Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 80: Fall

There was much to realize, conclude, and decide at that development, but the heated moment suppressed superfluous thoughts, delving any available energy into the escape from the approaching slithering noises.

The fearsome snake was hot on the trail, so close that Liam could hear and almost feel its breath among the general rumbling. The magical beast seemed within arm’s reach, but he could only run. The previous clash had told him that a fight wasn’t an option.

The location further limited the group’s options. The stone passage was relatively narrow, barely fitting two grown men, so Melissa, Randall, Liam, and the magical beast formed a hurried but orderly line while advancing through that obligatory path.

No more crossroads arrived, but the stone passage featured sharp turns that eventually began to descend, as if coiling toward even greater depths.

Still, the corridor’s structural integrity also improved at those depths, limiting the amount of bright yellowish dust in the air. The environment gradually grew darker, and the snake’s aggression intensified as that stalemate continued.

The sharp turns worked in the group’s favor. Melissa, Randall, and Liam were faster in those corners, putting more distance from the snake, only for the latter to regain on them during the straight parts.

That unending chase enraged the magical beast even further, urging it to pounce ahead whenever the group was about to turn another corner.

Yet, the snake missed every time, its charges culminating in violent impacts into the smooth, rocky walls, generating new tremors.

That was still fine. After all, the stalemate meant that Liam and the others were safe, but that couldn’t continue endlessly. The trio had no real plan. The previous blocked path hinted at the fact that they were lost, and it was unclear how long they could rely on corners to survive.

That stalemate only seemed to delay the inevitable, but a change happened, albeit not in the way anyone could have predicted. The path didn’t suddenly end, and the magical beast didn’t catch up with the group.

Everything simply began to crumble.

The repeated headbutts on the walls opened new cracks that joined forces with the tremors to expand and affect the passage’s structural integrity, which eventually reached a critical point.

A new, constant earthquake took control of that descending tunnel, opening cracks everywhere, especially on the very floor the trio was walking on, until that surface collapsed.

Suddenly, Liam, Randall, and Melissa lost their foothold. The path crumbled and brought them down with it, trapping them in a fall that the many boulders around them attempted to make deadly.

Yet, the snake fell prey to the crumbling, too, and its huge size only served to expose it to more boulders. It didn’t take long before it remained stuck in that general collapse, and Liam could even hear its unwilling hiss grow distant.

Nevertheless, that increasing distance also indicated that Liam’s fall was continuing. He was temporarily safe but stuck, plunging together with boulders that had long since hindered his view while his speed kept increasing.

If that trend continued, it wouldn’t be the boulders killing Liam but his mere fall. Moreover, it was unclear when a surface able to endure the collapse would arrive and force him to face the accumulated momentum.

On top of that, those boulders could converge into a crack, which would squash Liam to a pulp. Everything pointed in the direction of his death, even leaving him with no real way to affect that outcome.

However, Liam had vast experience in those situations. The boulders were no branches, but Liam had still spent ten years of his life falling and swinging from trees. He couldn’t dread gravity. His mind remained sharp, calmly searching for anything he could use.

The collapse had brought more than deadly boulders, gravity, and cramped surroundings. Now that the intact surfaces were no more, bright yellowish dust started to spread everywhere, bringing a modicum of visibility.

Liam kept his eyes wide open, uncaring of the soil or debris that attempted to stain them, until an even brighter version of that halo caught his attention. Somewhere under him to his right, the yellowish light was intense and unhindered, prompting him to follow it.

The surrounding boulders trapped Liam but also gave him something to cling to. He reached for the nearest rock to his left, crouching on it, until his falling figure turned upside down.

Then, Liam darted down, his body acting as a spring that crashed onto the rocks in his path. A few of those shattered in the face of his crossed arms, but most scraped him all over.

Yet, Liam ignored the scratches since something far more concerning appeared in his view. He crossed the barrage of falling rocks, freeing himself of that deadly trap, only to end up in a vast and tall chamber.

The chamber’s flat ceiling was somehow enduring the crumbling, but Liam couldn’t rejoice at that sight. That area was even taller than his new cave, and he was right under its top.

Naturally, Liam could only fall diagonally, leaving behind the avalanche of rocks to fly deeper into the vast chamber. He was upside-down, and the floor grew closer quickly, leading to a poor landing.

Liam tried his best to soften the landing, but there was a limit to what his experience and miraculous physical abilities could achieve. His right shoulder slammed on the floor, prompting a roll that attempted to disperse the accumulated momentum, only for his body to keep spinning.

Liam bounced and rolled over the floor, unable to stop himself, until something else did that for him. His back slammed on the chamber’s smooth wall, the impact attempting to take his breath away, but also putting an end to that heated fall.

’Ouch,’ Liam cursed in his mind, but forced himself to snap to his feet. His right shoulder hurt, and the numbness from the previous clash didn’t help that limb as a whole, but he had greater problems to prioritize.

The collapse was continuing but also slowing down. Debris accumulated on one of the chamber’s four walls, replacing it with a hill of boulders and soil, but everything eventually came to a halt.

It seemed the crumbling was finally over. That underground location had regained some structural stability, only for soil and rocks to explode outward from the upper side of that makeshift hill.

Liam grew wary, but his stance slightly relaxed when he saw a familiar face. Randall crawled out of the makeshift hill, rolling over its slope, until his butt hit the flat floor at its bottom.