Eros contemplated for a while: He didn't know if this was some sort of trial dungeon created by an expert who was searching for a successor—those things seemed to be becoming a trend of sorts these days. Or maybe it was something deeper, something more dangerous.
It didn't matter to Eros, all he wanted to do right now was survive and find a way out of this accursed place.
There was no way he would be able to survive if he tried forcing his way through this cave. Perhaps, if he were an Awakener already, he might have been able. After all people of that rank had unlocked the sixth sense.
That alone would've been enough for Eros to manoeuvre his way through the atrocious cave with a beam of light.
But he was still merely a body refiner, so that wasn't possible. He also didn't have any plans of taking the tribulation here. He would most likely get killed while he was in a weakened state.
Seeing that there wasn't an immediate solution to the problem he decided to check out the last tunnel pathway.
He made an effort to avoid the tunnel where the shadows had chased him from, he had no way of knowing if there were more of them and he would love it if he didn't find out the hard way.
The third pathway was empty, with no immediate danger. Eros rubbed his hands together, and a purple flame formed, illuminating his immediate surroundings. There was nothing here other than stone. No danger, no peace, just stone flowing unendingly downward.
He felt a bit of relief at this, but there was also a gnawing sense of unease that told him not to let his guard down.
After all, what were the chances that the person who created this cave, randomly forgot to make this last path dangerous?
Even after a few minutes, nothing happened, and Eros' heart pumped even faster. He knew something was going to pop up soon enough.
He wasn't left waiting for too long.
A few minutes later, he began to make out a vague shape in the distance. The figure was many metres too big to be human. And it was curled on the floor in a peaceful, sleeping position.
It was still too far to figure out what it actually was. But Eros didn't like the idea of going too close to find out. He paused his steps, expecting to get some sort of reaction from the creature.
He was left disappointed as it didn't even twitch.
It made him wonder if it was one of those monsters that only attacked when you came too close, or if it was just asleep.
The latter became the more favourable option as even when Eros walked a few meters forward there was still no motion.
This caused him to gain a bit of confidence as he moved even closer.
Soon enough, he had gotten close enough to identify what the creature was. And the moment he realised, he froze, his mouth standing agape, unable to mutter a word.
Black mist rolled out of its nose as its large head rested on the soft stone.
Wings, spanning its entire length, covered a major part of its body and fist-sized scales, etched onto one another simmered with a dim glow.
It was a dragon, albeit a small one, covered from head to toe with glossy black scales that seemed to gleam with a pale light.
Eros stood there, stunned stupid for a moment. He knew dragons—everyone did. Everyone also knew that they only appeared in legends, myths and dreams.
They weren't supposed to appear in real life. So Eros began to wonder if he was actually dreaming.
He quickly shook his head: this couldn't be a dream, and other than that, there was something wrong with this dragon. Besides the fact that he had never heard of a purely black dragon, that wasn't the issue—he wasn't racist or anything.
The main problem stemmed from the fact that the dragon felt weak; normally, he shouldn't even be able to stand in front of one, without his legs quaking with fear.
So, it was either the legends were wrong, or this dragon in particular was painfully weak. Maybe a newborn or perhaps it wasn't even a dragon at all, a cheap copy probably.
No matter how cheap the copy was, though, he had no plans of fighting. But if he turned around now, he would have to pass through a field of landmines.
He clenched his fist not knowing what to do.
Perhaps, he could manoeuvre his way through the dragon, but that would most likely end with him getting chased by it.
The other option was even worse; after all, not even the dragon could survive the explosion of so many explosives…
Not even the dragon could survive it.
Eros glanced at the dragon, his eyes gaining a bright gleam. He turned to the other cave filled with explosives.
Explosives…
The thought quickly morphed into an idea in Eros' mind. But the more he thought about it, the more it felt like a crazy idea that only a deranged person would try to realise.
His hand gripped his sword as anxiety made his fingers dig deeper.
Then a low chuckle echoed throughout the area: no matter how crazy the plan seemed, he still had to go through with it. After all, there wasn't necessarily any benefit in being mentally stable.
He turned around and headed back to the second tunnel. He was pretty sure the person who created this place, didn't plan on anybody getting past it this way.
When he got to the junction, he stood in front of the second cave and waved the flames in his hand in the air, immediately, the multitude of wisps floating around began moving towards him.
He slowly moved into the dragon's path, guiding as many wisps as he could with him.
The wisps continued moving towards him, gaining more speed as they accelerated constantly.
It took a while for him to guide so many of them this way, but soon enough, he was able to make out the shiny black dragon, sleeping soundly.
A smirk appeared on Eros' face as he rehearsed motions of his plan again and again in his head.
With everything set now, it was time for him to try the impossible.
If things went sideways, he was royally screwed. If by some divine intervention, it actually worked out, then that meant extra bragging rights. And he'll be a step closer to leaving this accursed place.