Chapter 20. Going Back

I opened my eyes with some difficulty when I felt my consciousness returning. The world around me was blurry, and I could hardly see anything, since most things were completely dark, save for a small light that was coming from behind me. I also realized after a moment that I was being carried by someone, as I could feel a broad shoulder under my stomach, and when I looked down, I noticed a hard black armor.

My senses quickly returned, since this could only mean that someone was either kidnapping me or had other plans for me, so I reached for my Holy Power. But once I did, I remembered that I didn’t have it, and that doing so would only bring Darkness and Hellfire, so I quickly swapped for my mana, launching a burst of pure mana at this person’s back.

“Hey!” the person exclaimed, before letting me go by placing me on my feet on the ground. “Why did you do that for?”

I focused on this person. It was clear that they weren’t hostile to me, because otherwise, they would have me roped and gagged, so they were carrying me for another reason. It was then that I remembered what happened. I had passed out after fighting with an Unholy Dark Beast, which meant that…

“I was just confused,” I replied to Bo’guth, who was looking like his normal demonic self, not quite as big or terrifying.

He sighed before looking back at me with a slight smile. “Well that’s good. I was worried that something terrible happened to you after that big Corrupted Being was absorbed into you.”

“Huh?” I exclaimed. “Corrupted Being…? Absorbed into me?”

“Yes, after you went into its mouth, the thing exploded and turned into a tornado of Hellfire and darkness which flew straight into your body once you landed on the ground,” Bo’guth replied before turning around and pointing at something in the dark. “It happened just a couple of minutes ago. I didn’t know what that could mean, so I picked you up and was going to take you out of here as fast as I could.”

“I absorbed the Unholy Dark Beast…?”

Bo’guth nodded. “Right, that’s what you call those—and yes, that’s what happened.” He lowered himself to look closer at me. “How are you feeling? Are you alright?”

“I…”

There wasn’t much difference within me. I even felt better than before, with a bit more vitality, but other than that, I didn’t feel much of anything. Unless… I closed my eyes and reached for the Darkness and Hellfire power for a moment, feeling around without touching it as I would usually do with Holy Power.

I opened my eyes after a minute, frowning as I did. The Darkness and Hellfire Power had grown. It wasn’t by a lot, but it was definitely bigger, similar to how I felt sometimes after training for a couple of months in the past. Which meant that… Salrak’s words were right, everything that I defeat turns its power into me, and that power is Darkness and Hellfire. I clutched my hands, worried that perhaps I would doom another world if I kept going like this. But if I didn’t, then the Holy Gods would do it either way. I couldn’t just—

“Let's hurry to a doctor. You’re not looking too good,” Bo’guth interrupted me in the middle of my thoughts, and I noticed that his demonic face had a serious expression.

I calmed down after looking at his horrible face. He was right, now was not the time to ponder those things. We were still in a Tainted Land, and at the moment, it was better to leave. I still had to go to the Academy in a few days, and I shouldn’t be late if I wanted to understand this world better.

“I’m fine, but you’re right. Let’s get out of here,” I replied, turning to look in the direction that he was taking me.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I confirmed again, pointing at a mess of rocks. “That is the way that we came from, right?”

“Hm…” Bo’guth hummed for a moment and in that moment I could hear a clunking sound from that same direction. “Yes. That must be the other group we got out of here, trying to break through.”

“Let’s help them then,” I said, making my way to the rocks.

We could do as they were likely doing on the other side and start hitting the rocks or tossing them aside, but that’s only for when you want to save your mana or when you don’t know any Earth Magic, which I did. So I lifted my left hand in the direction of the large rocks blocking the way and reached for them with my magic power. It wasn’t hard to get a grasp of them, and once I did, I moved them all aside with one swift swipe to the side.

The rocks all quickly and suddenly moved, revealing the dark passage that was being illuminated by the light sources of the four people we had saved, out of which a couple of them fell forward after the rocks were moved; with the shield bearing woman and the old man exclaiming in surprise as they tried to recover their footing.

Behind them stood the other two young men, who looked just as surprised as the other two, looking wide eyed at both me and Bo’guth.

“Get ready!” shouted the man with the spear, taking a stance as he looked around the large place.

The others quickly reacted and took stances, looking around the hall as well. I worried that perhaps they were going to attack us, but they weren’t looking at us anymore, as if they were actually worried about something else popping out of the darkness.

“Hey!” Bo’guth called out to them and they all looked back. “We’re okay. We can go back now.”

The old man sighed in relief. “I’m so glad to hear that I didn’t get the Director of the Labyrinth killed because—”

“You’re amazing, Director!” the shield bearing woman exclaimed, putting her weapon away. “I can’t believe you took down that horrible monster! And without an army!”

“I must agree with you there,” followed up the one with the spear. “I was telling them that we didn’t have the power to even save you if we broke through the rocks, and that we should go look for help, but it seems none of that was necessary.”

The old man glared at the one with the spear for a moment before turning to look back at us with another sigh. “I couldn’t just leave you behind, especially since going back for help would take too long but… I can’t say I disagree with our leader here.” He looked at both me and Bo’guth for a moment, an expression of regret lingering on his face before he lowered his head. “I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

“Yeah! Your clumsiness nearly got someone really important killed! This is why I said we shouldn’t be taking such an old—”

“That’s quite enough,” I interrupted the other man with a shield, frowning deeply as I did. “I can’t speak for the dem—Bo’guth, but I did what I felt was right, and I would do it again without thinking about it, so I won’t allow anyone to carry the blame that should be carried by me.”

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“Huh? And who might you—”

Bo’guth laughed out loud, interrupting the same shield man that wanted to keep arguing. “Well said! I’m of the same sentiment. So let's not start blaming each other for what happened here, and celebrate that we’re all alive.”

“But—”

“Let's go back now,” I said, not allowing the man to keep trying to argue as I walked in his direction. However, he seemed to want to keep going, so I turned to look at Bo’guth. “Where’s the blade I was using?”

“Oh, right,” Bo’guth replied, reaching for the Magic Pocket and pulling it out. “You dropped it when you passed out. Here you go.”

He threw the blade to me, which quickly spun in the air as it made its way to me. I reached for it with my right hand and used the same recall spell that Bo’guth was so proud of to ensure that the blade would make a nice clasping sound in my palm before turning to look at the group of people.

Doing so seemed to dispel any idea they had to keep arguing, so I calmly placed the blade on my shoulder and walked past them, into the dark passages of this Tainted Land, with Bo’guth chuckling as he also walked closer.

“Welp, no time to lose. The exit is still some distance away,” he said while beckoning the group of people to follow us.

“W-wait!” the one with the spear said, causing everyone to turn to look at him, including both me and Bo’guth. “Why don’t we… keep going? That shadow horde is gone and it seems like the road is clear. Getting better rewards shouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

The woman with the shield sighed and shook her head. “Didn’t you hear the Director? He wants us to go back.”

“But—this is further than we’ve ever gone! We can’t just let this opportunity go!” he continued, turning his face to look pleadingly at Bo’guth. “Come on Bobby, with your strength and… that girl’s… we can get amazing things! It will help the country and—”

“As Director of the Labyrinth, my priority is to ensure the safety of the people that use it, while promoting the development of the users. It is not my job to explore the Labyrinth, so if you’re asking for my help, it is to pull you out of the zone, for I cannot go deeper.”

That was a strange thing to say, since he did just that for me when he joined me. I couldn’t help but throw a questioning look at him, but he ignored it, so I decided not to press him on it, as I didn’t want to explore more either.

“But there’s so much more we could achieve…” the man with the spear replied with disappointment.

“You are free to go deeper if you wish,” Bo’guth said with a shrug, “But I have to go back. That fight wasn’t quite as easy as you think it was, and checking up with a doctor would be a good idea.”

I could feel his red eyes shifting to gaze at me, but I did as he did to my gaze before and ignored it. I was feeling perfectly fine, so that part was likely just an excuse by the demon to leave. I took his words to heart and kept walking back in the cave, throwing a light spell to see the path ahead.

“Come on, lets just go back,” the woman with the shield insisted as well, going after me.

Bo’guth seemed to want to wait and see what they would do, but after the first few steps I took, the remaining men sighed heavily and also followed me.

* * *

We had been going back the same path we took before for a while by now. At first, the group of people insisted that they take the lead whenever a Dark Beast appeared, and they would usually work together to take it down. They were fairly good at it, most of the time dispatching whatever appeared after a moment. Other times, the mage with the spear would easily launch an attack and deal with the smaller monsters.

However, by now, it seemed like the exhaustion of the trip was already catching up to them, as they were getting slower and slower, and when looking closely at their expressions, I could see how tired they were. I couldn’t blame them either, since they were already tired to begin with and my instincts told me that it had been at least half a day since we met.

“We can rest now, if you want,” I said, and the people stopped to look back at me.

I could see now clearly even in the darkness of the cave that they all carried bags under their eyes. They all almost instantly flopped to the ground, their weapons clanking and their gear spreading around them as a couple of them sighed in relief.

“If you guys were so tired, then you should’ve said so!” Bo’guth exclaimed, taking a few things from the Magic Pocket and handing them over to the group. “Here, I only got a little bit of water left.”

“Oh no, that’s okay, Director. We still have some rations left,” the woman with the shield replied as she brought out a few dried meats and a bottle from a backpack.

“Okay then,” Bo’guth said, putting away what he took out. “I’m going to keep watch for a while. You guys rest.” He then turned to look at me. “You can rest too if you need it.”

I shook my head. “I’m feeling fine. I can watch on the other side while you watch this side.”

“Alright,” Bo’guth said and moved to the front of the group without complaint.

I went ahead and stood closely on the other side, watching the darkness of the cave that we came from. The people all huddled together and quietly ate what they had. But even as they did, I could feel a couple of gazes on my back, so I half-turned to see who it was. Both shield bearers were looking at me, although I couldn’t quite say why.

“Is something wrong?” I eventually asked, feeling weird with their gazes on me.

“O-oh! No, it’s just that…” the woman awkwardly replied. “I can’t really tell who you are.”

“I agree,” followed up the other man, “I know every beautiful fighter that goes into this Labyrinth, and I for sure would know such a beauty like you.”

I felt like ignoring them now after he said that, but the woman quickly slapped the man on the arm. “That’s not what I meant!” she then sighed and the guy simply chuckled. “But there is some truth in what he said in that I’ve never seen you before, and I think people would know someone that works so closely with the Director.”

As if being invited to the conversation, Bo’guth laughed without turning around. “She’s… a friend from a far away place. I was just showing her around the Labyrinth, and we just happened to find you guys.”

“Is that so…” the woman replied, and the other man that had been trying to flirt with me suddenly gasped.

“Then that means that she’s an important person!” he exclaimed before standing up and walking closer to me. “Please forgive me for what I said! I didn’t mean to offend you!”

I shook my head and kept my attention on the dark cave. “It doesn’t matter.”

“There must be a way for me to make it up to you,” he continued, “How about—”

“How about you take this time to rest while they’re keeping watch?” the old man interrupted and I could hear him shifting in his place.

“But I was just—”

Bo’guth laughed, and waved his hand, signaling the man to sit down. “No need to get so stressed about it. Just leave it to us while you catch some shut-eye.”

The man seemed to want to keep insisting with me, but after Bo’guth talked, he quietly made his way back to the same spot he had been using, sitting down on the floor, and resting his back against the wall, just like the other three people were doing.

They seemed to be done with the rations, and were now quietly trying to sleep. I glanced at them to see if they were alright, and three of them were already sleeping, while the one with the spear remained awake. He was doing something quite strange while holding one of those phones between his hands.

Usually, the people I saw using those artifacts would carry them in a vertical way, but this one had it horizontal, and what’s more, he seemed to be carefully looking at something on the painting while quickly pressing his fingers on it. I tried to read his expression but he was extremely focused, so much so that he didn’t even mind—or noticed—my gaze on him. It was while watching him that I noticed that he had his ears covered by a couple of white bits.

Curiosity took hold of me, and I wanted to know what he was doing for him to be so focused, making me think that perhaps he was empowering himself with the artifact, or meditating, but I couldn’t approach him or ask, since right then I felt a Dark Beast approaching from the depths of the cave.

I decided not to make noise and simply launched the sword like I had done when I copied the Recall Spell, splitting the Dark Beast and recalling it as fast as I could so that there wouldn’t be a crashing sound that could wake the group of people.

I again turned to look at the man with the spear, but he had just glanced at me for a moment before his eyes went back to the phone. Again, I wanted to know what he was doing but my duty was first, so I stood at the side while the people rested, until eventually, the man also put away the phone and slept for a while.