- Hoo. Woo. Woo. Woong...
The torch flickered quietly, illuminating the inside of the cave.
Well, it wasn’t something I’d brought separately.
The mages who had scouted this place in advance had reported that the interior was dark, so the Magic Tower had supplied them.
Since the inside of the dungeon had completely changed, much of the information gained from scouting had become useless, but I was truly glad that at least the information about the cave being dark had remained useful.
- Tap. Tap. Tap.
Every time I took a step forward, the sound of my footsteps struck the cave walls, amplified, and echoed back.
‘There aren’t many monsters showing up now.’
It might have been because I had killed every monster I’d seen so far,
but instinctively, I could feel that the current situation wasn’t so hopeful.
This wasn’t a floor that would end with just this much.
- Whiiiiing.
A wind blew in from somewhere.
If this had been an ordinary natural cave, I would have followed that wind without questioning anything.
The fact that wind was coming in meant there was a place at the end connected to the outside.
But this was not a natural cave. It was a dungeon.
A dungeon’s defining trait was that its entrance was a door.
And since the outside and inside of a dungeon were completely separate spaces divided by that door,
this wind was not a lifeline that would lead me to the exit.
If anything, it was the dungeon’s malicious will, trying to use that very psychology in reverse to lure me in.
But even so, choosing to avoid this wind and go the opposite way was also...
By my estimation, I had already spent about two hours walking around and killing monsters.
In the process, I had marked the paths I’d already taken with my sword,
and by now, there were hardly any places inside the cave that I hadn’t been to.
Except for the path where the wind was blowing from.
‘Laying traps out like gatekeepers and hiding the door behind them was one of a dungeon’s nasty hobbies.’
It was a pattern I’d experienced quite a bit even in low-rank dungeons,
so there wasn’t much I could do except play along with this lure.
‘But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let only you have all the fun.’
I calmly looked around here and there, searching for a dead-end space among the places I had checked so far.
“This place should do.”
First, I used aura to spread a curtain of fire over the path leading in.
It was a dead end, and it was a place I had already cleared once. Even so, it was to prepare for any unexpected situation.
- Thud.
After securing the bare minimum of safety, I sat down and began circulating my aura.
It looked like an annoying trap at a glance, and if I went in without being in full condition, it was obvious something very unfortunate would happen.
Even if I had to accept a little risk, I thought it would be better to prepare thoroughly.
***
Fortunately, I was able to finish my circulation without anything happening.
Right now, I was cutting through the wind as I slowly made my way up the path.
Unlike the other paths, this one was straight, so thanks to that, I didn’t have to worry about getting lost on the way up.
- Tap. Tap.
At some point, the path grew wider and wider with every step I took,
“Wow... the fuck is this now?”
Before my eyes was a fairly vast underground city.
The end of the path was a place where I could look down over it all at once,
and from the ceiling, a single beam of light of unknown origin faintly illuminated the entire city like moonlight.
I knew this place did not exist in reality, that it was naturally a fictional city created by the dungeon.
And yet, I couldn’t easily tear my eyes away, swept up in the mysterious atmosphere this place gave off.
Thinking that if the kingdom of the dwarves said to have once existed somewhere underground in the northern mountain range beyond Caliseo, built on the border long ago, still remained today, it might feel like this,
I stood there blankly for a while.
‘It is impressive, but... I should go down now.’
After gazing at it for about three minutes, lost in admiration, I carefully went down into the city by the stairs beside me.
***
The city’s structure was not much different from ordinary cities.
The walls and watchtowers built around the outside to protect the city,
the main road stretching straight through the center, and the clock tower built in the middle of the city.
To me, who had wandered all over the place as a mere mercenary, it was an extremely familiar city.
However, although only the structure was the same, as befitted a city inside a dungeon, there was one thing that was not ordinary compared to other cities.
- Clatter. Clatter.
Everything moving inside the city was a monster.
Skeleton archers stood on the watchtowers, keeping guard in all directions,
and skeleton soldiers patrolled here and there around the village.
If I had been at Veronica’s level, I might have chosen a frontal breakthrough without thinking,
but even just the monsters I could see now numbered roughly 300.
On top of that, due to the nature of a city, I couldn’t predict whether monsters would come out of alleys or from inside buildings,
so the wisest choice I could make was infiltration.
Even though I had gone from being a mere mercenary to a mercenary who was a member of the Hero’s party, as if I was still a mercenary to the bone,
I began, just like in Abraxas’s Nest, to erase my presence and quietly think of a way to enter the city.
More candidates came to mind than I expected.
Climbing over the wall, or climbing over the wall, or climbing over the wall.
.......
Sorry.
In truth, only one thing came to mind.
Quickly entering when the city gate opened?
There were no people coming or going, so how would the city gate open?
Jumping over the wall in one go was impossible.
Flying over with Signica’s magic was also impossible.
Then the only method available to me was to climb the wall and enter the city,
but sorry, honestly, even that was impossible.
I didn’t have any tools to use for climbing the wall.
And if I used aura to scale the wall, I wouldn’t be able to satisfy the condition of infiltration.
If it were a different environment, I really would have tried to find a way somehow,
but until now, I had never once needed to secretly get over a city wall inside a dungeon.
‘Yeah. Let’s admit it cleanly.’
I had no means of entering this place quietly, as if nothing had happened.
‘In that case, this method is the best.’
- Fwoosh.
I set my sword ablaze.
This level of brightness in an underground city lit by faint moonlight...
Every undead in there was probably glaring in my direction.
Well... I really didn’t want to use this method.
But even after thinking about it, there was no other way.
Would I die surrounded by undead, or would I starve to death while floundering about how to get through this place?
In my opinion, they seemed about the same.
If so, then rather,
I thought it might be better to just believe in myself and go for it once.
Sometimes, weighing too many things was what caused problems... surely that had happened before.
‘Shall I try taking off the label of ordinary mercenary?’
- Shuuuuuk!!! Kwaaaang!!!!!
As though the sun sometimes spewed out fierce flames,
I too swung my slash and began by brutally destroying the watchtowers.
Of course, it wasn’t as if I could completely destroy the watchtowers with my skill.
Still, I could at least make them unable to function.
“!!!!”
Once all the watchtowers capable of keeping me in check disappeared, I could see the skeleton soldiers panicking.
Personally, I wondered if losing watchtowers was really something worth reacting like that over,
‘Well, I guess their intelligence is lower than expected.’
Even better!
- Shuuuk! Shuuuk!
Keeping up the momentum, I fired two slashes at the tightly shut gate.
- Bang!!
The gate broke more easily than I expected.
Unlike how it looked on the outside, it seemed the inside was extremely old.
- Tatatat!
I dashed forward and entered the city.
And immediately after.
- Bwaaaaaa!!!
I lowered my stance, compressed the flames to the highest density possible,
- Whik!
and spun around once, spreading light like the sun.
“Thousand Sacred Flame Sword, First Form: Divine Bird Blossoming.”
It was an upgraded version of that.
As my proficiency in handling aura increased, the range over which I could unleash the form had expanded.
Now, at last, it felt like the effect truly matched its meaning of flames that spread the morning, so I felt extremely satisfied.
It wasn’t that there had been any particularly noticeable scenes of growth so far, but just by training and circulating aura regularly, I had been able to reach mid-level Expert, one stage higher than before.
It was the result of the experience I gained in Abraxas’s Labyrinth combining with the experience accumulated through training.
They say most people have to go through fierce battles where they nearly die in order to reach this realm,
but it seemed I had been rather lucky.
And so, while I was swinging my sword in a do-or-die manner,
‘Huh?’
It was more manageable than I expected.
When I had been killing monsters one by one inside the narrow cave, I hadn’t really realized it,
but as the range of my forms expanded, it seemed the burden of fighting multiple enemies had decreased far more than I thought.
So... for example, before, since I had to kill Abraxases one at a time, if another one attacked, I had to respond immediately.
But now, since one spin like a top cleared every direction,
the improved form was god, and I was invincible.
I simply defended against the occasional arrows flying in by spreading aura wide, then ran in the direction they came from, killed the archer, and dealt with the soldiers again.
That was all there was to it.
“Woof! Woof!”
Even when bone hounds came running, there wasn’t anything particularly different.
- Pishung!
When an arrow flew from an archer taking cover on a roof, I frowned.
‘They keep annoying me.’
I wanted to just turn my brain off and mindlessly cut everything down, but every time I tried to do that, an arrow flew at me and forced intelligent thought into my head.
- Shuuuk!
I stretched my aura long, just like I had done before.
- Whiik!
Then I swung the elongated sword as it was, destroying the buildings where archers were likely to be.
As it happened, the place I was standing was the center of the city, near the clock tower.
So, in this place where my field of vision was secured, I waited for the monsters rushing in and cut down every single one that came.
- Hiiing!
Occasionally, cavalrymen mounted on horses called skeleton horses (骸骨馬) came charging in groups,
but well... the result was the same.
Monsters of merely around the 4th or 5th Circle were not enough to defeat me, a mid-level Expert.
Had quite some time passed like that?
“There aren’t any.”
There were no longer any monsters charging at me.
Because I had kept blasting my form in 360 degrees whenever necessary, it seemed I had roughly 30% of my aura left,
“Tsk...”
and a sound of bitter displeasure leaked from my mouth.
Because the destination I was about to head to bothered me quite a lot.
From the castle at the far end of the city, I could feel a presence I could not ignore.
To be honest, it wasn’t as if I had only noticed it now. I had felt it since I was cutting the monsters down indiscriminately.
Inside that castle I could see now, there was something strong.
‘That thing is surely the boss of this floor.’
Honestly, I thought that guy would come out of the castle soon.
After all, if they attacked together, I would be at a disadvantage, and since the floor wasn’t separated but the same floor, it could easily come outside.
And yet, it kept staying in one place...
‘Either it’s an idiot, or there’s a reason for it. One of the two.’
While making that guess, I entered a building that looked to be in fairly decent condition, just like I had done in the cave, blocked the entrance and windows with furniture, and began replenishing the aura I had used.
I know it looks kind of pathetic.
But wouldn’t going into the castle like this just to look cool make me an even bigger idiot than that monster?
‘If it’s going to wait for me, then I should do as much as I can before going.’
In any case, I couldn’t fill my aura back to 100% like before.
The food I had been eating sparingly was already at its limit.
Stamina and aura.
If I lacked even one of those two, the fight would be disadvantageous.
In the end, I filled my aura only up to 60% before standing.
“Now... shall we go?”
I picked up my sword and went outside the building.
‘Let’s see what kind of bastard you are,’
to meet the one that would be waiting for me.