I Became a Ruined Character in a Dark Fantasy-Chapter 462

...I already know that.

He slowly pushed his arms forward, as if pressing against an invisible wall.

Rumble— Rumble—

On the opposite rock face, the exposed cross-sections of large and small gaping holes were steadily getting closer. His gaze remained fixed on the cross-section of the largest hole, directly in the center; it looked like the other half of the assembly hall they were in.

The upward movement slowed, and instead, the gap between the two strata sections narrowed rapidly. As it did, the crushing pressure on Ian intensified. The furrows etched on his brow deepened with the strain.

This... No way.

Ian's gaze suddenly flickered down to the ceaseless waterfall of debris—rock, earth, and broken structures—endlessly pouring into the chasm below.

The thought flashed through his mind: perhaps this accumulated debris, piled in the gap he was trying to close, hindered the two sides from connecting properly.

Crack... Crack— Boom!

Just then, a deafening explosion erupted nearby. Even before the main collapse could reach them, the assembly hall’s cracked ceiling and walls gave way. They shattered into countless fragments, raining down upon them.

Boom, crash!

Instantly, a chaotic symphony of large and small explosions echoed from all sides.

The assault hadn’t brought down the Rock Fortress Ian had raised to shield them. Amid the whirling shrapnel and the thick, choking clouds of dust, the magical barrier still held—solid and unmoving.

"Ian! Faster! You have to go faster—!" Crouched as low as she could, Diana screamed at the top of her lungs. She no longer glanced outside the protective wall—realizing at last that looking would only feed her fear.

As if I don’t want that too...

Ian clenched his teeth so hard it felt like they might crack, but he kept pushing with everything he had.

Rumble... Thud...

Even so, beyond the unending rain of debris, the massive, gaping cross-section of the passage was drawing closer—slower and slower.

The crushing force gripping Ian hadn’t eased in the slightest. He couldn’t push the spell any farther. If anything, it felt like the moment he let up, even for an instant, he’d be the one thrown violently backward.

"Any more than this... is impossible!" Finally, a strangled, desperate shout burst from between Ian's clenched teeth.

Still locked in the stance of pushing against an unseen wall, Ian barely turned his head. Bloodshot eyes flared with urgency as he added, “Just run! Now!” Even though the two separated strata had yet to fully reconnect.

Growl!

Moro rose up on its forelegs with a thunderous roar, then launched forward with explosive force. A streak of violet carved through the air, flashing past Ian’s right side.

"Sir Ian— You have to follow!" Lucia’s voice rang out from Moro’s saddle, already fading into the distance.

Moro leaped from the crumbling edge, burst straight through the curtain of falling debris, and landed heavily on the far side—vanishing into the darkness.

Ian's eyes locked onto Moro's retreating purple afterimage, watching it disappear into the distance.

"Crazy... This is really... Why am I...." Diana, who had hesitated at the edge, let out a despairing sigh. She clearly didn't have the nerve to try and jump across the chasm where the waterfall of debris was now pouring down. But her hesitation didn’t last long.

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

The earthquake and the deafening roar from the ongoing collapse were now terrifyingly close, almost splitting her eardrums. No matter how sturdy the Rock Fortress was, it couldn't possibly withstand that massive, wholesale structural failure.

"Ugh... Aaaaaaaah—" Diana screamed, a sound that was part shriek of terror, part desperate battle cry, and then she dashed forward.

Even in the dim, chaotic dark, her platinum-blonde hair whipped wildly around her. She hurled herself from the crumbling edge, arms outstretched, cutting through the air like an arrow aimed straight at the heart of the collapsing debris. Though she landed hard, stumbling and tumbling across the ground, she somehow made it to the other side.

Fizzle—

The moment Diana made it across, the magic blazing around Ian like an aura vanished—evaporating into nothing. As the immense pressure he’d been exerting disappeared, he wavered, nearly collapsing.

Shit.

Even as he tasted the metallic tang of blood in the back of his throat, Ian forced strength into his buckling legs. His wide-open eyes, staring ahead, were now suffused with an ash-gray magic.

Swoosh—

A wind, thick with dust and dirt, gathered around him. Before the Wind Blade could fully form, Ian kicked off hard from the crumbling ground and sprinted forward.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Behind him, the last of the Rock Fortress finally gave way, buried under the falling stone. As the underground temple vanished beneath the rubble, Ian launched himself from the edge, soaring through the thunderous cascade of debris.

Crackle—

The wind trailing him blasted outward, scattering the falling wreckage and clearing a narrow path. He crashed onto the far side, past the darkness, rolling hard to absorb the landing.

Rumble...

A low, groaning roar echoed behind him—the death cry of the ruins, now swallowed by the collapsing strata.

Tap, tap!

Ian sprang to his feet like a coiled spring, not even sparing a glance back. Fixing his gaze on Moro’s fading purple afterimage, he poured everything into running. He had to. His instincts were still screaming in warning.

Screech! Screech!

It wasn't just because of the new cries that were now echoing chaotically from all directions.

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

Far behind him, the massive section of strata that had completely crushed the underground temple was now visibly tilting in their direction.

With his Concentration and Intuition heightened to their absolute peak, Ian knew this without needing to look back. It was a strange, almost unnatural awareness, like seeing things his eyes couldn’t.

Rumble, rumble rumble—

Then came a series of deep, guttural roars, falling from above like a chain of explosions. The ground shook with a dull, shoving pressure, like a giant hand driving them forward. The collapsing strata seemed to have begun slamming into one another.

This is insane, really.

Though Ian stumbled, he didn't lose his balance and kept running. At the same time, he was already casting Wind Blade again. Ever since drinking the Source of the Dragon, his spellcasting speed had skyrocketed—and now, with a few more Vision skills under his belt, it was faster and more stable than ever. Low-tier magic took him no more than the blink of an eye. In terms of pure casting speed, he could probably rival an archmage.

Crack, crack, crack!

Even as the hallway plunged deeper into darkness and the roars and tremors intensified, he clearly heard fresh cracks splitting through the ceiling and walls. He didn’t need to think hard to know this part of the ruins would start collapsing soon, too. The same went for figuring out where they were—or which way led out.

Screech— Growl!

The monstrous cries echoing from every direction suddenly felt sharper, more focused, as if the creatures had locked onto them. Shapes rampaged in the dark, not even reflecting a glint of eyelight.

At least I know for sure there’s a way out now.

Of course, the mere existence of an exit could have been inferred just from the fact that the hall wasn't plunged into absolute, pitch-black darkness.

Ian's eyes caught the fleeting form of one of the monsters as it flashed past him. It had smooth, hairless skin. Its forelimbs were emaciated and incredibly long, like scythes, while its hind legs were comparatively short.

On its head, instead of eyes, there were only wrinkled folds of skin and disgustingly shaped ears sticking out prominently. Its maw was a stark vertical slit running down the middle of its gaunt face. Several thin, writhing tentacles twitched between rows of saw-like teeth.

Well, something like a demonic realm bat, I guess.

The creatures were rampaging as if they'd completely lost their minds, blindly stabbing or trampling each other with their long, sharp forelimbs. Of course, some of them also lunged at Moro, who was charging ahead, or at Diana, who was desperately trying to keep up behind the beast.

The violent vibrations and deafening noise sweeping through the hall seemed to be disorienting their senses. In any case, it seemed clear that these particular creatures, at least, wouldn't be able to escape the collapsing ruins.

"Don't stop!" Ian yelled at the top of his voice. "Don't engage them, just keep running!"

It was partly to warn Diana, and partly to let Lucia, who was already a small figure in the distance, know that he was still alive and moving.

Growl!

Cutting through the surrounding cacophony, Moro's fierce roar pierced Ian's mind—not an actual sound that reached his ears, but a wave of pure thought and intent. The beast was charging forward like a war chariot, directly ramming and trampling any lunging bat-like creatures that got in its way.

Tap, tap!

Diana, following a good distance behind Moro, was no longer screaming or shouting. She was just desperately running as if being hunted, her movements minimal as she narrowly, almost precariously, avoided the frenzied bats.

Swoosh—

Ian, gradually closing the distance to Diana, was doing the same, weaving through the chaos.

The demonic beasts were all rampaging as if in a complete frenzy, so they generally didn't give chase even if he ran right past them. A few tried, but they were soon thwarted by other bats getting in their way, their efforts dissolving into the general mayhem. Of course, there was another, more pressing reason he was simply running past them without a fight.

Rumble! Crack—

The ruins were now collapsing in earnest.

It wasn't as fast as the cracks spreading across the ceiling and walls, but it was steadily following behind Ian, swallowing up the frenzied cave bats instead of him.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Even while being hounded by the thunderous roar of the ongoing collapse, Ian didn't lose his composure. His unhesitating forward dash wasn't just due to raw survival instinct. He already knew, from his brief earlier assessment, that the basic structure of this underground temple was almost a straight line. If he just kept following the largest, widest passage, an exit would surely appear eventually.

It was only a few seconds later, in reality, that he noticed a faint, dim light beginning to spread from far down below, at the end of the passage.

"I see it— Sir Ian! Diana!" Lucia's shout echoed through the chaos almost at the same instant.

High above Moro's purple trajectory, her reddish eye-gleam shone as she looked back toward them. She wasn't creating a guiding flame this time, likely knowing that in this dim, debris-filled environment, it would hinder Ian and Diana's vision more than help.

"Stairs! There's an exit below the stairs! Don't stop!"

Then, Moro leaped powerfully, as if taking flight. Lucia and its retreating figure vanished from sight, appearing to drop downward.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The leading edge of the collapse behind Ian was getting terrifyingly closer. free𝑤ebnovel.com

However, Ian didn't look back. Eyes fixed on the faint light spreading from far below, he dodged and weaved through the attacking bats, running with every ounce of strength.

"It's downhill! The path outside is downhill too!" Lucia's voice, already faintly echoing, grew more distant.

She appeared to have made it out through the exit. Moro would likely keep running until it was absolutely certain they were safe—just as Ian had instructed.

So we were inside a mountain after all. A rocky one? Or maybe a rift.

Even as these half-conscious thoughts raced through his mind, Ian followed Diana onto the stairs. He was now only about twenty paces behind her. The gap between them wasn't closing any faster, primarily because no more monsters were blocking their path here.

Below them, an exit, clearly carved directly from the strata of the earth, rose in the shape of a pointed arch.

Rumble, rumble rumble!

The giant bat creatures all have been swallowed by the earlier part of the collapse. Now, the destruction was instantly reaching the walls and ceiling surrounding the staircase itself. Spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly around the arched exit.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

Diana, clearly sensing the imminent total collapse, threw herself forward before even reaching the bottom of the stairs. The exit began to crumble just milliseconds after she cleared the temple's threshold. That was also the exact moment Ian kicked off from the last collapsing stair and leaped into the air.

Falling debris momentarily obscured his vision, but Ian didn't panic.

Zing—

Curling his body in mid-air, he just thrust out his left hand, which was now glowing with a brilliant golden light. Into the very heart of the cascading curtain of falling debris, a golden, hexagonal trajectory of energy flew.

Crash—

Ian burst out through the exploding debris and swung his left arm wide, as if shaking something off. His vision cleared instantly and a darkish, scree-covered slope stretched out below his feet.

It was a relatively gentle downhill run, the floor of a narrow valley. Moro's purple trajectory was already so far away it looked like a tiny fingernail clipping in the distance.

As Ian landed, rolling hard to absorb the impact, he caught sight of Diana tumbling and bouncing back to her feet.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

A dull, ground-shaking, immense vibration erupted from directly behind him. Immediately sprinting again, Ian risked a quick glance back, his brow instinctively knotting in a deep frown.

Figured as much, fuck.

The exit of the ancient ruins they had just escaped was no longer visible. Instead, a wave of large and small rocks, earth, and debris filled his entire field of vision, advancing along with a dense, choking cloud of dust.

A massive landslide had broken loose—the mountainside above them had tilted and collapsed, now thundering straight toward them.

"I-Ian—Help me! Iaaan—" Diana, having seen the same catastrophic sight, screamed in pure terror.

She's always honest at times like these.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, his running speed began to decrease. He instinctively knew that trying to outrun that tidal wave of rock and earth was completely impossible.

"Diana! Come back!" he yelled.

"Come, come back?" Diana, her eyes wide with terror at his shout, looked back over her shoulder, then, the next instant, dug her heels in, skidding to a desperate, sliding halt.

Swoosh—

She had seen the golden-brown magic now swirling intensely in Ian's eyes.

Stumbling and nearly falling as she frantically changed direction, Diana started scrambling back up the slope toward Ian.

Crunch!

Ian, having stopped completely and turned to face the oncoming landslide, slammed both his fists down hard into the ground in front of him.

Crackle, crackle!

Gravel and earth exploded upward as jagged, pointed sections of bedrock shot up from the ground like a series of giant, thorny pillars, instantly forming a barrier before him.

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