Chapter 15: The Kazaric Ravine

“Oh my god! Where did you get that!?” Thoth’s voice yelled at me as she saw the device I was carrying in my hand. Currently we were meeting up at the slums district, at the parking lot where I tested out my [Cloak of Immolation]. Four days after going to the castle, I asked my mom to call Thoth’s home for me, and told her;

“Slums, parking lot, Saturday.” I hung up immediately after.

Here we are meeting up in the morning. We were going to go to a different dungeon today, because Thoth’s stats went up and thinks we can finally take on a [B-Ranked] dungeon together. By the way, this was her level after a month and a half since I last checked:

NameThoth FarliteAge8 Years OldGenderFemaleTitlesNoneClassesNoneLevel29Health2,455Mana2205Strength83Agility97Intelligence75

I think that’s pretty damn impressive, 15 levels in a month. She might reach level 100 faster than I did in my previous life.

Anyway, now that we’re here, she sees the weapon I have in hand, and is completely amazed just by seeing it. Well, it did have a cool appearance, and it was a weapon that didn’t exist in our previous lives, so of course we’d be amazed by a projectile weapon that is much more efficient than the bow and arrow. By the way, the gun I have in hand is known as the [HNTR], a weapon of the strongest pistol category, [Magnum].

According to my mother, this thing was the hardest to use among magnums because its recoil was greatest out of all the pistols, and the mana cost for each bullet was too high. Its power and accuracy is guaranteed though, a weapon worthy of being a [Rare-Class] item. Based on the description, I thought it was a weapon that fits me, due to having high strength to handle the recoil, and high mana to fire the bullets. It was 250 mana per shot, the fifth highest in the [Small Guns] category. The biggest perk to this gun is that it doesn’t use actual, metal bullets, but creates the bullets by condensing the mana and giving it a physical substance, creating a ‘magic bullet.’ This means, as long as I had the mana to fire it, I didn’t have to reload the gun.

“I want one! I want one! Hey, where did you steal that? I’m going to get one too!” How rude, I didn’t steal it. I’m just borrowing it you know? Indefinitely, that is.

“…castle.” I point towards its direction as I say it, and her face becomes crestfallen.

Obviously, the armor and weapon she had before were all stolen from her school, which was easy for her because she was a student, and a former [Demon Lord] with all her skills. But when it came to something like the castle, which is sure to have heavy security, there was no way to steal it.

I was able to do it because I entered with my mom, and while we were at the firing range, I was able to grab the gun out of the holster of the woman who reported to my mother. Of course, neither of them noticed, and I used a high class invisibility magic on it so I can carry it around. There was a barrier surrounding the castle that would set off an alarm if something was removed without permission, but I was able to force my way through without tripping the alarm. Thoth neither had the access nor the ability to steal from that stronghold, so she wasn’t able to obtain access to those.

“…school?” I would assume the top school competing with mine would also have a class for [Magic Guns], so they would need to have their own.

“Yeah, I can’t do that. Their armory for that is in their firing range, a place I don’t have access to and can’t sneak into.” So stealing their armor and weapons is easy enough? Something’s wrong here.

By the way, this time, Thoth was wearing some sort of light armor I’ve never seen before. Apparently, she says that it’s the modern world version of body armor, and it was much more durable than the chainmail armor worn in our previous lives. Her weapon was a spear, the one she was most proficient at.

After our short exchange, we left the slums and went into the outskirts of the city. In the opposite direction of the [Forest of Fire], was the [B-Ranked Dungeon], [Kazaric Ravine]. As the name implied, it was a large ravine, but you can traverse down and within the ravines using naturally made bridges of stone and ice. It’s a mystery about how these bridges were created, but it takes a great amount of force to break them. There were several floors created inside the ravine itself, in the form of ice caves. It was also possible to go straight to the final floor by just jumping down the ravine, but of course that isn’t recommended.

“By the way, what’s with that cloak?” Thoth asks me on the way there.

“…surprise.” I replied. I got a glare for this, but she didn’t pry any further.

I was wearing the [Cloak of Immolation] already, excited to test it in combat. The monsters of this dungeon should be ice-related, if I remember correctly, so having an aura of fire will be useful. When the dungeon came in sight, the both of us stopped immediately. Thoth wanted us to actually use the entrance this time so that we can, ‘explore the dungeon properly and thoroughly.’

There were Guild Members standing by at the entrance, which was a giant stairway down into the first floor of the ravine. For some reason, there was also a huge group of adventurers, most likely an expedition into the dungeon. Though, these people were all very powerful, even one of them alone could explore without trouble, so why was so many needed? I didn’t really care though, for now, I just needed to get through the entrance.

In order to get by them, I used the same high class invisibility magic to smuggle the gun out, on myself. Thoth, on the other hand, can apparently use spatial magic to some extent. She has a skill called [Spectral Dagger], which creates a [Spectral Shadow] if embeds itself into a non-living target. Upon creating two of these shadows, she can enter the shadows and use it like a portal. There can only be two of them at one point, and if she tries to create any more, it removes the older shadow.

It sounds like a cool skill, right? Anyway, I’m supposed to hold this dagger, and sneak by the large group of people. After finding a safe place for her to access through, I’ll stab it into the wall and stick my hand through it to show that I’ve set up the shadow.

I walk by the crowd easily, entering through the entrance and walking down the stairs. Upon entering the first floor, the air became quite chilly, but it felt like being in my [White Zone] in the [Forest of Fire], so I didn’t mind it much. The dungeon itself was very cave-like, and there were several tunnels carved throughout the floor. I roam throughout the floor for a whole minute, and after confirming that there were no monsters in the vicinity, I pull out [Spectral Dagger], and dispel my invisibility

Suddenly, the floor began shaking, and I threw the dagger up by accident, being startled by the spontaneous event. A shadow with a radius of nearly 3 meters appears on the ceiling, created by the [Spectral Dagger]. Damn, I screwed up. Hm, how should I explain this to Thoth? Well, for now, I guess I need to let her know the portal’s set up.

I punch into a wall of ice nearby, and grab a small rock of ice from it. I throw it at the shadow, and sure enough, it goes right through it. I came back through the portal right after, much faster than when I threw it in. I might have hit her by accident upon throwing it into the portal randomly. Soon enough, Thoth tried to walk through the portal and ended up falling from the ceiling, hitting the ground face first.

“…Aria, why is the shadow on the ceiling instead of a wall, like I told you?” She stands up, and looks at me with a smile on her face. There was no happy feelings in that smile though. I couldn’t tell her that I slipped up because the floor shook, that’s one hell of a back excuse, so instead, I raise my hand to my temple, tilt my head and say;

“…teehee?”

A few seconds later, she’s hanging me by the leg off the edge of the floor, threatening to drop me down the ravine.

––––––

After pulling me back up, she sighs to herself and decides to just forget about it and start exploring the dungeon. We began navigating through the cave-like dungeon and soon enough, we enter a large, empty part of the cave. At the other side, there were several tunnels we could take.

“Okay, for now, we need to determine which tunnel is safe to take and which isn’t, so I’ll leave a [Spectral Dagger] here and–“ She tries to explain a method that seems safe, but that didn’t seem very fun, so I interrupted her.

“Too long.” I say straight up to Thoth, and randomly walk through one of the tunnels. I want to see what lady luck has in store for me, so let’s take our chances, shall we?

“Wait, wait, wait, you can’t just do that! Aria! Get back here, we can’t risk something like this!” 

What a worry wart she was. With that attitude, I’d think that she’d be on board with something like this, but I guess she still prioritizes our safety before anything else. I continue on anyway, and I hear her say, “Oh geez, fine! Wait up for me!”

She catches up to me in the tunnel, and head through together. The tunnel branches off to even more of paths, and I randomly pick one again. Soon enough, I find myself in a small, rectangular area that seemed man-made rather than natural. It was completely empty though, which was strange. Thoth enters right behind me, and looks around in the small room.

"This room is way too suspicious. Let's just leave before–" Thoth's words are cut off again.

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Suddenly, the entire floor shakes, just like earlier, and the walls around us begin shifting and cracks began to run through them. A bright light surrounds us, and I can feel mana gathering in the area around us. The shaking becomes incredibly intense, but then it comes to a sudden stop. The bright light eventually fades, and we’re in a completely different area from the room we were just in.

We were still in a cave, but it was a massive clearing with ice pillars randomly placed around, and sharp icicles sticking from the roof. Small crystals embedded on the cave walls, allowing us to see the area around us. The temperature of the place was colder, so I assume that Thoth and I were sent to a deeper part of the ravine randomly.

“I think we just entered a teleportation trap that sent us to a different part of the ravine.” Thoth echoes my thoughts out loud, and right after saying that monstrous growls surrounded us.

“Aria, this is all your fault, I’m definitely going to get you back for this when we get out of here!” She shouts at me, and takes a stance with her spear. 

“…sorry.” I whisper, but this was hardly the time for that.

We try to pinpoint the location of the growls, but they were echoing throughout the cave, making it impossible to do so. For some reason though, we could see shadows behind the walls of ice . Based on the amount of shadows, we were surrounded by an extremely large group of monsters.

“…eighteen…minimum…” I say to Thoth.

“Then we’ll make it a contest to see who slays the most.” She replies with a smile on her face. Looks like she's finally acting as her personality should be; aggressive and excited for combat.

I raise the magnum I had with both hands, and held it the same way I saw the soldiers do it at the firing range. There were the iron sights created on the top of the gun that was used to aim where the bullet is fired. Raising it to eye level, I aim it at the closest shadow, and put my finger on the trigger. The shadow becomes bigger, and soon enough, the figure behind the wall smashes straight through the ice, giving me a clear view of what it was.

A large, blue, humanoid being with several eyes on its head. The arms of the monster are extremely oversized, much bigger than the body itself, but it didn’t have any legs, so it used those instead for walking. It opens its mouth, and roars at me, and begins rushing towards me using its oversized arms.

I aim the iron sights right at the head of the monster, and input mana into the device. After a second of giving it mana, I pull the trigger. Only a quiet, click was heard before a small projectile is fired from the gun at a speed faster than I can see it. No sound was made from the actual shot itself. The recoil from the shot forced my body to slide back, but I was still able to hold the gun properly. The bullet doesn’t hit the head like I intended, but it does penetrate the chest of the monster, which falls instantly and dies on the spot. The momentum of its charge and the slippery ice floor kept it sliding towards me though, so I had to jump to the side in order to dodge it.

That’s one of them down, but several more begin shattering through the walls as well, and smaller monsters were coming in behind them. This was way more than the amount I estimated earlier. I raise the gun again and aim for the next monster charging at me, the same kind as before. Again, I pull the trigger, and only the click was heard while the bullet instantly penetrated the monster’s body.

Suddenly, I noticed a monster that managed to get within two meters of me, and turn to face it. It was a monster that was similar to a feline, with blue fur and crystal scales on its body. It was extremely fast, much more than the javelin that Raina threw at me before. It lunges at me, intended to pounce on top of me, but before it reaches me, I swing my gun arm and shove the nozzle right into its mouth before pulling the trigger.

The back of its head bursts open as if an explosion just went off inside its mouth. The recoil of the gun was too much for one arm, causing it to swing upwards with the nozzle still in the monster’s mouth, dragging the corpse up. I was able to keep my grip on the handle, and I pull the corpse off with my left hand, and raise my gun for the next target.

As more monsters came forward to try and overwhelm us with sheer numbers, Thoth and I mow them down at a rate faster than they could throw their bodies at us. There was a variety of them; a huge rat with light blue fur and sizing up at around two meters, a bat that fired icicles from its wings, an rabbit with oversized butterfly wings on its back. These things seemed more like patchworks of animals rather than monsters, but I don’t feel like knowing why.

Right now, I just want to survive this ordeal with Thoth and get out of here. I kill two of the rabbits while they were mid flight, getting used to the recoil from the gun. Currently, I can fire every 2 seconds, but my accuracy still wasn’t amazing. Luckily, as long as I hit the body, they’ll die in a single shot, so I don’t have to worry about that.

I decide to try a combat experiment, and actually ran up to the monsters. A large feline similar to the one I killed earlier runs up to me as well, and leaps at my upper body. I drop low and slide under it, and as it leaps over me, I aim the magnum right at its stomach. With both hands on the handle, I pull the trigger, and kill it at point blank range. The recoil from the shot forced my body to be slammed onto the icy ground under me, causing my slide to stop immediately.

I raise my legs up and swing it back, causing myself to jump up and stand again on my feet. One of the bats tried to fire icicles at me while I try to get up, but I turn my back to it and use fire magic. I wanted to keep this cloak a surprise until we reached a strong monster, but I’m going to have to activate it now.

The [Cloak of Immolation] sets on fire brilliantly, and melts the icicles before it pierces through. I pull the hood over my head, and my body is engulfed with fire. I aim my gun at the bat, and fire it. Luckily, I was actually able to hit the small target, because it was quite far away. That seemed to be the last of the monsters, because the system voice appeared.

“Battle has ended.

Strongarms x 3 has been defeated. 33,000 experience has been received.

Kazaric’s Felines x 4 has been defeated. 36,000 experience has been received.

Rat of Madness x 3 has been defeated. 48,000 experience has been received.

Winter Bats x 6 has been defeated. 30,000 experience has been received.

Snow Bunnyfly x 5 has been defeated. 36,000 experience has been received.

3,018,103,500 experience until level 32.”

“Holy crap, your entire body’s on fire! That’s so damn cool!” Thoth yells at me from behind. I turn to her and see a pile of corpse around her. “Why do you have all these cool things? Where did you get this cape!?”

“…[Inferno Bear]…” That crestfallen look returns to her face, and immediately, she’s sulking in a corner. I go pat her on the back, and hear her mutter with a quiet voice;

“Why don’t I ever get these things. Why can’t I be this lucky. I want to hunt [Hidden Bosses] and get items too.” After a minute, she regains herself and stands back up.

“Whatever. Let’s just try to find a way out now, I don’t want to be stuck here all day.” Unfortunately, exactly like the time in the [Forest of Fire], as we’re about to leave, the [System] voice popped up with an message.

“Regional Announcement: Conditions for [Kazaric Ravine Hidden Boss] has been fulfilled. Summoning [Yeti] in the vicinity.”

It was probably because of Thoth’s muttering earlier that she jinxed it, so I turn to glare at her, but she had an expression of joy on her face. A loud roar resounds through the cave, and the [Yeti] smashes through the ice just like the other monsters did earlier. Soon after though, a message that neither of us expected, was spoken by the system. 

“Regional Announcement: Timer for [Dungeon Master Revival] has finished. Summoning [Frozen Viper] in the vicinity.”

A bright light flashes from the center of the cavern we’re in, which caused Thoth’s expression of joy turned into one of regret. A large snake made completely of ice is in the center of the room we’re inside. I assume this thing in front of us was the reason why there were several adventurers outside right now. They were preparing to come in after the thing was summoned. On one side, there was a [Hidden Boss]. On the other, there was a [Dungeon Master].

“So, [Hero], take your pick. The snake, or the furry?” As if she wasn’t in despair a second ago, a smile appears on Thoth’s face. I guess at this point, we can’t do anything but fight, and try to enjoy the moment. 

“…[Yeti].” I reply.

“Well screw you, you’re taking the viper. You got a flaming cloak anyway. Let me have the prize this time.” She immediately rejects my decision, and walks towards the [Yeti]. I don’t argue, and turn towards the viper. I raise the magnum in my hand, and aim it at the head of the giant snake in front of me. I doubt this thing will fall in one shot like the other monsters.

The [Yeti] behind me roars, and the snake in front of me somehow hisses despite having no vocal chords. As if in sync, both the [Demon Lord] and I say the same, provoking words that start our individual battles.

““…bring it on!””