Treacherous Lands

I slowly woke and stood up, looking around to see what happened.

"Oh Calyx, you're awake!"

"Calyx!" Both Oleixe and Shanon ran to me.

"Thank god you're awake. We eventually lost our enemies, but now, we're in the middle of nowhere. Shanon insisted on just carrying you while moving forward, but since we don't know the way, we stayed put and waited until you woke up."

"I guess this is normal now, huh. Those guys were trying to turn us into their slaves! Luckily, Oleixe here managed to fight until we eventually lost them."

"Don't worry, I didn't stray off the path and kept on moving forward. Right now, we're in this creepy black desert with abandoned buildings." We're close to that cliff then. There is time to chill.

I summoned my phone and booted up Cyber World III. "Don't just play right out of nowhere!" Oleixe complained for who knows how long.

"How is that even possible? How did you manage to make a phone out of nowhere and recreate that game?"

"Simple, I finished the game and remembered all the details and storyline. Also, every time my phone or gaming setup was broken, I fix it all by myself."

"Hey, are you flexing right now? You must be!" Shanon shouted.

"Enough of that now. Do you feel that shaking?" I paid attention and felt the shaking of the ground.

"Something big is coming." I hid my phone and looked around the area. I just noticed that the place we're in right now is something that resembles a ruin. Right, there's no way these guys can make a cabin.

I went outside and observed the desert of hell. There was nothing beyond the horizon, and behind me is the cliff that we're supposed to climb.

"What is that then?" If the shaking doesn't come from above ground, then it must be below the ground. I looked for more structures that can possibly lead to the underground.

"Calyx, is it safe?" Oleixe shouted.

"I'm seeing nothing here." They both came out, still cautious of their surroundings. "I suspect that the shaking comes from below ground. Should we check it out?"

"Nuh-uh, no way. Now that you recovered, we should get going. This is a waste of time."

"You're just scared because something strong might appear. I say that we go right now." Another one of their arguing continued for ages, so I pulled out my phone and played a game until they reach to a conclusion.

"Hey, you're not pulling out your phone right now! You got the wrong timing!"

"Oleixe, leave him alone. It's because of you that our progress is being hindered."

"Why are you blaming me? You just want to go to an adventure, while we're here continuing in our business!" They both sighed and turned to me, making me sigh as well and turn off my phone.

"Calyx you're the leader. You should decide about what we should do." Since when was I appointed as the leader?

"Look, the reason why I left this to you is because I have different opinions about this. If you're not gonna go to the same conclusion then at least look at what we can gain by going underground."

"You're right, this is why you're the leader!"

"Wise decision Calyx!" Both of them whispered to each other for a period of time until they reached to a conclusion.

"We both have decided to go underground! Calyx, we remembered that you said something about battle experience and stuff, so we reached to a conclusion that we need to become stronger!" Shanon cheered in glee.

"I don't like this either, but you're required to quote on quote, "reach the top", and strength is the most important skill to have. Calyx, what's your final say?" I was shocked with the sudden treatment.

He's treating me like an actual responsible leader. As the adult here, he should be the one leading the group, but he left it all to me. Why? Is it because of what I can do? Although this is beyond my comfort zone, I should reach his expectations at least. I cleared my throat first before giving the final word.

"Since you two agreed on going underground, I suppose we should get ready before heading out to danger." He smiled and nodded, as if he wanted this to happen. Meanwhile, Shanon already has everything and is about to depart away from us.

"Shanon, wait!"

"Wait for us! You don't even know where it is!" Shanon ran to the next building with a suspicious lever hidden below the wall. Without hesitation, she immediately pulled it and revealed a bunker that leads to the underground.

"Shanon, be careful!" Oleixe summoned an earth wall that separated Shanon and the arrows that came from above.

"Where the hell did that even come from?"

"We haven't even entered yet!" I looked around and saw something like a contraption right above the sky.

"Look at that. It's so high up!" I pointed above the sky of hell that is just a ceiling.

"Woah, to think that they can accurately hit the intruder!"

"We should move forward. Time is something that we can't waste."

"Shut up, you stupid geezer!" She led the way forward and multiple enemies are already waiting ahead of us.

"Don't be too much of a kid." We all summoned a weapon of choice, with mine being a sword.

"Are you trying to look cool? From what I know, you can barely swing a sword." Shanon insulted me.

"From what I know, he can do it better than you. It's his choice, so leave him alone." The enemies just noticed our existence after all that bickering and attacked.

"Hey, hey. What are these! They look nothing like demons!" They look more like big, red bees with black stripes and black wings. They also have small horns on their head.

"I hate insects." Oleixe expressed his deep hatred and started shooting them all. It didn't affect them much, but instead attracted more enemies towards us.

"Great, so I need to change weapons." He unsummoned his gun and created a bow instead, the arrows coated in demonic energy.

"ATTACK!" Shanon shouted out a battle cry and urged me to attack the first line of demonic bees. After getting slashed, they immediately dissolve in thin air and disappear as if they were never there.

"Alright, leave the back to me." Oleixe released his arrows and managed to hit most enemies at the back.

"I won't loose to you!" She smirked and pierced many bees on her way. I continued slashing whatever's on my way until all of them vanished.

It was silent for a moment with all of us catching our breaths.

Next up: Demonic Beasts