Envoy Of The Night - (A Highschool DxD x Male Gamer Reader Story)

Chapter VIII - Gormotti Grandeur

"Well... This is quite a pitiful conundrum we find ourselves in," Addam said, letting out a small chuckle at his wordplay while looking between the other members of the group trapped in the hole with him, only to see them giving him blank stares or, in Mythra's case, a shake of the head in annoyance. Seeing the reactions from his allies, Addam looked away with an embarrassed look on his face while scratching the back of his neck. "Tough crowd..." he muttered as Mythra let out a sigh of disappointment. There was a time and place to make puns, and even [Y/N] could tell that this wasn't one of those situations. Right now, they needed to come up with a way to escape this unfortunate predicament, but there weren't many options.

"So... anyone got any ideas how to get out of here?" Lora asked, looking between her fellow party members, all of whom held their chins in their hands while in deep thought. After a few silent moments, Milton called out to them from above. "Why not have Haze lift you all up?" He asked, which roused several hums of thought from Addam and the others however, [Y/N] could tell that, despite how Haze was acting, she was exhausted from both fighting and healing as much as she had these last few hours. "That won't do, Milton. As easy as it sounds, Haze would probably collapse from exhaustion, especially after fighting alongside us and healing as much as she has," he explained, glancing over at Haze who gave a slight nod of appreciation. Honestly, this was out of [Y/N]'s own sense of guilt, as he had been the frequent target for Haze to heal or save these last two days alone.

With Haze's powers no longer an option, it severely limited the group in what they could possibly do. The walls lining the hole did appear to be able to be climbed, however, there was no way to safely do this if Haze was close to exhaustion, or without any sort of rope to help. Suddenly, a thought ran through [Y/N]'s head. There was rope, but it was being used to restrain the mercenaries they fought earlier. However, at this rate, it was the only available option, unless Jin could miraculously create a set of ice stairs using his powers. Looking up towards Milton and Mikhail, he called out to them. "Are those mercenaries still tied up?" He inquired, watching as Mikhail and Milton turned their head away from the hole for a moment before looking back, both of them shaking their heads. "No. When that tremor happened, one of them managed to free one of their hands and untie the rope. They're gone," Milton stated, causing Addam and the others to click their tongues in annoyance, while [Y/N] hummed in thought.

After another moment of silence, [Y/N] decided on what to do and spoke up once again, "That's fine. Milton, Mikhail, go grab the rope and tie one end around the sturdiest rock you can find up there. When you're done, throw the other end down here." Looking at each other for a moment, Milton and Mikhail had a silent conversation before nodding their heads and rushing off to do what [Y/N] asked them. As they did, Addam and the others looked over at [Y/N] quizzically. "What are you planning?" Jin asked, his tone laced with a hint of curiosity, yet hesitance. Seeing this, [Y/N] sighed and rolled his eyes at Jin's actions. "We can use the rope to climb up the edge of the hole and get out. If you don't trust my method, I can be the first to go up," [Y/N] offered, staring Jin down as the other end of the rope falls down beside him. After a moment, Jin relaxed and nodded his head. He did trust [Y/N] to a certain extent, especially after his plan against the Scorpox; he just didn't want to risk Lora getting hurt.

Tying the other end of the rope around his waist, [Y/N] tugged on the rope to confirm how secure it was before beginning to climb up the side of the hole. "Ok, Milton, Mikhail, as I climb up, I need you to pull on whatever slack there is, ok?" He explained, with Milton and Mikhael nodding and doing the best they could to pull on the slacked rope. Around halfway up the hole, [Y/N] lost his footing briefly and he dropped a little. The force pulling Milton and Mikhail close to the edge of the hole with a cry of shock as the others in the hole tensed up, with Lora clinging onto Jin and looking away. "It's ok! That happens. Don't worry you two, just remain calm and pull," [Y/N] called up, looking up at the now terrified Milton and Mikhail and giving them a reassuring smile. The two boys nodded their heads, swallowing the lumping in their throats before pulling on the rope again. A few minutes later, [Y/N] managed to reach the top and untied the rope from his waist, tossing it back down into the hole.