Chapter 89 - Another Kind Of Treasure
Chapter 89 – Another Kind Of Treasure
*Baam*
This was the last sound Cabrera heard.
It was the sound of a large boulder falling into the ground in front of the cave he had hurriedly ran into when the giant snake came out of the mountain.
“Haah…Haah…Haah”
Cabrera’s chest heaved high and low as he laid on the ground to recuperate.
He was exhausted from jumping along so many trees while moving in weird angles to dodge the attacks from behind, and then running until he met up with Fredrick, oh the running!
His instinct warned of fatal strikes that could lead to imminent death while baiting Motavu. And while he was successful in doing so and also escaped imminent death, he certainly didn’t get away scot free.
Cabrera slowly regained his breath as he noticed his rate of healing had increased, before placing his hands on his armor, which now had a bleeding cut on the left side of his stomach, and moved to sit up.
He was injured, but letting his guard down in what might be a den of snakes was utter stupidity, and he wasn’t going to die in vain, especially after taking such high stakes, that’s for sure.
“Ah-mmm!”
Cabrera grit his teeth to stop himself from shouting when pain assaulted his senses.
He could only look at his right foot to see another cut. Thankfully, it was not nearly as nasty as the one on his stomach. The problem was that a foreign substance was in his blood and it felt like acid on his skin.
In such a forest, it didn’t take long for Cabrera to pinpoint the origin of such a substance.
‘It’s venom’
It was a venom secreted by some snake, which anyone with half a brain could easily guess.
As for what type of snake it was, Cabrera didn’t have a single clue.
He wasn’t an aspiring adventurer. He was a full-fledged gangster! Or did you expect him to read up on all the beasts in the monster guide while training and also managing Ezra’s orders to make sure the plan could go smoothly? Of course not! Plus, that monster guide was a little costly. Well, it was not that much when considering that Cabrera had hundreds of platinum, or millions of gold, at the moment.
But the most important question was…
‘When?’
Cabrera was stumped that he hadn’t noticed it until now, as it had already spread more than halfway towards his knee.
Cabrera shuddered as he thought.
‘I hadn’t noticed it until now. If I hadn’t found this cave to recuperate, I would have most likely been forced to fight Motavu in a one-on-one’
With the way he had provoked Motavu, the fight would no doubt be tough.
Then, at a crucial moment in such an intense fight, if this pain assaulted him…
It might only assault him for a few seconds, but it would leave him defenseless.
And such a thing would have granted him…
‘Death. I would’ve died without knowing why or understanding how’
Cabrera shuddered once more as he thought of it.
‘I would have died…in vain’
The moment that realization hit him, he found himself in a trance for a short time.
Ezra had laid down the plan, and Cabrera thought it was too easy when compared to the earnings they would gain – and it truly was. He had just subconsciously ignored the risk that he only now realized. Such a risk could end with him being killed if he wasn’t careful.
Cabrera clenched his fists as he inwardly berated himself.
‘I was stupid’
Thankfully, even Cabrera was not dumb enough to come to a place infested with snake monsters without a little research and a lot of preparation.
And that was why he was able to quickly fish out a transparent vial containing a light purple liquid, which he downed it one go.
The effects were immediate as he felt the pain of his flesh burning subside. The potion drastically reduced the effects of the venom, which allowed him to use mana in his legs to push it out. The venom turned out to be dark green in color.
That was also when…
*BAAM*
The surroundings suddenly shook, making Cabrera’s body bounce a bit, before becoming calm once more.
Such an impact shook Cabrera as he quickly made a choice.
‘Whatever that is, I don’t want to find out, so going outside is a big no-no…but I can’t stay idle either’
So…
‘I’ll have to go further in’
Cabrera made his choice as he rubbed his eyes to look at the surroundings, only to have them widen as he saw the glimmering crystals along the walls.
‘That’s right, I did feel that my mana recovery was a little bit faster than usual’
But…
‘It’s just as he said, huh. To think such a treasure mine existed here for all these years and no one knew…but how the hell did he know about it then?’
Like Fredrick, Cabrera’s eyes shone with greed, while also being equally awed by Ezra as he couldn’t help but think about the answer Ezra had given.
‘An ability that seeks out treasures…could it actually be true?’
It was a question that made Cabrera doubt the fairness of life, before quickly throwing it to the back of his mind.
What mattered was that the information was accurate. He wasn’t going to complain about such luck landing right on his lap when he hadn’t really done anything to deserve it.
That would be like a horse kicking its owner, and Cabrera was smart enough to not make such a stupid decision.
With that out of the way, he quickly took out something else from his spatial ring. It was a glass beaker with yellow contents, which he drank in one go.
Like the last one, the effects became visible to the naked eye as we see the cut on his stomach heal very fast, before the skin sealed itself up.
The same thing happened with his leg, and now he was good to go.
*Craack*
Cabrera stretched his stiff bones, snapping them into place with some loud sounds, before getting onto his feet as he surveyed once again the cave he was in.
He couldn’t be bothered about his dusty and dirty appearance as his eyes looked at the crystals with amazement, before shaking his head and relaxing his breathing to calm down his excited heart.
‘He said the real deal was at the inner parts’
Ezra told them that the mana stones were further into the mountain.
Cabrera began moving quickly but with caution, only to find a spot where a large hole had replaced the whole floor.
‘What did this?’ Cabrera wondered.
But he already knew the answer. After all, there was only one thing in this mountain that could make a hole this big.
The hole had been carved through the mountain in a way that indicated something broke its way out. And with no sign of footprints or paws, the answer was too easy.
‘The A-rank beast! It must have already escaped’
‘So…the snake broke out before Fredrick could kill it?’
‘Which means Fredrick is fighting with it right now!’
This wasn’t in their plan, and while Cabrera felt he should go help his comrade, he also knew there was nothing he could do against an A-rank monster.
He’d only be a burden in such a battle, especially after feeling that last shockwave.
Cabrera felt useless, but quickly consoled himself.
‘Well, Ezra said Sir Fredrick should be able to handle it easily’
So he thought of the next best thing to do as he looked at the cave.
‘If I jumped, I could probably make it, but…
Cabrera looked once more at the way the mountain had been burrowed before reaching a conclusion.
‘The beast came from down there, so there must be something precious inside’
Cabrera nodded to himself. The way down looked deep, but his greed, curiosity and the desire to prove himself drove away any fear he might have had.
As a result, he made his choice in an instant as he moved back a bit and got into a running stance.
‘Here I go’
With that, he sped up and jumped down the hole with his eyes closed, only to freak out moments later.
‘Shit! Shit! Shit! Why is it so high?!’
It was at this moment that Cabrera discovered one of his fears. Heights!
But nothing could be done about it at the moment as he felt the wind pressure increase, while his rate of descent decreased.
‘The height of trees are ok, but this is just-‘
Cabrera didn’t get to finish his sentence because-
*Bam*Bam*
-the hole wasn’t straight.
Cabrera’s body had smashed against the curved wall, making him scream.
“Why did I-”
But he didn’t get to finish even that as he found himself unable to gain a stable foothold. His body tilted backwards before he could regain his balance.
‘No,no,no,no,no!’
He began rolling along the burrowed path like an armadillo, hitting small rocks along the way, which made his body tilt in different directions.
Like a snowball falling down a mountain, without an object big enough to stop its charge, it would keep on rolling.
The same happened to Cabrera.
“Ah” “Ouch!” “Stop” “Stop damn it!” “My head!”
His voice resounded with different exclamations for a few seconds, before he realized that he should shut up and focus on not losing consciousness.
The impacts caused by the fight outside did not help either.
All in all, he found himself in a very miserable state as he rolled without being able to stop.
‘Oh man’
At a point, his hungry stomach churned as he felt what little he had eaten move up his gullet. He tried to suppress the urge to vomit, hoping his destination was not far away.
His hopes turned out to be true as he felt himself suspended in the air soon after.
But before he could adjust his curled body…
*Slam*
He slammed into hard rock, causing it to crack, before hurriedly getting up and releasing the contents stuck up his gullet, which were disgusting to say the least.
Cabrera straightened his back once again, causing many more cracks to resound, before shouting…
“AH! I’m never doing that again!”
“Damn you mountain! And damn you stupid snake!”
Only after venting his frustration at the mountain did he calm down a little, after which he checked his body. Other than his bones screaming with pain, the rest had only been damaged a little.
‘Now…where am I?’
That was the next pressing question as he rubbed his sore neck, before turning his body to look behind.
What he saw though, made him subconsciously forget about his sore neck as his mouth turned into an “o”.
“YES, YES I DID IT, I HIT THE-”
He didn’t get to do even this in peace because…
*BAM*
Another shockwave resounded, immediately dousing Cabrera’s excitement as he hastily placed his hands on his mouth before thinking…
‘Hitting my head so many times must have made me crazy’
If not, he wouldn’t be shouting like a madman with his voice echoing.
Cabrera took a deep breath and brought himself down to earth.
‘Cabrera, get your head out of the clouds’ he told himself as he stared at the heap of goods he had chanced upon.
But he couldn’t erase the gleam in his eyes.
It was another type of treasure, one that would sell for very high prices.