Chapter 179 - Out of the Underground

"Mind telling me what that was?"

Oliver collapsed on his butt as he sat down, exhausted. He hadn't realized how much strain his body was in until this point — until he came across that gigantic creature.

"An ancient creature. I'm surprised that it's been able to survive for so long," Xiled answered with a hint of curiosity in its voice. "It's called an Earth Wyrm. No different from a dragon, except it keeps its head underground and has no wings or limbs. It's really just a massive snake if you think about it."

Hearing the casualty of the devil's voice, Oliver couldn't hold back his disappointment. Clicking his tongue, Oliver hadn't realized many powerful creatures went beyond his current strength.

"Don't feel too bad," Xiled casually eased Oliver's frustration. "There aren't many Mana Users capable of defeating a dragon. Even lesser ones kill tens of thousands of people before being brought down."

Shaking his head, Oliver didn't feel all that bad. Truthfully, he didn't.

His concerns revolved around another matter entirely. One that, if true, Oliver would undoubtedly do something stupid in response.

"What's the plan now?"

As the tension in his shoulders slowly went down, Oliver looked around the place and found nothing of interest. But then, turning his head slightly, Oliver spotted the gnome stuck in a terrified daze. It seemed as though the appearance of the Earth Wyrm terrified the creature.

Seeing the gnome, Oliver couldn't really blame it for feeling this way. The Earth Wyrm was maddeningly powerful; even Oliver had to admit that.

"What else?" Xiled answered mockingly, "Start climbing."

Looking up, Oliver couldn't help but wonder if the devil was joking. Climb up? There was simply no way to do such a thing. It would take months, perhaps years, for Oliver to climb half of this near-bottomless pit.

"I see what you're saying. But, again, I'm not leaving without Strider," Oliver answered as he stood his ground.

He knew he was bound to leave this place eventually. It would only be a matter of time to do so. But not without the reason he came here first.

"He's not here," Xiled declared, much to Oliver's surprise. "There's no way your so-called wolf would ever get to a place like this. No other person could. It's only you."

Maintaining a straight face, Oliver calmly assessed the reasoning for the devil's sentence. But, Oliver could only come up with the question of why.

"It's simple," the devil answered once more as it explained things to Oliver without hesitation.

"What's so different about you from everybody else? The same difference that allowed you to gain ownership of that Mana Crystal. It's not very hard to put two and two together, human."

"Alright," Oliver's voice became slightly annoyed, "Then, tell me. Where the hell is Strider? You could've told me this all this time, but you didn't. I'm sure you have reasons for whatever crap you were trying to pull. And, right now, I don't care about any of that. Just tell me what you know."

Oliver wasn't upset. He had no reason to be. What point was there to get upset over things that have already happened? The truth was, Oliver was annoyed at the fact that he could've avoided this altogether.

"This hole served as an elevator for us to get in and out of this cave," Xiled explained. "The elevator's been long gone now, making this nothing but a hole in the ground."

"Still doesn't explain how I got here."

"You got here through me wanting to get you here. Those tracks led you to this pit because I altered your vision to make it seem so. The tracks left by your wolf weren't there in the first place."

"You're telling me I wasted all this time because I got tricked?" Oliver's tone felt cold. It had been quite some time since Oliver last expressed his hostility towards the devil.

"Unfortunately, yes. Not to worry, though, your wolf has been alright this entire time," Xiled's sly voice echoed within the walls of Oliver's skull.

Before Oliver could go and express his concerns, a sudden movement caught the corner of his eye. It was the gnome who had finally recovered its senses after the encounter with the Earth Wyrm.

"You okay?" Oliver's voice was slightly coarse compared to the voice he used to converse with the devil. But, it seemed to work as it calmed the gnome down from its panic.

"I am unharmed," the gnome answered as it struggled to contain its trembling voice. "Thank you, human, for saving me."

"Don't think about it too much," Oliver advised as he had experienced insane things before this. "Danger comes to any being in the most unexpected of ways. It's important to remember that if you're still walking, you need to keep moving forward."

After Oliver's relatively kind-hearted sentiment, Oliver turned to the devil once more and spoke.

"You know where he is, then?" Oliver asked Xiled about Strider's whereabouts.

"He's resting," Xiled nonchalantly answered as it let out a yawn. "You better start climbing. It'll be noon once you get out of here if you keep wasting your time."

With that said, Oliver stood up and stretched. Then, he turned to the gnome who appeared to look at Oliver with widened eyes.

"I'm going to go back," Oliver said to the gnome, "Thanks for helping out and uh- sorry for the scares."

Mana started to well out of Oliver's Mana Core as he cast magic. From there, three black whips appeared from his back and latched onto the nearby wall. With great force, the black whips cracked the stone and embedded themselves onto it.

It was now time for him to return to the surface.

But, before he could start his ascend, something suddenly stopped him.

"What are you doing?" Oliver turned to the gnome, who had suddenly moved the ground beneath their feet. However, despite the question, the gnome seemed determined to follow through with its attempts.

Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet rose. It was similar to the magic that the gnome had used just recently.

"You shouldn't do this," Oliver said as his expression darkened. As much as Oliver appreciated the gnome's actions, Oliver knew this wasn't the way to go.

However, despite Oliver's intimidation, the gnome was determined to follow through. Which, now, begs the question; why was it doing this?

Then, the gnome turned to Oliver with seriousness on its face.

"I will join you in the surface," the gnome said as it looked at Oliver in the eye. "That is my decision."

Half-expecting this response, Oliver wasn't surprised. However, he still thought that this was a bad idea. It would've been better if the gnome stayed underground, where the other gnomes were.

As the rock they stood on slowly lifted itself up, Oliver then proceeded to express his refusal.

"What about your people?" Oliver spoke with coldness in his voice. "You shouldn't just abandon the other gnomes down there. Not when Earth Wyrms are roaming around. They won't survive without-"

Before Oliver could finish that last sentence, the gnome suddenly interrupted. Its eyes turned from determination to a cold, steel-like expression.

"Survive? We have done that for far too long. Us gnomes deserve to live."

'Is that what this is about?'

Oliver wasn't a stranger to ambition. Hell, he knew it all too well. And that's the same reason why he thought the gnome's reasoning was stupid. It was too risky. Even Oliver had to admit that doing something like that would put a lot of lives at risk.

But then again, Oliver sympathized with the gnome's cause as well.

In the past, Oliver's had his fair share of bad experiences. Bad moments in his life that made him think that this wasn't living. It often happened a lot more than he thought. He survived through numerous counts of absurdity to please everyone but himself.

It was ironic, Oliver thought, for someone that came from a well-off family to feel this way. But, there was no mistaking it. He had learned early on that living was one thing. Surviving was another.

Regardless, something about all of this didn't sit well with him.

"Going to the surface doesn't automatically mean salvation," Oliver calmly replied. "There's no part of this that would guarantee that. I'm fairly confident that things would only worsen from here."

"No need to worry. I can take care of myself."

"Just thought I'd let you know."

And, just like that, Oliver came to terms with whatever the gnome was planning to do. He was reluctant, at this point, anybody would, but it ultimately was the gnome's decision to make.

With the platform ascending at a relatively brisk place, Oliver sat down and waited. The rest of the journey going up was silent, and Oliver seemed to be deep in thought.

"Hey, Xiled."

Oliver called out to the devil, but there was no response. So, he repeatedly called out until he got a disgruntling answer from the devil.

"What?! I'm trying to recover some of my energy here! Can't you let a devil get some shuteye?!"

With the devil's sudden yelling, Oliver reflexively flinched in response. The voice made his head pound ever so slightly.

"Calm down," Oliver said as he regained his composure, "I've been wondering. If you put the idea in my head that those wolf tracks were a lie, then how come Strider didn't respond to my summons?"

"It's simple, really," Xiled answered with a calmer tone. "I disabled it. The summoning command, I mean."

"You can do that?" Oliver curiously asked.

"With your Mana Core? It's like taking candy from a baby. I'm surprised you managed to live this long with your Mana Core being the way it is."

Hearing the insults, Oliver wasn't agitated in the slightest. He wholeheartedly accepted the fact that his understanding of Mana wasn't so great. Most of the time, he was relying on his physical capabilities more than his Mana.

The two then continued to talk as they ascended the pit. And, eventually, their conversation somehow landed on this:

"Do I really need a Mana Core?" Oliver asked the devil without a shred of sarcasm in his tone. However, the devil responded to this rather poorly.

"Is this your first time encountering Mana? Of course, you need it, dumbass!"

"I know what it does," Oliver coldly replied, "But, to me, it's just bringing people more trouble than it's worth. People died. Society itself is on the brink of collapse. The very idea of peace is no more."

"Since when were you so eager about saving people?" Xiled replied as it grew bored of Oliver's pointless thoughts.

"Since my girlfriend died," Oliver answered without a shift in his tone.

After the solemn response, the devil fell silent. Oliver, on the other hand, stared into the space around him. They continued to remain silent until they reached the very top of the pit a few hours later.

"Finally," Oliver muttered underneath his breath.

After a few hours of being underground, Oliver had finally returned to the surface. Once he left the pit, the grass seemed to magically reform as it closed the pit from any other intruders.

From there, Oliver took the gnome and started to retrace his steps. He walked down the path where the wolf tracks used to be and soon found his way back in a familiar dense forest. But, despite being back here, Strider was still nowhere to be seen.

"Try to Summon it again," Xiled suggested as it yawned loudly.

Giving whistling a shot, a bark suddenly resounded in the distance. Strider had been there all along. Oliver was just fooled to think otherwise.

Now reunited with his wolf, Oliver could finally go back to the West Blockade. It took a lot longer than Oliver was willing to spend, but it all seemed to work out in the end.

As the moon was directly above them, Oliver soon returned to the camp and rested.