15 Chapter 15: Reunion?
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Arthur Leywin:
The ground was littered with corpses from all the monsters I had killed.
I don't know how long I've been stuck here, but if I had to guess, I would say around a month. Of course, the constant fighting and not having the chance to sleep safely didn't help. Thankfully I found a floor with fruits I could eat so I wouldn't die of starvation...
I also found out I could create a safe place inside the walls as long as I didn't damage the dungeon too much. The problem was that the dungeon regenerated itself, so I couldn't sleep much, but a few hours were better than none.
Collecting all the Magic Stones, I began to head to the next floor. Thankfully the monsters start to be weaker the higher I go, so as long as I don't do anything stupid, I can defeat them with my magic and Mana Rotation.
I don't know if even a first-class adventurer could do what I'm doing here, but I'm the better mage...
That didn't sound as good as "I'm the better swordsman." but hey, it was the truth.
Who else can control four elements and their deviant forms in this world? No one! I think...
Looking at my hand, I saw the purple stone again. I seriously hope I get Regis. Otherwise, I'm going to be mad. This stupid rock absorbed most of the mana from the Magic Stones, leaving me with just the scraps.
Well, it isn't like it was a small amount. It was almost enough to break me to Mid Silver, but it also proves how gluttonous the stone is.
I guess being teleported here wasn't the worst thing that could happen. At least my core didn't break, and I can get stronger here, maybe even break into White Core.
This place also made me realize that my magic sense isn't the best. While I can sense people and monsters without a problem normally but if they hide their magic presence, I can't do it without the help of Realmheart.
So what better way to improve this than fighting the monster while blindfolded? Apparently, getting yourself almost killed helps to improve faster...
Well, they say no pain, no gain.
Am I slowly becoming a masochist? No, no, no, like I told Sylvie all the other times, this is just training.
"Right, Mr. Rock?"
I said while looking at the purple rock, but I didn't get any response. Well, what did I expect from a leaching rock? I need to get out of here before I start talking to my water pouch...
I entered the next floor and managed to sense hundreds of monsters, and I couldn't stop myself from smiling.
Even if this meant lots of fighting and the possibility of death, I still needed to find the next floor, and the mana-rich Magic Stones were just a bonus.
Yeah, that's it. I told myself while nodding my head. I'm not some battle maniac that wants to fight strong opponents.
Maybe I should fight Ottar when I lea... No, stop it, Arthur. You said you are not a battle maniac, so stop. But I would like to test my strength against a high leveled adventurer...
But how would I manage to do that? Just go to Folkvangr and say: "Yo Ottar, I came here to fight you!". Actually, that may work if I attacked the whole familia...
Anyway, that's for later. Now I have a horde of monsters to kill and Magic Stones to absorb.
I augmented my body and activated Thunderclap Impulse, and with that, I charged at the place I could sense the monsters.
Arriving at the monster horde's location, I went straight for the kill and killed a giant orc that could rival a veteran level 5 adventurer just by its presence alone.
Noticing a group lunging at me, I made an Illusion Clone and jumped away to kill another one.
The Illusion Clone was a new spell I developed during my stay here. I create a clone of myself as a distraction while I'm invisible and can hide or sneak attack from a different position.
This continued for hours, but thanks to Mana Rotation absorbing the surrounding mana, my core was half full after the fight.
I seriously wished for something like a Dimensional Ring because the amount of Magic Stones couldn't fit in my backpack, and I was forced to stay and absorb them after every big fight.
Using Earth Magic, I made a quick safe place where I stored all the Magic Stones, and after closing it, I started to absorb the mana.
After about two hundred stones, my core broke into Mid Silver, and I was happy about it, but about 90% of the mana went to the crystal, and I wondered if it could become Regis.
If I remember correctly, Regis was formed by combining the mana from Arthur, Sylvia, Sylvie, and Uto.
While the crystal absorbed my mana and Sylvie's, I can't feed it the mana from Sylvia or Uto. If this crystal is similar to the Acclorite Wren gave Arthur, but it could be an ordinary crystal that seared itself onto my palm.
Well, just waisting the Magic Stones aside, this crystal doesn't harm me, so I can keep it and see what happens.
With that, I picked another Magic Stone from the big pile and started absorbing it.
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Picking up the last stone, I started absorbing it while eating a weird-looking fruit that tasted like tomatoes. It wouldn't take long before I could go fight again... I mean, finding my way out of the dungeon...
Fine, I'm maybe a battle maniac... But who wouldn't be in a world with Swords and Magic?
As the last wisps of mana were absorbed from the stone, it started to crumble before turning to dust.
Opening my bunker, I saw some monsters spawned, so I killed them quickly before finding the way to the next floor.
Finding the stairs to the next floor didn't take much time, and as I walked up the stairs, I felt like running away from this floor.
It wasn't the feeling of fear I felt when facing an enemy stronger than me, but a feeling like something really bad awaited me on this floor.
Trying to sense the monsters on the floor, I could only detect one monster, and it was strong. It also gave me a different feeling from other monsters I met.
Pushing that feeling aside, I entered the floor to see what the monster was.
It didn't take long before I saw it, and now it made sense why it felt familiar. Not even 100 meters away from me stood the Juggernaut.
Hiding behind a rock, I started observing it.
Why did it appear here? I'm the only one here, and the dungeon hasn't been damaged much.
The Juggernaut was also much stronger than the one I fought all those years ago. Judging just by the mana it emits was stronger than any monster I fought down here.
Should I use Mirage Walk and sneak past it?
If not for all the Mana Stones I can get here, I could use Mirage Walk with Illusion Magic and Mana Rotation, and I could walk out of this place.
This Juggernaut could be a challenge to kill, but in the worst case, I'll just run away.
I started slowly walking towards the Juggernaut, still using Mirage Walk to hide my mana signature.
As I was ready to attack the monster, its head snapped at me with a speed that would break if it was human.
SHIT! How did it sense me?
Not the time to think about it. Preparing myself for the fight, I activated Thunderclap Impulse activated, but no attack came.
That was when it spoke in a feminine voice. "I finally found you, my love!"
My mind blanked for a moment...
The Juggernaut was speaking and called me love...
So it became a Xenos... And it called me love.... There was one thing to do now...
"Goodbye!" I said, and with a 180-degree turn, I started running.
Hell, I don't care if the Juggernaut turned into a Xenos, but I knew that when a Juggernaut calls you love, you should run.
"WHY ARE YOU RUNNING, MY LOVE!?" I heard her yell but didn't care.
I started to use every possible way to go faster and even used Illusions, but to my dismay, I somehow ran into a dead-end.
Turning back to look at the Juggernaut, I couldn't run so with straight in the face, I said.
"Miss, I think you got the wrong guy..."
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Authors Note:
Thank you for reading this chapter.
Arthur reunited with the Juggernaut, but what will happen next? Well, I don't know, but it should be fun... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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