Chương 37: Hunted In The Mines

The night had changed to day. I don't know how much time went by or what happened to the others. Already in the morning I am under strong heat. I could barely move my body thanks to overloading my brain. I was completely wasted and now, thanks to this region's 38 Celsius heat, the sun constantly beat down on my open body. It shone its glorious heat on the bare rock at the mountain's edge. I was close to heat stroke.

So in order to reduce this shining brilliance on my back i took the first hour just crawling into a litte shade i could find on here to reduce the heat, it took 1 hour thanks to reckless undying will of mine i made it. Also just now, I barely recovered from my brain fog and got it back under complete control. I vowed to not use it anytime soon. That was too much of a double-edged sword. It has great power, though.

Not knowing what I did with that great power worries me, especially with the side effects which have clearly shown me that it can only be used in a sure-certainty end battle... not in a place full of unknown factors.

"I would have died yesterday?" I thought.

"Man, I don't even know how much time passed. I can't even climb. The rocks are so hot right now. The shade here is getting lower and lower as the sun moves. And on top of it all, the entire mountain is now under activity like never seen before." From the ground, with my side eye, I see a battalion and the guy who was chasing Jabare. My heart tightens with desperate hope as I scan the scene. I just don't see that bastard anywhere. Please… Michaelanius, please let him not have stopped his path foward.

I hope and pray with everything I have left that Jabare dusted that chasing piece of shit. If he did, I would be so glad. A wave of vicious relief washes over me at the thought. But then the fear slams back in hard. The real problem is Galer though. My chest aches when I think about him. I don't know how far he made it with the kids. Are they safe? The uncertainty is tearing me apart inside. And on top of all that, I still have to worry about myself as well. I'm barely hanging on here, burned, broken, and hunted.

Then, from an upper spot, a soldier recognized something on the place I was moving, which was me, but I did not know that just yet. With curiosity in his eyes, the soldier yelled. The guards started to climb up to check on the so-called sighting.

"Hey! Up there on the ledge!" one soldier shouted, pointing straight toward my hiding spot.

"I see movement! Something's crawling near the rocks!" Another soldier below him squinted hard, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"You sure? Could be a goat or one of those fucking Sycpta again."

"No, no look properly, you blind idiot!" the first one barked back, voice rising with excitement.

"It's a person, it could been their Scout whom they left behind!? The second soldier cursed loudly.

"Son of a whore… There is a potential Scout? Alert the others! Get up there now before he slips runs from there!" Boots started scrambling on the hot rocks as multiple guards began climbing faster, spears and swords clanging. Their voices carried clearly up the mountain.

"Alive or dead, bring him down! Captain Ugabsa will want his head for all the information he might have!" I could hear them getting closer. My blood ran cold, I knew "No my time's up. I've been found. I got to do it. I have to create a hole in their cave system." Perspective shift -Taharjian Force, Leader Ugabsa I got the news now... the sun-charged man got away. But at least I found out something valuable from the short exchange we had. That armor, that weapon style… it was unmistakable. A Chaddorian soldier.

One of their elite. The way he moved, the design of his gear there is no doubt about it. I immediately sent a vulture ahead to inform our liege of the situation, along with a full report of the mines and the dead. We lost 98 guards, 2 leaders, and 1 overseer from mines 1 through 12. One of them was Augabesa. I had heard of his bad reputation and wanted to punish him myself one day, but on the other hand he delivered the best results for those mines, getting the hard-to-reach tourmaline and holding the beasts back.

"Anyways… Houlzago, you are now the supreme guard of this operation. I will leave you one battalion. I will march toward outpost Magezup with the ores as scheduled." With that, Ugabsa turned and left with his men and the loaded carts. Right after he was gone, one of the surviving scouts came running, breathing hard.

"Commander Houlzago! We found a survivor near the eastern cliffside... a young man covered in blood, badly wounded, but still breathing. His armor… it doesn't match any of our forces. Looks foreign." Houlzago's eyes narrowed.

"Send two units to check the sighting immediately. If he's still alive, bring him in alive. I want to know who the hell managed to survive this mess." Changing perspective back to Erumes Thinking about the sounds closing in from below, I knew I had to do it. I had to pour my remaining energy and destroy part of the mountain as a makeshift entry back into the mines, otherwise they would get me. Even if I fought them off, I would eventually collapse from the heat alone.

If I remembered correctly, I had seen a bucket of water and some bread on the table from that asshole scum of a man. So I had to make a run back to that place, even at the cost of them finding out I was still here. With my Heart Flame at much smaller strength... indicating no full recovery while I was on the mountain my heart had some blockage, reducing the flame's heat scale to only one arm. In realization of that, I intended to sacrifice the left arm.

Punching with my current heat, using all I had of Animo, I created a hole with dust covering my entrance around me. The soldiers all around saw and witnessed the shake, now even surer of someone's presence here. They became alarmed and climbed with higher purpose to check. As I went into the tunnel, my left hand was completely broken. The pain didn't spike my cortisol level high because my brain was in pure survival mode, fizzling with the single tunnel-like thought: find water with the bread.

The heat was still bursting too much onto me... I was to long under its shinning guidance. The race for supplies began. Luckily I saw a number indicating Mine 12, seeing no active children, telling me they had finished their work and were most likely asleep. With even greater luck, I ran right, thinking of the house I was in not so long ago. My own mind wasn't at 100% everything felt foggy and distant, like I was moving through with a headache, but I still remembered clearly where that scum of a man had been.

The location wasn't far from here. There I found the place where I had fought and won, but the body was already gone. The entire building wall was destroyed, rubble scattered across the ground as if someone had quickly cleaned up the scene. I was surprised, they had moved fast. Yet sheer excitement surged through me at the thought of filling my growling stomach. I stumbled forward into the ruined space, driven by pure hunger and desperation. The half-eaten stale bread was still on the table.

I grabbed it with my good hand and tore into it with my teeth, chewing frantically. But what I needed most was the water. The bucket sat there, still half full. I plunged my face into it, drinking in desperate, greedy gulps. The cool liquid soothed my burning throat and cracked lips, spilling down my chin and mixing with the dried blood on my chest. I drank until I nearly choked, then forced myself to stop, I couldn't afford to get sick now. For a brief moment, the water brought a tiny spark of clarity.

My body still screamed in pain, my left arm hanging useless and broken, but at least the worst of the dehydration was easing away. The distant sounds of soldiers grew louder... boots on stone, shouts echoing through the tunnels. They were coming. I had to stop moving and hide my presence, so I hid behind the chair near his bed under a white veil, remaining completely still. As the sounds got louder, I could hear their conversation.

Though they ran past this building I had occupied, they were talking about checking the deeper sections. One hour gone by. I took the bed sheet and made myself a makeshift cast, holding the left arm in place. Now an even bigger threat came to light, the "unknown" with a broken hand in mind. At least the inner mine was cold and I could recover from the unbearable heat outside. Walking toward Mine 12, I hoped to find an exit with the least resistance.

Unluckily for me, it took a full hour until I found myself close to a small group of guards taking a piss on a smaller cave reeking of urine. Thinking of walking slowly by, I made a small noise, kicking a pebble from the cart line. That notified them. When they turned around to me at the same time, I was already running onto them, cutting them with my sword and chopping their heads off. Hearing no other sound currently around me, I wanted to run out and go further.

Yet again I heard a unit coming in from the left side. In response to that, I took the helmet and cape from one of the fallen enemies, roleplaying as one of them. With my smaller stature it wasn't the best idea, but I hoped that from far away they wouldn't think of me as the enemy they were searching for. That was my current plan of thoughts in my mind. As the unit then passed the piss cave, they shortly checked me out. One of the guards, a stocky man with a scarred face, narrowed his eyes and called out." Oi, you!

What the hell happened here? You see anyone suspicious run through? And what about the tourmaline... it's fully loaded already, right? Have you Guys feed the beasts again to hold them at bay, so they wont get outside the mines?" I didn't understand what he meant. Tourmaline? Feeding the beasts? My mind was too foggy, too exhausted to piece it together. I kept my mouth shut, heart pounding.

"......" The other two guards beside him grinned, clearly amused by my silence, but they hid their laughs, one covering his mouth with a fist, the other palming his face as he tried not to chuckle. The first guard grew visibly agitated, his face reddening. He stepped closer, raising his voice.

"Fine, ignore me then. I get you... You immature boys are all the same. The moment someone gets a promotion that in your guys' opinion he does not deserve, let's ostracize him. Let's go, boys." He hit the entry wall with his fist in frustration, then waved his men forward. They continued deeper into the tunnel, their footsteps fading. I let out a slow, shaky breath, the tension still gripping my chest. That was too close.

After this ordeal, walking deeper where soldiers came from, I found the cart line getting into a huge area, reminding me of the castle situation where I saw one of the 3 Emperors emerge. I hoped not for the same to happen again. But the full illumination from these red ores was the same as the one I had in my pocket. So this is where they are getting it from.

After 45 minutes of following the cart line, deep in hearing animal sounds and beasts alike, always in hiding before confrontation, I finally found a cart which was filled with the stones, but for some reason left behind. As I turned around I saw a huge beast with fangs in a dark color. I did not know what it was, but that shook made me fall on the cart. The beast swiped its claws on the cart, making it move with big momentum forwards.

With that fast motion and this beast hunting me from behind, its momentum gave me speed. I was so fast and made it through the incoming exit, falling on the ground with soldiers around me ready to grab me as they started to comprehend what was happening. Though the huge animal was running out of the mine following me and the cart. With bad reception of the animal making the exit, soldiers started yelling "Nooo!"

One of the guards even added, "As he saw the trap cart which was left behind to keep the animals in the mine is now here outside… meaning there is nothing holding it back in the mine anymore. The Gandolore is free!" The beast that burst forth was a nightmare given form a living sphinx known as the Gandolore. It had a shorter, fiery orange-brown lion's mane framing its head, while its massive body gleamed in a pale bone-white color.

Two long, powerful tails ended in thick tufts of fur, capable of whipping with devastating force. Protruding fangs filled its jaws, promising a bite force of over 3, 100 kilograms, and sharp violet claws, each twelve centimeters long, gleamed menacingly from its paws. Standing 4. 5 meters tall and 3. 2 meters wide, the creature radiated raw, primal fury as it charged into the open air. With its eyes now away from me and the shining cart, as the cart had fallen on itself, sealing the attracting light off it...

both parties started fighting against each other. I used the chance to stand up and run downwards, some guards following me. The alarm whistle sounded from their mouths. Fumbling on the running down part, I started to roll like a boulder really fast downwards, costing me dearly at the end of the road as I hit my back hard against the ground. The downhill ended with sharp back pain, but I still forced myself up on the heated ground and kept running toward the exit.

Remembering Galer had gone left, I ran with some guards on my tail, deciding I couldn't fight right now too many would flock down on me. It felt like a Run to Glory Part II, so let's show them what a third placer's stamina has in him. Running and running, with each ten minutes gaining distance on them, until thirty minutes later I lost them completely out of sight. Now the only opponent left was the hot, dry heat of the day which was shinning a hardcore brilliance of 45 °C.

As I was walking toward a left line in my head, the never-ending sand surrounded me with nothing in sight but dunes. Two hours later, a hallucination started to fill my delirious brain... an oasis appearing, and I fell onto the sand playing in it like it was a paradise hidden from the world. An old man found me, taking me to his place and offering mint tea. We drank together in silence, the heat still heavy on my sweat-filled body. I thanked the old man for this gesture with a weak nod.

Straight after taking refuge, I went to sleep on the old man's table, indicating a heat stroke. I was out of commission for one whole day. Awakening in the morning, I found the old man was gone. Thanking Michaelanius and praying for the old man's great journey and health, I turned around after leaving the estate and found him coming back from a walk. Running toward him, I asked if there were towns or villages around, trying to find someone. For the first time, the old man, Bahgda, spoke.

"There is only a village not far from here. I saw a man and some children walking there some time ago while taking my daily walks for my heart."

"Thank you, old man. You are a hero. Be seeing you." Bowing in a thankful gesture, I continued on. After some time, I found the run-down village with sounds of activity. There stood the currently restless and stressed Galer, acting as a guard, most likely thinking about leaving them or me behind. He knew leaving the children alone would be dumb after all the work we had made, it would turn everything back to zero, as they were incapable of self-defense currently and would most likely be caught again. He saw me.

Hugging me on return like he was seeing a ghost... which I was also very happy about this reunion with his squeeze hurting my broken arm.