Surviving as the Second Main Lead: Second Lead's POV

Horas was aware that he needed to keep himself hidden well. The sound of footsteps leaving the room reached his ear and he finally relaxed.

Once he was sure he was alone, he dared to leave his hiding spot and enter the open room. It was time to look at the lab again and see what he could make of it. And just as he had noticed before, the lab still looked freaky.

There were a lot of hand-operated machines instead of the recently invested ‘skill-based’ devices which indicated that the researcher was not inclined toward this field.

There were a lot of samples that looked freshly killed. The giants and slimes looked especially well-preserved and their different parts were labeled. The state of some of the bodies made Horas almost lose his lunch.

‘I never want to see the insides of a giant again if I can help it. I should look for a way out.’

Horas had a vague idea of where the scientist was headed so he went in that direction as well. It led him into another dark corridor but he kept on walking.

Once walking got a little difficult, Horas became aware that he was climbing up a ramp of some kind and he felt hopeful.

A ramp going upwards meant that he was going up to the surface. And once he reached the end, it opened up into another flight of stairs with no door to open.

Horas began climbing up again, hoping to find a window or door to get out of there. He finally found one at the top but he was not so optimistic about his escape chances.

As expected, he ended up pretty high up in the same building. And he finally decided to look for a terrace instead of a staircase to get out of. If anything, he needed to know how many floors this building had so that he could blast a hole on the right level.

The terrace was found easily enough but opening the door proved to be a mistake.

As soon as Horas had reached the end of the terrace and looked down, he was picked up from the back of his shirt and felt a familiar feathery touch on his neck.

He turned around, only to see the bird boss standing behind him. And the huge bird looked as pissed as a bird could hope to look.

*cluck*

The bird let out a cry, almost dropping Horas in the process. His heart skipped a beat as Horas felt his body escape the hold of that beak but he was caught the very next second.

The bird flew into the sky again, landing on the same balcony it had landed on the first time, and leading Horas inside its nest. It deposited the human into his nest, pushing its fluffy body on top.

Only Horas’s mouth was left in the open while the rest of his body disappeared beneath the gigantic bird.

“You stupid bird. Let me go right now.”

Horas tried to insult the boss but he was ignored by it. The bird was busy cleaning its feathers and making happy noises.

Horas was so worried about what would happen to him now that he did not hear the sound of the door opening and closing. He did not notice that someone else was in the room with him until he saw the face right in front of him.

“Well, hello there. I see that my pet managed to snag itself someone famous.”

The brown-haired man looked amused and Horas immediately recognized him as the scientist whom he had seen in the lab below.

Now that he looked closely, this man was unremarkable. Even his aura felt weak and lifeless, not coming up beyond an F-class one and he did not seem to be hiding his strength as well.

Then, did this man have some kind of special skill that allowed him to roam this dungeon freely? The lack of fear was evident in this man.

“I know what you are thinking. But no, I don’t have some kind of special skill that allows me to control these beasts. I am just an incredibly unlucky guy is all.”

The brown-haired man smiled almost sadly, trying to invoke pity in Horas but it seemed not to be working.

‘Tsk’

The man stopped trying as soon as he noticed that Horas was not going to bite the bone he had thrown. And suddenly, the man looked far more intimidating than before.

“Look, I don’t know why my pet decided to kidnap you but I cannot stand it, alright? Because of you, my hideout is about to be discovered by the dungeon association and we cannot have that. So you will have to die right now to protect my secret.”

Horas was not about to go down without a fight but he could not move or use his skills from his current position. He was kind of stuck where he was.

“I don’t suppose that you would let me go if I asked nicely, right?”

Horas questioned as he pinched the huge bird's body on top of him. The bird did not budge even a bit when Horas did that which was infuriating to him.

“No, I suppose you would not let me go even if I asked. But can I ask for your name at least? Don’t I deserve to know the name of the one who is going to kill me?”

Horas questioned as soon as he noticed that there was no way out. He needed to stall this man with conversing about irrelevant things.

“Hmmm, you want to know my name? I don’t think I want to tell you who I am. For all I know, you might find a way to get this information out even after your death.”

Horas had to admit that this mad was beyond caring. Most people would not have cared much for someone who was about to die and told their names to the dead person anyway.

But this man, he was different. He did not give any clues about his identity. And he even seemed to know who Horas was.

“Well, I never expected to cross paths with the grin reaper of the Esper’s academy once I was out of there. Imagine my surprise to see you out here in this very dungeon. It is so nice to meet you again.”

The man spoke as if he knew Horas but his words about belonging to the Esper’s academy did not help.

First, there were too many ‘generic’ people in that school. Most people did not stand out and a lot passed every year. It was impossible to tell when and where Horas had seen this man.

Second, this man seemed capable enough to hinder people easily. He had built a cage-like system that hindered Horas from sending any messages back to the dungeon association.

“Now, time for you to die.”

The brown-haired man smiled as he said those words. He took out a small injection from his pocket and approached Horas with it. But then, something miraculous happened.

The huge, dump bird who had taken Horas here decided to pick a bone with the scientist in front of itself. It raised its huge wings and blocked the scientist from approaching Horas.

Horas was surprised at the sudden bout of protectiveness the bird showed over him and he was not the only one surprised.

“Hey bird, what the hell are you doing? Let me kill that human so that we can remain safe. You need to heed my orders anyway.”

The brown-haired man tried to get the boss bird to step down but the boss bird did not back down.

It raised its chest even more, almost puffing it out in an intimidating manner, and stood in front of Horas. The bird was protecting him? Why and how did this end up happening?

“You shitty bird. Are you going to continue causing me trouble? Do you no longer want to live?”

The brown-haired scientist asked, now finally getting fed up. It seemed almost as if he was reaching the end of his patience. But the huge boss refused to back down as well. It was a battle of wits at this point.

The boss bird was the first one to make an attack. With a yell, it jumped the scientist and Horas used this time to jump on his foot and run toward the terrace.

He might not be able to send a signal out but he could still do something - send the small camera he had saved in case of an emergency.

It escaped the confinements, then it could send a message out and get Horas some help. That was his only open in this desperate situation.

Thankfully, it seemed as if this plan would work and Horas threw his camera out before he made it to the terrace. Then he sent another camera, but this one was shot down before it could take off.

‘Thank god I sent out one already.’

Behind Horas, the brown-haired guy as well as the boss bird had followed. He was not going to be able to escape this place easily. But now, he had some semblance of hope left in his life. He would be saved by the people.