in front of me didn't just lure me into a simple trap. More than that, she probably came up with a plan, that was much more. That's why I understood that she was a stronger opponent than the opponents I faced. The tension and fear that I felt from the entrance of the waterfall to here continued until the part where there was darkness in front of me. And only one person could have had that much power.

An Epic.