The crackling sounds kept filling this hall.

Yet, despite having his head pressed on the wall, Ben still moved his functional hand freely. And the light stone on the floor flashed periodically, so the young man on his left side could have an idea of what was happening.

From his chest, Ben took a marble plate the size of around two books side by side. That was one of the pieces he kept after advising the Dragons on Array production.

With his hand glued to the plate, Ben pointed the other flat side toward the monster's right shoulder.

A large explosion followed, sending the monster flying back. The attack had disconnected the hand that was holding Ben's head.

The light of the array activation gave the observer a good view of the situation. So, he jumped in surprise while he held his mouth shut.

Falling on his feet again, Ben moved to his left with the cracked array still glued to his hand.

Due to the impact, the light stone on the floor stopped flashing, so complete darkness filled the area again. Only the array tablet faintly glowed red.

Noticing the elder getting closer, Pax Highland stepped further back.

"Did I frighten you?" Ben asked, his head quickly returning to its original shape.

The young man was going to respond, but he was interrupted by the monster's roar.

It ran toward Ben, who was already on the other narrow path with Pax. But its large-sized hand hindered it from reaching them.

"So noisy. Why is something like this here? Well, let's see how things are first."

After Ben turned around again, the cracked array began to glow brighter.

The creature kept trying to reach for them, despite having no way to break the sturdy walls. The pain seemed to have triggered it into a frenzy.

Ben aimed at the monster's head as he activated the artifact again.

Another explosion followed.

The giant body flew back to the middle of the hall. And the dimmed plate cracked even further and almost couldn't hold itself together.

Yet, Ben still didn't turn back. Instead, he walked out. And the marble glowed brighter again before Ben threw it further into the hall.

The object didn't explode this time, though. But the hall still lit up completely, so Ben could easily see the situation ahead.

Reacting to the sight, Ben bent down toward the monster's body and took a small stone from it before running back into the narrow pathway.

As if he poked a beehive, roars overlapped to create an even louder sound.

After he got inside the corridor again, Ben noticed the multiple hands trying to reach for him. He stood there looking at those monsters, despite the area being pitch black. And behind him, Pax spent the whole time protecting his ears from the noise.

Eventually, the monsters got tired and returned to where they were.

"Way more than I expected," Ben commented once things were calm again.

"Can you kill them?" The young man asked, hopeful.

"It would be too wasteful. So I rather not. But how did those things get here? Do you know?"

"I don't know. I just was on a mission and..." But Pax couldn't finish his words as he remembered the terrifying event.

"I see. No need to explain, then. Is everyone else dead?"

"Probably. I don't know."

"You're lucky that you found this place."

After calming down, Ben finally took a close look at the young man that was stuck here.

As he first guessed, this was the son of his good old friend, Dill Highland.

It had been a couple of years since he cut contact with them, so Pax should've joined some Sect by now.

Sensing the guy's condition, Ben concluded that he had been starving for months.

"How long have you been here?"

"Between four and six weeks, I'm not sure."

"No wonder you sound so weak. But, weirdly, the outside heard nothing of this despite it being so long. Were you waiting for some rescue team?"

"I... was. Yeah."

"It should be a couple of months before they arrive, though."

Ben turned around and tried to sense further into the hall, but he failed again. His ripped soul was too damaged to feel such a minuscule presence.

"Who was the one leading?"

"Draco Hellbig, Creek Sect Elder."

"No wonder. Are you part of that Sect?"

"No. Contracted."

"They likely failed the ongoing war, so it might take even longer for someone to notice they failed the cleaning. Maybe even years."

"Well, shit."

"Yep. Bad luck. But if you follow me, you might get out of here."

However, somewhat terrified from the sight earlier, Pax hesitated. He wasn't sure the one talking to him was human, either. It was hard to believe him being so.

Ignoring the young man, Ben came closer to him and sat down.

"Give me an hour or two, and I can see what I can do. For now, take this." Ben said as he gave the young man two nutritional pills.

"Thank you!" Pax almost cried while answering. He was starving.

"Take it slowly. I'll not go anywhere while you absorb it. Don't die from the shock." Ben mentioned. Then, he entered meditation immediately after.

"Sorry," Pax whispered, conflicted.

The guy sensed the pills and couldn't resist. So, he began absorbing them.

...

Time flew by in this isolated dungeon's corner.

Ben had already woken up after only half an hour of meditation. He lied back then to make the kid take the pills more easily.

He took this time to observe his body and Pax's condition.

'My old friend, you're lucky. Hopefully, you're still alive to see your son again.' Ben thought.

After confirming the kid wasn't at risk of dying, Ben placed on the floor the pocket clock light he got at the auction a few years ago and some cheap spirit stones.

He then spent the rest of the time stabilizing the seal on his left arm.

Around two hours later, Pax finally ended his meditation.

"Sorry, have you waited too much?"

"No worries, I woke up not too long ago."

"Thank you," Pax said as he lowered his head to the floor.

"I don't think I would've survived otherwise. Thank you."

"You're welcomed. Should we get out of here now?"

As if seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, Pax jumped excited and replied, "Yes!"

As if responding to his loud voices, sounds came from down the hall.

Terrified, Pax held his mouth.

"They can't get to us, regardless. Here, take this. That will be your job: to keep it lit."

Ben picked up the clock and the cheap spirit stones from the floor and placed them in Pax's hands.

The light that was faintly glowing intensified as a response.

"Keep that going," Ben repeated as he stood up.

The noises from down the hall became angrier. The monsters seemed to loathe light.

"Now, keep your head down for a moment."

Pax lowered his head as Ben tried to get over him to the other side of the narrow path.

Ben then walked and arrived at another door.

Blocking his way was an identical structure on the opposite side of the hall.

He sighed in relief after noticing it was the same set-up. Luckily, he was now familiar with this protective system, so he knew he could open it.

"Come closer," Ben said as he saw no notice from Pax getting up.

The young man jumped on his feet and quickly got close. He then slowly increased the light intensity as he got used to seeing again.

With the light in his hand, Pax finally noticed the mechanism on the end of the path. The metal poles formed some structure resembling a door.

"It'll take a while for me to open it up. But try to keep the light going. Those spirit stones should be enough for that."

Ben didn't need the light, but he didn't mention that. He chose to give this task to Pax because he feared the kid was dry on spirit energy.

Ben didn't want to go through the "I will pay you back when I can." The young man was still his friend's son. So, he set up this job and just lied about it.

"Alright, Sir! I'll do my best!"

Ben wanted to talk more, but he couldn't. The job in his hand filled his mind. Despite being the second time to open this mechanism, it was still a long, boring sequence.

Behind him, Pax focused on illuminating the wall, so Ben could keep working.

In the distance, the monster eventually calmed down.

After carefully taking note of his surrounding, Pax felt some small array on the floor at the narrow corridor entrance. It included the killed monster's core, so he guessed it was something to keep the others a bay. But he couldn't make sense of anything.

He also could finally notice his pitiful state. He was unbelievably filthy and terrifyingly thin. Not only that, but he couldn't believe he had survived so far. After he understood that the food he ate and the spirit stones in his hands were helping him more than he could ever help the elderly in front of him, Pax began softly crying.

Tears kept falling on Pax's face. But focused on his job, Ben didn't respond at all.

It took Ben almost two hours to open the door a second time. And he wasn't being lazy this time, either.

'Incredible. Even once knowing the mechanism, it still takes this long.'

"I got it," Ben said.

Behind him, Pax's expression lit up, optimistic. His appearance was still terrible, but his eyes had now swelled too.

Looking back, Ben didn't mention the change and only smiled brightly.

"I'll do a few tests to see if there is danger on the other side. But I don't think we'll encounter an issue on that."

Ben took a single stone he had prepared prior from his pants right pocket.

After making a first with the stone inside, Ben inserted his right arm through the wall. He then closed his eyes and focused for around two minutes.

"Nope. No issue for now." Be mentioned as he retrieved his arm. Following, he shook his open palm, and dust fell from it.

After cleaning his hand on his clothes, Ben stretched out his functional arm toward Pax.

"Let's go?"

The image burned inside Pax's mind. He couldn't believe that after spending so much time lost in the darkness brooding, he got to see a flame of hope suddenly appear.

He had tried to stay hopeful. But after a few weeks stuck here, he found himself counting the days to his death instead. If he had no one waiting for him back home, he wouldn't even have held this long since it felt like such a meaningless wait.

Overwhelmed, he wanted to respond and express gratitude again, but he couldn't.

A node had formed on his throat, muting him, so Pax only nodded his head vigorously as he held this weird elder's hand tightly.