Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 79 And Once Again

"Stop wasting my time." — Those were the last words Rhys and the other examinees heard before they were forcefully thrown and dropped into a Hole.

As for the one who dropped them there, she did not even glance at the Hole and just stepped off the stage; casually chewing a piece of gum as she did so.

She then snapped her fingers, and as she did so, the ground started to tremble. And after a few seconds, the vaulted Hole suddenly and violently closed.

"T—Call the Rescue Team!"

"The healers! Call all the healers!"

"Someone open the Hole!"

"We… we can't! It's stuck!"

"Zeus… They'll be fine," And as the other staff and members of the Explorer Association started to panic and run around the area, Hannah could not help but roll her eyes as she continued to walk away, "They are aspiring Explorers, if they can't survive for a month down there, then they might as well just work in offices or something."

"M…Ms. Hannah, why did you do that!?"

Sadly for Hannah, before she could leave the testing ground, one of the members of the association rushed toward her and blocked her path; the man's heavy breaths, almost causing Hannah's office dress to wave even though it was already tightly wrapped around her waist.

"Because they assigned me this job?" Hannah once again rolled her eyes as she just walked past the hyperventilating man, "And I did not even have to, you're welcome."

"They… they were supposed to be accompanied by an Explorer team!" The man took in a whistling gasp as he pointed at a group of people who were carrying bags and all sorts of weapons… and clearly wearing attire fit for Exploration,

"They won't be able to survive down there for a month—no. They won't even last an hour!"

"Dude, chill the F down," Hannah grumbled and started waving her hand, "And since when were they accompanied by veteran Explorers? And all you people really need to tone it down a little, it's getting pathetic."

"...They've always been accompanied by professionals!" The man wanted to pull out his hair there and then.

"Oh…" Hannah blew her gum into a bubble as she glanced at the now closed Hole, "...They'll be fine. It's a controlled Hole, not even Level 1."

"It's not! Some parts of the wall protecting the testing area were destroyed by a monster and we've been trying to prune everything that manages to seep into the cracks while fixing it, but we couldn't get an Explorer team to do both this week since Holes have been opening left and right lately!" The man raised his voice; the veins on his forehead, almost popping out,

"Right now, we don't even know the exact level of the Hole!"

"Well, that's stupid," Hannah scoffed, "You should have had an Explorer team waiting down there then."

"Them! It was supposed to be them!" The man once again pointed at the Explorer team, who were still standing in the same spot they have been standing since earlier, completely confused and unaware of what to do since everyone around them was panicking and running around, "They were supposed to orient the examinees, guide them, scout the area and clean it if they have to!"

"You should have told me all of that beforehand, then," Hannah just shrugged.

"We did! We had a meeting just a few hours ago!"

"..." Hannah blinked a couple of times as she tried to recall the meeting, only to remember that she had been on her phone the entire time, "Oh…

…are you saying it's my fault, then?"

"..."

***

"M…mommy!"

The people on the Surface were not the only ones panicking, no. Their panic could not even be compared to the horrifying screams that were currently trying to make Rhys deaf as he and the other examinees continued to fall down the Hole.

It did not help that their screams were being amplified as the Hole caused even their tiniest breaths to echo. Some of the examinees were even spinning violently, fainting even before the gravity shift that was about to happen.

Suffice it to say, out of all the almost 500 hundred people falling, Rhys was the only one that was still; his body completely straight and his feet pointed down; his hand, just making sure his hair did not wave around.

His posture made it so that he was the first to actually reach the Underworld; somersaulting in the air and just flowing with the sudden gravity shift before expertly landing on Underworld ground with slightly bent knees.

And almost immediately, without even waiting for anyone else to be puked out by the Hole, he ran away and made sure to gain enough distance from the Hole… lest he wanted to be in the middle of a vomit party, literally.

And true enough, as soon as the other aspiring Explorers started shooting out from the Hole, Rhys watched most of them just violently rolling on the floor while vomiting at the same time.

Some, completely unconscious — and they were perhaps the lucky ones.

"Ugh… am I… am I dead?"

"Kill me… just kill me."

Most of those who were still conscious, if not already vomiting, were gasping for their breaths as they tried their best to regain their balance. There was a group, however, who seemed completely used to the sudden gravity shift.

"Hm," as for Rhys, he just subtly let out a small groan as he remembered his first day in the Underworld Corps… where he was also forcefully shoved down by Ayesha.

And now, with all of the examinees in the Underworld, Rhys started scanning the area.

They were in a swamp region, with perhaps the only dry patch of land the area surrounding the Hole. The trees were colossal and bent but far in between; their branches and leaves, seemingly trying to reach for each other.

Even with the roof of leaves, however, the rays of light seeping in from their gaps made sure the plant life below was incredibly lush; making it hard to know how deep the water goes in the wet areas.

A perfect introduction to how harsh the Underworld can get.

[Ugh…]

Before Rhys could get to scout the area, however, a loud screeching whistled in the air; causing the examinees whose heads were already thumping to almost grovel on the slightly damp ground, and those who were unconscious to forcefully wake up only to vomit.

Rhys quickly looked to where the familiar voice was coming from, only to see a large set of speakers attached to the nearest tree; caged in steel perhaps to protect it from monsters.

[...So these incompetent members of the Association made a mistake and they are blaming me. You're not supposed to be down there alone.]

That lazy voice and breaths filled with sarcasm could not belong to anyone else but Hannah.

[The good news is that you don't have to be there for a month, just you know… several hours, maybe half a day.]

And as soon as the groggy examinees heard Hannah's words, their collective sighs almost made an orchestra of relief.

[The bad news is that you could probably die because, welp… there might be more monsters than anticipated.] Everyone could hear Hannah sucked in her breaths as she grumbled her words, [So, yeah. Good luck.]

"W…what?"

"What do you mean 'good luck'!? We're going to die here!"

"I'm… I'm going back!"

And as one of the examinees started running back to the Hole, a loud screeching whistle once again traveled through their ears.

[Please don't be stupid.] And although none of them could see Hannah, it was obvious she was rolling her eyes back on the Surface,

[That Hole is actually supposed to close but… there's been some complications since someone forcefully closed the hatch up here. If you jump, well…

…splat.]

"H… help us!"

"I don't wanna die before I can become an Explorer! I'm… I'm just here for the benefits!"

[Ugh, shut up. All of you knew the risks, you Explorers are all the same even when you're not Explorers yet. Anyway, I've already wasted enough time explaining this to all of you. Want my advice? Just stick together and wait for the rescue team to pry the thing open. Good luck.]

"What do you—"

[Oh, and also, we have plenty of cameras set up around the testing area so the association could watch you like the creeps they are. I mean, seriously? We have time to set up cameras but no time to fix walls? What about automatic weapons? Just how stupid…]

And as Hannah's voice began to fade away, the examinees did not think they would want to hear her voice again. But as soon as the quietness of the Underworld took over, all they wanted was to hear anything from the Surface, even her.

"...Cameras?" Rhys quickly covered his face, instinctively crouching to the ground as he tried his best not to be seen by anyone; his breaths, slightly getting heavier by the second.

And while Rhys was trying his best to calm himself down, one of the examinees stood on the thick and large root of the tree nearest to them.

"Everyone, listen up! I have already been to the Underworld many times before!" The man raised his voice as he calmly looked at all the people in front of him; his posture, completely confident, "There is no need to panic. Right now, we are in a Swamp region, and that gives us plenty of resources to play around with. We just need to stick tog—"

"Fuck! What's that!?"

And before the man could finish his speech, a gigantic lizard suddenly appeared right beside him and almost instantly swallowed him whole.

[Shit…] And as the sound of the man's bones crunched in the air, Hannah's voice once again whispered,

[...that's going to hurt my paycheck.]