The Otherworldly Adventures of a Super Naive Girl

363: Forward

While the scene everyone saw was black, Feng Wu saw red.
She knew these were evil spirits.
They formed in places were a massive amount of people died miserably.

The only other place she had seen so many evil spirits was in the little town near the realm battlegrounds. [notes] The danger level of the place shocked Feng Wu.

She blinked and grab Zo’s retreating hand.
“Don’t let go.
It’s dangerous here.”

He was too weak, so she needed to protect him.

Zo replied with a small, “Oh,” a bit embarrassed.
He’d never held hands with a girl before, despite living two lifetimes.
He had remained a bachelor and dedicated his life to academics in the previous life, having never gotten over Eliza’s death.

A girl’s hand was very soft, he realized, much different from a boy’s hand.

Zo wasn’t conceited enough to think Feng Wu reached out to him because she was interested in him.
He knew who he was.
He respected the strong and he knew Feng Wu was strong.

Someone took out a magic orb to light the way as it got darker the farther they moved forward.
There were many kinds of magic items that could provide light.
A few people had taken several out, so the once dark stairway was lit with light.

There was a thick layer of dust on the steps and occasionally they had to clear cobwebs out of the way before they could continue forward.
They couldn’t see the end but they could see walls enclosing both sides of the staircase.
It was just wide enough to allow the forty of them to walk down in pairs.

They walked for half an hour before reaching the last steps.

“Why are there so many dead bodies?!”

“Isn’t this the tomb of the Sea god? Who are these guys?!”

“Everyone, be careful.
There’s something wrong with this place.”

Their guards went up.
There were no records of the Sea god’s tomb ever being opened before, so it was impossible for human remains to be inside.
There had to be something unusual about the skeletons.

The bones themselves were sparkling clean and pure white.
Such clean bones were rare to find.
In fact you could say they were impossible to find.
It gave everyone the chills and left them feeling uneasy.

“It’s gone! The stairs are gone!” yelled someone in panic.

As expected, when everyone turned to look, the staircase behind them had disappeared.
Only the stone wall remained.

“How. . .  how can this be?” someone questioned.
The person touched the wall with his hands, as if to confirm it was real and not an illusion.

Someone else took a deep breath and said, “There’s no way back.
We have to keep moving forward.”

They began moving forward again after coming to terms with their situation.
The passageway now was much wider than the stairway and they were able to walk three abreast without a problem, but just like the stairs, it was covered in a thick layer of dust.
Every step they took left a clear footprint.

They broke through the spiderwebs in front of them and moved forward slowly.
The unknown dangers ahead put everyone on high alert.

“Drip. . .  drip. . .  drip. . . .” The clear sounds of water dripping in the silent passageway made them even more uncomfortable.
The unease spread in their hearts.
After swallowing their saliva, they continued moving forward carefully.

“There’s water up ahead.
We must be nearing the end of the passage.” Someone whispered to his companion.

In such a quiet environment, there wasn’t a difference between talking normally or whispering quietly.
The sound entered everyone’s hearing, no matter if they wanted to hear or not.

“Don’t let your guard down.
I have a feeling the real danger is coming soon,” replied the companion with a serious look.

The other man made a sound of assent.
He wouldn’t drop his guard in such a place, not unless he wanted to never make it out alive.

No one else said anything, but everyone felt the same sense of impending danger.
The farther they went, the stronger their anxieties became.
No one dared stop though.
It was like there was a voice telling them they mustn’t stop, mustn’t stop, otherwise they would die.
So the group continued forward with heavy steps.
They were cautious.
Even when a ray of light appeared ahead of them, no one dared run toward it alone.

They kept walking onward, getting closer and closer to the opening where the light shone through, until they finally reached it.

Zo’s heart jumped out of his throat so he took Feng Wu’s hand in his own sweating one.
It was the bane of the weak, being unable to protect one’s self.

Feng Wu seemed to feel something.
She stretched out her hand and patted Zo’s head.
“Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you.” Back when she was a child, when she was afraid or uneasy, Master would comfort her by patting her on the head.

Zo stared dazedly at Feng Wu.
Was she soothing him?

After standing in front of the opening for several minutes, someone finally threw caution to the wind and bit the bullet.
“Let’s go.
Go and take a look.”

“Yes, there’s nothing for it.
We have to go in.” Someone sighed.
There was no other way.

They readied their weapons in preparation for their last stand.
But just as they were ready to go forward, a voice sounded from behind.

“What is this? How can I be in such an inauspicious place?”

They turned their heads to the sound of the voice.
What they saw was a beast, a tiny teacup sized puppy looking around himself with wide eyes.

He was a skinny thing with barely any meat on him.
His body was uniformly brown but for the tiny piece of egg shell stuck on his head.
All in all, he was certainly a unique looking. . .