Ailiya’s petite body plummeted downward.
Her ice-blue eyes glowed faintly in the darkness, the dynamic vision of Eagle Eye Art instantly locking onto Leo, who was descending slowly wrapped in a green glow like a giant light bulb, a dozen meters below.
‘Troublesome…’
Ailiya complained inwardly.
She had only wanted to be a quiet observer, closely evaluating the real combat strength and tactical coordination of this second-tier adventurer squad, but…
Recalling everything that had happened in the mine, Ailiya mercilessly gave the Wind and Moon Squad a failing grade.
In a structurally fragile abandoned mine, using a wide-range explosive sword technique to vent anger!
Even in the most critical task of protecting the employer, they could make such a low-level mistake, letting the employer fall into an unknown pit!
This group was even less reliable than those newbie players who recklessly pulled aggro just to steal DPS!
Ailiya bent her knees slightly and lightly tapped the rough rock wall twice with her toes.
Her falling speed suddenly increased, like a black lightning bolt, instantly catching up to Leo midair.
Ailiya reached out with her white-gloved hand and grabbed the back collar of Leo’s robe, stabilizing their descent.
The moment she grabbed him, Ailiya keenly noticed that this normally noisy, wannabe-cool young master was now limp as a noodle, without any sign of struggle or panicked flailing.
His breathing was even and steady, no external injuries.
Ailiya furrowed her brow and looked down.
‘Passed out from fear?’
She saw Leo’s eyes tightly shut, his head drooping limply over his shoulder.
‘Fainted?’
Ha, truly a hothouse flower.
Such a height and sense of weightlessness could make him faint? Where was that fierce determination he had when fighting goblins up above?
Ailiya mocked mercilessly.
And here this kid was boasting before they set out, saying he would show off his skills, but he couldn’t even handle a little accident.
Still, it was good that he fainted.
At least she wouldn’t have to listen to him screeching like a duck in her ear, saving her the trouble of calming him down.
A few seconds later, thud! The two landed firmly on the ground.
Ailiya held Leo by the collar and casually placed him on a relatively flat, moss-covered rock.
Hiss… The moment his back touched the rock, Leo’s throat let out an extremely faint tremor, but he quickly returned to his unconscious state.
Ailiya didn’t pay attention to that tiny movement.
She raised her head and began to survey the surroundings using her weak night vision.
This was an underground natural space several times larger than the mine shaft above.
The air was extremely damp and stuffy; water droplets seeping from the rock walls gathered into tiny dark streams, forming shallow puddles at their feet.
What caught her attention more were the scattered ore veins on the walls that emitted a faint blue glow.
Although not high purity, they were far better than the waste iron slag above, and there were faint signs of magic fluctuation.
‘We’ve reached the bottom level.’
Ailiya made a judgment in her mind.
She looked up and estimated the opening above that let in a faint light.
It was at least forty meters high, and the rock walls were extremely smooth.
If she were alone, she could climb up with her superior agility.
But carrying a passed-out deadweight made it extremely risky to force a climb without triggering a secondary collapse.
As for waiting for those idiots above to pull them up with ropes…
Ailiya pricked up her ears and heard the faint screams of goblins and Balke’s furious roars from above.
There were still remnant goblin forces to clear up there.
By the time they finished fighting, cleared the dangerous debris around the opening, and prepared a long enough rope, at least a few hours would pass.
‘Troublesome…’
Ailiya sighed helplessly.
She hated this feeling of passively waiting, wasting time.
Since she couldn’t leave for a while, she might as well explore the bottom area.
Having made up her mind, Ailiya took a blank sticky note and a charcoal pencil from her maid apron pocket and quickly wrote a short message:
[Have rescued the person. Only shocked and unconscious, no life danger. Do not act recklessly to cause secondary collapse. I will find a safe exit below or wait for rescue.]
After writing, she folded the paper and tied it tightly to the handle of a dining knife with a sturdy thin string.
Ailiya took a deep breath, locked her eyes on the edge of the opening forty meters above, and tensed her right hand before launching.
Swish! The dining knife turned into a silver flash, piercing through the air with a sharp sound, straight up to the forty-meter-high opening!
Above, inside the mine shaft where the collapse had just settled.
Balke’s eyes were bloodshot. Like a mad lion, he was frantically finishing off the goblin remnants that had counterattacked in the chaos.
“Die! All of you die!”
His great sword swung, flesh and blood flew, each strike carrying a violent wind blade.
“Miss! Brenda! Hurry! Find a way to get a rope down! The young master and that maid are both down there!”
Balke shouted anxiously while swinging, his voice filled with undisguised panic.
“Boss, no good! The rocks at the edge of the opening are too loose and still crumbling! There’s no safe place to anchor the rope!”
Miss was lying in a safe zone two meters from the opening, sweating profusely.
Just then, a crisp, penetrating metallic clash exploded by Miss’s ear.
Clang! An ordinary dining knife, with terrifying kinetic energy, flew over forty meters and precisely embedded itself into a hard rock beside Miss, the handle still vibrating violently.
“Holy shit!”
Miss fell on his ass in shock.
He focused and immediately spotted the note tied to the handle.
“Boss! There’s a message! Shot up from below!”
Miss scrambled over, pulled out the knife, untied the note, and shouted.
Balke kicked away the last goblin, strode over to Miss, and snatched the note.
After reading it, Balke let out a long sigh, as if drained, and plopped down on the ground littered with rubble and goblin green blood.
“It’s okay… it’s okay.”
Balke wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, a complex awe flashing in his eyes.
“Forty meters… even with my Slow Fall spell as a safety net, she managed to land safely with another person… What the hell kind of monster is she?”
“Boss, what do we do now?”
Brenda walked over with his bloodstained tower shield on his shoulder, asking in a deep voice.
“Do as she says. Absolutely no reckless moves.”
Balke stood up, took a deep breath, and his tone regained the calm decisiveness of a leader.
“Brenda, Sailin, go dismantle the abandoned tracks and thick wooden pillars nearby. We’ll build a triangular pulley system here.”
“Miss, clear the remaining enemies and expand the perimeter. Until we pull the young master up safely, don’t let a single goblin come here to interfere with us.”
Ailiya’s sharp hearing caught the fading goblin screams from above and knew that Balke and the others had received the message and stopped their reckless actions that might trigger another collapse.
She turned to look at Leo, who was still lying on the cold rock, sleeping soundly.
“Since I’m going to scout ahead, I can’t leave you here alone.”
Ailiya walked over to Leo, reached out disdainfully, and grabbed him by the back of his collar.
Then she swung him onto her back.
“As heavy as a pig. You must eat Chef Carter’s steaks all the time.”
Ailiya muttered under her breath, adjusting her posture slightly so that Leo’s hands rested on her shoulders to prevent him from slipping off.
As Ailiya moved steadily, her silver-white short hair swayed gently.
Then she stepped forward lightly, making no sound.
The soft strands of hair occasionally brushed against Leo’s cheek, carrying a faint fragrance.
Leo, lying on Ailiya’s back, his nose twitched almost imperceptibly, greedily sniffing.
Then, in the blind spot that Ailiya couldn’t see from behind,
this “unconscious” young master of Kastian could not help but curl the corners of his mouth upward.
A sly, even gleeful, triumphant smile appeared on his dust-covered face.
‘Hehe…’
Leo laughed madly inside, absolutely overjoyed.
‘Passed out? No way! I’m a man who can face an armored crocodile head-on! Though, when I fell, the sudden weightlessness did startle me so much that I screamed. But when I felt the protection of Balke’s wind magic and saw that black-and-white figure jump down to save me without hesitation, my heart settled down completely.’
‘At that moment, a somewhat shameless thought crossed my mind. If I pretend to be unconscious… she wouldn’t leave me alone in this dark pit, right?’
‘Besides, in travel stories, there are some fun scenes. A powerful knight loses consciousness for some reason, and a beautiful lady gives him treatment, even tender mouth-to-mouth. Hehehe… just in case?’
‘It turned out my plan worked. Although it deviated from expectations. I got a free “piggyback hug” from Ailiya, and I can feel her seemingly cold but actually soft touch and that reassuring fragrance up close.’
Leo closed his eyes contentedly.
The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but rise a bit more.
‘I wonder how long this clumsy act will last before it’s discovered…’
Lmaoo, good boy!