Ch 42 - A Lead

Thanks to those who pointed out my blunder, I rewrote the chapter, nothing major changed, just the process in how it happened. 😊 To those who don't know what I'm talking about or those who similarly didn't notice anything... just ignore this. 😊

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"Hooh, still nothing huh?" I ask the beautiful yellow flower in my left hand.

"Unfortunately, no, I've asked the plants about her, but they didn't find anything yet, she's doesn't seem to be in clear view of any of them or they just can't clearly distinguish a small figure from millions of constantly moving snakes, no idea, but with this method I myself have covered 10% of the jungle so far but still haven't found a clue, sorry Cade" comes Carina's voice.

"Hmm, don't worry what your attempting is hard enough, I don't expect miracles, and it's only been an hour so far anyways, by the rate we're going, it shouldn't take us too much longer to find something that leads us to her." I confidently reply back, as I once again swing at the head of a large 20-foot brown colored snake, followed by dodging and stepping on a blood snake that targeted me.

…

"20 % of the jungle covered"

…

"30 % of the jungle covered

…

"60% of the jungle covered"

…

"70% of the jungle covered!"

"Finally! I've got something Cade! I finally found a clue to where she could be." Comes Carina's excited voice over the yellow flower that I'm once again holding in my hand.

"About time! It's been almost 9 hours since we got here!" I reply back tiredly but happily, knowing that Carina has finally found a clue leading to Porche-chan.

"A few meters to your right you can find a waterfall- '' Comes Carina's voice, "WAIT! Don't tell me it's behind a waterfall!" I cut her off, "NO! Just listen to me, the waterfall isn't hiding anything, it's just a normal waterfall… anyways there's a small river there, a few miles down that river it suddenly splits into two, following the stream on the left it will lead you to what seems to be an underground area," comes Carina's voice in response to my outburst.

"Right! Okay … would you mind giving me some of that juice again?" I ask the yellow flower in my hand.

"Ugh…you do realize that you will become resistant at this point, right?" she questions back with a bit of snark.

"Don't worry about it, I won't rely on it too much, I just need it to move forward, that's all..." I reply back.

That's right, the juice that I'm talking about is the medical spheres that Carina can produce through plants. That is what has kept me going in this dangerous jungle.

The reason is not only all of the physical exertion I've had to do to kill thousands of snakes tirelessly, but also the fact that I'm not omniscient, nor am I a master of Haki, and due to this I've been getting bitten and poisoned by a few sneaky or hard to dodge snakes throughout the journey.

I've even had to fire off slow-slow beams at myself in order to stop a few blood snakes that I couldn't dodge, followed by getting them out the hard way, which was basically digging into the injury that is basically a bullet hole and pulling them out, causing a lot of bleeding once the slowing effects ran out.

Considering all of this I fully believe that I would either be forced to use Limitless to survive or be dead if I didn't have Carina's healing capabilities by my side…seriously I'm beginning to think I just can't go into a situation where I don't need Carina's help.

'Well, that's what teammates are for…' I try to console myself, knowing that I'm simply being stupid and reckless because of her presence and my hurry to find Porche-chan and not unnecessarily waste energy.

Anyways, Carina acquiesces and once again provides me with some of those lovely medical spheres of hers.

And once they hit my skin, I'm once again enveloped by a sense of peace and tranquility, making all of my exhaustion disappear and healing me of any wounds and lingering effects of poison I suffered from.

"Right, thanks, time to follow the river, will you still be able to monitor the situation so deep underground?" I ask Carina after thanking her for her graciousness.

"Unfortunately, no, the air down there seems to be stale, and I don't sense any plants down there, and I'm too far out at sea to really do anything substantial - like grow a network of plants- so deep underground." She replies back.

That's right…she is too far, due to the fact that Carina is a novice Spriggan, she has trouble using her powers on plants too far away without something like a direct link to connect her to the surrounding plants (yellow flower), and at this very moment she isn't able to drift back, this is the moment that's most important after all; can't have her become a target for the redhead Cp agent now, can we?

"Right, well you will still be able to see and communicate through the yellow flower, make sure to keep an eye out for anything strange up here and warn me through the flower if anything happens." I say this while following Carina's instructions.

I run for a few miles following the river, find where the river separates and follow the left stream; a few minutes later finally coming across what she was talking about. A deep and narrow ravine can be seen, looking as if some god just drew a knife and split the land in half.

I move near its edge and look down, seeing nothing but darkness and slippery jagged rocks covering the walls.

…

"Huff"

"Huff"

It's been about an hour that I've been carefully climbing down these slippery and sharp rocks, and finally I arrive at the bottom, having to jump over the pooling water and land on a slippery rock, being careful to not fall into the water, don't want to die just because of a slip now do I?

"Oof! Finally! My muscles are basically numb at this point! Carina, why didn't you mention something about this cavern being so deep underground?"

"Sorry Cade, I'm not used to perceiving distances through water with my plants just yet, and the water reached down here in seconds, sorry about that," comes Carina's remorseful voice.

"Hooh… it's fine, I had to do it anyways, and It would have taken me months to even find this place without you, so I'm thankful." I reply while massaging my sore arms and looking around the dark open space, squinting slightly to try and find anything of note.

My eyes have already been gradually adjusting to the darkness as I moved down so it doesn't take me too long to find something out of place; something that immediately amazes me.

It's an entrance to what appears to be some sort of hidden temple marked by a stone archway that's beautifully decorated in images of snakes and what seem to be monstrous creatures.

As I walk in, I'm greeted with a scratched and eroded message on the right wall which seems to be written in a different language, yet for some reason I can still clearly understand: "Deeper thy travels, Deeper thy burden, Deeper thy danger."

When I read this, I tiredly sigh, "Well, out of the frying pan and into the fire neh?"

I simply ignore the ominous warning and continue to walk forward, deeper and deeper into the depths of the unknown.