Chapter 43 (1/2)

Underground City of the Ancient G.o.ds 2

Most of the undead monsters that surrounded the adventurers were Undead Citizens, then the Skeletons. They kept on cutting them down, but the Undead Citizens never let up. As long as the mana flowing through their bodies hadn't run out, they just kept on attacking. As such, pieces of flesh were scattered about.

「It stinks. Let's just stay away…」

「Hikaru.」Lavia said, frowning.

She probably wanted to say that someone might die while he was joking around. One adventurer was on the ground, injured, while another one had run out of mana. The other three formed a triangle to protect their two friends.

「…I know. I won't be able to sleep at night if these guys died. Get ready to use fire magic anytime, Lavia.」

「Okay.」

Hikaru let go of Lavia's hands and approached the undead from behind on his own.

「Buh…」

「Ah…」

「Guahh…」

「Guh…」

「Agh…」

He took down five of them in the blink of an eye.

「Wh-What happened? They just dropped dead!」

The adventurers had not the slightest idea what was going on. Hikaru had his Stealth on, after all.

「Why, if it isn't the grown-ups.」Hikaru said as he disabled his Stealth.

「The h.e.l.l?! It's the kid from earlier!」

「He's stealing from us while we're drawing the Undead Citizens' attention!」

Hikaru wanted to heave a sigh. He was clearly helping them out, yet they saw it as him ”stealing” from them.

「Fine. You can have these rotting corpses. You grown-ups can handle the rest.」

「Hey, wait!」

「Why should I?」

「I said wait! Ugh!」

An Undead Citizen charged at one of them, causing him to lose his ground. Undead Citizens were coming straight at Hikaru as well, but…

「Lavia!」

Hikaru quickly backed away, and Lavia let her Fire Breath loose on two of the monsters, roasting them up.

「W-Wow… What the h.e.l.l is that fire magic?!」

「Please help us!」

「You a.s.ses! Don't you have any pride?! You're asking help from kids!」

「I don't care as long as they help us!」

「Is this conversation gonna take long? We're in a hurry.」Hikaru cut in.

「Tch!」

「Help us! Please!」their leader shouted.

「There you have it. Lavia.」

「All right.」

Lavia shot Fire Breath in quick succession. More than half of the Undead Citizens and Skeletons were reduced to ashes in no time at all. The adventurers took care of the remaining two. The strange aroma of burning flesh and intense heat filled the air.

「Haaa…」

Completely exhausted, the last three adventurers slumped down on the ground. Hikaru checked their Soul Boards in the meantime, but there was nothing that stood out in particular.

Sword 2, Long Sword 2, Bow 2 - that was it.

Disappointing, Hikaru thought as he grabbed Lavia and started walking away. Naturally they had to pa.s.s by the adventurers.

「Hey… wait!」

「What was it again? ”They're just going to die right away. That'll only increase the number of undead in there”?」

Those were the words the adventurer said to Hikaru back at the entrance. The man froze.

「You should get the h.e.l.l away from here once you catch your breath. The undead around here are all dead, but we made so much noise such that some might come from afar.」

「Eek!」

The wounded adventurer who begged for Hikaru's help without hesitation got up, his arm wrapped in a towel, not even bothering to heal it first. The others quickly followed and ran towards the entrance. Their leader was the only one left.

「The exit is over there. What, you don't even know which way to go anymore?」Hikaru said.

「What are you gonna do?! What was that spell just now anyway?!」

「Fire Breath.」Lavia answered.

「…What?」

「It's a basic fire magic.」

Hikaru and Lavia left the dumbfounded man and proceeded onward. After walking for about thirty meters, the adventurer couldn't make them out in the darkness. Hikaru grabbed Lavia's hand and activated his Group Obfuscation.

Hikaru stopped killing undead monsters. It was awfully inefficient in gaining exp for his soul rank, and they only wore out his weapons.

「If this were a game, my weapons would have unlimited use… No, wait. Some weapons have durability limits, I guess.」

「Hmm? Game?」

「Just thinking out loud. Anyway, my dagger's chipped already.」

Skeletons were tough. He had to crush their bones to cut through to its mana, causing his weapon to wear out in no time. He tried throwing pebbles, but the sound of them zipping through the air caught the attention of other monsters.

He thought maybe they could actually hear. But there was another explanation. Vibration. They might be able to sense vibration in the air.

Throwing stones up close was enough to destroy a Skeleton's skull, but he found picking up stones just to conserve his dagger too bothersome so he stopped.

「We've made it quite far. Let's take a break.」

Four hours had pa.s.sed since they entered the dungeon. Hikaru took out his pocket watch.

There were clocks in this world — although rare — made by incorporating spirit magic gems from all four elements. Since they used magic, there was no deviation. It was an unknown technology for Hikaru. He just borrowed it from the guild, but he had to pay a huge deposit for it.