"But in that case, wouldn't Levy and Gajeel have taken the only route left, the Tranquil Route?!" Lucy suddenly cried in delight, as though something had just occurred to her. "Haha! That's Levy for you! Talk about lucky—"
"Lucky, my ass—" Just as Lucy finished speaking and everyone was about to nod in wholehearted agreement, an angry roar suddenly rang out from afar—
They turned in astonishment to see Gajeel and Levy, both utterly disheveled and looking downright miserable, supporting each other as they slowly limped toward them.
"W-what happened to you, Levy?!" Coming to her senses, Lucy let out a startled cry and rushed over, taking Levy from Gajeel and supporting her herself. She carefully checked Levy from head to toe first, then let out a great sigh of relief when she saw that Levy seemed merely exhausted rather than actually injured. But confusion and anxiety immediately returned to her face. "How did you end up like this, Levy?! Didn't you take the Tranquil Route, the safest of the eight routes?!" Her concern was plain to see.
Seeing how anxious her good friend was for her, how much she still cared even during an S-Class promotion trial that temporarily made them rivals, Levy felt warmth well up in her heart. But once Lucy's last two questions sank in, she could only shake her head with a bitter smile...
"Ha, haha! We finally made it out of that damned hellhole alive, Levy—" Perhaps because they had finally escaped that hellish ordeal and survived, Gajeel was visibly overjoyed. He looked so moved that he was almost in tears.
Even though he was now completely out of danger, recalling the terrifying experience of that mere half hour or so still left Gajeel shaken and fearful! And he was not alone—Levy felt exactly