THE USELESS PRINCE

Both of them fell down at a speed that seemed to tear apart reality.

Ash held onto Furina tightly, as if if he let her go, she would disappear forever. At this moment, he couldn't let her go no matter what.

He tried to open his eyes but failed because the wind kept hitting them, causing Ash to be temporarily blinded.

However, even though he couldn't see what was happening, Ash could still feel himself getting closer to the surging water below.

"Furina! Get ready! We're about to crash!" He held her tighter, as tight as he could.

And then…

BOOM!

Ash and Furina were completely swallowed by the water, and because of the strong impact, both of them lost consciousness immediately.

However, even though he was no longer conscious, Ash's instincts still forced him to hug Furina tightly, not allowing him to leave her.

Just like that, the two people who were in an unconscious state were swept away by the huge and fierce river, just like a dragon.

***

Opening his eyes once more, Ash recognized that in front of him was an unfamiliar ceiling. No, it wasn't even worth calling a ceiling because it was made of stone after all.

His armor had automatically disappeared, and now, Ash had returned to his familiar Academy uniform.

Although his head was still a bit buzzing, Ash still forced himself to stand up, trying to understand the current situation.

"Wait, you should continue to rest, don't stand up right now." Furina suddenly pressed him back down onto the stone surface, not allowing him to stand up.

It seemed like she had woken up before him.

Following Furina's words, Ash instantly sat down, obediently like a child, and began to look around.

Furina's Star Domain had been activated again, allowing Ash to observe everything without having to squint or guess.

Currently, it seemed like he and she were on a rocky island that wasn't too small but not too big either, just large enough to build a house on.

Surrounding it was water, but it wasn't turbulent like just now, but looked extremely peaceful, not dangerous at all.

"…Where are we, Furina?"

"It must be deeper in this cave."

"…Does the Academy know that we're stuck here?"

"…I don't know either…"

"Is that so…" Ash sighed helplessly.

It was strange, everything that was happening from the beginning was really odd. It was so strange that even Ash began to doubt it.

Back when he was playing False Horizon and was a streamer, Ash was almost certain that there was no cave like this on this island.

It was possible that he had forgotten, but how could he forget a cave with such a large structure and no difference from a maze like this?

In the game, this island was just a time-limited area that would disappear right after the main character defeated the Unholy Wraith, so Ash didn't have much of a chance to explore.

'...Everything... is so troublesome...'

Exhausted, he lay down on the stone surface, no matter how dirty it was, to rest and regain his strength.

Beside him, Furina also lay down, but no one said a word to each other.

Silence... was the best choice at this moment.

***

A while later, when both of their stamina had recovered somewhat, Ash and Furina were finally able to stand up and move around like usual, without any difficulty.

After having to play a damn game of tag with those Zombies, the two of them were finally able to rest and recover.

This feeling was truly wonderful, there was no feeling that could be more wonderful like this one.

Right after that, Ash summoned his familiar armor that had returned to its original state, no longer dirty or destroyed.

"Then let's find a way out of here, shall we?" Ash pointed towards the passageway that he had noticed from the beginning.

"Are we leaving now? Why don't we wait for the instructors to come?"

Unlike Ash, Furina wasn't a player, so she definitely wouldn't have been able to know that the cave they were trapped in was a hidden one.

Which meant that the lecturers would spend a lot of time finding this place, or worse, they might not find it at all.

Ash knew that he shouldn't expect anything from the lecturers, so he would rather escape from this place himself than wait for them.

But of course, Ash couldn't tell Furina this reason, so he told her the other one:

"If we stay here, we won't be able to find anything to eat. And at this rate, it would take the lecturers a long time to find this place, which means that if we don't do anything, we'll definitely starve to death."

"..."

"It might be dangerous, but we have no other choice. But of course, if you don't want to go, I will stay here with you."

Furina hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded in agreement with Ash.

With a happy smile because everything was going as he had calculated, the two of them started heading towards that passage.

***

This passage was quite narrow, probably enough for two trucks to pass through together, so Ash and Furina were forced to run at full speed.

Thanks to fighting the Zombies just now, they had understood that fighting a large number of Abyssal Creatures in such a narrow place was impossible.

The space would be reduced, so their movements would be greatly limited.

Ash and Furina had no intention of looking back.

Both of them were worried that if they did, the scene they would see would be rotten, disgusting hands rising from the ground.

After a while, the two of them finally arrived at a large area, comparable to the place they were in before falling into the water.

But unlike that place, this place was much brighter.

It was all thanks to the colorful stones, which continuously emitted colorful lights.

This scene was truly breathtaking, poetic, and fairy-tale-like.

Even Ash, who was not interested in such things, was captivated by it. It was strange, but he did not hate it at all.

"This place is really beautiful, isn't it?" Furina exclaimed, even she had to praise it.

"Yeah, right…" Ash had not finished his sentence when he was stopped by what he entered his sight.

His eyes widened, his pupils contracted like needles, his gaze fixed on the petrifying thing in front of him.

His face was pale, drops of cold sweat rolled down, his mouth was wide open but he could not utter a word.

'…Why…is it here…?'

At this moment, in front of him was an Abyssal Creature - the embodiment of nightmares - a giant killing machine covered in dark armor that had sharp spikes like a dragon's shell.

On its back were two giant bat wings, ready to tear the sky apart at any moment.

Beside it, stuck into the ground was a giant sword that was stained red with blood.

Although he couldn't see its face clearly, Ash could still recognize that Abyssal Creature.

'W-Why…Is the Unholy Wraith - Dread Reaper here…?'

At that moment, all the doubts and what had happened from the start seemed to be connected together.

'Ah…I finally understand everything now…'