Guild Growth – 3
Erkindra’s intelligence certainly was commendable. If we had started on our own without my sister’s help, we would’ve been met with a lot of trouble conquering the dungeon before others could access it. With their help, however, things were proceeding surprisingly fast. The level of combat power could be a problem, but so far, it wasn’t too bad.
“Jia, get out of there!”
“Kh…!”
[Kiii!]
[You received 1 silver.]
Both my sister and Han Jia were close-ranged fighters. As I had seen in the last battle when defending Cain, my sister used two daggers. Han Jia, who was strangely fast for her level, mainly relied on her legs.
[Kugagagaga!]
Han Jia’s legs emitted a red light, cutting neatly through the body of a slime that appeared behind her. It was a bit sloppy in terms of technique, but it was fast enough and had a sharp blow. In the time since the Great Fusion, the process of struggling to survive had engraved itself on her legs.
“Good…”
“You sound like a pervert, Lee Chan-yu.” Lee Chan-yu couldn’t help his aching heart as he watched the two high school girls whirling about.
“The captain told me to keep an eye on them!”
“On their level and abilities, not her legs! You need to know their level.” However, we didn’t have much else to do. My sister quickly cleaned up the remaining monsters.
“They’re barely at level 120.”
“Monsters like these aren’t profitable enough to fight.” I nodded at Lee Chan-yu, and he called out some small monsters. They appeared from the shadows, running down the dungeon passage. My sister turned to me excitedly.
“How many are there?”
“You think I’ll tell you?”
“Cheh, this side is determined to hide all their secrets.”
“Ha.”
“You laughed?! You really laughed?!”
It was more efficient to hunt together, but I couldn’t help but think my sister had another reason for suggesting this. Perhaps it was anxiety, born from the difference in the balance of power between us. We had to maintain an equal relationship until the end, but if either side was more powerful, the alliance was liable to change. That was why she felt nervous and wanted to reaffirm the alliance to make it stronger, which meant that behind the childish behavior of the group, some adult-like reasoning had occurred.
“Captain, it looks like a double-layered dungeon.” Lee Chan-yu reported as my sister glared at me. I had been thinking quietly without paying any mind to her.
“Fate, what is that?”
“It means there’s another dungeon below this one.” It was a dungeon that didn’t consist of a single layer. Mireina just said as much, though I didn’t expect her to know much about dungeons. The face of my sister and Han Jia changed.
“So that monster was too weak because…”
“How will we do it, Si-yeon? I’ve never explored a double-layered dungeon before.” I expanded my senses, stretching my mana in all directions while the two conversed. It was only about five stories deep- a poor dungeon compared to the Black Palace.
“Among the dungeons that appeared with the dwarves, were all of them double-layered?”
“The examples I’ve heard of were only single-story dungeons.”
“How did you know?” Han Jia turned to ask Lee Chan-yu, who smiled.
“You just need to feel out the space beyond the boss room, right? If it’s just empty, then it’s fine. But if you can sense something there, it means there’s another dungeon.”
“Does that mean we’ve already reached the boss room…?”
“Yeah.”
“No way, it’s too strong to fight…”
“It’s not strong at all.” Lee Chan-yu casually dismissed Han Jia’s astonishment and turned toward me. I knew what he wanted to say, but I wanted him to speak it out loud for my sister and Han Jia.
“What should I do, captain? Open it?”
“Open it, wait…without the key?!” My sister cried out.
“That’s suicidal! There’s nothing more stupid than judging an entire dungeon based on the first floor alone!”
“Don’t worry about the difficulty level.”
“Don’t worry…?” She looked puzzled, but I told her we knew all the levels of the bosses in this dungeon already. She didn’t seem happier from my explanation.
“So we’ll clear the dungeon now?”
“Yes, our purpose here is to gain as much experience as possible.” As soon as the decision was made, I immediately moved us with Ubiquitous. We were in front of the boss’s room in only two minutes, much to my sister’s surprise.
“How did you get this ability?!”
“Han Jia didn’t tell you?”
“Jia, you…!”
“Hey!” While the guild master scolded an unreliable guild member, I laid my hand on the iron door of the boss room. Normally we would have to wait for the monster with the key, but now that we had agreed upon a quick clear, that wasn’t necessary. I hesitated for a moment in front of the door. Thoughts of the dungeon haunting and the issues above ground worried me, but before I could reach a conclusion to those thoughts, Mireina grabbed my arm.
“Fate, what is it? Are you okay?”
“…I was just blanking out. Everyone get ready.” I would know if I was right after beating the boss. I took a deep breath and kicked the door open. As soon as they swung open, the energy hanging in the huge room was transforming before us into something solid.
[Groaaah…]
I put Lee Chan-yu ahead of me as soon as I heard the roaring groan. He would fight it with the help of the other three.
“This guy will help you raise your level.”
“Captain, that smells dangerous…” While exploring the Black Palace, Lee Chan-yu had developed a remarkable ability to sense danger. He transformed his hand into a claw in preparation for the fight.
“It smells like Cain.”
[Groahhhh…]
“No, not quite. It stopped just before reaching the level of a parent entity.” There was only one monster here, and its size was so small that the large room felt like a waste. It had a blurry shape to it, like a camera out of focus. It was focused on us with eyes that burned like fire, but it felt odd. I had a hard time figuring it out, but it clearly had an abundance of power.
“You can win.”
“But it’s almost there?! It’s almost a parent entity! How can I beat one without Miss L’s buff?!”
“Don’t be stupid. There’s a huge difference between a parent and a child. Besides, this isn’t the Devil’s Night, he’s not buffed either. Oh, he’s coming now!”
[Groahhhhhh!]
The moment the monster bounced off the floor like a frog to rush us, Mireina fired an arrow. However, the arrow that was destined for the monster’s head passed right by him.
“Quick!” Lee Chan-yu rushed out with both arms raised, swinging his claws. An attack from a different direction than he had anticipated tore into his thigh. My sister and Han Jia ran in. Although they hadn’t planned it, the two attacked the monster from each side as Lee Chan-yu got hit. Red and blue mana violently exploded in the air, but their attack missed. I now understand the ability of the enemy. The way it avoided Mireina’s arrow and broke through Lee Chan-yu’s defense, on top of the movement it had while avoiding the two women’s attack. It was clear now.
[Hegogogogogo!]
“…This one disturbs your vision!” Lee Chan-yu recovered thanks to his superlative regeneration skill and let out a yell at the monster. His attack only cut through the air.
[Groaaaah!]
It was the wrong answer, but I remained silent. As long as I was here, their lives wouldn’t be in danger, so I would give them a chance to grasp the enemy’s ability on their own.
“It doesn’t appear to mess with your vision, uncle.” My sister responded in a cold voice as if to laugh at me. Cold air was rising from the daggers in her hands.
“Rather than affecting us with their abilities, it seems like they use their abilities to deflect our attacks.”
[Grooooahhhh!]
The monster bounced off the floor again and hit my sister, but this time Han Jia was waiting. The moment her stretched-out leg collided with the monster, my sister threw out a dagger as if she had been waiting for that exact moment.
[Groooahhh!]
“If I’m right…!” For the first time, my sister’s attack hit the monster. It appeared as if dozens of snowflakes bloomed along the trajectory of the dagger, concentrated on the blade that seemed to freeze the entire space. It was a short moment, but some of the parts that made up the monster’s body were revealed in the realm of ice.
“What is that?!”
“It’s a slime!”
“If you know, attack it quickly!” The body made of mucus vibrated, expanded, and contracted repeatedly. It could freely change the shape of its body to avoid the opponent’s attack.
“Suddenly, my motivation is falling…”
“What if we die?”
“Captain?!” I took a step back as I watched Lee Chan-yu throw himself forward to protect the other party members. Mireina, seeing my sister’s attack, was firing arrows imbued with cold mana.
“Go away!”
[Groaaahhh!]
Thanks to my sister’s quick identification of the enemy, the slime quickly died. Even if it grew to be almost on par with the higher system, it was still a slime. This was its limit.
“Damn, if you say you were hurt by a slime, Cain will make fun of you…”
“If it were Cain, he could’ve just killed it with a single kick. Not that he would fit in here.” I pointed at the treasure chest that appeared in the center of the dungeon. The fight was over, so the spoils were for the other four. Now that we had cleared this dungeon, we would move on to the next one quickly. Or so I thought, as a notification window appeared before me. It confirmed my suspicions exactly.
[You have defeated the owner of the dungeon and conquered it. The dungeon will be absorbed into your own area.]
I let out a sigh and cleared the window; my colleagues were surprised by the sudden flow of mana changing the dungeon around them.
“Let’s go before we get caught.”
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