System's POV

Chapter 1385: Pride Before The Fall [Part 2]

"Are you tired?" Thirteen’s voice trailed off the underground tunnel as he asked Stella.

"No," Stella replied. "But we sure have come a long way."

Even after walking nonstop for nearly two hours, the view never changed. Occasionally, they’d stumble upon caverns that seemed to have been used as a form of shelter in the past, but they had nothing special.

Perhaps the paintings on the wall counted for something. Glowing crystals, the primary source of light in this underground world, illuminated them.

Some of the paintings depicted a group of people worshiping a man holding what looked like a key in his hand.

The deeper they dove into the underground tunnels, the more paintings they saw.

Some depicted monsters drawn in detail, but some were doodles that were difficult to decipher.

In the end, Stella gave up ‌trying to understand them. But Zion seemed interested in these paintings, even the doodles.

Whenever they encountered one, Zion would pause, and Stella would match him. He’d just stand before the art for a while, memorizing every detail.

For a brief moment, Stella even thought that Zion might be collecting puzzle pieces to put them together later.

After two more hours of walking, the teenage boy’s steps came to a halt.

Stella almost bumped into Zion’s back because he stopped abruptly while they were walking.

"What’s wrong?" Stella asked.

"My link to Rocky has been severed," Thirteen replied, a frown plastered on his face.

"Huh?" Stella blinked in confusion. "Your connection with Rocky disappeared?"

"Yes." Thirteen glanced at the ground under his feet.

Sometime on their way through the underground tunnel, Zion had summoned Rocky and ordered it to follow them from under the ground. That way, it could take the walking pair into its fortress if any threat were to target them.

Tiona flicked her tongue a few times before giving a soft hiss, confirming her Master’s words that Rocky was nowhere in sight.

But the more baffling thing was that there were no signs of Rocky encountering an enemy under the ground.

The Hell Lord Bal-Boa simply disappeared out of thin air!

There was only one instance when such a thing could happen, which made Thirteen assume that they had stumbled into a domain that blocked anything from the outside world.

"Do you want us to retrace our steps?" Stella proposed.

"No," Thirteen replied. "Retracing our steps is also futile. Look behind us."

The young lady turned around before gasping in shock.

A rocky wall blocked their path of retreat. It certainly hadn’t been there a while ago, and it was a mystery how it appeared unnoticed.

Stella took out her bow and nocked a magical arrow on it.

Thirteen decisively moved behind the young lady just as she was about to unleash the arrow.

The arrow flew to the rocky wall.

Thirteen and Stella were expecting some kind of explosion would happen, but nothing of the sort came to pass.

Instead, the arrow dispersed as soon as it hit the wall, making Stella’s eyes widen in shock.

Thinking that she might just be imagining things, she unleashed three arrows in quick succession.

However, the result was the same.

The arrows dispersed as soon as they hit the wall, disappearing into nothingness.

"What do we do?" Stella asked.

"We should continue walking this path before us," Thirteen replied. "After all, we have no other option but to move forward."

Stella nodded in agreement. Since the path of retreat was gone, the only way was to go forward.

The two continued to walk, and several more hours passed by.

With each hour that passed, the frown on Stella’s face deepened.

Previously, they’d occasionally come across caverns. But ever since that rocky wall, they had never seen any. Their current path seemed to be different from the others, and based on their direction, they didn’t seem to be going around in circles, but it felt like they were getting nowhere.

Whatever they thought, all they could do was follow the path in front of them and hope it would lead them to where they wanted to be.

"Let’s rest for now," Thirteen proposed after sensing that Stella’s breathing had started to become labored.

Her breathing wasn’t out of exhaustion from their nonstop travel, but the side effect of confusion and anxiety that had stacked along the way.

"Aren’t you worried we might get trapped in this place for life?" Stella asked.

"I’m not worried," Thirteen replied without hesitation.

Earlier, he had tried to open a portal that led to the domain of the apocalypse, but it didn’t work.

That was the first time he failed to do so, but he wasn’t worried at all.

Thirteen had experienced similar events in the past while following his hosts.

Situations like this usually led to either fortuitous encounters or events that led to one’s demise.

During situations like this, he must show a confident stance so that his companion wouldn’t feel too panicked and anxious.

"Why are you not worried?" Stella inquired.

"Because there’s nothing to worry about," Thirteen answered. "It’s not like both of our paths are blocked. In fact, if you think of it objectively, wouldn’t this mean that we are moving on the right track?"

"You’re so optimistic, Zion," Stella sighed. "I’ve already noticed this in the past, but you always seem to know exactly what you’re doing. Even in the face of those Pseudo-Gods..."

Stella wasn’t able to continue what she was going to say, remembering how cool Zion looked back then.

Her heart had also skipped a beat at that moment, especially when she heard the young man’s domineering words back then.

———

"Monster!" Zerathun screamed in horror. "Do you not fear the heavens?! Do you not fear the Gods?!"

"Fear the Heavens?" Thirteen arched an eyebrow. "I do not fear the Heavens. They should be the ones fearing me."

———

Those words sounded prideful, arrogant even, but Zion and the word arrogance didn’t match each other.

As for Pride? Stella didn’t know if the teenage boy was prideful since he had never shown that side during the times that they were together.

He was simply a teenage boy who faced the world calmly, as if he had weathered countless storms that had tempered his will to grow so strong as to deserve the audacity to speak such words.

Even more impressive was the Gods’ silence even after hearing his words.

There were times when Stella thought about her father, and she wondered if he could also speak those words.

But she had a feeling that no matter how strong or great her father was, he would never speak such words, for he and the Gods had a connection that couldn’t be severed even by Fate itself.

"Hmm?" Thirteen blinked. "Why did you stop? Continue what you’re going to say next."

"It’s nothing," Stella answered. "But what will you do if we can’t really get out of this place?"

Thirteen pondered while rubbing his chin.

But the thing that caught Stella’s attention was the faint smile on his face.

"For a moment, let’s think about the worst-case scenario when we really can’t leave this place no matter what we do," Thirteen said. "In that case, the only thing we can do is wait for rescue. Fortunately, you have two adorable sisters who can travel anywhere they want to go.

"If they visit Pangea or Solterra and don’t see you anywhere, they will definitely find a way to reach this place by hook or by crook."

Stella’s anxiety decreased a bit when she heard the teenage boy’s reply.

Indeed.

She had two adorable sisters, who would come looking for her wherever she might be. This thought calmed her down a bit, but the teenage boy’s next words made her heart start to beat faster than ever.

"And, if help doesn’t arrive, then we’ll just have to find a way to survive and live here by ourselves," Thirteen stated. "Who knows? We might even be able to build a family and raise our children here if we try hard enough."

This was only meant as a joke to lighten up the mood, but he had underestimated Stella’s imagination.

She had been born in a loving family, where her father had dozens of wives.

Her siblings had already surpassed fifty in number, and there was a chance that more would be born in the years to come.

The young lady’s face turned beet red as she averted her gaze from the teenage boy, whose Zion Virus was already starting to affect her, without her notice.

If there really came a time when the two of them wouldn’t be able to escape this place, no matter what they did, would she be ready to build a family with him and live a life that she had never envisioned even in her wildest dreams?