As he fell, his rope snagged onto the jagged outcropping thanks to it being pulled taut.
Having gripped the rope out of fear, Min-ho was jerked across the air. He had almost slammed into Ji-su had he not lifted his feet at the last minute.
He swung until his rope reached its limit. Luckily for him, this happened near the small landmass.
Acting quick on his feet, he let the rope go.
He was instantly flung toward the small landmass, where he fell, crashing and tumbling across the ground.
Upon touching the landmass, it shifted slightly, sinking into the pool of acid and then resurfacing just as quickly.
When Min-ho came to a stop, he lay motionless. His breath was heavy as his heart threatened to break free of his chest.
"Min-ho?!" Sae-wee called out, fear etched into the sound of her voice.
"Min-ho?" Ji-su called out, fearing the worst.
Though he wanted to speak, he discovered he couldn't. Not immediately anyway. His tongue was tied and his heart was beating rapidly.
Too many near-death experiences. Too many to handle.
Min-ho placed a hand on his chest, trying to quell his erratic heartbeat, then forced himself onto his feet, coughing and cleaning out his eyes.
"I'm alright," he said. "I'm alright!" he repeated, loud enough so they would hear him.
As he stood, he wiped away the sweat pouring from his brow and squinted.
He had now entered the thick of the heat, and he could feel it.
Cleaning out his eyes once again, Min-ho gasped when he noticed he was surrounded by corpses of spider Spectors. Up close, they looked completely dead—hollow even. Yet Min-ho found his nerves on edge.
Turning to the biggest Spector, a primal instinct inside Min-ho awakened, screaming at him to get the hell out of there.
The creature was massive and hulking. Its exoskeleton seemed that much stronger than the smaller Spectors, and its pincers looked like they could snap him in half.
It was obviously dead, yet he couldn't shake the fear clawing at his spine.
He wanted to turn away from it and find a way out of there, but in that moment, something caught his eye.
Beneath the giant corpse was a glowing object.
'A Gem.' His eyes lit up.
The Gem was glowing in two colors, which indicated it was a Second Tier Gem.
His heart thumped as he felt a pull toward it.
Looking away from it, he glanced at the giant corpse, fearing it was still alive.
Taking in a deep breath, Min-ho took a step forward, observing the creature carefully as he got closer and closer.
"Min-ho?" Ji-su called out, the fear of hot liquid below clawing at him.
"Give me a second," Min-ho said, staring the Spector down.
Once in close proximity, he eyed the corpse for a couple of seconds, then bent low and reached out a hand for the Gem.
It was tucked away behind the Spector's right pincer. Min-ho refused to put his hand through the pincer; instead, he reached for the Gem from the corner. Doing so made the endeavor of grabbing it that much harder, as he was blocked by the Spector's legs and jagged stones.
But he wasn't going anywhere near that pincer.
He reached out for it, while keeping his gaze on the Spector, its presence ever looming. His heart began to pound as he got closer and closer, then…
"What's going on down there?!" Dok-su called out, making Min-ho's heart almost jump out of his mouth.
Min-ho began to breathe deeply while staring at the Spector.
When he was sure it wasn't waking, he turned to the voice.
"I'm trying to get us out of—"
QUAKE!
RUMBLE!
The ground shook under Min-ho's feet. His stomach dropped when he saw the platform above cracking. Small pieces of debris rained down.
'What the hell?' Min-ho dreaded.
Sae-wee's and Dok-su's breath caught, their muscles tense.
QUAKE!
CRACK!
The ground under their feet began to give out.
A large crack formed under Dok-su's feet. Catching it in time, Sae-wee pulled his collar and threw him a space back.
The moment their weights had synced caused the ground under Sae-wee's feet to crack as well.
Immediately after she threw Dok-su back, she made a break for it, clearing the area that was quickly crumbling under her feet.
"Run!" she shouted, prompting Dok-su to scramble to his feet and start running.
Below them, Min-ho had frozen for a moment as he saw the platform overhead crumbling down.
"Damn it," he cursed, and reached for the Gem.
He had forgone caution and pushed the limbs obstructing his path away so he could grab the Gem.
[You Have Acquired A Gem]
[You Have Acquired An Armor 'Kento's Shroud']
Min-ho ignored the notification screen and the voice and got onto his feet.
'What is this? The same quake from before?' Min-ho pondered.
RUMBLE!
The ground shook, almost knocking him off his feet.
Ji-su wobbled, barely catching himself as the acid splashed around him.
"Min-ho?" Ji-su called out, his voice a mix between a sob and a plea.
"I'm coming!" Min-ho shouted as he ran toward Ji-su. While running, he shielded his head as chunks of stone fell from the sky.
Above, Sae-wee and Dok-su were racing against the crumbling ground. The distance separating them from the other side where Jang-book and Im-hee now were was about 300 or so meters.
And the ground was crumbling fast, inching closer to their feet with each dash.
A large chunk of stone fell in front of Min-ho, causing him to trip over it and roll to the edge of the landmass. He barely came to a halt at the edge where boiling hot acid was splashing in every direction.
He immediately pushed himself away from the edge before scrambling to his feet.
QUAKE!
The vibrations came back, shaking Min-ho and Ji-su.
"Min-ho," Ji-su called out again, his inability to see carving out a spot in his heart for an innate, childlike helplessness to take root—causing tears to stream down his face as he wobbled from side to side.
"Just hang in there!" Min-ho said, peering at the path of scattered stones jetting out of the acid.
There were a couple that led to Ji-su, but the closest to him still had a distance of a meter separating them.
'Damn it,' he cursed inwardly as he ran.