An Unexpected Escape Route

"What's wrong? Say something!"

Only after following Hopp for quite a distance did Carl, slightly out of breath, ask why she had dragged her into a mad sprint.

Carl could see the urgency on Hopp's face and knew she must have discovered something, so she had done her best to keep up at first without asking a thing.

But they had already run a long way, and Carl's stamina was beginning to fail because she was wearing a full set of rather heavy armor.

"Phew... phew... The ones attacking this place are Graywall City's Ogre Warlord and a Mind Flayer Psion! We... we have to escape quickly, otherwise..."

At that point, Hopp stopped, leaving only the sound of her heavy breathing.

"Otherwise what?"

When Hopp suddenly stopped, Carl grew so anxious that sweat beaded on her forehead.

Was it against heaven's law to finish the rest of the sentence?

Hopp stared blankly at Carl, as if she had suddenly developed dementia and forgotten what she was about to say.

Carl froze for a moment, then immediately realized that Hopp had been affected by psionics again.

They had not scouted at all while running just now, so perhaps a Brain Eater had targeted them again.

"Damn it! Those disgusting things are seriously disgusting!"

Carl grabbed Hopp and slung her directly over her shoulder, then continued running forward.

To occupy someone's brain, a Brain Eater needed its target to remain still. If the target was moving, its Psionic Teleport could not lock on.

After running a little farther, the psionics from the Mind Flayer Tadpole allowed Carl to sense the Brain Eater's current location.

As someone parasitized by a Mind Flayer Tadpole, Carl counted as a "neutral" unit to Brain Eaters. So long as she did not attack first, they would not attack her.

And because the Mind Flayer Tadpole had fallen dormant right after completing its parasitism, Carl had gradually gained control over its psionic abilities.

When Carl reached the Brain Eater's location, she discovered that the creature affecting Hopp with psionics had been pinned beneath a huge boulder.

That was probably why it had been so desperate to control Hopp after noticing her presence.

Carl snatched up one of Hopp's hand axes and brought it down in a single stroke, chopping the Brain Eater into a pile of mush.

The instant it died, Hopp jolted on Carl's shoulder and awoke from her dazed state.

"Otherwise, we'll either be enslaved by the Mind Flayer Psion or sent by the Ogre Warlord to a processing plant to be turned into rations for the army!"

As she finished what she had failed to say earlier, Hopp blinked and asked belatedly,

"Was I controlled by a Brain Eater again just now?"

Carl set Hopp down, nodded, and returned the hand axe in her hand.

"The two you mentioned aren't good people?"

"Zhuomu doesn't have many good people."

Hopp gave Carl a meaningful look, then sighed, her expression complicated.

Zhuomu, also known as Monster Country.

Most of its inhabitants were humanoid monsters such as Minotaurs, Gnolls, trolls, and ogres. Many Tieflings had gradually migrated here as well because they were discriminated against by humans.

Judging by Hopp's expression, she was probably born in Zhuomu. She might even be from Graywall City.

With those thoughts flashing through her mind, Carl steadied herself and asked Hopp, "Where should we run next?"

Since neither side of the battle was made up of good people, the farther they stayed from them, the better.

Just as they were speaking, a violent tremor interrupted their thoughts.

The corridor ceiling began collapsing over a large area.

Carl reacted quickly, dragging Hopp beside the Brain Eater's corpse. The rock pinning the creature down shielded them from much of the falling debris.

The violent shaking continued, and with a loud crack, Carl and Hopp suddenly felt the ground vanish beneath their feet.

Because of the intense tremors and falling rocks, the corridor floor had collapsed!

"Hold on to me!"

Grabbing Carl by the collar of her armor with one hand, Hopp kicked off a nearby wall as they fell, sending them flying to the side.

The falling rocks gained immense destructive force from gravity's acceleration. When they struck the floor below, they smashed straight through it as well.

They punched through five or six levels in a row before finally coming to rest.

"This base actually has another level below?"

Only after the tremors gradually subsided did Carl gather the courage to peer down through the hole.

Compared with the floor above, the passageways below looked far cruder.

If the Mind Flayer base was a fully furnished home, then these lower levels could only be called tunnels.

"Those excavation marks might have been left by slaves the Mind Flayer controlled to mine. Stop looking. We need to get out of here quickly."

Without paying much attention to what lay below, Hopp looked up at the opening overhead and considered how to jump back up.

But Carl was still curious about the tunnels below, so she lay beside the hole smashed open by the rocks and peered downward.

Her hanging hair swayed slightly, and Carl faintly felt a cool breeze.

After the frantic run and battle she had just endured, it made Carl let out a relieved breath.

But she knew this was no time to relax, so she prepared to get up and help Hopp.

Wait! A breeze?

Air in underground caves usually did not circulate very well.

Yet Carl was certain she had just felt moving air.

Taking off her iron gauntlet, Carl wet her finger with saliva and extended her hand toward the hole below.

With moisture on her finger, Carl could sense the airflow more clearly.

"Hopp! Come here, quickly! There's airflow here! There might be an opening below that leads outside!"

Once Carl confirmed the presence of the airflow again, she immediately told Hopp about her discovery.

The battle outside was still ongoing. Even if they managed to get out, they would most likely be exposed to both sides' line of sight.

So rather than figuring out how to climb back up, exploring downward might offer them a better chance of survival.

And in Carl's view, these tunnels might have been a secret passage built by the Mind Flayer that had captured them, meant to make it easier for him to escape in a situation like this.

As for why that Mind Flayer was not using the tunnel to escape now?

That was not within Carl's considerations for the moment.

People at the end of the road always gave themselves a little hope, even if that hope was mixed with fantasy.

"Are you sure?"

Hopp also licked her finger and held it above the opening. Sure enough, she felt the airflow moving downward.

After struggling with herself for a moment, she gritted her teeth and turned to Carl. "Then let's go down and take a look. Even if it's a dead end, it's better than running around the base like headless flies!"

With that, the girl jumped down to the next level first, then tilted her head up, ready to catch Carl.