Chapter 182 - The Back Door
[You want to go up against me? Growl!] Qin Hua swung her paws aiming for the galloping skeletal knight.
She didn't block the attack directly and instead targeted the undead horse, thereby making the knight sitting atop it stumble forward and miss his attack.
[Though mounts don't seem too ideal for fighting, you still look really cool!]
Grinning wide, she gave a paw pump to the skeletal knight, and then attacked him with [Shadow Maul] and [Shadow Rip].
The cracks already formed on the skeleton's body trembled and before he could raise his sword one more time, a ball of dark energy landed on him to finish him off.
[Ding. 1 Skeletal Knight killed]
[110 Experience points have been rewarded]
Woof! Qin Hua quickly picked up the sword and the metallic armor which dropped down on the ground, making a loud clanking noise.
She shoved the two into the inventory and then the trio once again moved forward. This time both Qin Hua and the clone walked side by side at the front, with Coco still in the back.
And just as she had expected, the next wave consisted of four skeletal knights charging towards her at the same time.
[Growl! Coco, look alive. Make sure to heal me!] Snarling loudly, the two wolves pounced forward, tackling the four skeletal knights all at once.
Qin Hua used her full strength to completely dominate the battlefield and the gallant skeleton knights fell down one by one, their horses confused and running amok.
Purple lunged forward and quickly took care of these undead horses finishing another wave of rift monsters in no time.
This continued on for a while as more and more undead skeletal knights charged towards her, the deeper they walked into the tunnels.
The numbers increased drastically and at one point Qin Hua fought off twenty skeletal knights, taking a few minor injuries, though just as she received the injuries, they were swiftly taken care of by the silent pocket healer.
Huff. Huff. Huff. The wolf panted. After remaining idle for a while, these fights fired her up and without realizing it, she was grinning wildly.
She smacked her lips and dashed ahead to face the next batch of knights. Was it going to be 40 next? Her green and blue orbs twinkled in the darkness.
But luckily or unluckily for her, the wave of 20 knights was the biggest and the monsters once again started reducing. After a few minutes, there was only a single knight coming forward from within the darkness to attack them.
[Woof! Shouldn't there be more monsters since we are going closer to this rift crystal?] Qin Hua felt that something was off.
They seemed to be going deeper and deeper and yet the difficulty level was actually dropping. It was almost like how things were at the beginning near the gate portal through which they had entered.
[Fuck!] Qin Hua gasped as the three of them turned around the next corner and she could already tell what they were going to see.
There it was! Another big circle of energy sparkling in front of her! This time it was not black, instead, it was crimson in color.
[Inspect] Qin Hua muttered absent-mindedly and the familiar reply chimed back.
[Ding. Inspect skill level is not sufficient]
Just as she expected… Qin Hua gulped warily eyeing the ominous red swirling energy. She had several confounding questions pop up in her brain.
Could this portal just be a simple exit portal?
But that didn't make sense since she could enter and exit through the same portal. So… maybe… this one led to another place?
However, was this place still on earth or perhaps somewhere else?
Qin Hua had been just a simple person with simple thoughts before all of this began so something like going to another world and interacting with beings of another world… was just a tad too heavy to digest.
She lifted her paw up steeling her nerves. She slowly brought it towards the crimson portal as her heart pounded loudly inside her chest.
Just what sort of a world would she see beyond this crimson door? What sort of creatures would stand in front of her?
Her mind spun wildly concocting several terrifying chimeras. She couldn't help but feel both excited and nervous at the same time.
However, just as she was about to touch the crimson swirls of energy, she grit her canines and stopped herself from taking things too far.
What if the monster waiting outside this portal was something like that freaky ghost? Was she really ready or at least strong enough to face something like that again?
[No! This is too risky! I need to take a step back!]
Qin Hua was about to quickly withdraw her hand back when a wisp of swirling crimson energy flew out of the portal and landed on her hand casually.
[Fuuuuuckkk!]
The next second before she could realize what was happening, her entire body was sucked into the portal, her lithe dark figure coming out the other side.
Qin Hua blinked in shock as the world in front of her weirdly appeared the same crimson as that of the portal. It was burning. Everything was burning. All she could see was hot flames.
She was in hell?!
Awoooo! Awwwwwooooo!
Qin Hua let out an agonizing howl. She could barely breathe and she felt as if her skin was melting. Her heavy eyelids drooped to cover her eyeballs which were screaming in agony.
And through the small slit like opening, she could see something move in the distance.
A figure blurred and rushed towards her at an extremely fast pace, kicking up another wave of hot air, that assaulted her already cooked body.
This snapped her out of her trance and Qin Hua knew that if she stayed here any longer, she would no longer remain alive.
[Fuck! I need to get the hell out of here!]
Just as she felt the hot breeze sting her body, she used all of her willpower to force her body to move and dragged herself back into the portal.
BANG!
Something strong and sturdy bashed against the portal, as the very portal energy visibly trembled, but whatever it was, it was already too late.
Qin Hua collapsed on the floor with a thud as she found herself once again within the comfort of the dark cave. She was no longer in the burning hell.
[Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. That was too close!] She howled loudly inside the cave, watching the portal with a lingering look of terror.
Though everything on her body was still hurting, she quickly backed away, dragging her body on the floor, moving as far away from the portal as she possibly could.
She watched as the crimson portal gate trembled a couple more times, but fortunately for her, the thing on the other side did not seem to be able to enter.
Was it because she was already inside and only one person could be in? Or maybe only people from one world?
She had no idea, but she didn't want to wait around to find out.
Qin Hua shook her head vigorously as if she was trying to remove all the remnant fear in her mind from what she just experienced. [Just what was that…]
Next to her, Coco had already begun casting a multitude of healing spells which also made her feel a bit better and she was able to think clearly.
[I need to clear this rift or whatever as fast as I can and get the hell out of here.] She didn't want to risk taking any chances. It was better to vacate this spot before anything else entered.
More importantly, just like how she was able to enter their world, what if they enter hers… Was this how the green-skinned goblins entered their world too?
In that case, it was clearly only a matter of time before stronger beings entered.
Especially, considering that she had stumbled upon this rift by sniffing it out… there was a high possibility that such creatures had probably already entered the earth at one place or the other.
Qin Hua shuddered at this realization. Even if she was trying her best, it was still too slow!
She snarled and dug her canines into her own burnt paw to calm herself down. There was no use in panicking, thinking about the inevitable.
Considering everything that had happened just in these few days, what was in store for them was already abundantly clear. There was no use fearing it.
She let out a deep breath and sucked in the cold musty air of the cave. It refreshed her burnt insides. [Ok. Just think about this rift. Only this rift.]
She breathed in and out as she realized that they had almost covered the whole area within, walking in all the way from one end to the other end, but she hadn't come across the rift crystal core until now.
So where could it possibly be? Where were they supposed to go now?