Chapter 149: Chapter 149:Déjà Vu [1]
Nothing had to be said as the five of us immediately followed the path until we came to the wall.
The green particles seemed to go straight through the wall, so it was clear that we had to break down this wall.
The question was how, though.
One single mistake could result in the entire cave collapsing, or just hitting the wrong portion would cause the entire cave to break.
Then, finding the path of green particles would be much harder when they were covered by rock and dust.
Well...I had some experience with this kind of stuff, didn't I?
Not saying anything, I stepped in front of the girls, who had stopped in front of the cave wall, and raised my hand, indicating for them to wait.
Peering at the wall with my eyes, I analyzed how it supports the cave's entire structure and found its weak points.
Hm?
Making sure I was seeing things right, I glanced away from the wall and back.
...this part of the wall didn't support the cave at all. brought-to-you-by-NovelFire
We could do anything we wanted to it, and nothing would happen to the rest of the cave.
This couldn't be a coincidence, could it?
Raising my right leg, I manifested a cover of corruption which covered my entire leg in a pitch-black substance.
As I swung my right leg back in preparation for a kick, I heard some people cry out behind me.
"IT" 'S COMING DOWN."
"HE'S GONNA BREAK IT."
"WHY DID YOU SAY TRUST HIM, RUBY!?"
Glancing back for a second, I noticed that Irene was already ducking on the floor while covering her head with her hands.
Thankfully, it seemed the rest of the girls had some trust in me as Lily, Alya, and Ruby remained standing, albeit with their wands ready in case something happened, and watched me with curiosity.
In a swift motion, I kicked my right leg forward, the outer-layer of corruption directly coming into contact with the wall.
The corruption layer, combined with my awakened strength, easily demolished the wall, turning it into complete rubble.
As expected, the cave remained perfectly fine, but behind the wall, a path was revealed that led deeper downwards.
Haven't I been in this scenario before?
Pretending as if nothing happened, Irene stood up before joining up with me and the other three girls.
Turning to face us, Ruby asked.
"...Is it really a good idea to just walk down some random path?"
Didn't I do that once?
Calming myself as I stared into the tunnel ahead, I confirmed there was no sense of familiarity with my eyes.
My eyes remember and see everything... so I couldn't have been in this tunnel or tunnel in a similar place before.
Walking past the group and into the tunnel, Lily replied from behind her back.
"Well, we don't have a choice, so yeah."
Nodding our heads, Alya and I followed her deeper into the cave while Irene and Ruby hesitated for a moment before following.
Seeing the path curve and turn in various directions and abruptly stop before continuing, a sense of déjà vu began to envelop me.
This path couldn't have been naturally made... it was too erratic and strange in its movement.
Since all of us wanted to escape the loop as fast as possible, we walked forward in silence, leaving me time to think.
Keeping one hand on a corrupted dagger I had just manifested, I began recalling information about the tree.
I did see something familiar when I replayed an image of the tree before it was destroyed in my head using my eyes.
In the distance, behind the tree, the Hajin Mountain range stood, my starting point and a very familiar location.
Realizing we had been walking for quite a bit without being sent back to the carriage, I stopped for a moment, prompting the girls to follow.
Without saying anything, I leaned against the cave wall before swapping bodies with my crow, which was in the outside world.
After flying to the location of the destroyed tree with the crow's body, I began flying toward our current location if we were above the ground.
Spotting Liam, Kevin, and Zach staring at the destroyed tree, I stopped for a moment, watching them crawl through the hole where the stump used to be and into the underground cave.
They would catch up to us soon enough, so I continued my flight towards our current location.
Although I couldn't see my current location as the ground was blocking my body from the crow, I counted the steps we had taken from the underground step.
Thus, I flew from the tree stump in the direction of the tunnel using the same exact distance.
However, just as I was approaching the distance I had calculated, the world around the crow suddenly distorted.
As soon as the space restabilized, the crow was in the sky... right above a flipped carriage and near a waterfall.
We had escaped the loop... but somehow, the loop was still active.
Keeping the crow above the flipped carriage, I returned to my body, immediately seeing all of the girls staring at my slumped body with angry and confused expressions.
Grabbing my arm, Ruby pulled me up before sarcastically saying.
"Are you really sleeping at a time like this?"
Staring at me, Lily asked.
"So, what did you find out from whatever that was?"
I guess they had figured out that my fainting three times in a row wasn't a coincidence.
Contemplating my answer for a moment, the memories of the waterfall village instantly popped into my head.
If I told them that we escaped the loop... they would leave immediately, wouldn't they...?
Then... what about the still active loop.
But the loop was still active, and those children were still gathering water relentlessly without even realizing it...
As the sound of Liam, Kevin, and Zach's footsteps reverberated through the cave and reached our ears, I shook my head and replied.
"Nothing."