Roy had no idea what was happening on the surface. He clung to the Lambton's tail, his lightning claws dug deep into its scales to keep from being shaken off. The Lambton was a super-large serpent capable of tunneling through the floors of the Dungeon. Its speed was incredible; in a heartbeat, Roy estimated they were three or four hundred meters underground.
He wanted to stop it, but the monster's stats far exceeded his own. He was like a man trying to stop a freight train by pulling on the caboose. As they dove deeper, the air grew thin. Roy's Level 3 lungs could hold out longer than a human's, but he had a limit.
Despair began to cloud his mind. Even if he stopped the beast now, how would he save Astraea? She was trapped in its stomach, and there was no air. If he dragged the beast to the surface, she would be long dead.
Roy's brain raced, fueled by the last of his oxygen. He refused to give up. The Lambton, sensing the passenger on its tail, slammed Roy against the tunnel walls. Soon, Roy was a bloody mess, his body riddled with fractures.
His consciousness began to fade. He reached for the system panel. Transfer to a dungeon world! He added Astraea as a teammate and picked a random world.
[Entered the Dungeon. Transfer?]
As he clicked "Yes," a new prompt appeared. It wasn't the usual warning he got in the Naruto world. It was a flat, eerie prompt that made his hair stand on end. Usually, a transfer was instant. This delay suggested that doing so within the Dungeon would trigger something catastrophic.
You better hope I never find out what happens if I transfer here! Roy cursed internally and clicked "No."
Then, he saw a sliver of hope.
Broken blades?
In the darkness, he saw shards of broken metal wedged in the rock. He remembered Cassandra's prophecy: "The light of the broken blade is hope." The shards glittered in the stone like a river of stars.
Heavenly Blaze!
Roy pulled the Spirit Holy Sword and channeled his mana into the rock wall where the shards were embedded. The surrounding magic particles flooded into the blade. A pillar of flame erupted, blasting open the side of the tunnel. To his immense relief, the wall gave way to a lush, green jungle. They were on the ceiling of a lower floor; the tunnel wall was less than a meter thick.
The explosion triggered a chain reaction, and a large section of the ceiling collapsed. The Lambton, caught off guard, plummeted into the floor below.
BOOM!!
The monster's massive body slammed into the dense forest, shaking the earth. Roy, using the beast as a cushion, avoided the worst of the impact. The Lambton, impaled by several large trees and likely having its magic stone damaged by the fall, disintegrated into ash, leaving behind a massive shard.
Roy scrambled off the ground, ignoring his broken bones. He spotted Astraea twenty meters away, unconscious.
He staggered over, his body screaming in pain with every step. He checked her vitals. No breath. No heartbeat.
His blood ran cold. If he was this damaged, Astraea—who had been swallowed and deprived of oxygen—was in grave danger. But he realized it must be a state of suspended animation; otherwise, her divine power would have triggered her return to the Heavens.
Roy didn't hesitate. He recalled every bit of first aid he knew. He performed chest compressions, then tilted her jaw back and pressed his lips to hers to blow air into her lungs. Her lips were soft and sweet, but Roy felt nothing but a desperate urge to save her.
As he worked, a rustling sound came from the jungle. Grotesque silhouettes emerged from the shadows—monsters of the floor were beginning to surround them."GET BACK!!"
Roy was livid. He had no time to waste on these pests. He drove the Spirit Holy Sword into the ground, pouring his mental energy into it without regard for the cost. The Heavenly Blaze erupted. With the two of them at the center, the roaring flames spiraled outward, incinerating the surrounding monsters instantly.
Roy focused entirely on the rescue—compressing her chest, performing artificial respiration, repeating the cycle over and over. He held his breath, terrified that a single moment of negligence would extinguish Lady Astraea's final hope of survival. As long as her divine power hadn't triggered, there was still a chance.
Her lips were ice-cold. There was no sign of breath from her mouth or nose. Since receiving his Falna, Roy had never backed down; he had fought his way through Orario and even dared to challenge the Freya Familia. But this time, he was truly afraid.
Don't you dare die!
Lady Astraea lay on the ground like a sleeping beauty cursed by an evil witch—breathless, still, and cold. Adrenaline had been coursing through Roy's veins for so long that his head grew heavy and his vision began to darken. He lost track of time, operating in a mechanical daze: compressions, breaths, grip the sword, unleash the flames to clear the area.
Finally, his efforts were rewarded. Astraea's long eyelashes fluttered ever so slightly.
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Danmachi : Starting with an Elf (388 Chapter – Ongoing)
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