"Tick, tick, tick......"

The cave was dark, and it was impossible to distinguish time and space.

There was no dead silence in the heavy, oppressive darkness, with the occasional monster passing by and the rustling of movement, but it would soon fade away. Except for the sound of monsters passing by, all that remains is the sound of dripping water. The slow rhythm, the constant speed, the sound of dripping water echoed in the cave one by one, long and monotonous, as if it had begun to sound from the day the world was born and continued until the end of time.

A fierce and messy sound of footsteps, from far and near, disrupted the monotonous sound of dripping. In the dark cavern, two clouds of hazy light appeared from afar, shaking violently and moving rapidly. As the light moved, occasionally a ball of light suddenly hit the ground, but it immediately returned to its original height and continued to move rapidly.

"Whew, whew, whew......" Rachel ran wildly through the darkness. Fear gripped her heart, and even if Justin, her teammate and boyfriend, was right next to her, it couldn't ease her fear even the slightest. The chapped throat was like a flame burning, the two lungs that contracted violently were torn apart, her legs went from fatigue to numbness in the frantic running, and now she was almost unconscious, she fell countless times during the run, she hit the rock wall or the rock hanging from her head countless times due to panic, the blood flowing from her forehead blurred her eyes, she really wanted to stop and wipe it, she really wanted to just sit down and rest, but the little reason left kept reminding her that she could escape, the faster she escaped, the better.

"Yikes. Rachel let out a scream and stepped his left foot into a hollow in the ground, letting out a faint moan from his ankle. He struggled to get up, only to find that his left foot could no longer fully support the weight of his body, his steps became staggering and twisted, and his escape speed was reduced to the limit. Looking at his lover who also stopped beside him in horror, Rachel reached out and grabbed his lover's sleeve, and pleaded: "Honey, I don't want to die, don't leave me, I'm still young, I don't want to die yet, please, please take me away." ”

"Of course, of course. Gasteen was also panting violently, but he still held Rachel's two trembling hands in his hands, and whispered: "I won't leave you, don't worry, I will never leave you, we can escape in five or six hours, none of us will die here, I will help you go, I can't do it I can still carry you with you, don't worry, dear, we will definitely escape together." ”

"Thank you, thank you. Rachel's eyes blurred with tears, and he dimly saw the man he loved close to him, and a sense of happiness and security welled up from the bottom of his heart.

"Ahh

"I'm sorry, dear. Gasteen lost the warmth just now, and retreated a distance while kicking Rachel's leg, and said in a panic: "I lied to you, no one can escape if it goes on like this, and I don't want to die, we love each other so much, you must not want to see me die with you, please drag them down, I will definitely be able to escape." ”

"Bastard, you bastard. Frightened and desperate, Rachel crawled forward little by little with his hands on the ground, cursing loudly in his mouth: "Gastin, you can't escape, you will definitely die here, you will definitely die." ”

Gasteen ignored the curse behind him, and ran forward without looking back, and in the blink of an eye, the light representing his position turned around the corner of a passage and was no longer visible.

"Whew, whew, whew, I don't want to die, I don't want to die. Rachel gasped and crawled forward as he clung to the ground, his nails clasped against the hard rock, and blood soon burst out. But the intense survival ** masked the pain, Rachel continued to move forward unconsciously, letting his fingers leave blood marks on the ground: "I want to live, I won't die here, I still have a wish that has not been fulfilled, I will never die here." ”

Unfortunately, a few minutes had passed, but even with her best efforts, she had only advanced another five meters or so.

"Click, click. Slow, heavy footsteps rang out in the darkness behind them. Hearing this footstep, Rachel bit her lips nervously, and fear made her dare not look back, but sped up her crawling speed like crazy. Heavy footsteps, unhurried, step by step, like a death knell in the dark, kept ringing in Rachel's ears.

"I'm not afraid of you, you can't catch up with me, you can't catch up. Muttering lies that even he couldn't deceive, Rachel's beautiful face was soaked with tears, and his crawling speed was getting slower and slower. In the darkness behind him, the footsteps were still as unhurried as a cat playing with mouse, but they were always shortening the distance.

"There was light ahead, and there was a voice. A female voice that sounded like heaven in Rachel's ears came from a narrow passage beside him: "Do you want to go over and see? Mr. Pannis, is there any danger?"

"Help me, save me. Rachel desperately wanted to cry out for help, but the more anxious he was, the more his dry and aching throat could not make a sound.

Fortunately, another man's voice came in time, which made Rachel see hope again: "It should be other adventurers, we can meet and exchange information." ”

Since the female voice sounded, the footsteps behind her suddenly accelerated, but they quickly hesitated and stopped, and finally stomped their feet as if venting, turned around and hurried away, disappearing into the depths of darkness.

Hearing the departure of the demon behind her, Rachel completely relaxed, struggled to flip her body and turned her back to the sky, stared deeply at the dark dome, and for a while pain, fatigue, sadness, and hatred hit her at the same time, making her eyes faint for a while, and finally she fell into a coma happily.

――――――――――――――――――

"Hey, there's a guy lying here. Lina, who was walking side by side with Catherine, was the first to spot Rachel: "It should be injured, let Miss Ben check it out." ”

Although she said this, Lina didn't make any moves, and her close footsteps stopped, and she even entered a state of combat readiness. Catherine was also on guard, and the knight's shield, which had never been used behind her, was also taken off and held up in front of her chest, carefully approaching the unconscious Rachel step by step.

Catherine's attention was completely focused on Rachel, but Lina and Vivien, who leaned over, didn't look at Rachel at all, and kept paying attention to her surroundings until Catherine checked Rachel's body and whispered, "I'm in a coma." ”

"Mr. Pannis. Catherine raised her head and asked Pannis, who came over, "Is there any special reason for this in the cave?

"Nothing special. Pannis shook his head: "The biggest possibility is that it was wiped out by the monster attack group and ran out." ”

Miss Ben thought so, too. Lina walked over and squatted down to carefully examine Rachel's body: "Most of the injuries on the body are bruises, they should have been hit in the process of escaping, tsk, it was really bad." Hmm, the other injuries were actually caused by weapons, are there any monsters that use weapons?"

"Yes. Pannith looked at Rachel's injury, didn't know what he was thinking, and seemed a little absent-minded: "Demonize cavemen, demonize kobolds, both of these monsters use weapons." However, the kobold tribe is very far from here, and it should have met cavemen. ”

"Caveman?" Lina's eyes lit up, "Remember the commission we received?" Lisa was still Sally's one, and she said at the time that they had encountered a trochodyte commotion. ”

"Looks like they've met cavemen, too. Catherine nodded and knocked Lina: "It's called Lisa, don't be so rude." Mr. Pannis, are caveman commotions common?"

Pannis frowned and pondered, shook his head, and said: "The so-called caveman commotion means that the caveman will frantically attack live creatures to hunt for meat before the mating period comes, and save food for the next generation. However, it is far from their mating time, and there should be no caveman commotion. ”

"Look at her legs. Lina suddenly noticed the anomaly: "One foot is sprained and the other leg is broken." Even if her foot had been sprained here, she wouldn't have been able to run far with a broken leg before, suggesting that there had been a fight nearby. ”

"It's normal. Pannisa sneered, sarcastically: "Sometimes companions are more terrible than monsters. ”

Catherine glanced at Pannis, "Okay, don't mention this kind of topic." ”

"I'm just talking about her situation. Pannis argued: "It's just about this matter." ”

Catherine smiled helplessly, shook her head, and said, "But it seems to me that there is no companion who is more terrible than the terrible companion in your mouth." ”

Before he could say something, Pannis was suddenly stunned and sighed: "Now it can be confirmed that she did encounter a caveman commotion." ”

Catherine understood the meaning of Pannis's words and stood up sharply: "They're coming?"

"Yes. Pannis pointed to a wide passage large enough for three people to walk side by side: "I smell them. ”

Catherine frowned and glanced at the unconscious Rachel and gave the order: "Prepare to evacuate." If there is a fight, give priority to evacuation, do not get separated, do not fall into encirclement, and pay attention to ensuring the safety of the wounded. ”

"Wait. Pannis felt a headache: "Listen to what you mean, you want to take her?"

"Or else?" Lina looked at Pannis with a very contemptuous gaze, "You want a priest of a loving god and a staunch believer in chivalry to leave a girl who has no ability to protect herself here to fend for herself?"

Catherine looked at Pannis silently for a while, and said softly: "Mr. Pannis, I don't force you to join the battle against your will, but it is not difficult to provide a little protection for the wounded during the battle, and by the way, to provide us with some advice, right?"

Pannis lowered his eyelids and was silent for a moment, but still nodded, still pointing to the passage just now: "Don't evacuate." Demonized cavemen are afraid of death even in the midst of caveman commotion. So as long as they hold on here, inflict a certain amount of losses on them, and make them completely unable to see the possibility of victory, they will naturally flee. Be careful that they do not see any hope of victory at all. The stronger you behave, the more scared they become, don't plan to retreat, once you retreat, they will chase you until you are exhausted. ”

"Thank you. Catherine smiled, turned to Lina and Vivien with a triumphant look, and walked first to the hole that Pannis was pointing.