Reincarnated As The Heroine?! I refuse!

20: Chase | 2 |

~Sinister Mercenary Grotto~

With a beat of a heart, they've found their way one floor down walking and stumbling over rocks and littered objects that were most likely thrown to the side by the owner of the place.

Frightened but eager to uphold her justice, Ulla clinched her small hands. Noticing her behavior, Lea released a thousand essences to scan ahead.

"Stop." She whispered softly, barely audible. Her words made her comrades stop on their tracks and looked on her.

Having witnessed Lea in countless battles against beasts of various capabilities, they understood how serious a situation was by her words alone. Bright involuntarily escaped a gulped and proceeded to wipe his sweat stained face. Droplets of sweat were threatening his eyesight.

Raize closely observed Lea's changing expressions, and decided upon himself which of his invented illusions he would pull out if something were to occur. With his usual face of blank canvas, he moved closer to Lea much to her annoyance. But if she were annoyed or not, she did not show it on her exotic facial features.

With a hand signal to remain still, Lea walked forward alone slowly into a narrow path of one of the many. Step by step, she gathered information through the essences circulating underground. The essences letting her know something unidentified hidden at the end of the path.

Much caution in her mind, a survival knife in her free hand while the flashlight in the other, she continued to make her way into the darkness. As she walked closer, she could hear a continuous rough breathing.

"Ha..... Haa... Haa..."

Her senses heightened, she made huge leaps towards the source and swiftly grabbed the object by the.... hair?

"........"

Upon closer observation, Lea was holding on hair strands bathe in crimson. She was bewildered. "...Blood...?" She whispered. Her voice caught the dying youth who owned a pair of golden cat-like eyes. His eyes widened in bewilderment.

He could clearly not afford to say anything for he was thirst to death, and hunger was engulfing him every second. Seeing his appearance, Lea felt pity. She deduced that the young man before her was one of the victims fallen at the hands of the mercenaries. With swift movements, she focused a huge concentration of essences into the dying youth's body.

While his facial expression seemed to look better, Lea in turn grew ghastly by the second. Her actions proved ineffective as the youth remained thirsty and hungry, although almost all of his wounds recovered in the process. Observing this, she decided to call her classmates since it was rather safe to come at this point.

Her companions carried most of their rations with them.

"Don't worry. I'll be back." She said quietly when she noticed his golden eyes grew anxious with her retreating movements. With that, the youth weakly nodded before relaxing once again. He couldn't move anywhere even if he wanted to. Shackles in both his arms, ankles and around his neck, he was to remain on the wall.

Lea ran back to her comrades by going through the darkness once again. However, she found not only her companions but the mercenaries as well on the other side of the narrow tunnel.

Ulla struggled to set herself free from three aggressive mercenaries that seemed to be licking her with their eyes. Her mouth was covered by a savage rough hand. Lea guessed Ulla tried to shout only to be restrained in a heart beat. Based on the flow of essences within her, her focus had grown unstable for anything to form.

Bright on the other hand was beaten black and blue in one corner, holding his stomach while unconscious. His forehead laced with fresh crimson warm blood. While Raize, with his quick wit, managed to reduced the damage done on him. However, the damage was already done and he was looking pale from his inexperience to the inflicted violence done to him.