Chapter 42 - And I Will Run 500 Miles

Jiran’s right arm smacked into something hard, sending him spinning uncontrollably through the darkness. Air rushed across his skin as he picked up speed. The little light from the hole above occasionally flashed in the distance, growing smaller with each sighting.

He pulled on his mana and it sang through his veins as he snapped another full-body Coating into place. As the protective mana flowed out of his skin, he received a rush of information about the spear of wood in his leg.

At least it’s not bleeding too much. Need to focus, so hard to think.

Through bleary thoughts growing rapidly dimmer, Jiran coated his hand in flames to light his surroundings.

He saw rock and dirt speeding past him as he continued to hurtle downward.

Have to slow down.

A blast of wind from his other hand sent him crashing into one of the nearby walls. The spear of wood was painfully ripped free from the impact eliciting a scream of agony. As darkness crept across his peripheral vision, adrenaline clawed through his blood and gripped his senses in a desperate gambit to remain conscious.

Another blast of wind sent him back into the wall but this time he maintained the stream of air to keep himself pinned.

His coating slid across the hard surface, slowing his fall and correcting his wild spinning. Aiming the wind downward, Jiran rapidly reduced his speed. He bided his time until he judged the speed slow enough to not rip his arm off.

He pulled back his fist, ready to punch, and then released the fire on it, plunging the world back into darkness.

A quick application of Forcing blasted his arm into the dirt wall up to his elbow, immediately arresting his momentum and jerking his shoulder painfully.

Through panting breaths, Jiran released his wind shaping and sagged against the hard wall.

He looked up to see the light so far in the distance it was now just a pinprick. As he watched, the light winked out, causing a seed of doubt to sprout in the depths of his mind.

That’s bad but I can’t remember why. Something is wrong with my head.

“Restoration,” Jiran mumbled halfheartedly while holding a sloppy image of his brain being repaired of whatever damage was impeding his thoughts.

He felt a massive chunk of his mana ripped free by the automated technique before his thoughts rapidly cleared. His ears popped and a pressure inside his skull vanished like a puff of vapor.

Clarity of thought brought with it a variety of sensations and realizations. The most prominent was the immense pain in his leg. An instant application of Restoration deadened the pain. He maintained the mana required for the healing while igniting a small flame on his free hand.

Whoops, fire underground bad. Could be natural gases down here.

Jiran dropped the flame and replaced it with Light Manipulation. As his mana turned his palm into a glowing lantern, he finally got a good look at his surroundings.

He was in a smooth, hard-packed dirt tunnel interspersed with layers of rock. A sound like the splashing of pebbles into water echoed from below.

Remembering the light above vanishing, Jiran looked up.

The hole I fell through closed? If that beast falling causes this whole tunnel to collapse I’ll be screwed. I can’t stay here.

Releasing the mana healing his leg, Jiran yanked his arm from the wall and controlled his descent by dragging himself into the wall with gentle applications of Forcing.

A sound like rumbling thunder came from above and he immediately stopped trying to slow his descent.

Please be water down there.

He pushed more mana into his hand and the light brightened enough to illuminate a slight rippling motion.

Yes! I just hope it’s deep enough.

A blast of wind propelled him down the shaft and into the water below. He kept pushing out wind, causing a torrent of air bubbles to blast him to the side as the tunnel collapsed above him.

That should be far enough.

Jiran swam and surfaced taking a deep breath of stale cavern air.

Rock and dirt continued to fall by the metric ton as Jiran swung his hand around wildly in the darkness until he spotted a rocky shore. Not wanting to waste any of his precious mana, he swam slowly to the shore while nursing his injured leg.

After pulling himself out of the water, he watched the falling soil as it filled in the cavern like a freshly flipped hourglass.

https://imgur.com/2DqfDnK

That sure is a grim sight. Digging my way back up through that is completely out of the question.

At least there’s water down here. Hopefully, that means there is another way out.

I didn’t feel any challenger density from that beast. Did I seriously not kill that thing? I blew off its entire freaking head!

Molding + 1

Shaping + 1

Forcing + 1

Gas Manipulation + 4

Light Manipulation + 1

Restoration + 2

21:30:45

Looks like I don’t have the luxury of sitting around hoping a tier four comes waltzing along and offers itself up on a silver platter.

Jiran tested his leg and winced with pain as he found it could barely support his weight.

Fifty percent of my mana left. That might not even be enough to kill a tier four if I do come across one.

He only considered his options for another few seconds before shrugging and pumping his leg full of another dose of Restoration. Within a minute, his leg felt much better.

Jiran took a closer look around for an alternate exit.

The cave was easily two hundred meters wide in the shape of an oval. He saw several dark shadows that clung to the rock walls which might indicate small passageways.

With the cave-in making the entire center area inaccessible, Jiran moved to the outer wall where he had seen the most shadows. Two of them turned out to be passages leading away from the water-filled cavern. He picked one at random and moved quickly, not wanting to waste time.

Jiran claimed the last of his breakfast’s density bringing him to forty-nine percent mana as he considered his best options for when a beast inevitably found him.

No gas, absolutely no explosions. Fire is out too for the same obvious reason. Lightning is just as dangerous. What does that leave me with?

Ice, water, wind, metal, and acid. Metal is out as I have no idea how to use that offensively. Acid could be good if I run into a rock lobster.

Despite the gloomy situation, he chuckled at the thought.

Of the three, ice is probably my best bet. I have experience with it in combat and it will hopefully be effective at slowing anything enough that I can escape if killing isn’t an option.

The walls of the tunnel turned smooth the further he got from the watery chamber.

Is this an old magma tunnel? Or maybe it used to be an underground river that eventually dried up, leaving that lake behind.

In an effort to conserve mana, Jiran adjusted his light to a mere glimmer. His eyes soon adjusted to the lower light and he picked up his speed.

The floor was uneven, despite the smooth walls and ceiling. He constantly had to adjust his footing around the spiky stalagmites that littered the ground.

Jiran gradually increased his pace over the next two hours without spotting any major changes to his surroundings, other than a slight increase in bugs and small critters. The little animals wanted nothing to do with him and scurried out of sight long before he could reach them.

Not interested in eating something that might not even provide density, Jiran ignored them.

A blue and green light pulsing in a nearby wall caught his attention and he approached carefully, fearing it might be some kind of beast’s trap.

It turned out to be a plant-like vine embedded in the wall. It was covered in bumps, giving it a coarse texture. He pinched it experimentally and found it to be squishy yet tough.

Being the most interesting thing he had found underground so far, he was reluctant to leave it behind without trying to figure out what it was.

He used a Shaping to form a small blade of ice on his finger, cutting into the vine caused a thick sap to flow out. The moment the multicolored sap touched his mana, he instantly realized what it was.

Density! Not just any density, this is chaotic density from the densoons. How did it get all the way down here and where is it going?

Not willing to miss the opportunity, Jiran pulled more of the vine free from the wall and spread the sap over a Coating on his arm. He then focused fully on his surroundings to the point his mind became free from thought.

The moment he felt his foresight anticipating the flow of chaotic density, he adjusted his mana coating to match and greedily claimed the energy into mana.

Within a few minutes, he was topped off and regretfully left the vine as he continued up the tunnel.

Not going to hold back now. It’s go time.

With his light shining brighter, he increased his speed to just below a sprint.

At least the stupid timer makes it easy to tell how long I’ve been down here. It would suck to be lost down here for days with no idea how long has passed.

I wonder why there aren't more beasts down here. There’s plenty of food. Maybe I’m just lucky.

Twenty minutes later, the tunnel began to rise and Jiran pumped his fist in delight.

Yes! Thank the Fathers I don’t have to backtrack. Well, it’s probably a little early to celebrate but up is definitely a good sign.

Another hour passed and Jiran was comfortably running several times faster than any human from Earth could have imagined.

He skidded to a stop as the way forward was blocked by large boulders with only a tight space to fit between.

Shrugging, Jiran approached the opening. When he crouched low enough to squeeze into the space, one of the boulders suddenly unfurled into a snake and leaped toward him at incredible speed.

With less than a second to respond, Jiran layered a Coating across his arm and slammed it between himself and the beast. The collision knocked him backward and the monster didn’t waste a moment of time as it coiled around him and began to squeeze with tremendous force.

Its scales vibrated menacingly as each one sprouted an eyeball that glared at him hungrily.

https://imgur.com/wVsXyYY 

Dammit, that was such an obvious ambush!

Jiran tossed the frustration into his mana and formed a Shaping of the most frigid cold he could summon.

The tunnel air solidified around him as the beast hissed in pain. It tried to uncoil from him but was already frozen. Not letting up, Jiran continued to pump his mana into the beast causing its body to rapidly stop thrashing.

He released his technique and struggled against the tough monster’s corpse until it began to break apart enough for him to slip free.

He kept a sharp eye on the remaining boulders as he caught his breath.

That was way too close and it was only tier three. I need to be a lot more careful. Getting complacent after not seeing any beasts for a while is a great way to end up as dinner.

Jiran shuddered at the thought of how quickly he would have died if the beast was tier four or five.

Suddenly a mocking laughter echoed all around him as the shadows along the walls came alive into the shape of young women. Some pointed at him while they laughed, others bent over with their hands on their knees as their mirth seemed to overwhelm them.

What the fuck?!

Jiran tried to back away from the eerie creatures but found himself surrounded.

One of the shadows lunged, its hand morphing into a long dagger. Jiran raised his hands to protect himself causing the shadow to suddenly recoil as if burned.

The apparition hissed at him and all the other shadows stopped laughing to join in, turning the tunnel into an echo chamber of hissing snarls.

Jiran’s confusion only lasted a second before he realized his Light Manipulation shaping was the cause for the shadows' displeasure.

He snapped his eyes closed and then ramped the mana expenditure up a hundredfold.

The shadows didn’t even get a chance to scream as they were blasted apart by the intense light that could have given the surface of the sun a run for its money.

After reducing the light back to a normal level, Jiran blinked his eyes rapidly trying to reclaim his night vision as he warily looked around for more of the unusual beasts.

Great, now there’s fucking ghost? What’s next?

You know what, nevermind. I don’t want to know.