SSS-Ranked Trash Hero: I Was Scammed Into Being Summoned-Chapter 46: The underground pool

Hiroshi sat against the wall for what felt like an hour but was probably only ten minutes.

His body was still shaking from the multiplier’s aftereffects. Every muscle ached. The cuts on his arms and shoulder throbbed despite his Pain Suppression skill working to dull it.

He watched Elias move around the chamber, examining every section of wall. Running his hands over the stone. Tapping with his knuckles.

"There’s air moving," Elias said. "Feel it?"

Hiroshi did. Now that he was sitting still and not fighting for his life, he could feel a faint breeze coming from somewhere in the chamber. Not from the collapsed tunnel. But from somewhere else.

"Air means an opening," the woman guard said. She’d helped the injured one get as comfortable as possible and was now standing. "Even if it’s small, it means there’s a way out."

"Maybe," Elias said. "Or it means there’s a crack in the rock that leads nowhere useful."

Baros stood on shaky legs. "We have to try. We can’t just sit here waiting for the goblins to dig through."

A sound made them all turn.

Tomas was convulsing against the wall. His whole body shaking. The fever had spiked badly.

The woman guard rushed to him. "Tomas. Can you hear me?"

His eyes rolled back. Foam appeared at the corners of his mouth. The infection from his wound had spread. Without proper treatment, without healing magic, his body was shutting down.

"We need to get him out of here," the woman said desperately. "He needs a healer. Now."

Elias crouched beside Tomas and checked his pulse. His expression was grim. "He’s not going to make it. Not without divine magic. And we don’t have that."

"Then we find the exit faster. We..." The woman’s voice cracked. "We can’t just let him die."

"I’m not suggesting we give up. I’m saying we need to be realistic about his chances."

Tomas’s convulsions slowed. His breathing became ragged and wet. The sound of fluid in his lungs.

The woman held his hand, whispering to him. Telling him to hold on. That help was coming.

But everyone could see the truth.

Elias stood and moved to the far corner of the chamber where the shadows were deepest. He held up his lamp. "There’s something here."

Hiroshi forced himself to stand despite his exhaustion. He walked over to where Elias was examining the corner.

There was a gap in the rock formation. Not a passage. An opening that led to darkness below. And the sound of water. Lots of water.

"Pool," Elias said. "Underground pool. The air current is coming from here."

Hiroshi looked down. The lamplight showed water maybe eight feet below. Dark water that filled what looked like a natural basin carved into the rock. He couldn’t see the far side. The pool extended beyond the range of the light.

"Water usually means a way out," Elias said. "Pools like this often connect to underground rivers or streams that eventually surface."

"Or they’re just pools that go nowhere," Baros said.

"Only one way to find out."

Behind them, Tomas made a rattling sound. Then silence.

The woman guard made a broken noise. Half sob, half scream. "No. No no no. Tomas."

But Tomas wasn’t breathing anymore.

She knelt beside him, checking for a pulse she wouldn’t find. Her hands shook. "He was fine yesterday. Just a fever. Just an infection. We could have–if we’d gotten out sooner..."

Elias moved toward her but Hiroshi saw the look on her face change.

Grief shifted to something harder.

"This is their fault," she said quietly. "The goblins. They did this. They took us. They kept us in these caves. They killed him."

"We need to focus on getting the rest of us out," Elias said carefully.

"I know." Her voice was flat now. Empty. "But when we do get out, I’m coming back. And I’m going to kill every single one of those creatures."

Nobody argued with her.

She stood and walked to the edge of the opening, looking down at the water below. "How do we get down there?"

"Climb," Elias said. "The rock face has enough handholds. Or we can lower people with rope if we had any."

They didn’t have rope. They’d used everything they had to make the sled for the injured man.

Hiroshi looked at the drop. Eight feet into dark water of unknown depth. Survivable if you jumped carefully.

"I’ll go first," he said.

He lowered himself over the edge, found footholds in the rough rock, and climbed down slowly. When he reached the bottom he let go and dropped the last few feet.

The water was waist deep. Cold but not freezing. His boots touched a solid stone bottom.

"It’s shallow here," he called up. "Maybe three feet."

Elias came down next, moving easily. Then Baros, who nearly fell but caught himself. The woman guard came last. Her face showed nothing.

The injured man with the broken leg stayed above. There was no way to get him down safely.

"I’ll come back with help," Elias told him. "Stay here. Don’t move."

The man nodded weakly.

Hiroshi waded forward into the pool. The lamplight showed it was shaped like a rough rectangle. Maybe thirty feet long and twenty feet wide. But at the far end, where the light barely reached, the water looked different. It shimmered strangely.

He moved toward it, the water getting slightly deeper as the bottom sloped. When he got close he saw what was causing the shimmer.

The water at the far end wasn’t just reflecting light. It was glowing faintly with its own luminescence. A soft blue-green color that pulsed gently.

"That’s not natural," Baros said from behind him.

Elias moved closer and held the lamp near the glowing water. "Magic. Some kind of enchantment or natural phenomenon. Hard to tell which."

Hiroshi reached out and touched the glowing section. The water felt different. Warmer. And when his hand passed through it, he felt a pulling sensation. Like a current but not quite.

"There’s something here," he said. "Some kind of opening. But not physical. It’s..."

"A portal," Elias said. He sounded more certain than he should have. "Magical transportation. Step through the water and it takes you somewhere else."

"Where?" the woman guard asked.

"No way to know without going through."

"Could be anywhere. Could be deadly."

They stood in the water, staring at the glowing section. Behind them, far above, they could hear very faint sounds. The goblins. Still trying to dig through the collapsed tunnel. They’d get through eventually.

Staying here meant being trapped when that happened.

Going through the portal meant unknown danger on the other side.

"I’ll go," Hiroshi said.

"You’re already exhausted," Elias said.

"Which is why it should be me. If something goes wrong, you’re in better shape to get everyone else out."

Elias looked like he wanted to argue. Then he nodded. "If you’re not back in five minutes, we assume it’s not safe and find another way."

Hiroshi waded toward the glowing section. Up close, the pulling sensation was stronger. Like the water wanted to draw him in.

He took a breath and stepped fully into the glowing area.

The world twisted.

Everything lurched sideways. The cave disappeared. The water disappeared. There was a moment of complete disorientation where up and down had no meaning.

Then he was somewhere else.

Hiroshi stumbled forward and nearly fell. He was standing in shallow water again but this wasn’t the pool. This was different.

He looked around.

He was in a small pool fed by a stream. Natural sunlight came through an opening above. Trees visible outside. Fresh air.

The surface. He was at the surface.

Text appeared in his mind.

[Experience threshold reached]

[Level Up! Level 10 → Level 11]

Warmth spread through his body. His exhausted muscles recovered slightly. The pain from his wounds dulled further. His stamina reserves refilled partway.

Hiroshi climbed out of the pool and looked around. The opening led to a forest. Different from where they’d entered the cave.

They had a way out.

He turned and stepped back through the pool.

The world twisted again and he emerged back in the underground chamber.

Elias, Baros, and the woman guard were waiting exactly where he’d left them.

"It’s an exit," Hiroshi said. "Takes you to the surface. A pool in the forest. Safe."

The woman guard moved immediately. She waded to the glowing section and stepped through without hesitation. Gone in an instant.

Baros followed after a moment of hesitation.

Elias looked up at where the injured man was waiting above. "I’ll get him. One way or another."

Hiroshi nodded and stepped back through the portal.

On the other side, the woman guard stood at the edge of the pool, staring back at the forest. Her expression was hard. Focused.

"When I’m healed," she said quietly. "When I have proper equipment. I’m going back into those caves. And I’m killing every goblin I find."

Hiroshi didn’t say anything.