Chapter 45: Down the Dungeon 4

He didn't know how long he has been walking along with Elias. All he knew was that he was trapped in a labyrinth. Lanon felt like he was walking down an abyss. He stopped. He looked around and saw that there was only darkness. In his dazed state, he has lost sight of Elias.

Lanon looked around. He checked every corner of the area where he was. It was an area with tall grasses, giant rocks, and green purplish mushrooms that are being eaten by a dungeon creature with a long snout. The creature was as big as a cat and yet its fangs were as long as a cat's legs.

Lanon crouched. He aimed at the creature and fired. The bolt flew and within seconds it hit the back of the neck of the creature. The creature got startled. It ran amok as it struggled and left a trail of blood. A smell made Lanon cringe badly. It was like a mixture of excrement and perfume. It produced a horrifying scent that made his stomach churn.

"Huh?"

The wall in front of Lanon crumbled like a mirror. He sidled towards the mirror with a limp. The wall looked old, ancient and was without a doubt close to crumbling completely. Lanon touched the wall with his palm. He planted a foot inside the interior of the wall. His head bobbed as he simply entered the wall.

Behind the wall was another empty tunnel way. There was no sign of Elias who went missing after fighting a dungeon monster. Lanon could remember Elias fighting that monster badly yet he was gone before he could see Elias deliver a critical blow to the head.

"Where's he?" Lanon muttered. He was suddenly alone. His mind was wandering as he lets his feet keep him going. There was no direction and there was a precise point where he should go. Before long he found himself with a feeling of emptiness.

He was hungry. His stomach was aching badly that he could not help but eye the mushrooms. He took a mushroom and took a bite. The mushroom tasted like cold dirt. Lanon's face crumpled badly but he continued chewing the mushroom while fighting the urge to vomit.

A sound came behind him. The creature that he shot in the back pounced on him. Lanon lifted his crossbow and parried the creature, taking an aim he shot the creature right in the eye. The creature struggled but this time it fell limp and unmoving. He moved near the creature and started to skin it with his dagger. He didn't know the creature would taste but he knew that he would be staying in this labyrinth for a long time.

Where was his hope? Where was his lifeline? It all happened so fast that it left him unable to react. No, it would be far better to tell that he didn't want to think about the future that was waiting for him. Lanon was trying to focus on what's in front of him. He didn't want to think because doing so would make him despair.

...

Lanon started eating the creature raw. The creature's blood dripped from his mouth down to his neck. The taste of the creature was disgusting. He wanted to vomit his stomach out but he couldn't, knowing that he needed the energy to continue.

His way of eating the creature was clumsy. The creature was not properly prepared. His stomach churned harder. He felt his skin itch badly. His skin turned blue. His lower jaw trembled as he arched his back and convulsed. He vomited the meat he ate. Lanon started crying while trying to suppress the pain in his stomach. His eyes rolled and he was swimming on his own vomit. Lanon fainted.

He woke up covered in his own vomit. The vomit stuck on his clothes, he adjusted himself and leaned on the wall. His stomach was completely empty. There was no food around him other than the mushrooms that tasted like dirt. Lanon couldn't possibly stay in the place. Lanon stood up and limped to the next room.

It was a maze of passages of rooms. The ceilings were covered in tiny thorns. The walls had sticky greases that looked like they were a combination of pee and honey. Lanon continued walking down this room until he reaches another room with the same stick grease.

There was a small gust of wind coming from the opposite side of the room. Lanon followed that wind and headed into this narrow path where he had to move slowly through a layer of mud. He was limping. He was fatigued all over. Yet he didn't stop moving until he reached solid ground.

Lanon crawled using his elbows. He laid his back on the mud and stared at the countless crystals growing on the ceiling. The crystals were colored green and they give the same light as well. He was getting used to the green light around him. His eyes have adjusted. His body was stiff all over.

Around him was a clearing without any vegetation other than the same monsters. He heard a sound. He crawled to cover and saw a creature holding a corpse of the guardsman. Lanon witnessed the guardsman getting torn and eaten like a fried chicken. The creature drank the blood of the guardsman and nibbled on its bone. He had to watch that guardsman get treated like a delicacy. His breeches were wet. His bottom soiled with shit as he tries his best to keep himself hidden.

It took minutes until the creature left while keeping the leg bone of the guardsman. Lanon crawled near the guardsman and took whatever belongings he had. Most of it was ruined and torn. All he could retrieve was a shortsword and a coil of rope.

"I am sorry," he said. He crawled away from the corpse and hid to cover. Lanon couldn't care about his pants. All he was thinking was how to survive. Still, he was afraid that he might attract monsters with his smell so he took his pants off and cleaned it using the leftover cloth that the guardsman had. Lanon rubbed his hand on the ground. He curtly stood up and trek down the path where the monster went to. There wasn't any other way than that path.

The way has been clear. There were monsters but he would be able to hide. He was ragged and dirty. There was a strange smell of pungent and misery in him. His eyes had no light. He was carrying on with a limp that his appearance made it clear that he was a miserable person.

Misery reeked of him. A simple sound made Lanon dive into cover and cower, hoping that the monster would go away. He has been repeating this process ever since adjusting to this labyrinth. He was alive. He was breathing neatly but he feels nothing more than a dead man walking. He could only act cowardly in times of despair. Men would have despaired badly and hung themselves.

But you are looking at a coward here. Lanon was a coward who could not take his own life. He lived through this hell while keeping a blind hope that maybe he will get out of this place. The person who he thought was his lifeline was gone. He found no hope here. Nothing but misery was present.

Long corridors and tunnels filled with strange and peculiar items. He walked these kinds of places while keeping a low profile? How does he eat? He eats by chewing on the roots that grew out of the grown. He gets his water by cutting through long vines that have water on them.

His body was riddled with pus. His skin was in a terrible condition. All you could hear was his frantic breathing and strange moans. Lanon has lost his sense of time. He rests when he's tired. He continues walking with a feeling of emptiness that weighs like a stone when he can. There was no particular meaning to this journey of his. What did he come for? He has forgotten as he crawls and lowers his head down like a pathetic being.

Along the way, he saw corpses of men with swords on their hands. They were clearly 'brave' men who died fighting the monsters. Some had swords stuck on their throats. While the others were torn into two or eaten alive with their guts decorated into a stone pillar.

Particularly he saw a corpse with its stomach open. The small creatures of the dungeons were tugging the intestine of this corpse like someone eating pasta. Lanon has grown tired of seeing such scenes. All this despair made him used to it. Every second of his being he was getting used to this feeling. While marching he was slowly building up a resistance. With blank jaded eyes, he would stare at them as if it was a normal thing.

He has abandoned all reasons. He has abandoned all of his pride and integrity. It was funny that he used to care about the little things. Yet in this place of wrath and tears, he was uncaring about it all. No one was here to judge. No one was going to mock him for being like this here in this dungeon. To think that he cared about such trivial things like how he should live.

This dungeon made him miserable. This place also made him feel alive. His senses were sharpened. He was drowned in an adrenaline pleasure that it was hard to not like it. He didn't want to stay in this God forsaken place. Yet he could not help but enjoy this feeling.

In this place, he has a goal. In this place, he has this sense of dire purpose. When he was living in the surface, he was nothing but a fool living his time waiting for something to change. He was someone who didn't have a goal. He was a person who lived the simple life.

This place made him feel alive. It was sad that even in this world he has to be stuck in such a despairing place to be alive. He could not blame himself for feeling this way. He had no hope in this place. This putrid place was nothing but a hole that made him feel many emotions.

He was out of that tunnel. He was in another similar looking tunnel with nothing but mushrooms. He treaded through the mushrooms and arrived in front of this narrow passage. He slid inside the passage and went out of it. There was a giant open area. He could see hordes of monsters that his first initial reaction was to dive to prone and wait. He watches from a distance. There was a group of guardsmen that were fighting. They were surrounded. They were outnumbered. There was no hope for them.

He watched them die. He watched them get torn and killed. Their intestines treated like some sort of chewing gum. It was a scene that he would scream at. Yet, he couldn't care less about them since he was still alive. He wanted to live. He didn't want to die. Helping them meant dying. He didn't want that. It was cruel of him but he had no choice.

He crawled to another passage. He stumbled upon a heavily vegetated area. He was able to crawl through this area while keeping silence. He was not much of a fighter but sneaking and climbing was one of his queer talents. He managed to get past obstacles one another. There were many guardsmen that he saw but he did not join them. Those guardsmen would die. They were 'brave' and they would not back down from a challenge. He could not live with brave foolish men who would die fighting. His idea of surviving was not the same as these men. They would not agree with what he has been doing to live.

It was also better if they all think that he died. He would be free from being a guardsman of throes. But it also means that he has to abandon that house in Moirai that made him feel at peace. He did all he could to have that place. But because of this campaign, he had to abandon them all and live in another place.

Lanon thought how terrible his luck was. If only the adventurers didn't conquer the outer lands. If only Sir Rave wasn't jealous of their success then he would have been living peacefully in Moirai. Whoever led them into being successful in their endeavors? Lanon would surely curse at that person.