Life in Aggron wasn't that bad, despite the constant friction with the nearest kingdom, being in the south of the continent which is relatively far from the more central kingdoms Aggron could maintain itself without many wars, to the last real war with another kingdom it took place 300 years ago with the victory of Aggron few were alive to implant discord, however it still occurred…

About 5 years ago strange movements began to occur in the neighboring kingdom and were almost at the point of a new war after that. Probably the assassins tasked with killing them were hired by collaborators of the sorts of people who wanted the kingdom at war, yet she didn't care too much about it, she just wanted to be in her mother's embrace again, like a good daughter seeking warmth. Familiar.

The cold she felt made her want to curl up for more warmth, where was her quilt and pillow right now? She still wasn't really awake, she could feel herself standing on a hard, wet spot, could feel her skin being punished by something cold that was falling over her all the time. What would that be... Maybe rain?

The rain falling on her face woke her up along with the clear voice of her royal guard, her blurred vision didn't let her notice what was happening, she just wanted to sleep... Sleep a lot.

— ...llye! Illye! — Noell shouted, calling her name trying to wake her up.

His voice was strong enough, coming back to himself Illye could see Noell's worried face in the dark, she had her armor breastplate all dented and her left arm was bleeding profusely, having a broken appearance as if it had been broken with a hammer inside, it felt like something had snapped her arm and it was unusable from beyond the elbow, however that didn't make her so terrified knowing she was still alive and breathing. For the time being this was unimportant, being hugged by Noell with one arm she was pulled up quickly as Noell got to his feet and put her in the same position with her.

— Noell... Where are we? — She asked while observing the surroundings, while she could only see dark places and dirt and stones. — Would that be... the bottom of the abyss?

All she remembered was Noell throwing himself from that height into that empty darkness that was Aven'Nath Abyss, now they found themselves in an almost totally dark unknown terrain in which small, dimly lit glowing crystals became their only source of light. The darkness around them and everything, as well as the vision of the sparks of light from the crystals seen on the horizon, demonstrated that the place was extremely vast in all directions and they could hardly decipher what was thirty meters away from the crystals closest to them. .

— It's weird... I feel like... we fall for the time it takes to make tea, it doesn't make sense. Your barrier must have worked and we fell more slowly, if it weren't for that I don't think even my armor would withstand the impact. — Noell replied with a serious expression, picking up his sword from the ground with his, which was still useful.

Despite this, Noell thought that the barrier would hardly be able to keep the two alive, Illye was not a Phase 5 Lord, if she was it was probably possible, but not being there was no good explanation for them still being alive.

But they were still alive, luck or not, this wasn't the time to worry about it, they had worse problems now.

She wouldn't ask if that was hurting, probably what happened to her arm and her armor had been the fall and she started to receive the impact instead, if she didn't comment on her arm she wouldn't incite the subject, as the only one to be protected, she did not feel that right.

— Where are we going? All directions look the same! Stones, wet earth and rain! — Exalted, she asked her clothes were soaked wheels and the rain was still falling from above even without being able to see anything but the dark in that direction, she had come across something like this in her entire life.

— Let's go ahead, there's no right way, let's do what we can. But before... — Noell explained walking a little.

Clang!

Approaching one of those glowing crystals, with her sword Noell tried to pierce it, without success her sword just bounced off the surface of the stone, yet she continued to try. 

Clang! Clang! Clang!

If he couldn't drill, he tried to cut, if he couldn't cut, he had to pull, if he couldn't pull, he had to dig. With each other's help, Noell and Illya after a few minutes managed to remove one of the crystals from the ground and lifted it, the crystal fit in their hand and was a little light, with a little more effort they removed another crystal from the ground, Noell she strapped one to her waist so she could move around without letting go of her sword and Illya took responsibility for paying attention to the rear, so the two began to walk in a straight line being careful where they stepped and what they saw ahead.

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Probably a few hours had passed, Illye wasn't athletic, however she didn't have the right to ask to stop, Noell had said some time ago that if they stopped the chances of living would be smaller, even without the energy they should keep walking... Even if at some point they had to drag themselves into it.

The world was often cruel to those who persevered, walked for hours and the only thing they felt was that for some reason they seemed to be descending on a very slight slope, now and then they found huge holes and neither of them was interested in knowing what to do. there was at the bottom of them, everything seemed so calm that an hour even the rain had stopped, this was also another reason to believe that they were going down instead of up, even so they wouldn't come back now. Back when they couldn't even see the way they came? Moving on was their only solution, even if it was towards certain death.

— Wait! Noell stopped her as he looked away. — Are you listening to this? It's like a... It's like the sound of a breath.

— Breathing?... —  Illye replied hesitantly as she searched in all directions for something even though she hadn't heard anything. A moment later she heard a sound of something gasping, probably in pain. — I heard!

Neither of them knew where that sound came from, Noell on guard started to walk slowly while Illye followed her, the sound seemed to increase a little after a few steps of them and they had to know what was happening, what that sound was.

Krreeeeeeeee....!!!

Moments later, halfway from the light of a crystal further ahead, they could see a silhouette lying on the ground, the hoarse breathing sound was getting smaller and smaller and came from something that looked like an eyeless dog with wrinkled skin that was panting heavily as it lay. in the middle of the dark ground, the brightness of the nearest crystal made her notice another shadow not so visible that at the moment seemed to devour the bowels of that creature and slowly that "dog" died.

Illye covered her mouth with her hands to keep from screaming, Noell was in a state where he didn't know whether to advance and attack or retreat to go in another direction, the options were so many that the one that appeared in their minds at this moment was to flee, but the real question was "run to where?".

Kreaa…

After their time of indecision the creature in one last breath stopped moving, nothing was heard and even the horrible sound of the creature being chewed had stopped. The haunting silence ended with anyone's peace after something like this, however it didn't last more than a few seconds, that other predatory creature had noticed that there were more presences around, having got up from the dead body of the other the two could see what was that.

Kuurr…

An equally hoarse but different sound came out of his mouth, he seemed human at first, and moving and entering the light of the nearest crystal his huge teeth that reminded them of a seaside shark's along with the slender appearance could be observed, followed by claws instead of fingers and totally devoid of anything like pupils having its eyes glowing in gray like the crystals stuck in the ground, the creature started to look towards them walking slowly.

— Zombie? —  Unable to hold back her voice, Illye asked.

— No. If it was... I think it would be a blessing. — Noell replied, already ready to try to defend herself in any way she could.

KUUURRRR!!!

In something that sounded like a scream, out of nowhere the creature with unnatural speed and agility launched itself over Noell escaping his grasp and knocking Illye down unexpectedly.

— HYAAAA!!! Illye screamed as she felt her shoulder being bitten by those huge teeth. At the same time, a large tear was left in his belly by the claws of that monster.

Crack!

She even tried to defend herself by implanting barriers but for some reason they looked like fragile glass in the hands of that monster, which simply broke them without much effort.

— Illye! Noell almost shouted, turning and attacking the monster with his sword in his right hand.

Her blow directly attacked the monster's neck from the back, as it had human form instinctively she attacked the most critical part she could think of.

Kuurr…

The monster's head was ripped off in one hit with great effort as she thrust the blade deep into the creature's neck, Noell herself as a royal guard and above all as a channeler had relatively superior strength than many royal guards. of the kingdom but it was still hard and kind of difficult despite being successful. The creature's head rolled two meters away and lay there as it bled out something black.

— Haaa...Haaa...Haa… —  Illye gasped heavily as the monster's black blood smeared her already soiled white clothes from all the way as she put her hand where the wound caused by the monster's claws was.

Pushing the monster's body to the side, Noell checked Illwya's condition, the creature practically devoured a part of her shoulder leaving an ugly hole that bled profusely, the state of the wound in her belly was also not good, however they wouldn't have such a time to worry about your wounds.

KUURRRR!!!

Soon they heard a scream coming from a far away place in another direction, it seemed to be from a monster just like the one that just died. Looking at the monster's head Noell can see that its eyes glowed in a red light, it was already believed to be strange for the eyes to glow in a grayish tone and now the red color instinctively created in her an even greater sense of danger.

KUURRR!

Another scream seemed to answer the first one, and then another and another, even wounded Illye who barely moved due to her wounds was also worried.

— Noell... And now...? — She asked not knowing what to do.

Fear was seen on his face and that was not for nothing, little by little the horrendous screams grew closer and seemed closer, Noell just didn't have an answer for that yet.

— Come on... I'll carry you, but you'll have to hold on for yourself. — Noell said as he carefully lifted her.

With a clear difficulty for both of them, somehow Illye still manage to lean on her back, lifting herself with effort while carrying her. Noell soon looked in the direction they had come, something seemed different... There were too many lights in that direction.

— More lights...? —  Illye wondered, seeing those lights over her shoulder.

When paying a little attention it was possible to notice that those lights flickered, as if they were moving and instinctively they knew, hundreds of lights added to the screams coming mostly from almost all directions meant more and more monsters like the previous one.

— What we do now is…survive. — She finally answered, even though she didn't really believe in the odds.

There was only one direction where there were no screams from those monsters, as fast as he could Noell started to run in that direction without thinking twice, it was difficult to hold Illye with just one hand and with the pain of his bones creaking and his arm in a state deplorable, in fact many would have given up out of despair without knowing where to go, Noell knew that if he gave up here everything would be for nothing because without her Illye wouldn't move on.

She wouldn't allow herself to let them die so easily, yet the mounting pain and physical, magical, and mental toll after they fled made her efforts nearly fruitless.

— Illye... I hear... Water… —  Even with almost no strength, Noell tried to hear something as he ran. — Confirm... For me!

Although not as physically worn out as Noell the state of Illye's wounds were in a worse condition, she herself was pale and on the verge of fainting but hearing her words tried to pay attention to where they were walking and could see that below from the ground there was moving something like a current.

— Yes... Haa... It must be rainwater. Creating a river... Haa... — She answered breathlessly as she tried to hold on as much as she could until she noticed something strange. — Why did you stop...?

— It's over... The path is over… —  Noell replied as he looked at the cliff in front of him.

There were no more glowing crystals ahead and they narrowly missed a cliff where you couldn't see the bottom and there wasn't any light on it.

— I don't think there's a second time for the miracle we've been through… — Illye replied, looking at it. — There's nothing to do anymore… — She completed while listening to the sound of the monsters that were already very close to where they were.

— To the water... Illye to the water! — Unexpectedly, said Noell as he ran back.

Running in the opposite direction to what she came after, almost a minute later she could hear the sound of running water again, in which the silhouette of the various monsters was already distinguishable both and the crystals on the ground and from each other.

— They're coming... Haa... What are you doing?! — Illye asked a little desperately.

— Running water means water veins underground… We're way down below so it's not strange to have them around here. Let's get into one of those water channels, must dwr somewhere! — She replied putting Illye on the ground and with her sword as a shovel started digging with the rest of her mana.

It wasn't good for one's health, trying to use magic while exhausted was like consuming your own life in exchange for a little more power, but now wasn't the time to think about it. If they managed to survive and she only had a year or two of her shortened life, it would be worth it.

Unfortunately for some reason the output was low and despite being able to dig in a way that was more like trying to cut the soil with a sword than digging with a shovel, it was still much less than expected, but it still continued anyway and in about a minute managed to find the water.

— We'll suffocate to death if this doesn't come to anything… — Illye replied, not wanting to go along with the idea.

— If it doesn't work out... That's all we still have. Or we die here devoured like that creature... Or we suffocate without air down there where it is at least possible to keep our bodies intact. — Noell replied as he finished digging a hole wide enough for both of them.

The water was not well seen and Noell released the crystal he was carrying inside and could see that it was not so shallow, so grabbing Illye's body she prepared to enter the water.

Kuurrrrr!!!!

One of the monsters grabbed her left shoulder, digging its claws into it until it pierced the bone and instinctively she stuck the sword in his hand with her right hand trying to get free, in this another one tried to grab her and she found herself with no options but to throw herself anyway. .

— Noell!!! — Cried Illye desperately seeing that

— Let's go! — She replied as she threw herself into the water with Illye even with the monster holding her.

Splash!

The small river quickly carried them away, the force was such that the monster couldn't hold on to Noell and herself struggling not to be separated from Illye, with her eyes closed the two hoped that everything would work out because if it was to go wrong they were in it until now.