She sprinted to Sato's side, giving us no time to question her motives or protest. Then, after kneeling next to him, Agawa reached out.
Cautiously, her hand inched towards his scarred face, trembling more with every millimeter of distance closed.
She stopped on the cusp of touching his cheek with a deeply rooted fear in her eyes.
I was about to demand that she give up trying to carry him when she threw her other hand across her face. The crack of a slap reverberated about the room.
I had many questions about what precisely that accomplished. However, I had my answer when her expression changed to how she'd been before.
After the strike, her cheek had become red with puffy swelling, and the fear on her face had dissipated entirely.
She reached again for Sato, this time succeeding and brushing his hair backward with tender affection. "I'm sorry about earlier." She whispered with a grimace, then smiled warmly. "I think it's my turn to help you now."
She removed her hand slowly and, in a single motion, gritted her teeth while pulling him onto her back.
"Wait!" I protested. "I should probably be the one to carry him. You know, since I'm stronger."
"Were you captain of your school's Track and Field club?" She sneered.
"I'll admit, Sato is kind of heavy, but he's nothing compared to the hell I put myself through in school!"
Her confidence overwrote my worry. Usually, I would have insulted her at least five times by now for how ridiculous her idea was. However, given her conviction and pride, I couldn't push further.
Kamida put a hand on Agawa's shoulder. "Let me know if you need a break, okay?"
"Let's go already!" Agawa growled.
Our hearts, now unified, followed the beat of a single goal. We were going to save the one who'd sacrificed everything, the hero who'd shielded us from danger.
This mansion…they could send whatever monstrosities that they've got; they won't stop us from saving you!... "So, you better not die, Sato!" I shouted, startling everyone else." If you do, I swear I'll beat you to death myself!"
We bolted out of the room and back towards the escape tunnel. We were just in time, too, since the sound of clamoring guards was fast approaching from the cell area.
The clattering of weapons and the cheering of orders rang out from behind us. If we'd stuck around a little longer, it might have already been too late.
During our run, I stole a glance at Agawa.
She hadn't been bluffing about her speed; it took everything we had to keep up with her. Even while weighed down by the weight of a grown man, this girl moved like an Olympic athlete!
I was no professional, but I could tell her movements wasted no energy. Her every stride conserved every bit of motion possible while allowing her to speed down the hallway at incredible speeds.
Looking behind me, I noticed that the other two had it worse than me, especially Kamida, who heaved like an old laborer with every step he advanced forward.
pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ Thanks to Agawa's ludicrously fast running, we made it to the tunnel in half the time it took for us to reach Sato.
Just like the rest of these desolate halls, it was poorly illuminated by sparsely placed torches. Unlike the dungeon's corridors, however, the air within was bone-chilling and moist.
Our run became slowed soon after entering. With how dark the corridor was, we didn't want to risk reckless injury. Especially since we had Sato to worry about; we couldn't afford to carry someone else.
In spite of our worries, we had to maintain a fast pace. Who knew how far behind the guards could've been in pursuit of us.
What's more, the deeper we proceeded, the thicker the stench of rot became.
"Ugh, "Kamida griped, clenching his fingers over his nose, "what is that horrid stench?!" He was trying his best to avoid hurling.
"It's decomposition." The doctor flatly responded. He narrowed his eyes toward the halls in front of us. "Wait a moment, please," he asked. He then started tearing at some spare cloth he'd saved from the previous room.
Kamida was delighted at the suggestion to wait; the guy was sweating enough to fill a hot spring. Between his pained wheezing and hunchback posture, he looked like he'd been on the verge of death from exhaustion.
A few moments of respite would be all he got as Nakamura handed us each the fruit of his labors.
Resting within our palms were sturdy but makeshift tanned but dirty bandanas.
"Put these on," he ordered, "it should limit the number of airborne toxins we ingest."
"Oh, thank god!" Agawa exclaimed in relief. "I wasn't saying anything, but this rancid odor is killing me." She flashed a charming smile and crinkled her nose.
We each wrapped the cloth around ourselves, except Agawa and Sato.
They both needed assistance for individual and obvious reasons.
Now that we'd had some protection from the decay, our march became faster and more confident as we traveled more of the dark corridors.
We were lucky the tunnel was linear since several torch mounts were vacant, leaving stretches of total darkness ahead of us.
During those times, we were left with our only light being limited to the two torches we'd scavenged from the walls ourselves. The slight orange glow of the fire was barely enough to keep the darkness at bay.
The other missing lights were probably courtesy of the cowards who'd run so decisively away. They must've taken the majority of them to ease their escape.
'I swear if I get my hands on them.' I growled to myself while cracking my knuckles. Knowing they got out scot-free while we trudged around in darkness boiled my blood.
Several steps ahead and the narrowness of the corridor stretched out into a pitch-black room. The only reason we'd even known of the opening was due to a lone torch. It was mounted to the hallway's edge with metallic stakes embedded into the wall.
We proceeded forward but suffered a fit of gags once we'd reached the room's entrance. The odor had grown so invasive that our masks couldn't wholly snuff it out anymore.
The odor of putrid decay and rot-covered metal filled my lungs. The smell was so foul I would've gladly traveled through a metropolitan sewer instead.
Kamida began to complain when he was silenced by a petrifying howl.
"What was that?!" Agawa whispered and flashed her widened eyes in my direction.
Whatever it was, it was blood-freezing. The sound was somewhere between a blood-curdling shriek and a guttural wail. It was almost as if the howl was ripped straight from the depths of hell.
Soon, it was accompanied by a dozen others just like it. The black abyss in front of us was filled with a chorus that one could only link to death and misfortune.
"Nothing good, I assure you," Kamida replied.
He was right. We escaped a manor of monstrosities, so it should've been obvious that such a house of horrors contained creatures that would make even the most fool-hardy hunter shudder.
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