I Have a Task Log

Colin looked toward the edge of the cliff.

He recited a Spell and instantly cast [Misty Step] to appear beside the rock wall, then reached out to grab the thick vines clinging to it.

The moment his fingers touched the vines, waves of piercing pain surged through him. Colin felt as if a thousand knives were slicing into his palm at once.

With a series of ripping sounds, a large section of the vines was torn from the cliff face before gravity snapped it completely.

'Damn it…'

Colin cursed inwardly and flung away the vines he had torn off. His palm had been shredded by them.

Looking down, he saw Ale not far away, also falling.

'I'd better stay away from the cliff face. If I land on a ledge, I'm done for.'

As he thought this, Colin used [Misty Step] again to Teleport to Ale's side.

The silvery mist from the Teleport had yet to fade when the white fog of the chasm rushed in to meet him.

The scene before him slowly turned from white to black. Other than the rushing wind and the feeling of weightlessness, Colin could feel nothing.

This feeling of quietly waiting for death was awful.

'I don't even know what's beneath this white fog. A raging river? A green field with vines and grass? Or just bare rock?'

'If it's destined to be a bad end, I hope it's rock.'

At least that way, Colin thought, death would be quick.

The fog before him broke.

A black expanse dotted with specks of silver light came into view.

For a moment, Colin felt as if he were flying up from the ground toward a night sky, not falling into a fog-shrouded canyon.

As he got closer, he discovered that the bottom of the canyon was covered in mushrooms of all sizes. The larger ones looked to be dozens of meters tall.

By the time they could see the ground clearly, however, the two of them were already dangerously close to it.

"Ale, get closer to me!" Colin shouted.

Not waiting to see if she heard, he reached into his component pouch, pulled out a Spider Web Corps, and began chanting a Spell.

The wind howled. Colin could feel his eyes growing colder and drier, but in this critical moment, he couldn't worry about that.

He forced his eyes open and chose the target for his Magic.

[Web]!

A silver mote of light appeared at the edge of the rock wall. An instant later, a white web exploded outward, sticking to the cliff face and the towering fungi nearby.

Ale fell into the web first.

The entire white web instantly pulled taut, making a strange, groaning sound.

Then, Colin fell in too.

The cold web covered his face, and he simply shut his eyes.

A tearing sensation ripped through his entire body. He felt a grinding creak from every one of his joints, and a heavy pressure crushed his chest, making it impossible to draw even the slightest breath.

SNAP—CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—

A sound, likely the web tearing, reached his ears, followed by the sound of a giant fungus slowly toppling over.

Colin could feel himself fall slowly to the ground.

Then, an immense force slammed down on his right calf, pinning his leg so he couldn't move.

Colin quickly ended the Magic. The web created by the [Web] spell immediately began to dissolve until it vanished completely.

"Haaah..."

Lying on the ground, Colin gasped for fresh air.

He got up and looked back. A huge mushroom stalk, more than twenty centimeters in diameter, was pinning his lower leg.

The crisp sound of a Spell came from beside him.

A small fireball then exploded against the mushroom stalk pinning Colin's leg, instantly blasting the thick stalk apart.

The pressure on his leg vanished. Colin pulled his leg free, rolled onto his back, and said with a laugh, "Thanks, Ale."

"You saved my life, Colin." Ale's small face appeared in his field of vision. "Are you okay?"

"Thanks to you," Colin said, letting out a huge sigh of relief. "I guess that makes us even."

He glanced at his lower leg.

Thanks to the protection of his Greave, the bone wasn't broken, which was excellent news.

Standing beside him, Ale looked up. Colin followed her gaze.

Above, the fog devoured all sunlight. From below, it looked like a dark, thick storm cloud. The pale blue light from the fungi cast a faint gray glow on the underside of the fog.

This was why so many light-averse fungi grew at the bottom of the canyon.

Looking at the white fog above, Colin felt a sense of unreality.

He'd actually survived a fall from such a height with just a [Web] spell. In his past life, a fall like that would have certainly been fatal.

But considering that in this world, using Magic gradually strengthened a Caster's body, it wasn't all that strange.

Colin lowered his head and looked around.

Although there were faintly glowing fungi down here, their light was quite weak, illuminating no more than thirty meters in any direction.

'This is a bad situation. I wonder if there are any monsters down here...'

"Alright, now we need to figure out what to do next," Colin said with a sigh as he climbed to his feet.

He set down his backpack.

Because he had landed on his stomach, the contents of his pack were in fairly good condition.

Specifically, the sleeping bags Dorn had told them to bring, five days' worth of rations, some medical supplies, and two [Healing Potions].

"We don't know what's happened to Kase and the others right now. If they're alright, they should send someone to rescue us. Also, I remember that both ends of the Fog-Locked Rift are supposed to lead back up.

"So, I think we should split the rations. We'll wait here for two and a half days. If we gather some of the edible mushrooms around here, we can probably wait for about three days. If no one comes down for us by then, we'll head southwest. That direction is a bit farther from the Dragon Worship Cult, so we shouldn't run into any trouble."

As Colin spoke, he tried to open his pack, intending to treat the wound on his hand.

Seeing that his hand was covered in blood, Ale stepped forward, opened the pack, and took out some ointment and bandages.

She said to Colin, "Hold out your hand."

Colin obediently held out his hand, waiting as she slowly applied the ointment to the wound.

Then, Ale took out a bandage and began to wrap it.

Although her skill wasn't as good as Orelia's, she was still decent—at least far better than Colin trying to bandage himself with his injured hand.

After a moment, Ale suddenly spoke up. "Colin, I have a way to get us back up."

"Oh? Then why don't we use it?"

"Because this method will bring us trouble... a lot of trouble."

Colin studied her expression and said, "To be honest, you look like you're holding something back. And this isn't the first time I've gotten that feeling from you recently."

"I'm willing to tell you, Colin," Ale said, wrapping the bandage around his hand layer by layer. "I just can't say too much."

After a moment of silence, Ale spoke again. "When we get back... Colin, I want to leave the team."