Chapter 44 Clearing The Path

"Hahhaha! Now we traped here! Stupid ghouls, look what they made me do," Bill laughed while looking at the rubble blocking their way out.

"Hey! What's so funny about it?" Suzuka asked while turning toward Bill.

"Nothing, just remembered old times... adventuring times, that's all," Bill said as he leaned against the wall, holding a tight grip on his axe.

"Old times? With the Wara guy? How about we focus on killing these ghouls first?" She stated as she walked toward Bill.

Bill replied to her "Mehh! These pathetic cowards are weak, the only damage they do is annoy you."

Suzuka pressed her back against the wall next to Bill and asked him "Aren't you a bit too relaxed? We are in kind of a pickle here, we are trapped here with them"

Bill released an outstanding lough "Hahaha! Trapped with them? No, no girl... they are trapped with us!"

"But that's the same thing!" Suzuka replied.

Bill looked at the girl with disappointment in his eyes and said, "Do Bill need to explain everything to you? Ughh! Let me show you the difference in these words I said."

Without waiting for an answer from Suzuka, Bill threw his axe at the ground, burying its head into the ground. He then walked out of the bright light and into the shadows where the shadow ghoul was stalking them.

As soon as Bill stepped into the dimmer light, the ghoul lunged itself at him and sunk its teeth into Bill's shoulder. But its effort was in vain, as Bill's skin was too hard for it to penetrate. His bulging muscles and tough skin were impenetrable by shadow ghoul, leaving only a scratch mark at best.

The shadow ghoul had to solidify to attack Bill, and this was the opportunity Bill needed. He grabbed the ghoul by its tiny neck and with a tight squeeze, decapitated the ghoul. Its body burst into a dark mist and vanished, dropping a purple crystal the size of a coin.

Bill picked up the crystal and walked back to where Suzuka was. She looked at him and said, "Okay, I get it. They are weak, you strong. They can do nothing to you. That's great, for you. How about me?"

Bill curled up his fingers into a fist and punched Suzuka to the ground. She quickly jumped back on her feet and filled with anger shouted at Bill, "What was that for?!"

Bill leaned back against the wall again and asked the girl, "How did that feel? Did it hurt?"

"Of course, it hurt. You punched me in the face," with an angry voice Suzuka answered him.

Bill explained in a calm voice, "Only hurt's, huh? A normal human would have lost his head by that punch or dangling on a broken neck. And you say it only hurt. Girl, you match Bill's fist in a fight, you don't need to be afraid of these... these pathetic... things."

"Or you could have just told me, instead of punching me."

"To show you is easier than explaining."

Shadow ghouls are hesitant to attack, especially after witnessing one of their kind killed but there is no way to flee too. They are forced to attack, but they don't last long. Bill and Suzuka forced them to attack and counter-killed them all. The shadow ghoul's bite was as strong as a human's, it couldn't penetrate Suzuka's enhanced body as well.

After successfully defeating the shadow ghouls, Bill turned to Suzuka and said, "Girl, while we have a moment, gather all of the purple gems that the ghouls dropped. They are valuable, you can sell them at the hunters' guild for a decent price."

Suzuka nodded, understanding the importance of the gems. She quickly began to gather them, carefully placing each one into her bag. Bill watched her, nodding in approval as she efficiently collected the gems.

"These gems are valuable to you, not just for the money but they will also help you in your journey, you can buy necessary items and equipment with it," Bill added as he helped her in collecting the gems.

As they worked, Bill explained to Suzuka how the gems could be used to purchase necessary items and equipment for her journey. Suzuka listened attentively, understanding the importance of these gems in her quest to become an official adventurer.

"Listen, girl, once you make it out of this forest and get to the hunters' guild, you can sell these gems for a bit of money to start your journey. It should be enough to cover a few days in an inn."

Suzuka looked at the gems in her bag, "How much do you think each gem will sell for?"

"Well, with all that we've gathered here, I'd say you could get around 2 gold coins. It's hard to say for sure though, don't know current market prices."

Suzuka's eyes widened in excitement, "Just for these gems? 2 gold coins? That's great!"

After collecting all the gems, Bill let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, we got them all. It was a pain to gather them in this debris-riddled ground."

"Now that we collected all the gems, we should go and look at the collapsed exit," she said while pointing towards the exit. 

Bill and Suzuka stood in front of a pile of rubble where the wall had collapsed and blocked the exit. They decided to take a quick rest before thinking about what to do next. It was the middle of the night by now, and they were a bit tired.

Bill sat down on a nearby rock and leaned against the wall. He was getting sleepy, and his eyes were drooping. Suzuka sat next to him, her sword still in hand. She was getting drowsy, but she knew they couldn't stay there for long.

"We need to find a way out of here," Suzuka said, as she looked at the rubble.

"Mehhh! It can wait, let the rubble settle in, we clear the rubble in a few hours. If we dig now it may collapse even more. Rest for now, it's probably the middle of the night by now, so no rush," Bill said, as he closed his eyes. "We'll figure it out later."

They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the sound of the mine. It was quiet now. The exit was covered by rocks, and it was safe here, no one could come in through that way. The mine had more floors down, but they had checked ahead, and the passageways to the lower floors collapsed. No one was going in through this side either. It was safe to rest.

Bill fell asleep first with no worries. He leaned against the wall, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Suzuka was hesitant for a few minutes and kept her guard up, scanning the darkness for any signs of danger. But as the minutes passed, her eyes grew heavy, and her sword arm lowered. She gave in to drowsiness and leaned her head against the wall, her breathing also growing steadily as she fell asleep as well.

The mine was dark and silent, and the only sounds were the loud snoring of Bill and the soft breathing of Suzuka. The only light came from the crystals that were placed on the ground, casting a soft glow on the characters' faces. As they slept, they were unaware of the time passing by. But they were safe, and that was all that mattered. 

Two hours and a bit have passed since they fell asleep, and a small rock cracked from the ceiling of the room and fell on Suzuka's head, waking her up. Bill was still snoring like a big baby, unaware of the world around him. Suzuka shook her head, rubbing the spot where the rock had hit her. She felt a bit groggy but otherwise fine.

As she looked around the room, her eyes fell on the collapsed exit. She had been thinking about it and decided to investigate.

Suzuka stood up, her sword in hand, and approached the rubble. She examined the rocks, looking for any signs of a way through. At first, it seemed hopeless. The rubble was thick, and the rocks were heavy. But as she looked, she realized that she can use her box power to make rocks light and simply move them without putting in any hard work. With that thought, she walked to Bill and woke him up.

"Bill, wake up. I have an idea. I can use my box power to make the rocks light and move them without any effort," Suzuka said.

Bill rubbed his eyes and looked at her. "What? What are you on about? Oh yeah... almost forgot, we are trapped here. Anyway... sure, that could work. Let's give it a try," he said while getting up.

Together, they approached the rubble, and Suzuka activated her box power. The rocks began to glow with a faint dark shadow, and they felt lighter in her hands. It was a lot of work, the number of rocks was huge, and clearing the passageway would take a few hours even with Suzuka using her powers. They worked in silence for a while, until Suzuka paused for a moment to catch her breath.

"Hey, Bill! Just a random question but do you know what a cliff dweller title means?"

Bill dropped the big rock he was holding and sat down on it as he asked, "What's this all of a sudden?"

"Oh, nothing much. It's just that I want to be an adventurer, and I would like to know what titles mean," Suzuka explained.

"Yeah, Bill knows that one, and a few more, heck, Bill had a few titles. But why that one in particular?" Bill asked the girl while cleaning the dirt off his hands.

"Before I met you, I run into an adventurer, I guess. His name was Clive."

"You guess?" Bill asked the girl with a slight concern in his voice.

"Well, long story short, I met him half-dead, used a healing crystal to heal him, and he promised to help me get to town," Suzuka continued.

Bill interrupted with his snarky remarks "I guess It didn't turn out well, look where it got you."

Ignoring Bill's interruption, Suzuka continued, "So, as I was saying, he was bragging something about him being a great adventurer and having this title called cliff dweller, trying to impress me or something."

Bill took a few seconds to think and asked "Did he talk a lot? Like a chatty type?"

"Yes, he was charismatic," Suzuka replied.

Bill rubbed his tired eyes and said "Let me guess, this guy, he ditched you on the first sight of danger."

"Yes, yes he did," Suzuka said as she lowered her head and looked at the ground. 

"Look, girl. Adventurers get this title when they abandon their party members to die and he is the only survivor. This title is nothing to brag about... so... my guess would be... he was just testing you, to see if you know anything about adventurers, and maybe to fool you or something. To know the answer you will need to ask him."

"Oh, you better believe I will ask him, that turd will regret leaving me there. When I find him I will..."

Bill interrupted her mid-sentence "You will what? Huh? What? Tell me."

"I... I don't know, I don't want to hurt anybody, but... but I need to get back at him somehow. For what he did... that coward... he... he just left me there... used me as bait... to save himself." Suzuka said as She was talking through her tiers struggling to make a sentence.

Bill looked at Suzuka impassively as she struggled to speak through her tears. He showed no sympathy or emotion as she spoke of her desire for revenge. "To be clear, girl," he said coldly, "I don't care." And went back to clearing the rubble.

Suzuka yet again was astonished by Bill's lack of humility, "Oh you son of a..." But she didn't finish that sentence.