World's Last Hope-Chapter 64: An Idea

All Eric could do was stare in disbelief at what had just happened.

"Where did the spider disappear to?" he asked in disbelief.

He tried to find it, but the monster was nowhere to be seen. Shifting his gaze and seeing the confusion in Olivia’s eyes, he concluded that she was too unable to grasp what had just happened.

The only person who could have possibly seen what happened was...

"Aria, what the hell happened?" Eric asked.

She stayed motionless for a few moments, most likely wondering if her eyes had deceived her in any way.

"I... think the darkness over the cathedral moved and somehow devoured the spider," she spoke, though there was doubt in her voice, most likely unsure if that was the truth.

"But are you sure?"

"No, the movement was so fast, it appeared like a blur."

Eric rubbed his chin, lost in thought for a moment.

"Well, I consider this good news," his sudden statement took Aria and Olivia by surprise.

"Good news? Why?" Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aria’s eyes suddenly narrowed, most likely realizing what Eric meant by that.

"It means that the guardian had been most likely awake the entire time we were here," she began.

"And didn’t attack us, even though we made noise as we talked," Eric finished, as he pointed at the buried entrance.

"So, I think we can safely blast away."

"Okay, I have to stop you here. We can’t be sure that it won’t be alerted by the loud noise," Olivia spoke as she hurriedly stood up.

"True..." Eric spoke as he walked a few steps forward. He took a deep breath and then—

"HEY, FUCK, I’M HERE!"

The guardian didn’t move a muscle.

Turning around, Eric glanced at Olivia and Aria, who were staring at him with wide eyes.

"See? No problem, let’s blast away!"

*****

Eric was honestly excited. He had yet to see what Aria was capable of now that she had become a Grandmaster.

So, seeing her blast through the rocks that obstructed the entrance was sure to be entertaining.

Sitting on the ground, his only regret was that he didn’t have any popcorn, but oh well...

Aria took a deep breath, then her foot dug deep into the ground as she summoned her sword and sent a ray of light forward with a slash.

The slash collided with the rocks and exploded.

After the dust and debris began to settle, a large hole was revealed in the wall.

Eric gulped audibly. ’Such destructive power, and this was done by a single slash,’ he thought.

He was pretty sure that if he took an attack like that, he would die in an instant. No matter how much he was empowered by his traits, he would be as good as dead.

Aria gazed at the sword in her hand, which shined brightly, seemingly surprised by her own strength.

And she slashed.

Dozens of times per second.

The cave began to tremble as it was about to collapse on their heads.

Not wishing to risk it, Eric and Olivia began to run towards the exit while Aria kept in the front, slashing dozens of times, creating an opening each time she did, making a path for them.

Eric wondered how deep underground they were. Now, he was about to find out.

He ran as the ground slowly began to curve upwards.

It wasn’t like he could know with certainty, but he could more or less estimate how deep underground they were.

"Five, ten, twenty," he counted the meters in his head as he ran forward, his palms pressed against his ears, trying to protect them from the loud sound of the explosions caused by Aria’s attacks and the constant shaking of the cave.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally managed to reach the exit.

Eric grinned as his eyes landed on the shining sun in the sky for a moment.

"About 250 meters underground..." he muttered.

It was going to be a problem every time they wanted to go in or out of the cave, as the entrance behind them had again been blocked by the fallen rocks.

But was it smart to go down in the first place?

That place seemed as if that weird darkness was in its own domain. Was it smart to fight the creature in its own territory?

Glancing at Aria, he saw that she wasn’t exhausted at all, despite creating so many powerful attacks.

Remembering his experience in the giant forest, Eric’s eyes suddenly shined with a darker shade of crimson.

"Hey, Olivia," he addressed his companion, "you can feel exactly where the cathedral is, right?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Yes, what about it?"

"Can you lead us to it, so we are directly above it?"

The confusion on Olivia’s face was evident, but sensing that he had most likely thought of a plan, she complied and led them forward, with Eric and Aria following.

While following her, Eric observed the trees.

They were now supposed to be in the center of the forest, and as such, the trees had grown colossal, about 500 meters tall. The only reason he was able to see the sun was because it was directly above him, in clear view.

After a moment, Olivia stopped and spoke.

"We’re here."

He glanced around, seeing that there was some distance between the place and the trees.

Almost as if they were afraid to grow on top of the cathedral.

Looking at the ground, he came to a conclusion, the soil beneath his feet was probably easy to get rid of. The problem was that beneath it, there would likely be rocks—hard and difficult to break through—and it wouldn’t be easy to move past them...

Or at least, it wouldn’t have been if not for a certain individual in the group.

With a grin, he turned his head to face Aria.

"Your turn."

She raised an eyebrow. "What am I supposed to do?"

"You remember how you managed to blast through the rocks to get us out, right? So..."

He pointed down with his finger.

"Do the same until we reach the cathedral."