CHAPTER 434: COINCIDENCE?

Damien stared at Lane in silence for a long moment.

He knew about Lane’s true rank, and because of that, he was aware of his superior recovery speed. He also understood that if anyone noticed how fast Lane recovered, it could attract unwanted attention, especially from the Allens. However...

They had no healer on the team. Only people trained in first aid, who couldn’t assess Lane’s condition with all that much accuracy. Thus, when it was discovered that Lane’s injuries were not that serious after they left the dungeon, the logical assumption would be that they hadn’t been that bad to begin with, not that he had recovered unnaturally quickly.

There should be no reason for him to endure the pain.

Unless...

Damien glanced to the side, where Ethan was resting, with his left arm - or whatever remained of it - wrapped tightly in layers of bandages, through which blood was already seeping. Out of the four victims of the collapse, he was, without a doubt, the one who had suffered the most...

Was it a coincidence?

It could be. Lane and Jasper were Espers, so naturally, they could defend themselves better, even in the dark. Meanwhile, Adrian had been unconscious all that time they had been in the tunnels, and had been lucky enough to end up falling further away from the spider monsters. Considering the circumstances, as well as everything that the four victims had to say about how the accident had happened, it was all adding up.

Still, Damien couldn’t shake off the idea that something was wrong. Starting from the fact that Lane had previously indirectly owned this dungeon, how he announced that the cave was safe without letting Damien properly investigate it first, then the timing of the collapse...

And finally, the fact that Lane had previously expressed his desire to ’get rid’ of Ethan.

All those thoughts had accompanied Damien from the start, as he had been digging through the rockfall. He had been extremely worried about Lane, but at the same time, he was suspicious of the man. He had changed his mind when he had seen how injured Lane was, trapped in the monsters’ web...

But did that really prove anything? Lane had never been afraid to put himself in danger, even willing to ’die’ to achieve his goals. Yes, it had been when possessing other people, while his real body had been safe and sound... But from what Lane had told him, he had felt everything that the body he had been in had gone through. Which meant that he, at the very least, wasn’t afraid of pain and suffering.

It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to assume that he would be willing to injure his real body as long as he didn’t suffer any permanent damage, now would he?

And none of the injuries Lane had received were permanent. With one or two visits to a healer, he soon would be as good as new.

...Honestly, Damien didn’t know what he found more unsettling. His boyfriend’s (potential) murder plans, or how he was willing to cause himself harm.

Or the fact that despite it all, Damien still wanted to be with him. Even though Lane’s actions were in conflict with his moral compass.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before letting out a long sigh.

"Fine," he finally said, sitting down. Lane’s fingers were now glued to his uniform because of the pieces of web covering them, but he hardly even noticed. "Drink this, then," he said, taking out a bottle of regular water from his spatial bag. Although he was still tempted to feed Lane medicine regardless of what the man said - it simply pained him too much to see his boyfriend in such a miserable state - he would go along with it for now.

Lane glanced at the water, hesitating for a split second, but in the end, he accepted the drink. He trusted Damien wouldn’t go against his wishes, even if he could tell that Damien was suspecting something.

Well, that didn’t matter. The only reason why he hadn’t told Damien about it beforehand was that he knew the man would try to stop him. Now that it was all over, he didn’t mind explaining everything (about Ethan’s elimination plan, that is).

Once they were out of the dungeon, of course. Not right now, since they could be overheard. The only thing that he could share with Damien at the moment was...

"Psst. Lean a bit closer," he whispered, gesturing with his head at Damien.

Damien listened, leaning closer to lend his ear to Lane...

"About the webs. I have an idea how to remove them."

"Oh?" Damien lifted his brows.

"It’s that corrosive substance that the lizards produce... They don’t use it much when fighting, so it might be a defense mechanism. A way for them to get out in case they get caught up in the webs."

Damien’s brows furrowed in contemplation. Indeed, that made sense... They hadn’t taken it into consideration before, since they hadn’t known about the spider monsters’ existence until just now, but it was a possibility. Of course, it wasn’t a perfect solution, since the substance that the lizards produced caused burns on humans...

But so did the webbings. On top of that, burns could be treated with the recovery medicine and various salves. And considering that they had to travel through the rocky labyrinth to get out of the Gate, it would be much easier if everyone could move on their own feet... After all, they might have cleared up the path on their way to the cave, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t encounter any lizards on their way back. The dungeon was still flooded with them, and there was little that they knew about their traveling patterns.

His frown deepened even more, though, as Lane added, "Just don’t tell anyone that it’s my idea, alright?"

...Now why would Lane want to hide it, if not to conceal the fact that he had this knowledge from somewhere else... Like from the Guild that had previously owned this dungeon, for example?

It further amplified Damien’s suspicions about the ’accident’ not being so accidental. He didn’t confront Lane about it, though, and only let out a sigh.

"Alright... But we should still test it out. I can just say that it’s my idea if you prefer..."

It didn’t sit right with him to claim credit for something he didn’t figure out himself, but if Lane didn’t want his involvement to be known, then there was no other choice. Damien was about to stand up to go outside to look for any lizard corpses that he could get the substance from...

But the moment he tried to move, he found himself stuck.

It seemed that when he had lent his ear to Lane, he had leaned too close, and they were now attached together!

"Pffft... Hahahahah..." Lane couldn’t help but laugh. "It seems that you’re stuck with me now!"

Damien covered his face with his hand, hiding his deep flush.

Indeed, he was stuck. Not only physically, but even more so, emotionally. And while the first could probably be solved with some of the lizards’ saliva, when it came to the second...

Damien didn’t know if there was any remedy for that. Not even Lane’s unlawfully and deeply immoral acts.