Chapter Thirty-Eight: Surprisingly Easy

Kai has noticed something unusual.

Helix usually didn't say much when they were together. When he does, he's only sparing a few words or so. He refused to talk about unnecessary things unless he was mocking or insulting someone or something. But now…

Since earlier, Helix's been speaking up a lot. He would reply to each of his questions and statements too. Kai inwardly chuckled with delight as he happily followed Helix deeper down the strange cave.

The moderate light next to the wall illuminated their path. Glowing ores and magic stones are everywhere. Small flying bugs followed right behind the both of them, they glowed and left a glittering trail. "This place is overflowing with magic…" Kai uttered, feeling in awe. Ever since he had arrived in this world, this would be the first place he had gotten into which contained so much magic. It was unlike the White Forest, which, although having the same amount of magic probably as well, its magic was scattered across the winter-frozen forest. The magic is uneven in the White Forest, meanwhile, this cave is too concentrated with even magic.

Demon beasts are powerful, inherently having a large amount of magic within them. For an enclosed abode of such a creature, this much of magic should be normal.

The further the two went on, the harder it was for Kai to keep his magic up. If the surrounding has an overwhelming amount of magic, it makes mages unable to use their magic. This principle can also be implemented by mages themselves, only if they have enough magic, of course.

And… Helix is doing exactly this.

With him in front, he's mostly blocking the concentrated magic around them. Because of this, Kai can at least keep his magic. Just barely though.

It felt as if this exploration would be going on for an eternity judging by the endless tunnel they're walking further in. For the past few hours, all they had been seeing were nothing but these narrow pathways, all the same stones, ores, and bugs. It felt like a walk with no dead end. But since Helix is just moving forward without saying anything against this, Kai trusts the other to lead the way.

Hours went on again, the exhaustion was finally keeping up with Kai and the magic in his hands was flickering, even threatening to put off finally. So with heavy breaths, he stopped walking and looked at the man before him. "Helix…" he weakly called out.

Helix turned around, glancing at Kai with eyes of indifference. "Tired?" he lightly asked.

Kai pursed his lips and hesitated to answer for a few seconds. Perhaps, Helix might get angry. But he really is too exhausted to keep moving forward blindly without any idea when they'll reach the end of this path. So he braced himself and nodded, "Yes… I don't think I can continue walking like this." But it's not like they can just give up here either… In the first place, this was a task assigned to himself personally. Helix just decided to help him but now, it's mostly Helix doing all the work. Ah, being a burden sure feels horrible.

But in contrast to the reaction Kai expected from Helix, the other sighed quietly and walked towards him. Helix grabbed Kai's wrist and uttered calmly, "We could reach the end after a while, how troublesome…" Despite his words, Kai felt a sudden cool and refreshing feeling spreading across his body. His body relaxed and he felt all his exhaustion disappearing. Although this did feel nice…

Kai's eyes widen and he looks at Helix. "You… You didn't have to… Why?" Kai's exhaustion was transferred to Helix. He took it and brought it to himself, in other words. Helix didn't reply to this, but his hold on Kai's wrist tightened a bit. "Doesn't matter. Let's go, stop dragging this any longer." He let go and turned his back on Kai yet again.

The pressure of being in a magic-filled enclosed space weakened even further for Kai. His own eyebrows furrowed, frowning with distress as he looked at Helix's back. 'Helix… He's really acting weird today…' He's never shown this much concern before… Kai's mind was preoccupied with thoughts as he followed behind Helix with a heavy heart.

Just as Kai felt troubled by Helix's actions, various thoughts were also filling Helix's head. 'Fragments… of Memories… Whose are these…?' Ever since they stepped inside this cavern, bits and bits of memories were being absorbed into his head. They were unclear, blurry, and chaotic, Helix couldn't understand at all. 'Is this because of the magic inside this place?' Helix frowned, 'Perhaps I'm also being affected.'

The two went on walking until they finally found an end to the long pathway they'd been walking on for ages. It was a fairly large room, the walls were covered with huge magic ores while the floor was a reflective blue in color. 'This does make for a picture of a stereotypical magical cave…' Kai thought. While he was busy looking around, Helix in front of him suddenly stopped and Kai ended up bumping into Helix's back. "Ah-"

"There it is."

Helix suddenly spoke before Kai could utter a word. "Huh?" Kai walked to Helix's side and followed Helix's gaze. And when he finally saw what Helix said, his eyes widened slightly.

Bottomless, black eyes stared directly at Helix. Its form was that of a black cat but it emitted some kind of unusual vibes that can cause one to feel unease within its presence. Its whole existence just feels so… Eerie. There is something about the cat's stare that makes it look so…

It stared at them for a long while… Mostly at Helix. Like it was observing him very closely and studying him. The same goes for Helix, he was staring back at the unusual cat.

'Is that even a normal cat? Of course not, my years of reading fantasy novels tells me that this must be the demonic beast…'

Who knew how long their stareoff went on, when, as if it had enough, the demon beast finally closed his eyes and rested its small head against its small paws. "Huh…?" Helix, who is next to Kai lets out a 'hmph' as he turns around. "Take that demon beast, we're going home."

Kai was overwhelmed with confusion, "Huh? Why? What happened?" But Helix only glared without any response. "Hurry up, let's go."

Without his questions being answered, Kai hesitantly glanced at the demon beast before doing what he was told to do so. 'Is this… really fine? Taking the demon beast with us was this simple??'