CHAPTER 45: Escape the bandit town part 2

"Tenderize," I whisper my skill as I jump towards the incoming wave. I hear shouts behind me as everyone call out my name but I didn’t have any time to think. The waves are moving at such a speed, it’ll reach us within less than a minute. Right when I got close, I starting punching towards the wave but my attack just went through the water without making any impact at the speed of the wave.I jump back towards the entrance and I notice Daikichi runs towards me.

"Item bag." I grabbed my back and quickly took out two swords. "Heaven's slice!"

Both my sword glowed and gave a vibrating hum. Using both swords, I swung down towards the wave and my attack went soaring straight at it. The impact cut the wave in half but the water joined back as if it was alive.

"Everyone! Get inside!" I shout and we all ran in towards the hallway. I see one run out and grab a shield near the entrance of the hallway. Once we're all in, I quickly close the door and darkness quickly engulfed the hallway as all the torches were taken out earlier. I braced for impact as I listen to the gush of water coming our way from the other side.

"Yasu! We need light!" Daikichi says and I quickly called out my item back to take out a stalactite.

"Kid, Stand back!" I hear someone shout behind me. I move away from the door and he throws his shield at the door while chanting something. Light escaped the corners of the shield as it floated vertically.

"Everyone push!" Daikichi shouts as he pushes the shield towards the door and we all followed through. Good thing it opens inwards or else we wouldn't be able to push it from our end.

"Brace for Impact!" I shout as I tightened all my muscles to make my body rigid and leaned myself forty-five degrees towards the shield. In reality, I'm probably the only one that has enough strength to hold out so I push as hard as I can.

BOOM!!!!

The door shook and it felt like a bull ran full speed toward the doors almost making me fly back. Some of the people behind us fell back from the impact but I pushed as hard as I can and felt like I would pop a vein from exerting myself. The pressure of the water was strong enough to start damaging the door as I hear it crack and water started leaking from it covering the ground with quickly. But the pressure slowly pulled back and was gone in an instant. We still kept pushing until the force field disappeared and we came crashing into the door breaking it into pieces. As soon as I look up, I see the whole town and each and every building was either in pieces or completely destroyed due to the wave. The lights have turned red and it dimly lit the area. I hear a siren going off from a distance that resonated through the whole base. The walls erupted in multiple spots as water blasted through slowly filling up the town drowning each and everything in its path. As I stood up, I feel the water was around my ankle slowly rising reaching up to my angle. It's freezing cold as if someone placed a bunch of ice around dropping the temperature.

"Guys! Hurry! Go now!" I shout towards everyone and they all started screaming pushing each other inside the dark cramp hallway that leads to our only exit. Even though they're moving as fast as they can, the water is gaining on us at a much faster rate. I can see everyone from our group regret being in the back since we'll be the last to leave. Even when we tried to force our way through, we couldn't. There were too many people and it's making me want to kill all of them to just get through. I held myself back as I'm with Kana and Daikichi. I see everyone from the back look worried as we wait for people ahead to leave.

"T-t-there won't b-be another w-wave right?" Lisa asked as we slowly approach the exit. The water was so cold it's making us shiver even if it's only submerging our legs. It felt like ice.

"I-I hope not," Kana says as she gets close to Daikichi trying to warm each other. "Y-y-Yasu. Y-your arm."

I look at my arm that's soaked with blood as the wound gushed out more blood after pushing the door. With the entire hectic event’s, I completely forgot to eat a piece of meat to heal myself.

"It's fine," I tell her and even though she just nodded, she still looked worried along with Daikichi who's staring at the wound. "G-guys f-focus on walking. W-were almost there."

I felt my body shake and I started shivering. I took out my dimensional bag and grabbed a dagger and a piece of meat out of it. I took a bite out of the food quickly devouring it before calling out my skill. The dagger glowed red before bursting into flame. I took out a few torches I stored in my bag. The heat coming from the torch helped warm me up for a bit but my shivering never stopped. I lit a few more torches and handed them out trying to keep them from having hypothermia. It took a few minutes but once we finally got close enough to see the lift, I saw it go up bringing people above ground. Then it'll go back down as two guys frantically spin the wheel in the middle of the elevator as fast as they can. Not everyone can get on due to the lift needing space in the middle to able to turn the wheel. The elevator would go up, then back down. They would collect more people and rush back up top again with the help of the new passenger to turn the wheel.

After a couple of minutes, the water has finally reached our waist and it feels worse. Now it feels like we're treading in shallow waters of the Arctic Ocean. It was so cold I could see my breath like I'm in a freezer. Everyone is shivering and a couple of people hugged each other to prevent themselves from freezing to death while I try to keep the flame on my torch lit. I feel my wound slowly healing but the stinging sensation never got better.

"Y-y-Yasu. Y-y-your wound-." Daikichi says as he looks at my arm.

"I-I-I-I n-n-n-need t-t-o h-heal it," Kana says as I hear her voice vibrates due to her lower jaws rapidly shaking.

"I-Its fine. It’s s-slowly heal-l-ling.” I tell her as I stop her from coming close and I tried to give her a smile. She gave me a nod but I can see her staring at my wound for a good minute before turning around.

After a couple more minutes, it was finally our turn. As we approach the closed gate of the elevator, I can see a hole in the left side of the wall. Peeking in, I see the mechanism of the elevator as cogs hugging each other and three wires that probably functions the levers. The wire in the middle was tied together making it look like a mountain climber's knot. Whoever did it know a good amount about it since it looks stable enough to carry people up the lift without it coming undone or snapping. The wire they used to tie it together was actually longer than what they needed and they looped the extra wire out the hole and didn't bother cutting it. The hole is halfway filled with water and good thing the mechanism of the elevator doesn't run on electricity or else it would short circuit preventing it from moving at all.

"W-w-will that hold?" Daikichi asked and I just gave him a nod.

"If they are able to bring people up and down, it should hold out," I reply to him but I can't help feeling worried also.

It has to hold out.I say in my mind as I see the elevator slowly descend approaching us.

As soon as it reached towards us, I can see the two guys that have been going up and down is completely exhausted. Why they didn't switch with anyone on top beats me. We quickly got on the lift but there were too many people as there are other people with us beside Daikichi and his group, Dorang and the two I bought earlier.

"Fuck, shit." One of the guys who tried to turn the wheel couldn't. There was no room for the lever to turn.

"S-somebody got to step out." The other guy said and no one said anything or did anything. Since I was near the entrance, I stepped out and I felt someone grabbing on my shirt. I see Kana holding on to it looking at me.

"It's ok, once they bring you all up, I'll come after," I tell them as I tried to close the gate but Daikichi stopped me as he quickly got out also.

"D-d-don't worry, I-I-I-I'll b-be with him a-a-and m-m-make s-s-sure he d-d-doesn't get in trouble," Daikichi says joking around and I smile a little.

"S-Suit yourself," I say as I close the gate.

"Y-y-y-you two b-b-be c-c-caref-f-ful!" Kana says as her shivers and we both just nod towards her.

The elevator started moving up slowly as the two guys inside turn the lever with the help of Dorang and the others. We watched them go up and somehow I felt relieved knowing they'll be safe in a few minutes.

"S-s-so, when did it start?" I asked as I watch the lift go up and up until its barely visible due to the darkness above us.

"S-s-start w-w-w-what?" I hear Daikichi stutter due to the cold water.

"Y-you and K-kana. I-I-I p-p-prayed e-e-everyd-d-day f-for it to h-h-happen when I-I-I was b-b-back at e-earth." I tell him trying to complete my sentence. I look at him and smiled. He looked at me and he started chuckling, which made me chuckle and next thing we know we're both laughing.

"Hahahaha, I-It h-h-happen w-wh-"

SNAP!

I hear a loud snap and the water near the hole erupted. I hear screams from above us and as I look at the hole, the wire was unraveling itself as the elevator pull the spool upwards that's underwater. The wire didn't snap but the metal where it was tied to came off the ground.

"Shit! I sprung forward quickly grabbing the wire. I didn't have time to think but to try and stop it myself. I feel Daikichi pull also but the wire tore through my palm as it burned my skin.

"Ah! Fuck!!" I wince gripping the wire more and I feel it tearing my flesh. "Chef's coat! Daikichi! Grab the end of the wire and loop it around my waist before it completely disappears!"

Due to the adrenaline, my shivering has stopped. I had no choice but to use myself to try and stop it from descending. There's no area for me to tie the rope and it's going down too fast that the spool of wire will be gone in a couple of seconds. Daikichi quickly got underwater and grabbed the end of the wire and tied it around my waist as fast as he can. I see him tie it into his waist and we both brace for impact. As I look up, I see the elevator quickly coming down as screams got louder and louder.

"Daikichi! Brace for impact!" I shout as I readied to grip the wire with everything I got. I left everything to luck. I'm hoping that my skill will help me along with my superhuman strength but there's a chance that this might rip Daikchi and me in half killing us. But if they die here without me doing everything I can, then I’m no good as those who left me behind to die.

I, I will not be like them! I shout in my mind as I gripped the wire as hard as I can and pulled on it. I felt my body propel forward but I used my foot to stop myself on the wall as my hands go through the hole. The wire slipped some more but I felt it slowing down as I gripped harder. It feels like my arms would dislocate and rip from my body for a brief moment but the pressure eased as the elevator came to a slow stop. Using my strength I gripped the wire more as I held it in place. Somehow it doesn't feel as heavy as I thought it would be but my palm stings so much that it's making me sweat as the pain is unbearable. I look up towards the elevator and I see it a couple of feet above us. I slowly ease it down the ground and the minute I let go of the wire, I fell towards Daikichi who's been pulling me trying to help. I notice how much wire I had left and if I didn’t stop the elevator, they would have kept going down till they crash on the bottom.

I felt like all the energy was briefly taken out. The water in front of me was slowly turning red as blood leak out of my hands. I feel like passing out but if I do, I'll end up drowning.

"Pwuah!!" Daikichi emerges from the water coughing and I can notice the water level reached up to our chest. "Is everyone alright?! Kana?!"

Daikichi runs towards the gate forgetting to un-tie us and we both came tumbling down. He probably forgot he was tied to me as he dragged me back underwater. We both emerged out coughing and I can feel him frantically untying himself before running towards the gate.

"Well gee thanks, my hands seems fine. Thank you for asking." I mutter as I see him trying to raise the gate but he was too weak to even lift it off the ground. I walked towards him and using one hand, I lifted up the gate which only came up halfway as the broken hinges prevented it from going all the way up. Daikichi runs in to check on everyone.

"W-w-were alright. I-I thought w-we was g-going to die. H-h-how did you guys stop it?" Kana asked as she looks at us and her eyes went wide as she sees the water around me that turned blood red. Blood trickly from my palm towards my elbow as I held the gate up. I emerge my other hand from the water and I hear a gasp as the condition of my palm would make people faint. The skin and flesh were completely ripped apart as the wire burned through it showing my bones.

"Y-Yasu! Your hands!" Kana shouts as she frantically tried to get near me. I felt pain but the adrenaline that's still pumping through my veins somehow acted as anesthesia.

"It's alright," I tell her smiling at her and she somehow got mad at me.

"All right?! How can this be alright?!" She shouts at me before submerging herself in the water, as the water level is higher than what the gate can go through. I see her submerge on my right as she wipes the water off her face, which I felt bad because the area around us is full of my blood. She quickly placed her hands over my hand trying not to touch it.

"Heal!" She shouts and a faint glow appeared around her hand. I felt a warm sensation but I guess her skill was too weak, as it had no effect on my wound. "Come on! Heal!"

"K-kana, I-Its fine. I can heal myself." I tell her as she grabs my wrist when I pulled away.

"Heal yourself? This is not s-s-something you c-can p-put a-a b-bandaid on! Y-your s-severely w-wounded!" She shouted at me and I guess it would look severe for someone who doesn't know my abilities. I felt happy she’s getting mad but if I don't fix myself right away, I might pass out due to blood loss.

"Item bag," I whisper and my bag appeared dropping onto the water. "C-c-can you grab my bag?" I say to Daikichi who emerged out of the water next to her. He quickly grabs my bag underwater and lifted it up towards me. I told him to open it and I slid my hand inside grabbing a piece of cooked meat.

"Y-Y-Yasu! Now is n-not the t-t-time to eat!" Kana shouted at me but I kept on munching at it until I felt something hit my stomach.

"I-I-Its t-t-the w-w-way I-I-I heal," I tell her as I show her and she noticed my hand slowly heal until it stopped still leaving me with a big open wound on my palm. "I-i-it wi-will t-take time."

I placed my hand again to take out a piece of shirt. My whole body is shivering making me stutter while I speak. I took out a sword and told Kana to use one to cut the shirt so I can bandage my hand. I felt the sting of the wet cloth as it touches my open wound but the coldness of the water is helping me numb my hand as I submerge it.

"Fuck. The lever is broken!" Dorang says as he tries to fix it together but the wheel that brings the elevator up and down have been completely smashed to pieces as the elevator descended earlier.

"W-w-what now? I-I-I-I don't want to die here!" One of the escapees that came up with them shouted non-stop as he frantically tried to climb to only fall back down into the water.

"Help! Somebody help us!!" Another one shouted and they all followed as if someone would just rappel down to save them.

Think! Yasu! Think!I say to myself as I look around to see if there's any other way we can bring the elevator up. I notice the water have risen to the point it's submerging our jaw and I don't think it's going to stop anytime soon.

"F-f-fuck, I have no cc-choice. K-K-kana. D-Daikichi. Go b-back in t-t-the elevat-t-tor. I-i-I g-got a-a p-plan." I tell them and they nod as we walked near the gate. Kana swam underneath first to emerge on the other side while Daikichi came after her.

"O-Ok y-Yasu. Y-your t-turn." Daikichi tells me and I just smiled at them. I suddenly grab the gate and slammed it down the ground as hard as I can.

"H-h-hey!! What are you doing!" One of the escaped slaves says as he sees me trap them all inside a broken elevator. "Y-y-your trying to kills us!"

"S-s-shut the fuck up. G-Guys! W-we'll meet outside!" I tell them and I grabbed the wire near the hole and using my strength, I pull it. "Agrhh!"

The elevator started moving up as I pulled the wire. I picked up heavier things than this and it's a good thing they're anorexic or else I would have a harder time to pull due to the extra weight. But since most of them are stick and bones except Dorang, I managed to move the elevator up with only a little bit of difficulty.

"Yasu! Stop! What are you doing?!" Daikichi shouted out but I kept pulling until I couldn't see them anymore. I had a hard time stopping it since they descended down so quickly but now that I notice, I can easily pull them towards the surface. I feel the water rising near my nose so using all my strength; I pulled the rope as fast as I can before I get completely submerged.

"Ugh!!! Come on!" I shouted as I pulled and pulled what seems like forever. I felt my palm sting and I can see the cloth over them is turning red as I pulled on the elevator until I felt it was blocked by something.

I guess they're in the top. Now, how do I stop this thing from going back down?I say in my mind as the water completely covered my mouth making me taste my own blood.

I noticed a large piece of metal debris from the elevator and using my foot, I pulled it towards me. I tied the rope on it and jammed it near the hole. It held it in place as the metal was thick enough to not bend.

"Shit!" I almost drank some of the water, as I was completely submerged with only a little bit of room to only emerge my mouth to get air. I took in as much air as I can and dived back down. I pushed myself towards the other way to exit out of the hallway back into the bandit town. The minute I see red hue above me, I quickly emerge to catch my breath.

"Pwuah!" I coughed out little bit of water that got into my lungs. I swam towards floating debris and held on to relax as my arms felt tired from pulling the elevator. "Fuck, how do I get out of here?"

I looked around and saw nothing but debris floating towards the surface of the water. I look back where I came from and the hallway is completely submerged.

"Dammit!! I didn't think. I should have cut up the top of the elevator and used the water to bring us to the surface. Fucking hell, I'm becoming really stupid." I hit myself in the head as I noticed a better plan than trying to be a fucking hero and pull the elevator up with my bloody hands. My head started hurting and I hit it more to subside the pain. After my headache calmed down, I swam towards bigger floating debris to rest my legs.

"Only one way out of this shit," I whisper remember the section where the auctioneer brought us where light entered from the top. "If a light is coming in from there, it means there's a hole that leads outside.

I quickly swam towards it dodging debris of buildings. I was so high up that below me seemed too dark to see. I took out my dimensional bag and grabbed a couple of stalactites to illuminate what's below me. I watched the stalactite fall towards something and when I got a better look, it was the guillotine. I swam my way towards where I think the entrance to the back door of the auction house. Dropping a couple of stalactites below me, I managed to find the back entrance towards the auction house. The red light that's above the ceiling has gone out and the siren has died as water probably submerged the control panels for it. The only light source I have now is the stalactite I left near the guillotine and the one I dropped below me. The whole place left an eerie feeling as silence enveloped the submerged bandit town. The water is pitch black that would make people imagine the worst monsters lurking below the surface of the water.

"I-I-It's a-a-al or n-n-nothing," I whisper to myself, as I can't stop shivering due to the water feeling like it's ice. I took a deep breath filling my lungs with as much air as I can and I dove down towards the stalactite grabbing one as I reach the ground. As soon as I got near the entrance, I swam towards the dark hallway using the stalactite to illuminate my way. The whole place was so dark that the only light source I have is the stalactite in my hand, which is making me worried. If there is light coming from another side, I should have been able to spot it from a distance but all I'm staring at is the dark. I swam as fast as I can since my breath is starting to run out as I slowly release air bubbles giving my lungs some movement. I came across the corpse of the bandits I killed earlier and seeing them in the dark water floating around doesn't make it feel safer. I quickly swam past them and as soon as I hit the wall, I quickly swam upwards.

"Pwuah!" I took a breath and hugged the wall as I tried to relax my breathing. "Fuck, is it night outside? Why is it so fucking dark above?" I whisper as I look up. All I see is darkness. I threw a stalactite upwards but nothing. The stalactite came back down and landed on the water. I watch is slowly submerged toward the bottom.

"What the hell, well whatever, let me just wait for this to fill up. It should bring me back up top." I whisper as I wait around for the water to rise.

I've waited and waited. It felt like an eternity and I decided to take out another stalactite and throw it up above. Still, the stalactite went up but descended back down landing in the water.

What the fuck, I should have been closer to the surface now. I whisper in my mind as my shivering got worse is making it harder to even form a proper sentence. I watched the stalactite slowly submerge itself only to land next to the one I threw earlier.

"W-w-wait a-a-a min-min-minute," I whisper as I look at the two stalactites. The one I threw earlier never moved. If this area filled up with water, I would have been at a much higher place by now but the stalactite seems to still be at the same distance. "I-i-item b-b-bag."

I quickly caught my bag and took out a dagger. I marked the wall where the water line is and waited for a couple of minutes but nothing. The waterline never moved past beyond my mark.

"y-y-y-you've go-g-g-got t-t-to be k-k-kidding m-me!" I quickly took out two swords from my bag and aimed down towards the water. "Sky kings wind!"

I brought down the sword under me and it erupted sending me flying only for a brief moment. As I got closer beyond where my stalactite reached earlier, I saw a glimpse of it. A lid. They covered the hole with a lid trapping all the air inside. That's why the water never raised. There's no way for the air to exit out of this place and an air bubble formed here preventing the water from rising.

"Assholes!!" I cursed out the bandits as they thought of every scenario. I fell back into the water and I was sent straight down the bottom and using the momentum, I lodged my sword on the ground and held on to it preventing me from resurfacing. I held my breath for a minute to position myself and I prepared to set off another skill.

"Dragon’s breath!" I shouted my skill and talking underwater made me swallow a bit of water. My sword glowed and started heating up the water creating bubbles that escaped up the surface. Thanks to chef's coat, I can't be boiled alive and I kept screaming over and over again to keep my sword glowing as it created more bubbles releasing steam into the air. If I create more steam, the hot water will become condensed under the cold layer of water above. If my theory is correct, the lid will be blown off due to the collected steam and the minutes it comes off, this whole area will explode upwards like a geyser.

I held onto my sword as bubbles covered the area trying to escape to the surface. I heard a loud muffled bang above me and I tensed my body as I slowly lift up with the water. My body was propelled upwards flying at a speed I can't even control. I went soaring up towards the sky as the sunset gave me a warm feeling after being trapped swimming in ice freezing water.

"Hahaha! I’m out!!" I shout as I start descending down towards the forest below. "Chef’s coat!"

I activated my skill right before I landed on the ground and I could feel the impact as I fell from a height most likely people would die from. The impact shook my brain and I was knocked out cold.

.

.

.

I was woken up with my body being rocked back and forth as if somebody is shaking me violently. I hear a faint voice but I could hardly make out what it is or who it is.

"Yasu! Wake up!" I suddenly opened my eyes and I see Kana crying as she held my hands. Another person tries to heal my bruises and scratches and I recognize her as one of the adults that came with Kana. The minute Suyeon sees me wake up; she hugged me tight making me lose air. I tapped for her to let go but she just cried and cried. I just lay there relaxing my body as it felt like I was used as a punching bag. After Suyeon has calmed down, she slowly sits back up and I can see people surrounding me. Most of the ones I know like Kana, Suyeon, Daikichi are all in tears.

"Ugh...my head," I say as I feel like my head is splitting open. I slowly sit up and Daikichi helped me balance myself, as I feel much weaker than usual.

Ugh, …what’s going on. I never felt like this before.I say to myself as my arms feel like it takes too much energy to even move.

"Yasu! Don't ever do that again!" I see Kana cried more and the one girl named Lisa as I remember goes to stroke her back comforting her.

"Yeah man, what were you thinking. We thought you died. We tried going back down but the elevator won't budge. We thought of destroying it and right before we do, a geyser exploded from a distance and we saw something come out of it. We searched for you all this time and good thing we found you before it really got dark. You damn bastard don't scare us like that again." Even though he's mad, he still held me up as I struggle to remain seated.

"Me? die? I came back from death twice. Dying isn't really my thing." I tried speaking some more but my throat was so dry it's making me want to gag. "Item bag."

I indicated to get my bag and Suyeon ran for it opening it in front of me. I place my hand inside and took out a water container and gulped it down to ease my dry throat. After calming down and regaining a bit of my energy, they helped me up and we walked towards a safe looking area where we can see around us. Bandits might have disappeared but, it’s never too safe to be sure.

"Where's everyone?" I asked as the only people surrounding me is the group of people Daikichi came with the dungeon. Even Dorang and the mother and son are gone.

"After we got out, the Dorang guy said he was leaving the illusion barrier and everyone else followed him. Ungrateful bastards. After you save them, they didn't even try to save you or help us look for you." Daikichi says as he sets me down towards a log.

I lean back and rest as I feel like an old man. Reminds me of when I almost starved to death in the first dungeon making it hard to move. I called out my item bag again and took out the remaining food I had and handed it out to everyone. Some of them used a stick and stabbed the meat through to heat it up while the person who named Goro just ate it as it is. I ate my portion and as my theory, my body is damaged since I don't feel the food entering my stomach. I kept eating until I felt it.

"It's fine. Leave them be. It's not like I wanted to lead them." I tell him.

"I know, but it's still not right," Daikichi tells me.

"Daikichi, in this world…. nothing is ever right." I tell him as I take a breath relaxing my body.

"Yeah, I'm learning. We're lucky it was you that came out of the geyser." He says and he paused for a good minute before talking. "Finally, we're outside. Thank you, Yasu. Thank you."

I can see his eyes accumulating tears as he tries to hold it back.

"Thank me once we get back on earth," I tell him and he nods as he wipes his eyes I didn't wait for him to reply so I continued talking. "I didn't get to say this but, its good to see a friendly face again. What's up punk."

I held out my fist towards him like old times.