Eating Souls In Another World

Chapter 06

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:

Rollo has joined your party

Quest: 《Escape mount Icewyrm (SS)》 has been generated. ]

[《Escape mount Icewyrm (SS)》:

You have been captured by the disciples of Eternal Darkness. Only certain death awaits you if you fail to escape.

OBJECTIVE: Escape from the church of Eternal Darkness together with Rollo.

CLEAR CONDITIONS:

Reach the forest at the base of Mount Icewyrm. 

Rollo's survival.

CLEAR REWARDS:

Increase chances of survival.

25 Soul Essence.

FAILURE PENALITY:

Death.

]

The moment Drake took the first step, two half-transparent screens appeared in front of him. The first had the same SYSTEM NOTIFICATION as before. This time, however, it seemed to list a few things he didn’t understand until he read what was on the second screen.

The system decided to make it clear that he was stuck with the annoying idiot named Rollo, informing him that his chances of survival would be null unless the two of them made it out together. 

Drake didn't understand what was the point of such a condition, but after some thought, he realized that he might be looking at it from the wrong angle.

Does that mean he’ll be of some help along the way?

“Is something wrong?” 

The kid whispered from behind, curious as to why they had stopped.

“Nothing…”  Drake replied, still unsure what to think of the strange blue rectangles. “Let’s go.”

There was only one tunnel leading to the cells. Crossing it was a stressful endeavor made worse by the cold dirt floor. They arrived at the first fork in the road before long and it was time to decide which route they would take.

 The route Drake previously picked was obviously a no-go even though it seemed to lead to the entrance Rollo came from.

According to the kid, while he was being escorted to the prison they passed by a big room where a great number of the black cloaks gathered. They were engaging in what appeared to be some kind of ritual, which is to be expected from a cult hiding in an underground maze in the mountains. 

That left them with only one choice. Following the map in the corner of his vision, Drake led them through the tunnel to the right. With each step they took the lines extended showing more of how the road ahead looks like. 

He didn’t expect it to be a straight line to the exit but he was still quite nervous when the turns began showing. Every time they reached a corner he would stop to carefully check what was behind it before proceeding. 

The fear that the cultists would learn of their escape at any moment made him feel like they were running out of time and that didn’t do him much good.

The two soon arrived at a large cavern that, unlike the route they had taken so far, was illuminated by the soft orange glow of the torches hanging along the walls. Besides the one they arrived from, there seemed to be three other tunnels leading in opposite directions.

“Shit…” Drake cursed under his breath.

Which one should we take…

As he pondered over which path to check first he turned behind him to look at the kid named Rollo.

“What?” The kid asked, his brows furrowed.

The two have been walking in the darkness so far so they never got to see what each of them looked like. As expected, Rollo was a kid a year or two younger than Drake, which made him about fifteen.

His eyes were a clear blue and his hair was a bright red color that felt unnatural at first. The clothes he wore looked thick and made out of natural materials, unlike Drake’s which were just manufactured polyester. 

Drake was an average Caucasian boy. His raven hair was cut rather short with the sides shaved almost entirely. The bags under his eyes spoke of unrelieved exhaustion, and his toned body seemed to ignore the chilliness of the cavern despite only wearing simple sweatpants and a t-shirt.

“Let’s check all of them first before we pick which one to take,” Drake spoke after some deliberation and surveyed their surroundings once more.

When Rollo nodded in agreement they began to move. The two sneaked along the wall of the cavern until they reached the first tunnel. Looking inside they learned that it was as dark as the one they came from. 

Drake didn’t know what to take from that so they moved to the second which turned out the same. The third one was different. It had torches hanging along the wall and when he tried to focus he was able to hear faint voices coming from it.

They returned to the one they came from and began considering which route they should take. That was when Rollo spoke up.

“It’s faint but there is an air current coming from the first one. It could be our way out.”

Drake didn’t know if that was enough to base their decision on, but since he didn’t have much to work with anyway so he made his choice right away.

It was decided that they would take the third tunnel. After walking for a while Drake opened the map to see what it looked like at the moment. He wasn’t expecting much but seeing the shape drawn by their advance only served to confuse me more.