System's POV

Chapter 263 Are You Afraid Of The Dark? [Part 1]

One of the Wanderers held a glowing artifact in his hand, and stood at the very front to light the way.

Thirteen had caught up with Phoebe's group, and together they went deeper inside the cave until they arrived at a cavern.

As they walked inside the cave, they noticed stains of blood on the floor, and had continued up to this point inside the cave.

There were also several footprints on the ground, and judging by their sizes, they could have belonged to Goblins, and their higher ranked forms, Hobgoblins.

Times like this, he wished that he had Taiga with him.

However, since he brought most of his troops to the Third Island, he had no choice but to leave the Tigerkin behind, so that he could protect his sister just in case something happened.

He had also left Poca behind, and only brought Vassago with him to scout the Third Island.

It was also because of this reason why he was able to come to Phoebe's rescue right away due to the commotion that the Goblins had caused, which could be seen from the sky.

But, after seeing the things outside and inside the cave, he believed that the Goblins might have raided this place a little earlier compared to Phoebe's group.

'Still, why is it so silent?' Thirteen thought. 'Have the Goblins left already?'

Tiona, who was coiled up on his neck, kept flicking her tongue from time to time, as if trying to locate any lingering scent in the surroundings.

After walking for a long time, the cavern split into four intersections, forcing Thirteen and Phoebe to make a choice.

Judging by the footprints, and blood stains on the ground, the most obvious choice was the farthest left corner.

However, before the younger boy and the Wanderers could walk in that direction, Tiona gave a soft hiss, stopping her Master from his tracks.

"The right one?" Thirteen asked.

Tiona hissed a second time before nodding her head.

"Let's go to the right path," Thirteen declared.

"But, the trail went this way," Phoebe commented.

Thirteen shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Tiona said to go this way, so I'll go this way. Of course, you can choose to go that way if you wish. But, I am going this way."

Taking out a Torch Light that used Cores as a source of energy, Thirteen headed to the rightmost path with confident steps.

Seeing that their savior was heading to a different pathway, Phoebe and her team followed not long after.

After seeing how deadly the ten-year-old was in battle, they believed that it would be safer to stay close to him.

Also, Phoebe had heard about the younger boy's legendary exploits from Rianna. He was the one that orchestrated the defeat of a Majin Prince, which not even the Monarchs of Pangea dared to face together.

But, there was one thing that puzzled her, as well as all the other people that had heard the story of Zion Leventis.

Rianna said that the boy told her that he accidentally entered a Dimensional Gate and was sent to the Houdini Desert.

Of course, these stories did in fact happen in the past.

However, there was one important factor that many didn't miss.

If he entered a Dimensional Gate, how did he manage to arrive in the Houdini Desert?

Usually, Dimensional Gates were connected to the territories of the Jinns and Majins. If a seven-year-old accidentally entered that kind of Dimensional Gate, he would have long been Jinn Poop by now.

But, Zion was alive and even thriving in Solterra.

News about him had also spread in Pangea, making the authorities investigate if similar incidents had happened in the past.

As much as the Leventis Family tried to reign in the news, it was simply impossible.

There were many Wanderers who had been part of Zion's Team during the last stages of the war, and these same Wanderers spread his feats after they returned to Pangea.

Naturally, the people of the Military had heard about this since Rianna was very vocal about Thirteen.

So, when they finally met the living legend, they decided that they would hug his thigh no matter what, so that they could return to Pangea just like Rianna and the others!

After walking for some time, they once again came into an intersection. This time, there were no blood stains anywhere.

There were also no traces that someone had come to this part of the underground cave network.

Tiona once again hissed, telling her Master where to go.

This time, Thirteen went to the middle path, and walked until he, and Phoebe's team arrived at an underground river.

"Hiss…"

"They jumped into the river?"

The Black Snake nodded.

The flow of the water wasn't strong, so there was no danger of being washed away by the current.

Using his torch, Thirteen noticed that the underground river wasn't that deep, so he decided to walk on it to see how deep it was.

The river was at least six meters wide, so it didn't take long for him to reach the center.

At most, it was only a meter deep, which could easily be traversed by teenagers older than him.

"Let's follow the river," Thirteen said before motioning for Phoebe and the others to come to him.

They only had two artifacts that could light their way, so they decided to form two lines with Thirteen at the front, and one holding the second artifact at the back.

After walking for what seemed to be half an hour, the teenagers were already feeling cold from the water.

But, they persevered because they had been trained by their families to endure harsher situations.

Finally, Tiona raised her head, telling her Master that she could sense living creatures ahead.

As to whether they were Humans, Goblins, or other creatures, they decided to prepare themselves just in case they were going to engage in battle.

Thirteen once again wore the black helm which covered his face, while the other Wanderers held their weapons firmly in their grasp.

After walking for a few more minutes, they saw a light source in the distance, with several Human children gathered around it.

The moment they noticed the light that was coming from Thirteen's torch, the second group of Wanderers prepared for battle.

They didn't know that the one holding the light was a human because he was wearing a black set of armor.

"Wait!" Phoebe shouted. "We're not ene-mhhhh!"

Thirteen hastily covered Phoebe's mouth because her shout echoed across the caverns.

The second group of Wanderers also lowered their weapons after hearing Phoebe's shout, but their faces became pale when they realized what just happened.

Soon, the sound of roars echoed in the surroundings, making all the Wanderers who heard them shudder due to how close these roars sounded to them.

Phoebe, who realized what she just did looked ashen because she might have just doomed all of them with that single shout from her.

Thirteen, who also understood that this wasn't the time to blame anybody, motioned for the other Wanderers to go to the Second Group of Wanderers.

"Close the lights," Thirteen said. "Although these monsters might have night vision, they will spot us faster if they can see a light source."

Herman, who was the owner of the glowing artifact, nodded and deactivated its effects.

Soon, the entirety of the cavern returned to its dark state, with everyone hoping that it would be enough to make their pursuers unable to find their location, which was their last bastion of hope.