SSS Awakening: I Can Create Skills By Will

Chapter 130: The Left Path

They group of explorers weren’t tense weren’t tense or nervous.

If anything, they were almost bored now.

"Same drill," someone said casually, spinning his spear once.

"Try not to trip this time," another teased a shield bearer.

The man scoffed. "That was once."

It wasn’t overconfidence. It was simply the truth. Compared to earlier, this group of ogres felt almost unserious.

The fight started, and just like that, it ended.

The first class ogres charged and were met with clean blocks and counters. A second class tried to gather mana, and Arthur shut it down before it stabilized.

Ryn opened space.

The captain finished.

Within minutes, the last ogre fell.

One of the explorers glanced at the small sand timer tied to his belt and laughed.

"New record."

"No way."

"Fastest clear yet."

A few of them actually cheered.

They wiped blood from their armor and cleaned their weapons with easy movements. Some crouched immediately to extract cores while others stretched their shoulders like they had just finished a training exercise instead of a dungeon fight.

The captain oversaw the loot distribution as usual, steady and efficient.

Arthur stood slightly apart.

He activated Sovereign’s Perception again, slower this time. He let it spread carefully, not just searching for clusters of monsters but for irregularities.

That was when he felt it.

It wasn’t like the ogre distortions.

Those were dense and obvious, like knots in the flow of mana.

This was thinner.

Subtle.

A faint pull. A warped current flowing somewhere beyond, on the left path.

He focused on it, trying to trace the source.

What is that?

It didn’t feel like a monster.

It felt... deeper.

Before he could extend the skill further, footsteps echoed behind him.

The scout had returned.

"No monsters ahead on the main path," the scout said. "But the right tunnel branches wider. Might lead somewhere bigger."

The captain nodded thoughtfully.

Before he could give the order, Arthur spoke.

"We should go left."

The words cut through the relaxed atmosphere.

A few explorers looked at him.

"The scout just said the right path opens up," someone pointed out.

Arthur didn’t raise his voice. "I know."

"Then why left?"

He paused briefly, choosing his words.

"I feel something there."

It sounded simple. Too simple.

The captain studied him carefully. "Feel what?"

Arthur didn’t try to exaggerate it. "A distortion. Not like the ogres. It’s faint, but it’s there."

Silence followed.

This wasn’t a battle call. It was a direction change.

The scout frowned slightly. "I didn’t see anything."

Arthur nodded. "You could miss it"

The captain crossed his arms.

Trusting a feeling in a dungeon wasn’t ideal. But ignoring someone who had proven himself over and over again wasn’t ideal either.

Arthur met his gaze calmly.

Keeping a serious tone and expression.

"If I’m wrong," Arthur added, "we lose a few minutes. If I’m right, we save a lot more."

Ryn glanced between them and shrugged. "He hasn’t been wrong yet."

One of the older explorers grunted. "I’ll take his instincts over wandering blind."

The captain exhaled slowly.

They didn’t have a solid lead anyway. The right path could just loop back into more ogres.

Finally, he nodded.

"We take the left."

A few raised brows. A few exchanged looks.

But no one protested.

If anything, their expressions showed willingness. They had seen enough from Arthur to give him that chance.

The captain raised his voice. "Left path. Move."

They shifted formation and turned into the darker tunnel.

At first, nothing changed.

The path was narrower. The walls closer. The mana still thick but not noticeably worse.

After a few minutes, one of the explorers muttered quietly, "Hope this isn’t a wild goose chase."

Arthur heard him but didn’t react.

He walked slightly ahead now, not recklessly, but guiding the direction.

Inside, he focused again.

It’s there.

Faint.

Like a distant echo.

He didn’t fully understand what Sovereign’s Perception was picking up, but the pull felt consistent.

Ryn moved closer to him. "Still sure?"

Arthur nodded once. "Yeah."

"Confident?"

"No," Arthur admitted honestly. "But certain."

Ryn blinked at that, then laughed softly. "That makes no sense."

"It does to me."

They walked further.

The air shifted first.

It became heavier in a way that pressed against the chest.

Then the smell hit them. Sharper. Almost metallic.

One of the casters slowed slightly. "Do you feel that?"

Another swallowed. "Yeah."

Arthur frowned.

The distortion grew clearer now. Not visually, but in sensation. The mana around them was no longer just tainted.

It was concentrated.

The pressure followed soon after.

It wasn’t strong enough to crush them, but it was there, like standing near something powerful and unstable.

The squad gradually lost their earlier casual mood.

Weapons were gripped tighter.

Voices lowered.

Even those who had doubted the turn began to glance at Arthur differently.

He stopped walking for a second and closed his eyes briefly, extending Sovereign’s Perception fully.

There.

Not far now.

A warped center.

He opened his eyes.

"It’s close," he said quietly.

The captain stepped beside him. "Seal?"

Arthur shook his head slowly. "I don’t know yet. But it’s not normal."

The pressure thickened again, enough that a few explorers shifted their stance unconsciously.

Even the scout whispered, "He wasn’t wrong..."

Arthur didn’t respond to that.

He was focused instead.

Whatever lay ahead was different from the ogres they had been farming all this time.

And as the mana grew heavier around them, one thing became clear.

The left path wasn’t a mistake.

It was leading them somewhere real.

Arthur didn’t hesitate anymore.

The faint distortion he had sensed earlier was no longer faint. It tugged at his Sovereign’s Perception like a hook lodged in water, pulling his awareness toward something deeper.

The captain noticed the change in his pace.

"Stay tight," the captain ordered quietly. "No loose spacing. If something moves, we respond together."

The explorers nodded. The earlier excitement from farming ogres was gone. Their steps were slower, measured.

Arthur raised a hand slightly.

"Close," he said.

The captain immediately signaled for a halt.

A/N:

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