Chapter 573 Ravine Traversing

Lily looked at Keng, keeping the monster in the edge of her view for a moment. She couldn't believe what her senses were telling her. She could physically feel that he was behind him, but he dropped his Energy like nothing. She almost thought he wasn't there anymore!

Keng's red and blue eyes watched the monster as it slowly turned to their right. Keng could see the neck and mouth was lines of slits. Every click made each "teeth" slit move. There was no eyes in the sunken area. The eyebrow arches pointed out, slightly pointed and sharp. Keng watched as the monster threw its head back as its neck rattled with clicks.

The monster moved forward, shuffling its feet as its arms raised up like a stereotypical zombie. Its left hand clawed the wall, making a loud scratching sound as it clicked. Lily's breathing grew intense as she raised her other hand to cover her mouth. The creature turned looking directly at them. It's teeth slits rose and rattled as clicks grew loud.

'What is that?' Lily asked telepathically.

'I don't know.' Keng answered. His hand slowly wrapped around Hydrosphere. 'But I don't want to be on the side that's trying not to get eaten.' Lily gulped trying to readjust herself as the creature slowly turned back to look away from them. Her foot hit the wall and the creature shrilled as it whipped back at them. It lashed forward without a second thought, going on instinct.

In a moment, Keng met it, blocking the attack as the neck-mouth opened wide. Flesh and sharp rows of jagged teeth roared at him as he pushed the monster backwards. The creature stumbled, quickly catching itself as it darted forward. Keng swung at the monster, watching it instinctively block.

'How can it do that?' Keng thought, connecting Hydrosphere with its arm. The arm and his blade sparked. 'It's as tough as metal, but it looks so frail!' Keng gritted his teeth as the other claw flew at him.

"Keng!" Lily shouted. A drum blocked the attack, creating a loud 'boom' noise. The creature shrieked jerking backwards as it raised its claws to its ears.

'Of course its blind so it has to rely on sound!' Keng thought.

"Make more noise!" Keng ordered. Lily nodded and summoned her flute. She lifted it up and started to blow into it, making noises. The flute echoed all around them as Lily played dissonant notes. The creature shrieked in agony as its mouth flaps opened widely. Keng flew forward, twirling the blade in his hand as he stabbed downwards. The blade sunk into the top part of the mouth, gushing out blood.

The blind monster swung widely, scratching Keng's armor as he moved away from it. Hydrosphere reappeared in his hand as he pulled the other one out. Lily continued her playing, watching as the monster rushed forward towards Keng. The creature swung wildly at Keng, who dodged, watching the sharp claws fly past him.

The creature swung a left claw-jab at him, scratching his arm. Keng stumbled backwards as the monster continued his furious swipes. Shields flew up, blocking the attacks.

'It's not a B-rank.' Keng nodded. 'This'll be less work.' The dissonant tune changed into something more pleasant as Lily moved backwards. Pink energy swirled around her as the flute's noises bounced around.

'Mezzo Allegro: Fuoco.' Lily watched as flames erupted in front of her.

'Move!' Lily telepathically shouted. Keng jumped off to the left, watching flames fly straight for the monster. The monster erupted in flames, shrieking as it wildly swung frantically around.

[Unknown monster has been defeated! Lily has boosted the soul value to 50! Total Souls: 1,186/10,000!]

The burnt husk of the monster crumbled as it hit the floor like glass. Keng looked at it as Lily pulled the flute away from her mouth.

"That was scary." Keng spoke. He looked left and right, checking for any energy sources. "We're clear." The two let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh man, that was close." Lily waved the flute in her face. "I thought we were goners."

"You're drum spooked it and it gave me a great idea. Good job." Keng told her. Lily smiled as the flute disappeared from her hand. She replaced it with her ukulele which floated around her.

"What was that thing anyways?" Lily asked. The two of them moved closer to study it. She didn't like looking at monsters too close, so she watched Keng study it.

"It looked frail and weak, but its body was made of some sort of metal or stone. It could block my attack easily." Keng began to analyze the creature aloud. "It was blind. No eyes and had a mouth going from its neck to the mouth area." He picked up one of the mouth fragments. The creature had suddenly gotten rock hard before it shattered itself to pieces.

Keng showed the mouth-neck flap to Lily who shook her head, displeased. Keng set it off to the side and found a claw. He moved it to his finger as Lily grabbed his wrist.

"Don't prick yourself. It could be bad!" Lily warned him. Keng chuckled and nodded.

"Fine." He pulled his wrist away from her and summoned his Void Storage. "For later, then." He plucked the claws and mouth-neck flaps and threw them into the Void Storage and stood up.

"Onwards?" Lily asked.

The two moved through the tunnel, following it for quite awhile. Keng filled the conch's map with his seismic mapping vibrations. The map slowly filled out, giving him more information on where they were going. They were slowly snaking upwards.

Holes of lava fumes would appear and Keng would shield them from any accidental steps. There were too many unknowns for Keng and if he could stop them from falling into things, then he would.

Lily and Keng came across four more blind creatures. They slowly made work of the monsters, gathering more mouth-neck flaps and sharp claws.

[Souls: 1,286/10,000!]

Keng and Lily eventually came into a large opening. The lava lit the back as the sound of water caught Keng's attention.

"You hear that?" Keng asked.

"What? Monsters?" Lily asked, looking around.

"No, water. There's rushing water somewhere." He started to drift away from her. It was only for a brief moment, but in that single action, the ground began to shake.

"What's that?" Lily asked. "Is it another earthquake?" They were far beneath the sea. Earthquakes could easily continue way below the surface without notice from above. The ground began to crack fifteen feet in front of Lily and Keng. "Keng!" She pointed at the ground. It erupted and a shriek filled the air.

"What the hell is that?!?" Keng shouted. A large worm with spikes on its body flew out of the ground. Its large open mouth had spikes attached to the lips with rows and rows of teeth showing. Its body was black like lava rocks as the creature began to suck in air (at least that's what it looked like to the two Foxes). Bright liquid began to build in its mouth as Keng's eyes widened.

"RUN!" Keng shouted. Lily and Keng sprinted in opposite directions. The worm turned towards Keng's direction and spewed lava straight at him. Keng gritted his teeth as he spun. "Altered Weapon Art: Sphere of Shining Water!" Water pooled around him in an instant as thick walls of cosmic energy flew up. The lava hissed as the lava cracked through the first layer. Water continued to pump itself out of Hydrosphere as Keng held his stance.

"Argh!" Keng grunted as the heat pushed down onto him. The lava continued to push onto him as another shield broke. "It isn't going to hold!" He gritted his teeth, wondering what he should do next when he remembered something. "The mark! Displacement!" His body flashed next to Lily as she watched the shields crash and burn.

"Keng!" Lily screamed. The worm shrilled as it spun itself around. She stumbled forward as Keng grabbed her. "Oh gods!" She jumped away from Keng.

"Almost forgot I marked you." Keng smiled.

"You marked me?!? Again?!?" Lily wanted to punch him but the worm was readying its next attack. "What do we do?"

"Slow it with de-buffs." Keng nodded at the worm.

"H-how? I can't—"

"You did it on me when I was in your soul world. Even when you're in doubt, you still have all of the powers you are capable of doing. Even using the sound of wind as an attack against me." Keng looked at her. Lily gulped. He was there. She had thought it was just a figment of her imagination.

The worm's mouth glowed a bright orange, drawing their attention. Keng gritted his teeth as Hydrosphere grew to be the size of a short sword. The large metal blades were large as he held them in his hands.

"You can do it. I'll distract it!" Keng rushed forward, Lily trying to snatch him with a hand.

"I—"