In the S-rank Dungeon.
Rhadia walked toward a cliff point, followed by Irene and Chad. "Since you were exiled, the elders have become like mad dogs." Voice low.
They reached the cliff point and jumped down.
The torches were perched on the sides of the valley-like chamber—illuminating low light.
"How have you been doing all this time?" Rhadia asked, her claws digging deep into her palms.
"..." Irene looked away.
Rhadia's blood solidified into two chairs.
Irene sighed. She sat on a blood chair. Rhadia sat on the other.
It's no surprise. Rhadia's eyes dimmed.
"My exile is a lesson to me," Irene said, voice low. "These corrupt elders gave it to me nearly two hundred years ago."
"Well, you are Irene, daughter of the mother progenitor," Rhadia breathed, her head facing the bronze floor.
Uh? What's with her?
"Rhadia, what's wrong?" Irene's voice rising.
"As you know, below the elders are the nobles." Rhadia raised her head, her gaze fixated on Irene.
"Shortly after your exile, I had to succeed my father, who died in the battle against the werewolves." Voice low. "My brother, who was the heir, was also killed in that battle, so I had no choice but to become the next first-rate duke."
"I never wanted to be a first-rate duke—if anything, I hated that position," she said, her gaze on the bronze ceiling. "The pressure from being a second-rate noble is suffocating enough, let alone first-rate."
Her gaze fixated on Irene. "Irene, I am an inexperienced noble." Voice breaking, eyes watering.
Irene stood up and strode toward her, her hands rubbing and patting Rhadia's head.
"Don't say that. You are doing okay. If you think you're inexperienced, you'll become so," Irene said, voice warm.
"Okay." Rhadia's voice breaking. She held Irene's waist tightly. Tears flowing profusely.
Moments later.
Irene released herself from Rhadia.
"You're crying over being a first-rate duke. Let me tell you this: as a first-rate duke, you are the head of all first-rate nobles, and you are in an even superior position than the second-rate and third-rate dukes." Irene's voice stern. "Both groups have their respective nobles under them. They all look up to you, and you look up to those elders..."
"...who should look up to Mother." Irene's voice low.
"But the Elders—" Rhadia said, her voice rising.
"No buts! Yes, I know the elders are corrupted to their very core!" Irene snarled.
"That's all the more reason why you need to be an elder for the other nobles." Voice low.
"Uh?" Rhadia's eyes blank.
Irene has always been hot-tempered, so how will I ask her this? Rhadia's gaze fixated on Irene. "How do I become an elder?"
Irene pressed her forehead, sighing. I forgot she was dumb at politics.
"I think it's time for me to leave." Irene turned around.
"Oh yes... Avanti is on her way here."
"What? Why?" Irene turned to Rhadia.
"She's angry that Carde is dead."
"Which Carde?"
"The fifth one."
It's been five days since this dungeon appeared, given that the dungeon break has already happened. Irene's eyes fixated on Rhadia.
"When did she leave?" Irene asked.
"A few days before I appeared in this hole."
That's about eight to nine days ago.
"I have to go. Are you coming?" Irene turned around.
"Yes, your Highness." Rhadia got up. She and Chad stepped behind Irene.
Daemon's bedroom.
9 p.m.
Tomorrow night is the time of our little get-together. Daemon lay on his bed.
In the pocket dimension.
In front of a campfire.
Derrick sat on a log of wood, setting fire to a stick.
Chaos sat on the other log, opposite Derrick.
"Those beings you saw previously are ancient entities," Chaos said, her voice a whisper.
Derrick's gaze shifted from the burning stick and locked onto hers.
"Those figures, as you saw, are divided into two races." She picked up a stick and lit it with her gaze.
"The shining and dazzling figures are spectral humans. The shadow figures are shadow humans. Both the spectral humans and shadow humans are of the same race. The shadow humans are the rarest among them, followed by the dazzling figures." Chaos looked up at the night sky.
"Are they different?" Voice flat.
Chaos' gaze fixated on Derrick. "The shadow humans are very different from the spectral humans. As you've seen from their physical appearance."
"You didn't ask about the matte figures." Face refreshed with a smile.
Derrick looked at her in silence.
"The matte figures are another race, known as the dark humans." Chaos' voice low. "Alexis and I are dark humans."
"Why are both of you different?"
Chaos sighed. "I am the incarnation of the Primordial Being Chaos. Alexis once looked like those matte figures, but when she became contracted with Axiom, she became different."
"In your first life, you were incarnated as a shadow human by the Primordial Being Void. Since you were also an incarnation, you were different." She smiled at him, her eyes wet.
You were superior to the others, but yet... Chaos breathed, her gaze shifting to the campfire.
Void. Derrick watched his stick burn off.
In the tower.
Twenty minutes earlier.
How do I go back to the goblin village? Myra sat on a tall grass, looking around her.
I am finally lost. Myra picked up a strand of tall grass.
I don't even know where he went. Let's check the magic script.
[Personal Profile Window]
[Name: Myra Vyne Yavanne]
[Gender: Female]
[Age: 6892]
[Race: High elf]
[Level: 2]
[Essence: Legendary]
[Innate Personal Abilities: Vitality (Locked)]
[Innate Bloodline Abilities: Vyne Body, Vyne healing, Vyne Forestry]
[Unique Abilities: (Locked)]
[Abilities: Fighting, Nurturing]
[STATS]
[Strength: 70]
[Agility: 25]
[Intellect: 10]
[Willpower: 30]
[Constitution: 120]
[Vitality: 200]
[Dexterity: 8]
[Sense: 75]
[Luck: 20]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 10]
Uh? I just thought about calling the magic script. Myra looked at the system interface, eyes wide.
He seemed to know what this magic script is and how to use it, so I will wait for him. She looked at the disappearing interface.
What! I thought about telling it to go and it went. She stood up. Let's keep moving forward.
After a while.
Myra stood before the 70-meter brass tower. That's a tower, a tower in a tower. Face lit up.
She entered the tower through the door.
Wow, it's so dark. Really dark. Myra stumbled in the darkness.
BOOM.
What's making these vibrations? Uh?
Suddenly, a blinding light.
She instinctively closed her eyes. She walked into the blue chamber. She opened her eyes.
She saw the huge debris collapse on Holik in a far corner.
[Objective in progress]
[Defeat Shekiel—The Grand Warden]
"No!" Myra cried out.
"What have you done!" Voice high.
She strode toward Shekiel.
Shekiel turned, spotted Myra. A grin ran across his face. "Who are you?"
"What have you done!" Tears dropping. She continued striding, relentless.
"Are you perhaps his companion?" Shekiel asked.
"Your companion is a trespasser."
Unrelentingly walking toward me. Just how much do you love your companion? Hmm, that gait, that clenched fist. A veteran.
Another trespasser. Shekiel dashed toward her. He threw a punch.
She caught the punch reflexively and threw him to the wall at her right hand.
So strong. Shekiel got to his feet.
Uh? Myra stood in front of him.
Myra threw a flurry of punches, finishing with an uppercut that launched him several meters into the air. She vaulted above him and landed on him, the impact crushing the ground beneath.
Her gaze fixated on him, but flattened.
What creature is this? Shekiel coughed, black blood spewing.
She raised him by the neck with one hand, and threw him up toward his throne-like chair.
Dust filled the air.
Beneath the rubble, Holik stirred. I've been unconscious. He must have thought I'd died. It must be thanks to my vitality that I'm awake. He crawled out of the rubble.
Holik coughed, bruises all over him.
Holik looked up and saw Shekiel sitting in his chair. His gaze dropped, and he saw Myra standing, her gaze fixated on Shekiel. She's facing him alone.
Shekiel dozed for a second. He unsheathed his sword.
He jumped down and dashed at Myra.
He slashed. She caught it bare-handed, both palms bleeding.
She kicked Shekiel in the jaw, launching him into the air.
Holik saw him mid-air. He flipped his dagger toward the floor where Shekiel's shadow fell. The dagger stood upright.
Shekiel landed on the upright dagger, his heart pierced from the back.
I was stabbed? How? He looked at Myra.
He turned his head and saw Holik. So it was him. I forgot he is quite resilient.
What a couple. Eyes closing.
Holik sat down on the floor. The dagger standing upright. That was pure luck. So that's how it works.
Myra looked toward the rubble. She saw Holik sitting atop it.
Her face brightened. She ran toward him.
[Objective Completed]
The door of the chamber became a portal.
She assisted him up.
I need to get to the crack over there. Holik removed his hands from her shoulder and limped toward the wall opposite Shekiel's body.
Holik reached the wall. He knelt down and punched the crack—once, twice, thrice.
That segment of the wall broke and revealed a chest.
Luckily, I saw this chest during the time that monster was slamming me.
He opened the chest—a pair of daggers.
[Weapon Profile]
[Name: (Assign)]
[Class: Dagger]
[Weapon essence: Ineffable]
[Type: Soul-bound]
[Level: Null]
[Skill: (Locked)]
[Ego: Present (Unawakened)]
[Status Effect: Unawakened]
He grabbed them. Where would I keep—eh?
The daggers dissolved, disappeared.
Holik blinked twice.
Well, I will find out later. Time to exit this tower.
Daemon's mansion.
7 p.m. Time to head out. Daemon dressed in his white, short-sleeved shirt, black trousers, and black palm slippers.
In a bar.
Daemon stepped in. "Daemon, over here," Rex called.
Daemon turned and strode toward them.
"It's been a while, Daemon," a young lady wearing a blue sleeveless dress said.
"Same, Aria," Daemon answered.
They talked for a while.
"I saw a floating interface in front of me yesterday," Aria said, her voice low.
"Uh?" Rex's eyes widened.