I ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED A DUNGEON

Felix had barely gotten to his feet when he saw Dune launched through the air, her body smashing into the ground a few meters away and sliding on the loose rocks. She coughed violently, blood spurting from her mouth, her body covered in numerous cuts, both her elbows bending oddly in wrong angles. She made an attempt to get up, but she could not do it, falling down again.

Felix turned his eyes once more toward the Numenroot that now towered over the place reaching its height of over ten meters, its shadow engulfing the entire room. They were battling this monster for hours, their surroundings pockmarked by five distinct craters while their cards had been transformed into pieces of torn paper. They tried all that they could possibly think of, every punch, every combo, every bit of Numen that they had. And the thing was only growing, becoming faster and stronger, consuming all that they offered it like some kind of fuel.

It’s not slowing down. It’ll never stop. We’re not fighting this thing, we’re just giving it a feast.

Felix forced himself to crawl through the cratered ground toward her, his right arm being completely useless and hanging down at his side while his body was drenched with blood from a dozen of minor cuts. His left leg was bending unnaturally and yet, he was still crawling forward.

This is my fault. All of it. I should’ve turned this job down the second Tobin said dangerous. I should’ve noticed the signs the moment the forest started drying out around us. I had chances to run and I didn’t take a single one of them.

He dug his teeth deep into his own flesh, feeling the sting of blood in his mouth, but his eyes softened at the sight of her as they found Dune’s face, breathing shallow and ragged.

She can’t die. Not because of me. Not because of my mistake. She kept protecting me the whole time, and I still managed to mess this up.

He stumbled the final distance to where she lay on the ground, putting out his good hand to grip her shoulder roughly despite how hard he was trembling.

"You’re not going to die. You’re not." His voice took on an urgent tone, almost like an order that could force the situation to be different than it was.

Then a flash of memory appeared in his mind. The night when she healed herself using only the taste of his blood.

"Yeah." He dug through his coat, pulling free his last remaining hope and raising his other hand above her mouth. "You’ll be fine. Just, just stay with me for a second." He dragged the tip of the card along his own skin, feeling the sting of blood pooling and then rolling in great droplets down onto her lips and chin. "Open your mouth. You can heal yourself again, just like before."

Her mouth opened slightly, and his blood rolled down into it, but nothing happened. She didn’t glow. She didn’t heal. Instead, another cough racked through her body, blood spilling from her lips.

"Dammit! Heal! Heal yourself, like you did before!" He broke down, shouting desperately "I know you can do this. I know you can."

Her hand twitched faintly at her side, and her head moved, the barest suggestion of a nod.

"Don’t you dare act like you understand what’s happening right now." He dragged the card across his arm again, deeper this time, blood spilling faster, more of it landing across her face. "You don’t have to understand any of it. Just do what I’m telling you. Please. Just heal. Please, just, just heal yourself, come on, come on—"

The Numenroot’s massive arm extended overhead, slow and deliberate, rising high before crashing straight down toward them both. It stopped inches short, a single card, the king of diamonds, wedged upright between them, holding an invisible barrier against the full weight of the blow.

Felix shook her gently, the words coming out of him broken, over and over again. This is my fault. My fault. Do not die. Do not die.

The arm came down once more, the card bending, cracks forming through its face as it struggled to keep Felix safe. The arm rose again, Felix turning his head to see, but a second arm had come from his left, hitting him and sending him sprawling, the impact shattering the bones deep in his ribs on landing, but he fought to get back up regardless, failing. He forced his head to turn toward her instead, watching the vine-wrought hand rise high above where she lay.

Her right hand twitched again, and the metallic glinted in the last rays of light – a whistle tied loosely about her wrist by a crumbling knot. Dune brought the whistle to her lips, doing so painstakingly slowly, and found herself unable to seal her lips around it.

"Whenever you find yourself in trouble."

Pressing the whistle to her lips, she blew.

There wasn’t even a noise. All she managed was another coughing fit, another stream of blood pouring from between her teeth.

Felix’s fists clenched tighter and tighter on the ground, but even as the pain tore through his body, he dragged himself forward, inching towards her despite everything that demanded for him to just lay still and be done with this suffering.

Something sliced through the air ahead of him, fast enough to not be seen by his eyes, without thinking Felix whipped his head up towards the Numenroot.

The Numenroot had become still.

Then, with a groan that seemed to rattle deep within the earth itself, half the mountain cracked sideways, sinking a few inches inwards along one side, its roots tearing open like a knife through butter. The Numenroot shattered in two, the pieces were unable to reknit themselves.

Light footsteps echoed into Felix’s ears from the exit of the tunnel.

He turned his head with everything he had left and found Hakimi standing there, sliding a blade back into its sheath with a motion so controlled it barely made a sound.

Hakimi’s eyes drifted to the fallen, broken wreck of the Numenroot for a brief second or two, before moving on to look at Dune. His face remained expressionless, as carefully so, but there was something that shone briefly within his eyes when he actually noticed the damage done to her, a sharp emotion that he immediately closed his eyes to shield himself from.

He crossed the space between them with a few swift steps, kneeling down and taking her into his arms, holding her weight as easily as though she was weightless. He straightened, turned and walked away towards the tunnel exit.

He did not look at Felix even once.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!