Time felt like it had slowed down to its bare minimum.
Every second felt like an eternity to Gareth and the others around him as well. Their survival and future depended on the outcome Adam would bring.
All of them were praying for his survival, but no one could guarantee it.
Looking at the entrance in front of him, Gareth sighed and sighed again. He just sighed, as there wasn't anything else he could do at the moment.
'Why is he not returning... this should be more than enough time for him to check the cave and return back from it,' he thought.
He looked in front of him—still, there was no sign of Adam anywhere.
'Did something happen... no, that can't be. He has invisibility. At the very least, he could get out of there. There isn't any sound of skirmish either... ohhh! God, please just save him.'
For the past minute, he had even forgotten to blink anymore. He was just standing there, hoping for his well-being. All he was doing was praying while staring at the cave entrance.
As the time ticked, even the faintest hope began to waver. Doubt began to creep inside him.
'I shouldn't have sent him inside. I should have been the one to go in. What kind of teacher am I, sending my student ahead? Oh! God, what have I done?'
Gareth looked around, and like him, all of the students were staring at the entrance still. Some were still hopeful, while a few were skeptical about the outcome.
'No... I should check the cave at least. He could've tripped. Yes! That must have happened.' Thinking this, he was about to move around when a sound entered his ear.
"Everything is okay, teacher. There is nothing inside the cave. There is nothing dangerous, at least."
A voice came from his left—where no one was just a few seconds ago. But now, a frail-looking boy was standing beside him with a bit of a smile upon his face.
At first, Gareth panicked after finding Adam appearing beside him like that. But soon, a smile appeared on his face as he understood the meaning of this.
"Really... there is nothing inside the cave?" he asked, not believing it. He couldn't believe something had happened in their favor after all this torture.
"Yes, sir, there is nothing. I mean, there is something, but it isn't dangerous or anything," Adam replied after recalling the things he had seen inside the cave.
"What are they?" Gareth asked, raising one of his eyebrows.
"It would be better for you to see it for yourself," he replied.
"Okay... let's get out of this open area first." Saying this, he passed the good news—there wasn't any need, as everyone had heard it as well, but still he had—to everyone, and soon they began to move toward the cave.
'What could Adam be talking about?' While moving toward the cave, Gareth couldn't help but think about the thing Adam was referring to.
He had said it wasn't dangerous... if it isn't dangerous, then what could it be? Could we use it to our advantage? Let's see what the cave has in store for us...
Sighing, Gareth stopped thinking for a moment and instead summoned his Desire screen. He had seen it once when that strange voice had whispered in his ear.
Even then, he had mostly just skipped over it and didn't understand anything useful from it.
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Name: Gareth
Age: 28
Rank: Primor
Desire: Shield
Ember:
Remnant:
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Looking at the information in front of him, Gareth pondered for a moment. Previously, he had vaguely looked at the information about his Rank and Desire.
There wasn't anything useful inside [Rank], so he directly looked at [Desire] to know more about his abilities. Invisibility had proven to be a great weapon for them—he hoped his was just as useful.
As he thought of the [Desire], everything about it unfolded in front of him.
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Desire: Shield
Desire Description: Looking at a frail flower, you wished for it to live on. You protected it, fed it. In the end, it pained you to crush it. You vow to protect everything you can. You vow to become impenetrable. You vow to become their shield.
Desire Rank: Exist
Desire Abilities: [Guardian's Grace], [Last Light]
Progression: Strengthen your ability to exist.
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Reading the description, he remembered something painful. A pain he had long forgotten.
But as he noticed something rising inside his chest, Gareth understood he had never truly forgotten that scar... it was always there. All this time, he had just been pretending to forget it.
'Why…'
He was about to remember it all, but stopped himself.
'This isn't the time for this.'
Controlling himself, he moved on to the rank of his Desire and stopped to understand more about his abilities.
[Guardian's Grace (Passive): A strong body and a strong mind are what one needs to protect something. You are blessed to have both. You have resistance to attacks aimed at your body, mind, and soul.]
[Last Light (Active): You can conjure a shield to protect those around you.]
Looking at both of these descriptions, Gareth understood some, but most of it he couldn't grasp.
He wanted to ponder over it some more, but noticing that he had come too close to the cave, he chose to close the screen and instead focused on the cave.
Despite it already being checked, there could still be some danger around, and he didn't want to be caught off guard.
"Adam has already checked... still, everyone, be on your best. Notice anything strange and inform the group ASAP. Do you understand?" Looking at the entrance, he braced and told the others to do the same.
"Yes... Sir," everyone replied in unison.
"Let's go..."
Saying those words, he finally entered the cave. A few steps in, there was nothing wrong—it was like every other cave. But as he moved forward, Gareth understood what Adam meant when he said something was strange.
"This is man-made?" he couldn't help but think out loud.
Despite the small entrance... the area inside the cave was huge. Just saying huge was an understatement, as it was more than 20m from one side to another.
That wasn't all—everything was clean. Walls were adorned with torches or something like that of medieval torches. Around the walls, things were arranged. There were things painted on the ceiling of the cave as well.
Or, that's what it was supposed to be a hundred or so years ago, at least.
Everything at the moment was in ruin.
Dust was everywhere. The torches were broken, the things around the walls were in ruin, and one couldn't make out what was painted on top of the ceiling.
Looking at everything around him, Gareth couldn't help but question,
"People lived in this hell?"