The second female lead Dual Cultivates

'Will you risk it and come here or will you turn tail and run away. Choose wisely' That was not a voice but a feeling Maria was having. The one-sided conversation that resonated with Maria's heart was not taking place in the real world.

But the cave had started to break down a little and Maria could feel the magic leaking into the cracks forming on the seal around the cave. It was badly damaged and Maria was sure that this place would collapse.

"Darn it. Nao, Suna, can you hear me?" Maria tried calling her friends to inform them about the changes in the plan but her system was still down. It looked like Maria was alone in the cave.

'Are you going to come? Or are you not going to?' The voice was right inside Maria's head and it was loud enough to cause a headache to her.

"I'm coming but I don't know how to" Maria replied but her voice went unheard over all the loud bombarding going on inside her head. It felt like it would crack open at any time and Maria tried to calm it down a little.

Nothing seemed to be working and it was painful to keep standing there all that while. This was not good for Maria's mental health and especially not good for other people if this place somehow collapsed under all this pressure.

'Find a way to me. Show me your courage, young warrior' Maria gritted her teeth as she tried to go against the onslaught of pressure being aimed her way. She felt like she was being tested and that was not a feeling Maria liked to be subjected to.

But she knew she had no other choice but to obey that voice. She had to find a way to the center and clear the misunderstanding. She needed to clear this trial and find a way off of these caves as soon as possible. There was a real chance that they would collapse like in the original novel.

"I need to remember. What did the MC do to get to the center? He was alone as well but he somehow made it" Maria missed her system and the incredible amount of information it held. It had been a big help in getting this far for them.

Many instances had remained the same as the original setting while various of them had changed. Maria was 120% sure that had been no zombies when the Mc had arrived but Spiritual golems that had acted as a defense mechanism.

The MC had been down here alone, ready to sacrifice himself to stop the node's destruction when the ceiling had collapsed and someone else had taken his place. This was where Suna had supposedly died in the original novel.

'Hurry up. I don't have much time left the voice sounded urgent and Maria snapped into motion at its urgency. She needed to get to it right now. The feeling inside her chest was getting violent and her secondary heart was beginning to hurt.

She needed something sturdy to climb to the other side but nothing seemed to be of importance to make it possible. The only thing connecting both parts were the veins-like connections that looked fragile. Maris had seen them get snapped under Rucci's weight.

But there was a significant difference between Rucci's size and Maria's. Besides, 6 major veins looked like they could handle Maria's weight. They would be a better alternative for Maria to try her luck on.

And it was not like Maria had any other choice in the matter. She needed to get to the other side. For herself and Suna as well. She could not help the feeling that something bad would happen if she did not.

[The ceiling collapses and something falls on top of the node. The weight of the fallen object proved too much for the fragile bud and caused it to get crushed. And then the shaking started that collapsed the cave.

No, not only the cave but the whole kingdom is `supported by the node. It was all going to get crushed and the only thing being left behind would be a red-eyed monster with a smiling face but emotionless eyes.

Those eyes sent shivers down Maria's back as she stood tall between the falling bodies of her friends and people.

"Thank you for waking me up. The dawn of this world has started now"]

Maria felt bile build up inside her throat as the slippery and scary voice reached her ear. The sheer power of that voice had been enough to send shivers down Maria's back and she knew she could not allow it to exist.

That entity had been pure evil like nothing she had seen before and Maria found herself shivering in fear at it. Just what the heck had it been? It was not something that belonged to this realm.

And what was the deal with her vision? Was it the future? The past? And alternate timeline? Or something from the original novel itself? Maria could not tell without her system.

But she could tell what started it all and it had been the crushing of the node. It had caused the energy inside the node to run rampage and then take a solid form. Maria needed to stop that from happening. That monster could not be allowed to exist yet.

And that is why Maria started running. She needed to get to the node before something horrible happened and she finally found a stable vein to climb up.

However, she was not the only one with a will clad in steel. The pool of magma showed the barest moment where Rucci had sunk and a hand shot out of it to clutch at the solid ground.

It found the ground and dragged its body over the surface. The skin could not be recognized from its earlier flawless state. It had burn marks all over and even the scales looked like they had been peeled off of her skin. The body had a reddish shade that looked more like paint than burn marks and the gashes looked deeply embedded.

It was a badly represented display of hurt but Maria did not see it. She had her whole focus aimed at getting toward the center and that is why she missed it when Rocci stepped inside the magma pool again. The female had her whole focus on getting to the center.

But this time, she did not sink. Instead, her body floated above the magma pool just a little bit and slithered toward the center of the pit. The chimera moved like an unseen force and reached the pit center just as Maria did.

(There will be only one chapter tomorrow due to privilages update. The next time I update after that will be when privilages go up. I might or might not also participate in mass release so we'll see)