Chapter 82 - Jinma – 2 (1/2)
Jinma – 2
The situation I was in now was simple. Mireina had grabbed onto my sleeve while I had been opening the door back to the dungeon. I ignored it and stepped through. She didn’t let go of me and was instead dragged through into the dungeon with me. Of course, this was entirely new to me. I had assumed there was no way Mireina could go through with me, especially since she couldn’t even see the door when I opened it. Even if she had been able to go through it, I didn’t intend to bring her into the dungeon with me. Had this really always been possible, or had something changed that I wasn’t aware of?
‘Well, I suppose asking why isn’t helpful right now.’ It was clear that neither of us knew the cause of the current situation, and it was a waste of time to think about it. It would be more productive to consider what we would do from this point on.
“Wait, Caesia? What happened?”
“Wait one moment.” I activated my detection skill to the maximum, feeling a bit embarrassed as Mireina just continued to peer up at me. Usually, monsters didn’t appear near the boss room, but I hadn’t been here for quite some time between the tower, the garden, then finally, the Rookie’s Battlefield. I could sense three enemies nearby now.
“Stay right here. I’ll be back after clearing out the monsters.”
“Is this a battlefield too?!”
“More or less.” It just had a different name- dungeon.
“How did I…. you really are incredible, Caesia!” I moved forward, intending to leave Mireina alone for a bit while I took care of the monsters. She tried to chase after me briefly, stopping as if she could sense that danger awaited me ahead. I started with the cavity to my right, using Ubiquitous to close the distance to it. It felt like it had been a while since I was on this level of the dungeon; it took me a second to figure out where exactly I was.
The monster that awaited me within was the Bloody Arachne, patiently waiting for an unassuming prey to wander in. Its lower body was the shape of a giant red spider, its legs trimming the webs it used to attack, and the upper body of a woman rising up from the stomach. Its eyes were gently closed, and it reminded me of a warrior caring for their weapons. Amongst the higher-level monsters, this one was an upper-class monster that could assimilate its body into its surroundings, concealing itself and entrapping all that ventured too close. Its sensing and assimilating skills were at least at an advanced level, and its attack skills were even strongest. Because the 7th floor had been full of strong monsters like this, it had been hard for me to use my abilities here, although that had changed.
‘I have to be careful.’ The battle with the monsters in the Rookie’s Battlefield required little skill, but if I wasn’t on the top of my game here, my head would likely be separated from the rest of my body. I had to reach this enemy without being noticed and finish it off in a single blow. I hid in the shadows, crossing the gaps between them with Ubiquitous as I readied my sword with Demon’s Claw. I exploded forward with my attack as soon as I had drawn close enough.
“Kyak?!” Arachne, who hadn’t been able to detect me until my attack had already hit, opened their eyes at the moment my greatsword cleaved their head. A moment of surprise crossed through their eyes, inches away from my own, before my sword cleaved their upper body in half.
[You have gained 5,192,384 experience.]
[You have received 57 gold and 19 silver.]
[You have obtained the Red Blood Spider Web Key.]
“The what?” I stopped devouring the spider’s body and lifted up its head to confirm what I had thought. This Arachne had blood-red eyes like the others I had killed so far; however, this one had white lines like a spider web going through its irises.
‘The experience is almost double a normal one.’ I wondered if maybe this had been a rare species, not just a high-level one. It might’ve been truly dangerous if I hadn’t been able to kill it in one blow. I cleaned up the body and double-checked my surroundings, but it appeared to be a coincidence that this rare species appeared. It dropped a special item too: the key. Although I had no explanation as to what it was, it felt like the key exuded a unique aura. ‘Maybe one day I can figure out what it’s for.’ I decided to stow it away in my inventory and keep moving; I still had two monsters left.
It didn’t take me long at all, maybe a few minutes at most, to finish up with the remaining two monsters and return to Mireina. She seemed worried about me, wiping tears from her eyes and grabbing my hand as soon as I came back. Her hand was still wet with tears, irritating me a bit.
“That could’ve been dangerous! You weren’t just fighting out on the battlefield, but here as well?”
“You can’t become strong unless you’re willing to take risks. Anyway, the area around here is safe now to take a second before we go.”
“Where are we going?”
“Don’t complain, you’re the one who followed me. I’m going to consult with someone who’ll know what to do with you.” She let out a choked sob, scared to be left alone again. I decided to ignore her and open another door, this time, to the store. I didn’t know how she had been able to travel with me to the dungeon, but she definitely couldn’t enter the store. I had already tried it before with Lee Chan-yu. I removed her hand from me and stepped through into the store.
“You’re here, Fate?”
“Yeah.” As always, Rain was wiping the same glass with a dry towel at the counter. I could see his eyes dart past me, the room becoming a bit chilly as he did, and looked behind me.
“Caesia, you’re too cruel… you were going to leave me there…” Mireina, whom I had rejected and was obviously feeling scorned, squatted on the floor in the store.
“…An elf?” I heard Rain mutter quietly, a sense of fear filling the air as I tried to stop him.
“Get out quickly!” By the time I said the words, Mireina’s complexion had turned pale, and she collapsed onto the floor. She didn’t die, however. Rain had merely stolen her energy.
“No… it has elven blood but is a hybrid. I cannot overlook that fact.” Hybrid? The face of the Knight of Elakatra I met flashed through my mind. She had said we weren’t elves, Mireina included, and now Rain wasn’t killing her where she stood even though he loathed elves more than anything. Perhaps there was a difference between what I saw as an elf and what Rain did?
“This is… odd…” He finally seemed to realize that I was still there, the glass dropping out of his hand and hitting the ground. His complexion paled as he bowed to me.
“I apologize, Fate, I did something foolish. I should be more cautious; I apologize for the inconvenience. I momentarily lost my temper…”
“Well, it’s alright. Mireina just passed out.”
“I cannot atone enough for my actions…” I had no option but to laugh it off as I watched the flustered Rain. In truth, I was sort of happy to see this new side of him. Though if Mireina knew that, she’d be pretty upset with me.
“I can’t allow this to remain, allow me to fix this.” Rain snapped his fingers, a thin mat appearing below Mireina’s body to support her. I could see the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, confirming that she was just asleep. I kept quiet as I watched Rain retrieve the broken pieces of the glass he dropped, waiting until he was done to speak.