[Nagumo's POV]
He didn't know how long he had been underground.
To him, it felt like an eternity. Time had dissolved into something meaningless. There was only pain, suffocating darkness, and the harsh rasp of his own breathing echoing through the narrow tunnel he had carved out in desperation.
The air was damp and heavy, thick with the metallic scent of his own blood. Every attempt to move sent white-hot agony tearing through his body.
His arm was gone.
Yet phantom pain still screamed up through his shoulder as if it remained attached—burning, twisting, throbbing violently. The nerves refused to accept reality. The pain refused to let him forget what he had lost.
His body trembled uncontrollably as warmth steadily drained from him. Blood seeped into the stone he had transmuted around himself, darkening the rock beneath him.
He pressed his back against the tunnel wall, teeth grinding together, fighting back a scream—
BOOM.
The ground shook violently.
Dust sifted down from the ceiling of the cramped passage as another thunderous impact echoed through the cavern beyond. The stone beneath his remaining hand vibrated, the tremor traveling through his palm, up his arm, and into his chest.
That wasn't the bear clawing at stone anymore.
It was something else.
"…Is it fighting something?" he whispered hoarsely, pressing his hand flat against the wall to feel the tremors more clearly.
Another impact came—heavier this time. Closer.
With each vibration, panic climbed higher in his chest.
'No… don't come this way.'
He repeated the words over and over in his mind like a fragile prayer.
A roar tore through the cavern—deep, furious, primal.
Dread flooded him. He braced himself for the inevitable—
Then another sound cut through the chaos.
A voice.
A human voice.
His breath caught.
Carefully, slowly, he reshaped the stone in front of him, widening it just enough to form a thin slit. Just enough to see without exposing himself.
What he saw stole the air from his lungs.
The monstrous bear still stood there. Even at a distance, its presence crushed the air itself—an enormous aberration of muscle and fur, radiating pure killing intent. Just looking at it made every instinct in his body scream to hide.
But it wasn't alone.
Something stood before it.
Is that… a human?
Before he could process who it was—or how anyone else could possibly be this deep in the labyrinth—the bear charged.
The man didn't move like a mage.
There was no chanting. No glowing magic circles. No visible flow of mana.
Instead—
Something else expanded outward from his body.
An invisible pressure.
"What… is that?" Nagumo breathed.
The air around the man distorted, thickening, growing heavy and oppressive—like standing too close to a blazing furnace. It wasn't visible in the traditional sense, but it was undeniable.
It felt powerful.
BAM.
Nagumo flinched as the man was hurled backward. Stone exploded outward when his body slammed into the cavern wall.
Blood streamed down the stranger's chest. His frame trembled with exhaustion and pain.
And yet—
He didn't retreat.
He lunged back in.
Nagumo watched in stunned silence as the man fought the monster head-on. He dodged claws by inches, drove strikes into its massive body with his bare hands, and was thrown aside again and again.
Each time the man was struck, Nagumo's own body tensed, phantom pain flaring violently in his missing arm.
"Why isn't he running…?" he whispered. "How is he fighting that thing…? Isn't he afraid to die?"
Then—
The man vanished.
For a split second, it felt like only the bear remained in the cavern.
Nagumo blinked rapidly, scanning the battlefield in confusion—
And then he saw him.
Beneath the bear.
In a sudden burst of invisible force, the man drove an upward blow into the creature's skull. There was no flash. No flare of magic.
Just raw, crushing impact.
BAM.
The bear screamed—a sound filled with confusion and agony. Blood erupted across its face as its skull fractured, splintering like shattered glass.
Nagumo stared as the Abyss Bear—the nightmare that had torn his arm from his body—collapsed to the stone floor like a crumbling mountain.
The ground shook one final time.
Silence followed.
His hands trembled.
"It's… dead?" he whispered, the words barely audible.
He repeated them again, slower this time, as if convincing himself.
"It's dead…"
His breath hitched.
Tears spilled uncontrollably down his dirt-streaked face as something he hadn't felt in hours—hope—flickered weakly in his chest.
[End POV]
Still reeling from the strain of overusing his Nen, Sylas slowly pushed himself up from the cavern floor.
Every muscle screamed in protest.
He turned his gaze toward the fallen bear, studying its massive corpse. An idea formed behind his eyes.
Without hesitation, he grabbed one of the creature's massive forelimbs. His muscles tensed, veins rising sharply beneath his skin as he dragged the enormous body across the stone floor. The sound of it scraping echoed through the cavern.
He pulled it toward the area the bear had abandoned earlier.
The corpse came to a stop just a few feet from Nagumo's concealed tunnel.
Sylas tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing as if listening for something beneath the stone.
He stepped closer and knocked his knuckles against the rock wall.
"I know you're in there," he said calmly. "You can come out. It's dead."
Dead.
The word echoed hollowly in Nagumo's mind.
With trembling fingers, he pressed his palm against the stone and slowly reshaped it, widening the opening.
As the barrier dissolved, Nagumo pitched forward, barely catching himself before collapsing completely. Blood continued to pour from the severed limb as shock and exhaustion overwhelmed him.
Sylas's eyes widened slightly.
"…Damn," he muttered.
He released the bear's limb and rushed forward, catching Nagumo before he could hit the ground.
"Hey—hey, don't pass out," Sylas said sharply, gripping his shoulder.
Nagumo's vision blurred. The world sounded distant and muffled.
"You…" he rasped weakly. "Who… are you…?"
Sylas ignored the question.
He shrugged off his torn jacket and immediately pressed it firmly against the stump of Nagumo's arm.
Pain detonated through Nagumo's body as pressure was applied.
"Stay still," Sylas said bluntly. "You're bleeding out."
Nagumo clenched his teeth, tears streaming freely as he fought not to scream.
Sylas tightened the makeshift bandage as best he could, applying enough pressure to slow the bleeding. After several tense seconds, Nagumo's breathing steadied—if only slightly.
He needed him alive.
Sylas knew nothing about this world.
Nagumo did.
Once Nagumo lost consciousness, Sylas lifted him over his shoulder. Then he dragged the Abyss Bear's corpse forward again before carefully positioning Nagumo on top of it, using the massive body as an improvised stretcher.
If his memory served him correctly, there should be something deeper below—something that could help with both of their injuries.
Sylas exhaled dryly.
"Guess I need to dig a little deeper."
He gritted his teeth and gathered what little aura remained within him. Slowly, deliberately, he forced the remaining energy into two specific areas—his hands and his feet.
The technique was called Gyo—an advanced application of Ren that allowed a Nen user to concentrate life energy into precise parts of the body.
Sylas planted his feet firmly and slowed his breathing.
Inhale through the nose.
Exhale through the mouth.
His hands trembled as he focused, guiding the aura into place.
Focus. Keep it stable.
Seconds stretched into nearly a full minute before the flow steadied.
"…Forty percent in each hand," he muttered. "Ten percent in each leg."
A faint hum vibrated through the air as the aura condensed and settled. Sylas flexed his fingers, watching the invisible force tighten around them.
"This should be enough."
He drew in one final breath.
"Haaa—!"
His hands slammed into the stone.
The rock fractured instantly, spiderweb cracks racing outward from the point of impact. Sylas tore loose chunks free and hurled them aside.
Dust flooded the narrow tunnel, scraping his throat and burning his lungs as he continued working. Every few strikes, he cleared the debris, then dragged the bear and Nagumo forward—inch by inch—deeper into the earth.
The cavern swallowed them whole.
To be Continued…