Rise of The Strongest Monarch-Chapter 78: The Descent [4]

They were right when they said it wouldn’t be a long break here. Within a couple of minutes we begin to continue climbing back down into the abyss below.

It would’ve been pointless to sit around on a platform that barely has enough space for all of us.

Wriggle. Wriggle.

The feeling of celeste moving around in my arm again kind of surprises me for a moment as I climb. It isn’t painful at least, that is the one thing I’d like to avoid while climbing.

"We are getting even closer to the zierel at the bottom of this pit," Celeste mentions.

I’ve definitely noticed that with the change in the air as we get further down... Not to mention the intensity from you. It isn’t anything bad like before but I can feel it.

"It’s kind of impossible for me to hold it back altogether," Celeste says with a soft tone.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much since we are almost to the bottom. I’ll be handling the issue with the zierel that awaits, soon enough.

"Just be careful. I never got a feeling this intense before," Celeste warns with worry in her voice.

I feel one more wriggle in my arm before it is back to silent climbing again.

One quick glance down tells me we aren’t anywhere near another spot to stop so I better hope my arms don’t get tired again.

It is kind of strange that we haven’t really seen anything else since going down further and further. I would’ve expected to see at least a couple of them before we meet the one causing all of this pressure.

Or maybe they are lurking around us like the last time, waiting for an opportunity.

The sounds of something moving along the walls is all it takes for me to leave my thoughts behind again. I can’t help but look around me for the soune or this thing.

"I knew we’d have more to deal with," Zeno says with a bit of an annoyed tone.

"It’ll be fine. We’ll take care of it," Airi responds with confidence.

I look down to see a gun is back in one of Zeno’s hands as he hangs on with the other.

"This is a bit more dangerous when we don’t have any specific place to stand right now," Zeno says while scanning the walls.

"Just focus on dealing with the threat at hand," Airi orders with a serious tone.

I hear him scoff lightly at her before turning his focus back to the sound of the zierel. Nothing seems to be making itself known to us yet, but I don’t think it’ll take much longer for it to show.

"Liam. Amelia. Keep climbing ahead while we handle this," Zeno speaks up for us to hear.

Neither of us object to the order since there’s no reason for us to waste time. I begin to follow behind Amelia as we pickup the pace we are climbing.

It sounds as if a claw is scraping along the wall above us.

BANG!!

"Just keep moving Liam," Amelia says while keeping calm.

"Already on it," I reply.

The shots continue with each second that passes by, but it is getting more and more distant.

I look up briefly and all I can see is a glimpse of light. Airi is probably going to help him with the zierel that are scampering along the walls.

After a couple more minutes we finally reach another stopping point, except I don’t hesitate to look over the edge below it.

Just barely I can notice something at the very bottom but it is hard to make out what it is exactly. The outline is pretty much impossible to take a guess on.

"We should probably wait for them to catch up," Amelia suggests.

"I don’t plan to head down without them yet anyway," I assure her.

"At least they’ve given us a break from the fighting for a bit," Amelia says while taking a seat on the ground.

"Fighting isn’t really a big deal but I guess it isn’t bad to get a break," I reply in agreement.

Some pieces of the wall fall past me before I feel the urge to look up again.

As I look up, nothing is really there. It is just darkness with occasional pieces of rubble falling towards us. Nothing big, luckily.

"You said before that you have scars on your face," I say, changing the topic.

"Yeah. I got them from the start of this whole thing," Amelia replies while playing with her mask.

"Would it really be a big deal to show someone?" I ask with a bit of curiosity.

She just stops playing with the mask suddenly. Her eyes staring right at me.

"It is dark as hell, you probably wouldn’t be able to see them well anyway," Amelia responds softly.

"You can use a bit of your light to show me too, only if you want to," I say calmly.

I don’t really want to force her to show me since I know how awful it can be to have scars. Having them on your face is probably a lot worse than any of the ones I have.

Also I probably should get new clothes at some point since I just thought about all the damage I’ve taken lately.

Most of my scars are probably showing, especially where my stomach was pierced.

"It won’t hurt to show you I guess. But I don’t want Airi to see it," Amelia responds while slowly undoing her mask.

A bit of light emits from her eye and slightly from her arm as she takes off the mask. Underneath I can finally see her face with the light, four total scars.

Two on her left cheek and two on her right, both seem to be from claws of some sort with the way they are left on her.

"Ugly, right?" She asks quietly.

"No. I don’t think it is ugly whatsoever," I answer without hesitation.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

What an odd time for my heart to beat out my chest, why is it reacting like this now?