Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 283 Boom Boom

"Nothing's… here."

Malenia expected their destination to be filled with peril and all sorts of unique dangers. But throughout their entire journey, the only time she truly exerted any effort and stamina… was whenever she was alone with Rhys.

But of course, she was not ashamed of it — in fact, she was proud of it. After all, she found a way she could assist the Hero of Prophecy even outside combat. That was her job as a High Priestess of the Shrine of Medusa.

But of course, she also needed to prove herself in other areas — and right now, she was looking everywhere to find clues as to where their actual destination might be since they were just surrounded by a flat sea of rock and boulders from miles on end.

"Our destination is below us, Malenia," Rhys placed his hand on Malenia's shoulder and gestured to her to stop searching, "You won't find anything here, we would have to go to the Surface as initially discussed."

"The… Surface," Malenia took in a small gulp as she heard Rhys's words, "Where all our souls go to be judged, and then tortured for all eternity."

"...That sounds about right," Rhys let out a silent chuckle from Malenia's words, "Tell your shivellans to set up a perimeter, but tell them not to go too far. I'm going to start creating a Hole through the Surface, it will attract any monsters nearby."

"Of course, Rhys," Malenia quickly slithered her way toward the shivellans. As for Rhys, he just started stretching his arm while choosing a spot to dig the Hole.

"Why dig here, Hero?" Aengela climbed to his shoulder while pointing in a certain direction on the horizon, "My sister's energy is more abundant and plentiful there."

"I don't want to risk accidentally digging where people are," Rhys gently grabbed Aengela before placing her on top of a boulder a little distance away, "We don't know what's on the other side, we might even emerge near a city — that will be really bad."

"How are you planning to—"

And before Aengela could even ask her question, she saw Rhys just casually digging his palm through the rocky ground as if they were still in a sandy Desert Region. And then, with a breath, Rhys forcefully scooped out the rocky ground; lifting and shaving a large part of it — it did not really take Rhys long to make a hole deep enough to completely engulf him.

And as soon as his head was a foot away from the surface, he finally raised his leg and slammed his foot on the hole.

"!!!" The ground practically erupted around him, instantly rippling and causing a large crater to form — there was not much of a mess, however, as the debris just stuck itself to the sides as the hole finally turned into a Dig.

"R…Rhys!? What was that!?" Malenia, who had been trying to converse with Aengela even though they could not even understand each other, quickly rushed toward the sudden crater emerging near them; her eyes, widening as soon as she saw Rhys standing vertically on the walls of the hole,

"Is that…"

"I guess you've never seen this?" Rhys wiped the dirt on his face as he saw Malenia looking at him, as well as Aengela who was sitting on her shoulder.

"How… how are you standing on the side of the…What…?" Malenia stuck his arms down the Hole, only to feel his hand being pulled to the sides. And with an almost curious smile crawling on her face, she quickly crawled down the Dig like some sort of snake… which she halfly is,

"Such… such magic. Such… wow."

"Hm…" Rhys glanced at Malenia's amazement for a few seconds before turning to the wall blocking their path to the Surface below him—well, behind him, "...I suggest covering your ears, Malenia."

"Okay," Malenia did not even hesitate to follow Rhys's orders and covered her ears. And as soon as she did so, she felt her entire body trembling along with the magical cavern she found herself in; her eyes widening in amazement as Rhys just practically bulldozed his way through the hard surface.

She wasn't actually the only one amazed, even Rhys was. After all, it was probably less than 2 years ago that he saw a Cyclops Barbarian digging a Hole by himself — and now he was able to do the same. And he knows… he knows that if he was to fight the Cyclops Barbarian again, it would prove to not be a match against him.

He wasn't a fool… he knew he was gaining too much strength too fast, and now he even gained an ability that could turn even a sacred nymph into stone — he knew it could be done, since that was what the late Rheadan did to be able to contain the nymph before undoing the petrification after it was already in a cage.

If he was to fight Esme now, would he finally be able to beat her — or at least wound her? A being that could completely turn into a mist and just turn an entire city into ice with a snap of her fingers… and she did not even need to be in the said city.

"...No," Rhys shook his head and just focused on drilling through the hole as he realized he was being overconfident. Most of the people above him in the Top 15 Strongest Explorers in the world could finally end him before he knew what happened, he can't even beat Ayesha yet.

"Rhys… Rhys!"

Rhys then snapped out of his stupor as he heard Malenia scream behind him.

"Lanni spotted something approaching us! She said it might be humans but she's not sure! Their feet looked like wheels, she said!"

"...So someone was nearby," Rhys could not help but just let out a small sigh as he rushed toward Malenia while looking at Aengela who was sitting on her shoulder, "You said you didn't sense anyone for miles, Ma'am."

"I did not," Aengela shook her head, "I can only feel life when it is directly connected to the ground."

"...They're riding on something," Rhys once again sighed as he quickly leaped out of the Dig, while Malenia was very careful to just slither through the gravity shift.

"Where did you spot them?" Rhys then immediately approached Lanni, one of Malenia's shivellans, "Right—what… what is that roar!?"

And before Lanni could answer, they all heard a loud roar echo through the air, and as they looked toward the horizon, they spotted several silhouettes getting closer and closer to them.

"They… are already here?" Lanni and the other shivellans could not help but look at each other, "What… what is that roar? Some sort of monster…!?"

"No," Rhys shook his head, "It's a motorbike. Malenia, all of you should hide and make sure they don't see the carriage."

"But the monsters—"

"They're humans," Rhys slightly raised his voice, "If they see you, things are going to get complicated."

"...Okay," Malenia slightly hesitated to leave Rhys, but just quickly grabbed Aengela by her shoulders, hiding her on her bosom before she and the shivellans all slithered away back to the carriage — of course, they all hid in a spot where they could see what was happening. After all, if they decide to attack Rhys… Malenia and the shivellans weren't just going to hide.

And without even a minute, the group of humans were already in front of Rhys; most of them were riding motorcycles, but only one was actually run by petrol and the others were electric — and behind them was a truck with some sort of insignia.

It was an Explorer Guild that Rhys did not recognize; that was already to be expected, of course, since they were in a completely different territory… a different continent entirely.

"What the… a foreigner?" The man who first got off the bike quickly pointed at Rhys as soon as he took off his helmet; his face, oriental.

Was Rhys right? Were they in the Underworld area of Nihon? Rhys couldn't really determine since his ability to understand every and all language was just translating everything for him directly in his mind.

"...Not really," Rhys just smiled as he approached the group, but quickly halted his steps as all of them put up their guard, "Relax…

…I'm a local. I live in Edo," Rhys just said the only country he knew from Nihon.

"...You're a Dregger."

"Wait, shit… You're right. What's a dregga doing all the way up here?"

"...Is that a Hole behind you? We heard a noise here."

"Oh, I only just got here when I heard the noise," Rhys shrugged as he glanced back at the Hole he was making, "I think a monster was digging a Hole here, but it was already gone when I got here. It's—"

"Wait, Rhys Wilder!?"

And as soon as a woman stepped out of the truck that was behind the convoy, Rhys was sadly quickly recognized.

"Ah…" Rhys could not help but just close his eyes and sigh,

"...I'm a tourist."

Rhys forgot that he was famous.