Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

Chapter 136: What Lurks In Caves

With all his upgrades complete, the sun had set, and the moon had risen before he knew it. Cyanide stood up from the grass he had been resting on and turned to Ragnar a few meters away, opening his mouth to speak, but then closed it again.

Partly because he wanted to see if Ragnar had the basic intelligence to recognize that it was night, but mostly because of his utterly ridiculous getup.

Ragnar's old stone armor was nothing like this. Now, his armor was made of some tough material made of snake scales, and layered with thick anaconda hide to keep himself warm while being able to release heat at the same time so he wouldn't feel hot.

It was a nice balance of protection and comfort for sure, but they hardly were up to Cyanide's standards of 'fashion'.

After a few seconds, the other man noticed Cyanide's gaze, and stood up as well with a smirk on his face.

"Well, well, well," Ragnar said with a chuckle as he flexed his new armor, forged out of Anaconda Scales. Cyanide didn't know where he got the Blueprint, but it must've been dropped by one of the many snakes this man had taken down. "What are you staring at? Jealous? Ah, but of course, I can't blame you. It does look fire, compared to your blunt ass black cloak. You look like a wimp, I look like a warrior."

"Like a reptile," Cyanide commented, before turning away. "Let's go. We have work to do."

"Fuck you," Ragnar said with a snort, then heaved up his greatsword up onto his back like usual and followed after the shorter man.

Neither of them took the other's insults to heart, of course. This bickering had become a daily occurrence for the two of them, and both accepted that subconsciously. Unknowingly, they had become a pair of comrades who could joke around and mess with the other while feeling natural about it. Calling them 'friends' would be too far, but certainly, their relationship wasn't as simple as that of 'nemeses' anymore.

Arriving before the tallest hill in this rainforest, Ragnar and Cyanide found themselves staring at a cave.

" This the place?" Ragnar asked, arching an eyebrow, as Cyanide gave a brief nod.

"Seems like it."

The herb list written by Envy said that Moonflowers dwelled within the secretest of places, deep within the heart of a cave. This was the location marked on the map, but certainly, under normal circumstances, there was no way a plant like Moonflower could grow in a cave.

Then again, though Anastasia was found in one as well, so it was possible in this world, they supposed.

"Man another cave," Ragnar groaned, sighing. "I didn't like what happened in the last one."

"The air of corruption is thin here," Cyanide said. "I doubt there is another Corruption Core in this cave."

"That's not the point," Ragnar muttered, rolling his eyes. "My point is caves are a bad omen for me now, and I just dislike 'em in general."

"Feel free to remain outside, then."

"Hmph. Like hell I'm gonna do thatthen you'll get all the Moonflowers on your own, and I'll lose the competition again, no?"

Cyanide shot him a sideways look. "What happened to not turning everything into a competition?"

"Ha! They are in my heartyou don't have to play along, that's all."

Cyanide didn't say anything further to that, and instead simply headed on into the cave. Naturally, he kept his guard up, using his aura sensing techniques to remain aware of any threats attempting to sneak up on him. Of course, just for double-protection, he used the [Radar] skill as well, in case more of those aura-less creatures created by the Corruption Core from a few days ago appeared.

Just a few steps in, however, Cyanide came to a sudden stop, and he tilted his head slightly towards Ragnar.

" Hey."

" What?"

"Your sword. Light."

Immediately, Ragnar knew what the assassin wanted him to do. But there was no way in hell he was going to just do what Cyanide wantedespecially not this.

"You want me to turn my sword, my life, into a torch? Are you fucking serious?"

"I am," Cyanide replied, voice as stone cold as ever just like the environment of this cave. "We need light, and you're the only source."

"Can't you just use your Lightning Affinity shit? That would be better light than fire."

"For about two seconds, sure," Cyanide said. "Unless you want me to use all of my Soulforce now, and leave all the fighting to you later if there is any."

"Urgh"

At this, Ragnar couldn't argue any further, and reluctantly used [Searing Edge] to light his sword up on fire and hold it up as a torch. This effect lasted quite the long time, so it would be far better in this situation than Cyanide's Lightning Affinity Soul Arts or anything of the sort.

" You owe me one for this, assassin."

"I don't owe you anything."

Ragnar opened his mouth to argue further, but suddenly, he heard the sound of something scuttling across the cave floor, and stopped in his tracks.

" What was that?"

Cyanide heard it too, obviously, and slowly crouched down on the ground, not moving an inch.

Skittle. Skittle.

There it was again. The sound of dozens of tiny legs scraping against the rock walls and ground, overlapping with one another and growing louder by the second.

It was then that Cyanide realized, and bolted to his feet.

"Turn off the fire, quick!"

"Wha- I can't!" Ragnar yelled. "Do you not know how this skill works? I can charge it with fire, but when it goes away is its own problem!"

"Tchthen there is only one option left: throw away the sword, and run!"

"Like hell I'm doing that! But the running part, sure!"

Saying that, he bolted forward into the cave after Cyanide, still holding his flaming sword as a torch.. The sounds of dozens upon dozens of scuttling insects raced after them, following the streak of orange light that disturbed their slumber.