Surviving as the Second Main Lead: Second Lead's POV



“Mark! Mark, what is this? What did you do?”

Horas yelled as he tried to light a fire around him. But the natural light of the fire could not penetrate the darkness of this fog. It was clear that this fog was not something natural but rather manmade and dangerous.

As such, there was a protocol to follow and Horas should seal this place up until it was checked out but he wanted to leave Mark in here for a short time.

He did not know if Mark had run away already or not but Mark was not replying to him. Anything could have happened to him in such a situation.

‘I should put a request for backup while I go and clear out this thing. I do not know how long it will take to clear all this oozing filth from my end.’

Horas did not have any cleaning equipment but he did have a lot of time and effort on his part. He needed to get Mark out as soon as he possibly could.

“Mark, where are you?”

Horas asked as he moved through the lab. He knew the layout well but he still ended up bumping into a lot of things on his way to look around. His system was also drawing up a blank currently.

There was a static glow in the air that felt unnatural. The more Horas observed it, the more he was sure that this was an immature dungeon.

And yet, his system did not categorize this place as a dungeon. It considered it as a ‘grey zone.’ It was neither a reality nor a dungeon. In short, the system did not know what this place was.

Horas had walked quite far into the place and he knew he should be hitting a wall soon enough. He was prepared when a solid mass appeared in front of him. He felt around for the wall until he was able to find the door.

Horas almost stumbled when he walked through the room. Contrary to his belief, the door to the connected room was wide open and allowed Horas to walk through quite easily. He was in another room before he knew it.

Something metallic touched Horas’s ankle and he tried not to jump. But when that touch traveled up his leg, Horas knew something was wrong.

The slithering feeling was accompanied by the metallic sound of joints moving and the familiarity of a skill made Horas feel better and much more relaxed than before.

“Tora, you scared me. Are you a snake right now? You should warn me before you are going to pull stunts like this.”

Horas calmed down his racing heart. It had been beating a mile per second for some time now. He was not sure how if he was alright or not.

But what Horas did know was that Tora was with him. It left one less thing he had to look around. But that still did not answer his question of what happened here.

Horas and Tora shared a lot of things but memories were not one of them. So, Horas could not see what Tora saw and know where Mark was.

Horas walked around for a little bit more before he decided to retreat. An expert dispeller would be needed to clear out this place. And Mark would have to endure until then.

He was all but out of the dark place when something fleshy grasped his leg. It was sticky and gave Horas a gross feeling. He wanted to shake off that touch and hide away when he stopped himself short.

‘A touch. This touch feels human. Do I not know this touch?’

It was because of these thoughts that Horas stopped short and decided to give the other person benefit of the doubt. He grasped the familiar hand into his own and pulled the man up.

“H-Horas, take me outside. I do not think I am feeling so good.”

The familiar-sounding voice belonged to no one other than Mark. Horas breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled the other man out of the danger zone. He was so glad that he had been able to do so.

It was not easy to carry a fully-grown adult outside a research lab. And in Mark’s case, he just looked skinny but he was quite heavy to carry. Horas had a hard time pulling him out.

By the time Horas made it out, the backup squad had arrived as well and they were busy purifying the black smoke.

Horas had been right in this assumption to think that this was not any ordinary smoke but the whisps of corruption that often emerged from the dungeon after it was cleared up. But Horas did not know what it was doing here.

“So, Mark, do you care to explain what is going on here? Why was there dungeon filth in our quarters? And why were you just lying inside and waiting to be poisoned?”

Horas wanted to be understanding but he was just angry. His heart had still not calmed down and his body was heating up as a result. He was trying too hard to calm down but it was proving to be more and more difficult by the second.

“A-Ah that! Can you forget about this for a single second and listen to me? N-No, listen to me Horas and I promise you it will all make sense soon.”

Mark tried to bargain but Horas was not buying his bullshit. Knowing Mark, he would make things up and Horas would be too soft on him to take any proper notice of it.

“Save your words for now. I sent a notice to Principal Marbel, explaining to her what happened. She says she wants to hear you out as well so we will wait for her before we start your interrogation.”

Mark flinched once he heard those words. He knew he could have Horas take his side but not Principal Marbel. She was a little too tight-lipped and rule-abiding for Mark to explain everything.

But Horas did not look like he was going to bulge so Mark had to compromise this time. But only this time because Principal Marbel will make sure there will not be another incident in the future.