Abyss crawling part 3: Trust

The female giant led them to a rift, below it was pitch black darkness. Ilirielth had seen this place but she had no interest in checking what was under there. When the female giant was about to jump. Ilirendil stopped it. He wrapped around its waist with his tentacles and had it carry him in the back.

" Can you go by yourself?"

Ilirendil asked to his back.

" Of course!"

He didn't know why but Ilirielth seem to be angry for some reason. The giant and Ilirendil jumped into the rift followed by Ilirielth. They held on to one protruded area and jump to another. The way downward was extremely deep. Even though Ilirielth was extremely strong and could be called superhuman on earth, with this depth Just one wrong grip could end her life. The female giant didn't seem to care about her at all, it swiftly jump all the way downward hulk style. Its hands were strong enough to break the rift's wall, creating gripping areas.

If this dungeon's walls were made of normal material maybe she could do that too but everything around here was extremely hard. Ilirielth sped up, trying to catch up with the giant but the distance between them gradually widened. She began to worry, not just for her but also for Ilirendil.

' This guy, why didn't he tell it to stop? Don't tell me... He doesn't afraid of height doesn't he?'

At this rate, she would soon lose sight of them. Ilirielth stopped chasing, she took her time analyzing the route pattern of the female giant. Her brother once said, " if you can't catch up with the beast, your arrow will." Ilirielth jumped, she free falling into the place she calculated. The female giant could feel something was coming, it tried to change its direction but it was too late. Her sword stabbed deep into its right shoulder, making it scream in pain. She realized that in the female giant's left arm was Ilirendil but his body seem loose. It was like he lost his consciousness.

There were so many questions in her mind but she immediately registered the female giant as an enemy. She tried to move her sword intended to cut the female giant in half but her sword was stopped by its thick muscles. It tried to shake her off but the more it move the more she cut it. The giant raised its left hand, which was holding Ilirendil.

" Stop!"

Before it threw him into the middle of the rift, Ilirielth use all of her muscles to retract the sword from the monster's shoulder and cut off its fingers. The giant let out a painful cry and drop Illirendil. Without hesitation, Ilirielth jumped after him. Luckily, she manage to catch him and held onto a cliff. But the jeopardy did not end there. Something was flying at her. It was a giant red fireball coming from above. One of her hands still held onto the cliff, the other was holding Ilirendil. She couldn't use her sword. The only thing she could do was to cast [Flame protection] which was the only fire protection spell she remember and tank the attack.

The impact came with a bang. Ilirielth closed her eyes, all the water on her body evaporated because of the intense heat. She somehow could survive that attack with just a C class protection spell but all of her body was covered with burns. She poured the most of her mana to shield Ilirendil from the damage. Feeling the next attack would soon come. Ilirielth immediately moved. She heard the sound of rock falling, indicating of something was chasing her. Even when her hands were free, she couldn't catch up with the female giant. Now it would become impossible while carrying Ilirendil. Her highest chance of survival was not to run but to wake the one who was still unconscious in her arm.

" Wake up you idiot!"

A moment ago, Ilirendil decided to hold onto the giant because he feared he wouldn't be able to climb the rift. As he expected, later, on the rift's wall there were only a few places to hold on and the distance between some of them was impossible for his current status. He could have told Ilirielth to carry him but he didn't want to lose sight of the female giant so his choice was to stick with it, that was a big mistake. When they jumped onto the cliff, he immediately noticed something was off, there was a clear change in the heartbeat of the female giant. It was rejoiced, not just that there was also a sense of killing intent, although it was light it won't be able to escape his eyes.

Ilirendil told the monster to stop but it didn't stop. Instead, it smiled.

" You couldn't climb right O' great one? This one saw it, the fight broke out between you and that little human. I have no idea what your ability is but if you were that weak to struggle with some ants how can you climb this place."

" Stop right now, last warning, or I'll…"

" This one was right hahaha, this one was right all along! You did nothing. Why didn't you do it? Afraid of falling?"

" …. What's your purpose? "

Ilirendil changed his approach, Ilirielth was still too far, he had to buy her some time for her.

" Purpose? hahaha, let this one tell you something O' Great one. Not just us but every creature in this place are currently thirsty for your blood."

" I didn't think my blood was that tasty."

" Hehehe, of course, it's gonna be tasty, there was no way it won't be. There's a prize for it, after all, the greatest prize that any creatures of this place dream of."

" Unlimited meat?"

" No Great one, this one thought an abandoned like you should have known."

" Tell me."

" … hehe why should I?"

Ilirendil could not breathe because the female giant was strangling him with its arm. He could kill it but it mean he would have to die with it. Despair engulfed his mind, he spent a long time crying, and shouting to vent his despair but then a fragment of a shattered distant memory came back to his mind carrying with it was a familiar feeling that he had long forgotten... 'trust'. His eyes laid on the girl who threw herself into the darkness to get to him. Thus Ilirendil calmly closed his eyes and set up his alarm.