Once everything was over, things quickly settled down. Xiao Yang had nothing much to do for the time being. Sometimes, going too hard wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Clearing out this huge horde of Skeleton Warriors should have been a long and challenging task, but Xiao Yang had spent three days fighting without sleep and wiped them all out. Now, he suddenly found himself with nothing to do.
He could wait for Myriad Realms Trading to process this huge haul, reap the spoils of war, and max out all his attributes. Then he could buy a set of climbing gear and see what lay at the end of the passage on the other side.
Or should he push farther ahead? Across this dangerous rope bridge?
In silence, Xiao Yang paced back and forth across the little square strewn with bones. If he wanted to play it safe, he should definitely rest here for a few days. But after spending days grinding and charging into battle, Xiao Yang was inexplicably restless.
He gazed at the rope bridge, stretched taut as a bowstring. "Maybe I should keep going?" he said hesitantly to himself.
He made up his mind. "I'll explore a little farther."
Xiao Yang planned to climb across and see what was on the other side.
Once he'd made up his mind, he went to the dangerous rope bridge and cautiously stepped onto it. It swayed beneath him. He had to admit, looking down at the deep, bottomless darkness made his heart beat a few times faster. Still, it wasn't impassable. After getting used to it for a while, Xiao Yang found that the suspension bridge was steadier and safer than he'd expected.
As his nerves settled, Xiao Yang gradually grew bolder and started crawling toward the other end of the bridge.
Of course, though he'd calmed down, his movements showed that he was far from composed or relaxed.
Clinging to the thick rope like a maggot, he slowly squirmed across the rickety wooden bridge. There was no helping it. Xiao Yang wasn't some parkour expert, and he'd never actually learned Lightness Skill. His increased agility only made his reactions and movements faster; it didn't mean he could suddenly scale walls and leap across rooftops.
At that moment, Xiao Yang's desire to learn some sort of wall-scaling, rooftop-leaping martial art reached its peak. It wasn't a question of whether it would be useful. At the very least, he wouldn't have to wriggle along like a giant maggot whenever he faced a situation like this.
Suddenly, the thick rope Xiao Yang was clinging to shook. He grabbed it in a panic. Fortunately, the swaying didn't continue, and the bridge quickly settled. Xiao Yang had avoided the fate of becoming airborne cargo.
But why did it shake like that? Was it the wind? Could there even be wind in this dungeon?
As he pondered, Xiao Yang suddenly realized something was wrong. That's right! Could there even be wind in this dungeon?! He jerked his head up and saw a black-robed figure on the other side of the bridge, raising something high above his head. What was he holding up? A battle-axe!
"Wait!" Xiao Yang shouted at this critical moment, but unfortunately, his cry changed nothing. The battle-axe came down. Fortunately, the blow didn't sever the thick rope, so Xiao Yang still had a chance. With no time to worry about anything else, he leaped up from his clinging, crawling position and charged at the black-robed man on the other side.
A dramatic scene unfolded. Neither Xiao Yang's movements nor those of the black-robed man managed to snap the thick rope. But the iron stake anchoring it gave way first.
With a piercing creak, Xiao Yang began a successful free fall. Of course, he was the one falling.
"Ah! Shit!"
The despairing scream of some unlucky victim of high-altitude cargo grew longer and longer as it echoed through the deep Underground Crevasse.
Just as Xiao Yang was about to hit the ground like a cannonball, he grabbed the thick rope that was falling alongside him.
The Adventurer's Armguard included gloves. Otherwise, Xiao Yang suspected he wouldn't have been able to hold on to the rope at all. As he fell, the rope ran out. One side of the rope bridge's anchoring stakes had snapped.
Xiao Yang was flung away. His desperate attempt to cling to the rope during the fall had been the right move. Though he hadn't managed to hold on, it had greatly reduced his speed before impact.
With a splash, Xiao Yang rolled around like a tumbleweed in a pool at the bottom of the Underground Crevasse. He kept tumbling until he finally came to a stop. When he crawled up from the ground, his health had dropped to a dangerously low number: fifty points.
He struggled up out of the muddy pool. Thank goodness, thank goodness there was water where he'd landed, with a thick layer of soft, wet silt beneath it. If he'd hit the hard rock, those fifty health points wouldn't have saved him from ending up with a Severed Limb status.
Wiping the mud off his Wraith Helm, Xiao Yang looked at the surroundings. He was in a damp basin filled with water, at the very bottom of the Underground Crevasse. It wasn't completely dark; crystals embedded in the surrounding cliffs gave off a faint glow, illuminating this underground world.
The noise from his fall had been loud. Something was coming toward him, and there were quite a few of them. They were coming from the water.
He'd landed safely, but his situation wasn't exactly secure.
The water was only a meter deep, reaching Xiao Yang's waist, but that was enough to hide the shapes swimming beneath the surface. The water around him began to ripple. Xiao Yang wasn't in great shape, and he didn't want to fight, but it was obvious he couldn't outrun those monsters in the water across this basin.
He couldn't panic and run. He had to beat back one wave of their attack before he could retreat safely. Xiao Yang quickly came to that conclusion.
Thank goodness, thank goodness he still had that little bit of Life Recovery. A green number popped up before his eyes, offering him great comfort. The creatures churning the water were getting closer. In the brief lull before the fight, Xiao Yang first gulped down a Health Potion, then took the Dark Dispelling Lantern from his waist and raised it high.
The flame inside the Dark Dispelling Lantern hadn't gone out despite being submerged in water. The light from the crystals on the stone walls was far too faint, and Xiao Yang couldn't fight very well in the dimness. Now, the flame on the lantern flickered more violently than ever before. It was warning him that a lot of enemies were approaching.
Xiao Yang gripped Justice's Condolence tightly.
There was no time to complain or regret anything. He had to get ready for a fight. Of course, if Xiao Yang managed to climb back up, he'd give that black-robed figure a good knock on the head. With love! He'd knock him with love!
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