202. The Path (II)

Snow had finished picking through the area, taking as many as she could so she doesn’t disrupt the dungeon's ecosystem. Even if she wanted to raid everything, there was a limit that she understood with the circle of life.

Looking over towards Mike and Mr. Rogers, she had heard small snippets of their small talk, but most of them were muffled. She wasn’t able to piece much together as she wasn’t as interested.

“You know, Mr. Rogers is really strange.” Red had whispered over towards her. She was pulling out a mushroom a bit forcefully, making the edges crumble. “For a vampire, he likes humans too much.”

“Isn’t that a given?” Snow was done collecting the mushrooms. “They need our blood to survive.”

“No.” Red shook her head. She pulled another mushroom off the wall and gently caressed it. “He’s too gentle with us.”

“Gentle?” This was the first time she had heard Mr. Rogers being gentle to people. He was considered arrogant, rude, a gentleman, and sometimes even called a devil because of the countless lives that he had taken.

Red blushed red. She lowered her head. “He was very gentle in carrying me. I barely even felt the bumps on the road.” She seems to shrink in size the longer that she talks about him.

“That is….interesting.” Snow couldn’t help but look over towards Mr. Rogers. Who caught her gaze. He smiled and winked at her. Even Mike waved at Snow over his head in happiness.

To hear a different side of Mr. Rogers was a first. Curiosity piqued Snow, mostly because she wondered why he put up such a mask in front of people.

Mike power walked over with Mr. Rogers.

“Are you guys done?” Mike asked.

“Yes. We just finished gathering everything around this area.” Snow said curtly, something about Mike's demeanor and attitude seemed to slightly change. She wondered what.

“Then let’s keep on going; we might meet Dairen sooner or later,” Mike said with enthusiasm. He then came over and slinked his arm in hers, whistling a merry tune.

Snow was wondering what put Mike in such a good mood. Mostly because one would think that they would all be worried at the doom and gloom of the S-Class monster they were going to meet. But, Snow couldn’t help but be a bit more at ease to have Mike here with her. The sense of closeness and friendship helped her softly smile.

They continued onwards through the zig-zagging tunnel. Sometimes, they would come upon a split in the road, which Snow would help direct the path by sensing the pull.

Eventually, they ended up in front of a deep gorge. The only way across was a thin rope that looked a bit too old to carry all four weights at once.

Snow squatted down, her hand checking the rope's strength, and found that it was a bit too loose.

She was surprised to see a man-made bridge still intact in such a place. The rope looked over a few hundred years olds. The knot that was used wasn’t something that they would typically use in this day and age, as it was considered not the best to keep things tightly wrapped.

“How is it?” Mike asked as he was squatting next to her. His brows furrowed, understanding how serious this could be if the rope snapped. “Would it break?”

“Not quite.” Snow replied. “I think it would hold us if we go one-by-one.”

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“Then, let me check it first.” Mike had said before she could volunteer herself. “I got some rope on me that we can use.” He pulled out a long rope that he started to tie around himself. Standing up, he was already ready to cross over.

“Are you sure?” Snow asked, a bit worried about the stability of the bridge. “We can use some other method to go across.”

“No, stopping here midway is going to take more time, trying to manage this intricate maze. Let’s just get through with this so I can reinforce the bridge.” Mike took his first step before Snow could stop him. He strolled at first, the bridge slightly swinging back and forth.

Both Snow and Red held their breath. Every time they saw the bridge swing a bit too harshly, they felt their heart up in their throat.

It took a bit of time, but Mike was able to cross without too much trouble. His balance was a lot better than Red, who went next.

Red gulped, staring down at the endless abyss below her. Her legs shaking, her hand gripping tightly to the rope in the hopes to not fall down. It took a bit of effort to cross a third of the way.

“I can’t do this!” Red yelled. She had a fear of heights.

“Keep going!” Mike yelled. He was ready to bolt in and grab her if need be, but he didn’t budge but waited.

“Don’t look back!” Snow shouted. “Keep looking at Mike. It will help you focus!”

Red gulped. She kept on treading forward, moving slowly. She eventually made it near the end, but her right foot fell through from the rotten wood before she could take her final step.

“Kyaaaa!” Red screamed in fear.

Mike jumped in, grabbed hold of Red by the arm before she completely fell through. With a whimper, Red held on tightly, crying from fear. She wasn't a fan of heights. With a grunt, Mike used his legs to pull her up. They both collapsed onto the ground, wheezing.

“T-t-thank you.” Red was crying; the near-death experience made her shrivel up.

Snow was glad that Red made it to the other side, okay. The last hiccup even made her squirm uncomfortably from the sudden drop.

“Your turn, Snow.” Mr. Rogers said, allowing her to go first.

“You can go first. I’ll stay behind if something happens.”

“No. No. Ladies first.” Mr. Rogers wasn’t going to budge from this choice. He motioned her to go as he stood behind her.

Even if Snow wanted to, she couldn’t step around him as Mr. Rogers was blocking her way. “Okay.” Snow nodded; she took the first step on the wobbly bridge.

At first, the few steps she took wasn’t as bad as she thought. The boards underneath their feet squealed and groaned every time she took another, but it held her up nicely. It wasn’t until she made it halfway that the floorboard under her seemed to groan at her crossing.

The board's splintering sound could be heard from underneath, causing her to take another quick step forward. She didn’t have time to think about what could happen next, knowing that death awaits her if she didn’t hurry across.

Suddenly, the wooden board underneath her feet cracked under her, trapping her feet. She jolted, falling forward with a slam. The bridge shook violently, her ankle shot in pain.

“Snow?!” Mike shouted, “Are you alright?!”

“Yea!” Snow had to suppress a painful groan. The twist in her leg made her want to curse some unsavory words, but she didn’t. It took an effort to pull herself up before she could walk again.

This time, the walk took longer than before. Snow had to slightly hop and step, so she wouldn’t put too much weight on the board. Even if she wanted to take out a potion to heal herself, she was always reminded by the bridge that it would collapse if she didn’t keep moving. Sadly, healing herself was out of the question as healing magic didn’t work on herself if she cast the spell. Someone else had to do it instead.

“You’re almost there!” Red, who finally stopped crying, was shouting at her with encouragement. “You can do it!”

Snow kept pushing forward. One step. Two steps. Each phase is worse than the rest. It wasn’t until she came to the final few steps, where she saw a large gaping hole that Red had almost fallen through.

Magic swirled around her body and into her legs; she had to make the jump. There was no other way.

Crouching down with a limp, she jumped. Snow felt a sharp pain riddle her whole body. But she didn’t care as she landed on both feet, her leg cave in, making her roll on the ground until she hit a large slab of rock that broke her fall.

A loud curse word escaped out of her lips, tears drizzling down her face. She stayed on the ground for a while, with her eyes closed, trying to lessen the pain.

Red rain over, she worriedly squatted down. “Are you okay?!”

“No.” Snow was able to say another word without cursing some more. “I sprained my ankle.”

“I got some medicine.” Red rummaged through her storage, taking out a small lotion. She reached down, helping Snow take off her shoe.

There was an ugly bump the size of a small golf ball present on her right ankle, turning slightly blue.

“This is going to hurt a little, but your feet will heal in the next hour,” Red said reassuringly. “It's not like the red potion that would take three hours for it to completely heal, but an hour. It’s a new product we have been working on.”

Snow was impressed and a bit curious about the new product. To hear that it could heal faster than a regular potion. Even with the high-grade potions, such things wouldn’t immediately heal like healing magic, but over time. For something to finally catch up closer was considered a significant achievement, and it was Red who made it happen.

“Thank you.” Snow replied. A cold sting was felt spreading on her ankle. The coolness of the salve was warming her body, making her shudder.

“No problem.” Red was happy. She was finally done with putting on the medicine.

“I’m thinking of seeing if I could speed up the process even faster with the potions as well. It’s not convenient to put on the salve when fighting compared to the potions.” Red said quietly; she brightened at the project that she was putting herself to.

“That would definitely help a lot.” Snow agreed. “Better yet, the amount of profit you will earn.” She knew that medicine was a must when dungeon diving, and such things had become super popular since Players' appearance.

“Exactly. That is who I am aiming for.” Red nodded her head.

Suddenly, Mike yelled, “Watch out!”

His voice snapped both Red’s and Snow’s attention. Not even a few seconds went by when the bridge rope snapped, causing Mr. Rogers to fall into the dark abyss.