Chapter 86.
“The human kingdom.” Part 7.
The entrance to the dungeon was not as she had imagined it.
The stone archway surrounding the cave entrance looked like any other cave she had seen on the internet. But the interior was a different story.
The initial darkness which they were only able to pass through thanks to the two orbs of light that Milo and one of the two mages accompanying him brought with them, gave way to a light show as several elongated shaped crystals in a light shade of brilliant blue illuminated the interior of the cave.
Allowing them to clearly see the rocks, fungi, and mosses within.
“Inspection!" whispered Kalysto, peering at one of the glowing stones.
[Mana crystal. Class: rare. A mineral that has absorbed the surrounding mana for years. Used by mages and some professions to perform experiments. Can be absorbed by the user.]
Wait! Can I absorb this? She got excited. Then she bent down and began to pick some up while pretending to stuff it into the pants pocket of the training clothes all the heroes had been given before breakfast. It was timely that she had been given new clothes and two pairs of boots as her tennis shoes were soaked through after her failed attempt in the early morning to freeze the ground under her feet while she had them on. And although she preferred to wear wide, long t-shirts that hid her figure, to her complete annoyance, the clothes she had been given were a bit tight.
After taking off her shirt in an attempt to hide her pockets, and her butt, as she always used to do, she touched one of the crystals and a violet window appeared before her.
[Does the user wish to absorb this mana crystal?]
[YES/NO]
She selected ‘no’ and immediately changed the setting to battle mode, just as Galatea had taught her.
I’d better not change the setting again for now. Or it will be too obvious if I’m closing windows all the time. She thought as she absentmindedly put away another crystal in the inventory.
Milo’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Unlike warriors, it’s much harder and slower for a mage to level up,” his voice echoed in the cave as the young mages exploded inside. Kalysto was the one who had moved the farthest away from them in order to collect some stones in peace and quiet. “So we will be coming here over the next few days so that you will have a chance to level up without the interruption of the rest.”
Eric, Sandra, Madha, Rita and Kalysto approached the court magician. While Rita arranged her clothes, trying to look pretty in front of Milo. But with the black boots, brown pants and simple beige shirt they were all given as a uniform, there was no way her flat figure could stand out. Instead, Kalysto’s developed body made it easily, which made Madha’s and the silent Eric’s gazes travel to her from time to time.
“This dungeon is small compared to others, but it is divided into four parts, the first being filled with slimes and the second with horned rabbits. We will focus on these two areas for the time being” from a ring with storage capacity he was wearing. He took out three bats and a sword and handed them to them. “Since Miss Luna owns a bow, I imagine she will be fine like this” Kalysto nodded as she casually ran her fingers against one of the arrows in the quiver she had been given, replicating it without the others noticing. “Then move forward. We have four days to use this dungeon before the soldiers come to close it.”
At the mention of slimes, Kalysto got excited and took the lead, only to be met with a huge portal up ahead.
“So, this is a dungeon?” whispered Eric with his black hair and blue eyes, who suddenly appeared beside her soundlessly and with a sword in his hand. Kalysto arched an eyebrow.
“Is it like in those video games?” Madha added, her black braided hair and gray eyes attentive to the smooth movements of the portal’s mana.
Inspection! Kalysto thought as she watched them.
[Name: Madha Stir
Race: Human
Level: 1
Class: Mage (Heroic)
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100]
[Name: Eric Black
Race: Human
Level: 1
Class: Mage (Heroic)
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100]
“Don’t be confident and don’t let your guard down in there, the slimes may be weak creatures but they are fast and can easily choke you, hit the small stones inside them as fast as you can” she informed them, wishing someone had explained that to her before.
“Thank you” they both said.
“And if you can give me their cores, those stones I told you about before, I’ll consider it a good payment for my advice” Eric nodded, but Madha frowned.
“I agree with that, but what do you need them for?” Madha asked curiously.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Kalysto shrugged her shoulders.
“I like collecting things," she answered noncommittally, but for some reason that made Eric blush and look away.
As soon as they entered the portal, Kalysto smiled at the sight of over fifty slimes playing and jumping in the wide meadow that opened up before her eyes. She nestled the bow in her hand and shot the first arrow. Then she turned to Eric and, unable to believe she missed Koden’s competitiveness, with a smile she said to them.
“Whoever catches the fewest slimes will give the winner his dinner.”
“What?" replied the surprised young man.
“I’m in!” Rita got excited, who entered after them and, with her club in hand, tried to crush the first slime.
“Me too!” added Madha, imitating Rita. Eric looked at them in surprise before awkwardly trying to imitate them.
By the time Milo and the rest came in, Kalysto had already killed more than half of the slimes and was busy picking up their cores while the rest had killed the others and now the three young lads were struggling to kill the last one, which was hopping around like a rabbit full of energy.
“What the hell?” Sandra growled, who had stayed behind asking questions while trying to get Milo’s attention, but only got the attention of the mage holding the orb of light.
“Ha! I beat him!” Rita got excited. “Oh! And now I’m level three! Yes!”
“No way! I want to be level three too!
“You’ve already moved up a level!“ Sandra complained.
“I see you’ll be able to advance much faster than I thought," congratulated Milo, noticing the pile of arrows next to the remains of the slimes. Many more arrows than should fit in a simple quiver. “We’d better move on if we want to get to the next level before nightfall.”
Four hours later, Kalysto was bored.
Were it not for the wager, and the large collection of slime cores she now possessed, which she was dying to absorb as soon as she reached her room, and which she was taking advantage of to expand her senses and learn how to sense monsters and mana placement, she wouldn’t even make the effort to keep up appearances.
[The skill Mana Sense skill has leveled up to level 6!]
[The skill Mana Sense has leveled up to level 7!]
Kalysto bent down to pick up another small mana crystal and store it in her inventory as Milo approached her while the others continued to fight more slimes.
“So not only did you kill enough monsters as soon as you arrived in this world and managed to have a much higher level than your peers, but even though your system is broken, it allows you to multiply arrows and save inert items? How many cores have you collected so far? Seventy?” Milo whispered to her with a sly smile on his lips, while Kalysto froze for a moment before frowning.
A sidelong glance at her inventory window told her that she had collected six hundred and twelve. But instead of answering him, she shrugged.
She didn’t see a valid reason to hide it.
In fact, this will make things easier in the future, when I have to explain where I get so many arrows from. She thought.
“In fact, it’s only two boxes. In one I can store the stones and in the other only arrows.” This time it was Milo’s turn to frown.
“I never heard of a system whose inventory had such restrictions.”
“It’s like you said. It’s broken," she replied with a shrug.
“Have you tried entering other materials before?” Kalysto nodded, “Did you happen to practice archery before you came to this world?” he asked curiously.
And Kalysto, seeing that he was drawing the attention of the other heroes, if Sandra’s frown was any indication, folded her arms and took a step away from him.
“And why should I answer the questions of one of my kidnappers just because he’s being nice to me?” Milo was surprised at her words and noticing the change in her attitude, he stepped back.
“My apologies Miss Luna. I didn’t stop to think that although for us summoning heroes from another world is an ancient custom, from your point of view, such a thing might not be well seen.”
“What would you think, if one day a group of strangers took you to another world and forced you to fight in a war you don’t care about just because they are too cowardly to take care of their own affairs and don’t want to get their hands dirty?”
“Miss Luna, there’s no need to be rude! We’re just...!” But Kalysto didn’t let him finish.
“By any chance, do you at least know the spell that would take us back to our world? Or are you not capable of doing such a thing either? Tell me,” she said loudly, drawing the attention of the other heroes immediately. Milo noticed this and became nervous at the intense gaze of the woman in front of him. He almost felt something inside him compelling him to answer her.
“There’s no need to get ahead of ourselves." he cleared his throat uncomfortably as he saw the other heroes frowning and looked for a way to avoid answering. “There is still plenty of time for us to find...” but again he was interrupted, only this time it wasn’t by Kalysto.
“Does that mean that the king lied to us and you really don’t know how to get us home?” asked Madha.
“My dad was right, we shouldn’t trust these people!”Rita muttered, crossing her arms.
And before the Milo could answer and get back in charge of the situation, two guards came running in and approached them.
“Marquis de Riva! Sir! The king is looking for you urgently! Another city has been invaded by monsters, and the mages in the tower have disappeared!”
“Have they already dispatched a squadron to help the survivors? What about the healers from the temple?” Milo’s attitude changed immediately when he heard that.
“No... I don’t know, sir. I’m just the messenger. I came as fast as I could," replied the young man, his face bathed in sweat as he tried to catch his breath.
“You two protect the heroes and only advance as far as the rabbit chamber, then return immediately to the castle! Sorgen and Hernan, come with me! We must return immediately to the palace!” He said, knowing that to keep up appearances, he would need the help of the other two wizards to cast the spell that would take them back. “The rest of you had better behave yourselves! I’ll be back as soon as I finish solving this problem! And don’t even think about escaping, or I’ll find you myself right away!”
But two hours later, neither Milo nor the other mages had returned.
And while the others struggled to kill the horned rabbits and move up a level, Kalysto helped them from time to time by shooting an arrow at the rabbits’ backs, so that Eric and the other two girls could finish killing them and move up a level.
“That’s not fair! Why are you only helping them?” Sandra complained.
“Because I don’t like you,” answered Kalysto in a neutral tone and without changing her bored expression, despite the annoying voice of the pretty young girl. Meanwhile, from time to time, while no one was looking at her, the former waitress kept the body of a rabbit and kept collecting more mana crystals to put them into her inventory.
I’ll save some bodies and give them to Tsuki as a gift. She thought. But just when she saw that Sandra, who was barely seventeen, was about to throw a tantrum, the ground beneath them shook.
“It’s an earthquake! Run!” shouted one of the two guards, who had come to inform Milo.
Watching the way the ground began to break in several directions, opening up the earth and swallowing one of the guards, Kalysto extended her mana to probe the ground.
“It’s not a tremor! They’re monsters!” Kalysto warned them and at that instant, three gigantic worms sprang from the earth. Two of them blocked the path leading to the exit while the third blocked the other side of the corridor of the cave they were in. With their huge jaws the size of their face wide open, revealing two sets of sharp teeth the size of a grown man’s forearm.
Finally, some action! Kalysto was thrilled.