CHAPTER 429: TAP TAP TAP...

Ethan swore under his nose, but he managed to stop himself from instinctively reaching out to pick up the lighter. Before the flame had been extinguished, he had been able to see where it fell, and he knew all too well how an attempt to pick it up would have ended - he would have both of his hands stuck in the web, and then he wouldn’t be able to free himself, not until someone finally came to help him!

And Ethan didn’t know that. Jasper was blocked, Adrian unconscious, and Lane... Ethan knew better than to rely on Lane. Not because he thought that Lane wouldn’t be able to help him, but because he doubted that he would be willing to.

And, well, he was not wrong. Even if Lane were forced to help Ethan, he would ’accidentally’ end up pushing the Guide even deeper into the web...

Ethan gulped loudly, trying to stay calm, and brought the Mana knife to his left hand. It was terrifying, trying to free his hand with the knife when he couldn’t even see anything, but if he took it slowly and was careful about it, it should be fine...

Worst-case scenario, he would cut his hand a bit.

Still better than being stuck in place, with his hand trapped.

Of course, he still had his phone in his spatial bag, which he could have used as a flashlight... But that was the last source of light that he had. It was best to leave it for an emergency, rather than risk dropping it into the web just because he was afraid of getting a little hurt.

Thus, he bit his lip, and started moving his knife back and forth, trying to cut the web. The progress was slow, especially since the web was sticking to the knife - although it was a Mana weapon, its properties weren’t the most optimal for the situation - but at least it felt as if it was working...

Just as Ethan started relaxing a bit, though, he heard it.

Tap, tap, tap, tap tap tap tap taptaptaptaptap...

Far in the distance, faint at first, but quickly getting closer and closer.

Something was approaching.

"Ouch!" Ethan gasped, flinching at the realization, and accidentally stabbed the knife into his hand. Warm blood trickled down his skin, the burning sensation intensifying as the pieces of webbing got into his wound, but Ethan hardly felt the pain, his whole body numb from terror, as he knelt on the ground, paralyzed.

Only for a second, though. A moment later, he started quickly sawing at the web again, rushing to free his hand, no longer worrying so much about injuring himself. So what if he cut himself and he bled? He had to get his hand out before whatever was making this sound arrived, or else how would he defend himself?

He might have been cowardly at times, but he still had experience in the field. He wasn’t someone who would lose himself to panic at a mere sight (or, well, sound in this case) of monsters.

With his newfound determination to get it done quickly, his hand was soon freed from the web. Or, not stuck in the web at the very least. It was still covered in sticky webbing...

But Ethan didn’t bother dealing with it. He knew he had no time to waste on trying to find the right salve. He just took out his phone, quickly turned on the flashlight...

And stuck it onto his left palm. It was painful and deeply uncomfortable, but at the very least, he could see what was around him. Otherwise, how would he defend himself against the monsters? On the plus side, with the webbing covering his hand, his phone was now stuck, and there was no risk he would drop it!

He grabbed his spear, and swept his eyes around the cave, finally able to see...

That his night vision goggles were literally two steps away from him.

Of course, they weren’t there a moment ago, but he had no way of knowing that. Seeing what Ethan had done with his phone, Lane decided that there was no point in holding onto them any longer, so he planted them on the scene, before withdrawing a safe distance away.

The monsters were coming, after all. And as much as Lane wanted to mess around with Ethan more, he knew he couldn’t afford it, not without risking blowing his cover. The monsters would attack everyone, not just Ethan, and if Lane suddenly started defending himself after staying silent for so long, it would have been suspicious... And ignoring the monsters wasn’t an option either. They might have been weaker than Lane, but they would still be able to kill him if he didn’t do anything to stop them...

So, he quietly sneaked to the part of the tunnels that Jasper and Adrian were in, and strategically lay down on the ground...

"Ugh!" Jasper, who had been wandering around blindly, suddenly tripped over something.

Again. With all the rocks scattered around, it had happened several times already.

However, unlike before, the ’rock’ groaned in response...

"Huh?" Jasper paused for a second. Then, he dropped to the ground, feeling around...

There was a person right in front of him!

"Hey! Hey! Are you alright?" he started tapping them on the cheek. He couldn’t tell who it was in the dark, but they were clearly a human, so it must have been either Adrian or Lane...

"Mmmh... Argh... My head..." Lane groaned, putting on an Oscar-worthy performance. Well, he was truly in pain from his countless injuries, so that kind of helped.

"Are you alright?" Jasper asked around. "You have to wake up! The monsters are coming!"

"H-huh?" Lane slowly dragged himself up. "Wha? What happened?"

"The cave collapsed, remember? Never mind that now, can you move?"

"Uh... I think..." Lane tried to get up. He hissed and groaned as he did, but eventually, he stood up.

The cave was no longer as dark as before. The light from Ethan’s phone reached them through the space between the rocks and the ceiling, as well as through the open passage that was further to the side. It was still very dim, but with Lane’s superior senses, Lane could make out the outlines of the objects.

"Ah! Hey, are you there? Come help me!" Ethan’s cries came from behind the rocks. It seemed that the monsters were already there... But not attacking just yet. Probably only encircling him.

Different monsters had different attacking patterns, not all of them were quick to jump onto their prey. That didn’t mean that Ethan was in any less danger, of course.

"We should..." Jasper was about to rush out to help, but before he could, he was interrupted by Lane, who was glancing around, searching for something.

Or someone.

"Where is Adrian?" he asked, causing Jasper to pause in his steps.

That’s right... There were four of them. Ethan was calling for help, but what about Adrian? He was in even more danger! Since he was still unconscious (and that’s what Jasper assumed, since he didn’t want to think that one of his teammates might be dead), he couldn’t even defend himself! In this case, shouldn’t they find him first?

"Hold in there! We’re coming soon!" he just called to Ethan to reassure him, as he started frantically looking around...

There were no monsters on their side of the cave yet, and it was pretty quiet. He also hadn’t seen the webbing, so he didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. After all, just because there were monsters around, it didn’t mean that they were as dangerous as the lizards, right? They could be lesser monsters. Perhaps not even predatory ones...

But Lane knew. Which is why it was difficult for him to hold back his smile!