Amivy froze, her brain failing to process the information for a moment.
But then, she heard another sound in the darkness nearby, not far from where she had responded to Ian.
*Rustle, rustle…*
*Huff… huff…*
It was the sound of something crawling and scraping against the ground, accompanied by low, greedy pants.
And there was more than one!
Amivy whipped her head around and saw at least four or five pairs of dim, red glints lighting up the darkness nearby.
They were all “staring” directly at her position!
That red light was cold, cruel, and filled with naked hunger.
‘Holy crap!! Kevin Caerslana!! You damned Masked Man! Are you actually plotting against me?!’
His loud shout earlier wasn’t looking for her at all; he was acting as a beacon for these monsters in the dark!
He was leading the monsters straight to her!!
“Kevin Caerslana!! You mother******!!!”
Extreme fear was instantly converted into explosive rage!
Amivy didn’t have time to think; her survival instinct overrode everything else.
Her Mana was sealed, and she had no idea where her sword had fallen.
Staying here meant certain death!
Amivy bounced off the ground.
Without bothering to check her surroundings, she picked a direction opposite the red eyes and away from Ian’s voice, then bolted!
She stumbled blindly into the endless darkness.
“Kevin! You bastard! Just you wait! When I get back, I’m definitely going to hang you up and thrash you!!!”
Her angry roars and threats, accompanied by the sound of her frantic footsteps, gradually faded into the distance.
In the darkness, those pairs of red eyes seemed to hesitate for a moment.
They wavered between the direction the “fresh prey” had fled and the direction where someone had just shouted “There’s food over here” before going silent.
Ultimately, the instinctive desire to hunt “fresh, moving prey” won out.
A denser series of rustling sounds erupted as the red eyes pursued Amivy.
After a long while, in a shadowed hollow of a rock not far from Amivy’s original position, Ian cautiously poked half his head out and listened.
In the distance, he could still faintly hear Amivy’s angry cursing and the sounds of her running, followed by those rustling pursuers.
He let out a small sigh of relief and patted his chest.
‘As expected of the Protagonist Hero, she always steps up at the critical moment.’
Ian felt no guilt whatsoever.
Amivy was the protagonist, after all.
Those few unknown “small-fry” monsters wouldn’t be able to kill her.
Perhaps she would even counter-kill them in a moment.
He, on the other hand, was just an “ordinary” bystander.
As for Amivy’s fury?
That was a minor issue.
They had to get out alive first.
How could a dignified Hero hold a grudge against a commoner?
Returning to the main point, he had been unharmed during the fall, just like Amivy.
However, his landing spot was slightly different from hers.
After discovering that magic could not be used here, Ian had a rough idea of where they were.
Combining this with the plot of Act I, they should currently be on the 99th Floor of the Abyss Corridor dungeon.
The good news was that Ian was now very close to the objective of his third Correction Mission.
The bad news was that he had to survive this Magic Sealing 99th Floor first.
Just as Ian was considering how to survive on this pitch-black 99th Floor…
*Whack!*
Something rough but hard pressed against Ian’s neck.
Following that, Amivy’s voice, sounding exhausted like a dog, rang out:
“Ke… vin… Caer… sla… na! Do you have any last words?”
Amivy had somehow crept back without making a sound.
She was currently standing beside him, holding a hard wooden stick about the thickness of a wrist that she had picked up from somewhere.
It was held firmly against his throat.
‘Man, the Protagonist Halo really is amazing!’
How long had it been?
Not only had she shaken off the pursuit of those Red-eyed Monsters, but she had also sneaked back to his side and completed a “counter-kill”!
“Your Highness Amivy, it is wonderful that you are safe. I am truly glad you overcame that crisis…”
Amivy was so frustrated by his reaction that she nearly lost her breath.
Who did he think caused the crisis in the first place?!
“Don’t you dare play dumb with me! What did you mean by that shout earlier?! Were you trying to feed me to those monsters?!”
“But aren’t you back now, safe and sound?”
He glanced at the wooden stick by his neck.
Amivy was speechless.
‘So this bastard really didn’t consider whether I lived or died at all?!’
Amivy gnashed her teeth, pushing the wooden stick forward another half-inch.
Feeling the discomfort of the stick pressing against him, Ian calmly pushed it away.
“Please do not be agitated, Your Highness. The most urgent matter right now is how to survive on this 99th Floor.”
“Humph! I’ll deal with you when we get back!”
Although she really wanted to give the jerk a kick, Amivy knew now wasn’t the time to settle scores.
They were likely deep within the Abyss Corridor, past the 70th floor.
Survival was the priority.
“Follow me. It’s not safe here, and… something is wrong outside.”
“Outside?”
“Stop talking and follow me!”
Amivy didn’t care to explain.
She turned and began walking in one direction.
Ian didn’t say much and followed her.
The two of them walked in silence for about fifteen minutes.
Gradually, Ian felt the environment changing.
The dull scent of sulfur and mold in the air began to fade, replaced by a scent that was… fresher, even carrying hints of plants and soil.
The ground beneath their feet was no longer pure, rough rock; it felt like soft sand.
Furthermore, the darkness ahead began to reveal a very faint, gray light.
Amivy’s pace quickened.
After turning another corner, the path ahead suddenly opened up!
Dazzling light flooded their vision, causing the two of them, who had grown accustomed to the darkness, to instinctively close their eyes.
It took a while before they could manage to squint and gradually adjust.
When Ian saw the scene before him, he couldn’t help but freeze, his mouth hanging slightly open behind his mask.
They were currently standing at the mouth of a cave.
Outside the cave, it wasn’t another underground cavern or a deep tunnel as he had imagined.
Instead, it was a complete, normal world!
Above their heads, there was no rocky ceiling, but a real, azure sky.
A few white clouds floated lazily, and a “sun” radiating warm light hung high in the sky, splashing its brilliance across the land.
Before them was a landscape of rolling hills covered in dense vegetation of strange dark purple and deep green hues.
A few odd-looking trees they had never seen before grew sparsely.
In the distance, they could even see a winding stream reflecting the shimmering light.
There was actually a brand-new surface world here!
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