Wasteland Lord: Starting from Thirty Days to Live

When Vittorio woke up, water was dripping from the cave pillars above his head onto his nose.

Eileen's voice gradually became clearer as she shook his shoulders, waking him from his unconsciousness.

When Vittorio opened his eyes, he found himself still lying in the cave, but he couldn't see the large hole they had come from, nor did he know how far the two of them had gone.

"What happened?" Vittorio asked in a hoarse voice.

Something attacked us just now, and you passed out.

Vittorio tried hard to recall.

Entering the cave, darkness, a piercing scream, a sudden attack from above, and I passed out…

That seems to be the case.

"Did you see clearly what attacked me?"

Before Eileen could speak, a man's voice came from beside her.

"I don't know, my lord. It's too dark down there, but it looks like a humanoid monster."

Vittorio used the Holy Light spell to focus his gaze and discovered that there were four more people beside him.

"Who are you...?"

"Oh, we are the people who were bitten by monsters. We were the first to discover the cave, so we came down to scout ahead."

Vittorio noticed that Irene was nodding at him.

"I treated their wounds; I remember their faces."

The four of them were named Louis, Leon, Will, and Kay.

Vittorio breathed a sigh of relief, then stood up with some difficulty.

"In that case, let's turn back. There might be monsters in this cave, and it could be dangerous to continue exploring."

However, when Vittorio made the suggestion, they all looked troubled.

"But... there's still one person who hasn't come back."

They explained that the five of them had come down to investigate when they heard a monster's roar behind them, so they turned back and ran into Vittorio.

However, one of them, named Tom, remained where he was because he was too exhausted.

"So we need to notify Tom first before we can go back, right?" Vittoriorio summarized.

The four people looked at each other and nodded.

"lead the way."

Vittorio stood up and followed the four men at a distance, carefully examining his injuries.

It wasn't a serious injury, just a scratch, and there were only three shallow claw marks on his shoulder, which seemed to have been caused by the monster.

However, Vittorio is no longer afraid of any infection, so he did not panic when he was scratched by the monster.

He looked up to observe the scene inside the cave.

The cave is about five meters high, with a shallow stream in the center, in which there are only three or five small white fish.

The cave walls are covered with moss or lichens, which are dark green and some even emit a faint fluorescent glow, making them quite mysterious.

One of the four people was curious about the glowing moss, so he took out a knife and cut it off.

Strangely, the moss stopped glowing once it left the wall.

The six people walked deeper into the area for a while, and gradually they heard cries for help coming from the depths.

"It's Tom's voice," one of them said.

The six quickened their pace, but after walking a long way, they still couldn't see Tom, who had made the sound.

"What happened? We've walked so far and still haven't seen him. Where did Tom go?"

"Take a break, take a break."

Walking in these underground caves is tiring because the ground is slippery and you have to be careful at all times. In addition, you are under a lot of tension and your breathing is rapid, so it is more tiring than usual. As a result, these people quickly become exhausted.

With no other option, everyone had to stop and rest.

During his rest, Vittorio began to examine the cave walls and discovered something unusual.

Did this patch of moss fall off by itself?

Vittorio pointed to the moss that had been carelessly discarded on the ground, and there was a corresponding gap in the wall.

"Why does it look like the piece you just cut off?" Vittorio asked, puzzled.

Leon's face turned pale.

"No way, my lord, the piece I carved out was on our way here, how did it end up here?"

"A coincidence, perhaps?"

"It may have fallen off naturally."

Others chimed in to support him.

"That's true. There's only one path in this cave so far, and I haven't even seen any forks. It's really impossible for this to happen. Maybe I'm seeing things."

Despite Vittorio's words, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

After resting for a while, they started to walk deeper into the area, but Leon, who had just refuted them, took the initiative to suggest that they draw a mark on the wall as a sign.

Perhaps he sensed that something was amiss.

So they ended up drawing a triangle on the wall with their swords.

After finishing the drawing, they continued walking, and this time it took them a long time, until they were slightly out of breath.

They still hadn't found Tom, but they found something else.

Leon suddenly stopped in his tracks, his face filled with terror as he stared at the wall in disbelief, as if he had seen some terrifying monster.

"Look, isn't this... the mark we just made?"

Before Leon's face was the enormous triangular mark they had just drawn, exactly the same size and shape.

Leon's face gradually turned pale, then strangely flushed.

He asked the question in a trembling voice, expressing what everyone was thinking.

"Were we... just going around in circles?"

Everyone thought it was impossible, because there was no fork in the road, so how could they possibly go back to where they started?

But the mark was undeniably right before their eyes, like irrefutable evidence.

A silence fell over the cave; none of the six people spoke, only the sound of water dripping.

The sound sent chills down their spines.

At this moment, Will, who hadn't said much, spoke up.

Have you ever heard of hulder-led?

Will swallowed hard, and seeing that no one stopped him, he spoke in a low, mysterious voice, as if he were telling a ghost story to his friends by candlelight at night, haltingly.

"Legend has it that there is a witch in the old oak forest nearby. Her skin is as rough as tree bark, she has a cow's tail, she wears a cloak woven from moss and vines, and she lives in a rotating wooden house supported by chicken feet."

"There is a well in front of the cabin. When she looks down from the well, she can see people walking in the forest. When she stirs the well with her finger, the people in the forest will get lost."

"When the well water is stirred, no matter which direction a traveler in the forest goes, he will always end up back where he started."

After Will finished speaking, everyone else looked at him with indescribable expressions.

"This isn't a bedtime horror story session. We don't need you telling us things that scare children."

Will shrugged helplessly.

"I just suddenly remembered that this story is widely circulated in the River Bend area. You should have heard your mothers tell it when you were little."

Everyone started punching Will, expressing their dissatisfaction with his terrible ghost story.

Only Vittorio began to think about this story.

He had actually heard similar stories before, but they were versions from his previous life.

This is commonly known as being trapped in a maze.

When a ghost wall appears, there must be something strange causing trouble behind it.

"Maybe there's no witch here, but Will is right about one thing: there's probably some supernatural power here."