V2 Chapter 21

Monster Materials (Most were Goblin fangs, eyes, ears, heart, nails, and even genitalia) could be found among the scattered items in the ground. Though there were also items and weapons, most were normal tier only, and only several can be said to be good magical items.

Nevertheless, Rain picks all of them regardless of the value, as the materials were all high quality—even the normal tier items and weapons can be turned back into ingots, and be used again. And most of all, his backpack storage still has some large space left. Thus, while Granite and Scarlet’s minion were cleaning the remaining enemies, he and the rest were also moving across the battlefield, collecting the spoils of battle.

The loot was quickly picked up. At the same time, Granite had also finished cleaning up enemies left standing. The entire mausoleum was swept clean, and not even a drop of blood was left, as if the entire desperate battle that had happened just a few minutes ago had been a lie.

Picking up the spoils of their battle had already left his bag, which should have incredible storage space for even the very best storage space items in this world, almost filled to the brim.

Just the treasures alone on the first floor were incredible, what about the higher floors?

However, although he wanted to continue exploring, he knows that it’s something he can’t do at the moment. He needed to return back as soon as possible, or else Zarda and the others would get sick worrying for them.

And besides, they are too unprepared for a Dungeon Conquering Quest. Although he has confident about their abilities, this Dungeon seemed to be incredibly far from normal. He didn’t want to be caught off-guard, and something worse would happen that he would always regret.

Furthermore, the people with him right now were far important to him to make a risk. He can’t let anything bad happening to them. He can never take any chances with their life on the line.

“…this is the first floor, so there should be some kind of exit in this place. Well, I hope to God there is, or else will be in a very big trouble if there's none.”

"I agree, however, this place is even messier than before. This gives looking for something even more of a challenge, Rain…saying finding an exit on this place would be hard, is certainly but an understatement,”

Granite muttered with a frown.

"Well, at the very least, I'm expecting an exit being a proper door this time, unlike how we came in. If not..."

"That's also my worries. I don't want any mystery in my plate again, I'm not the puzzle-solver type of guy," Rain nodded his head with a helpless expression.

Because of the battle all the coffins had exploded, turned into a mess, and even the entire mausoleum is now, as if it had just survived a bombing incident, turned into a messy wreck—indeed, finding an exit that, who knows existed, would really be hard. Especially if that said exit is not a proper door, but another mysterious teleportation array.

Still, how in the name of everything that's holy would they find it in the middle of this mess?

Should they turn the entire place upside down?

“…but we have no choice. We cannot stay here for—”

Rain couldn’t end his sentence, as suddenly, his eyes widened in shock, and turned around, and immediately pushed Lafetti and Scarlet who was standing behind him, in the ground.

The Ant Queen's eyes seemed to have widened, with its gleam showing confusion from the sudden tackle. And so was Lafetti. But the Lamian was much better, as her eyes immediately narrowed down, the spark in her gaze displayed realization. And before they landed on the ground, her long tail instantly coiled around him—

Boooooom!!!

An explosion rang out, shaking the entire cave.

On the ground Rain and the others were previously standing, burst out, as if it was gouged out.

“Raaain!!”

Granite that was standing a bit far from them cried out in anxiety.

“I’m fine… we’re fine,”

Rain coughed violently, and even spat out a mouthful of blood. Aside from cuts on his arms and face, there’s nothing serious.

“Lafetti, are you okay?”

He moved the tail coiling around him, but the beautiful scales had now been dyed with red blood, and seeing it, his heart felt as if it was being squeezed, making it hard for him to breathe. He almost panicked, as he turned towards her in rapt attention.

When the explosion occurs, Lafetti hurriedly coiled her tail around him, protecting him. Because of this, he only received minimal injuries, but Lafetti received most of it. Especially the impact.

“I’m fine,” Lafetti smiled—although her long tail was now almost dyed red with her own blood, it’s actually not that serious. It just looks terrible than it actually is—her tail might look fragile or smooth, but it’s actually even harder than metal, and her scales are stronger and sturdier than any normal magic weapon.

Even a single scale from a Lamian, especially a Second Evolution Lamian like her, could fetch an incredible sum of money in the mainland, as it’s not only sturdy but also its ability to channel magic.

It’s much better than any magic ore used for creating prdinary magic items and weapons. Hence, aside from threats, they are also being subjugated due to valuable resources they can give.

“How about you? Are you okay? You’re wounded…” she asked, but then frowned the moment she saw the cuts and wounds on his face.

His face is wounded…!

Lafetti’s expression darkened and incredible killing intent flashed across her eyes. The sound of her gritting her teeth could even be heard, and her beautiful face distorted fiercely.

Her eyes demonic red and pulsing now with an unearthly glow. She gritted her teeth, barely displaying the long, ivory sabers of long sharp fangs. Rain smiled wryly, and reached out, stroking Lafetti’s face.

“I’m okay, and that's thanks to you, like always,” he hurriedly pacified her anger. If not, it would be a problem if she lose control of herself again.

“Protecting you is my duty, Rain… as long as I'm here, I would never let anything happens to you,”

Lafetti’s killing intent somewhat subsided from his words, successfully easing her, rather tumultuous, and violent emotions. Like quelling the storms, her fierce expression just a moment ago seemed like a lie, which made Rain sigh in relief.

“That’s all good and all, but is no one going to ask me if I’m okay or not?” Scarlet’s voice came out from beside them.

Scarlet’s was close to the explosion, but she was much better than Rain and Lafetti due to the fact that Antmen possesses incredible toughness and durability than normal creatures. And also, Scarlet’s defense mechanism is the fact that once felt danger, red hard scales would appear in her body, covering her in an armor-like scales.

Now she looks like one of those transforming heroes in old anime based on insects.

“You look unfortunately okay for me,”

Lafetti snorted coldly.

“What’s with the unfortunate?!!!”

“…come on, guys, I don’t think it’s the time to play around. Hate to say it but these guys are annoyingly irritating,”

Granite walked over, and after seeing Rain and the others alright, she let out a sigh of relief. Then, her gaze turned towards the silhouette appearing from the smoke.

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"They just never stop! At least give me something else other than Goblins! I'm sick of them already!!"

Rain smiled helplessly seeing them arguing, but then his expression turned serious as well.

From where he and the others formerly standing, a massive fat Goblin appeared. It’s height almost as tall as the Goblin Champion, but with a sticking belly. And instead of a spiky mace, the Goblin was holding an oversized chain with a hook.

With its fat belly sticking out, it was walking with a grunt, and even its body seemed really heavy due to the shaking sound it produced as it walk.

“Goborogh, Goborobog!!”

Rain’s eyes narrowed.

“Fucking pig!” his expression grim and his eyes produced murderous intention than usual.

“Rain?”

“It’s nothing,”

Rain replied, but his eyes remained cold.

“Just that, I’m going to be the one to kill that pig! For sure!”

“….??!”

Lafetti and the others noticed his expression, and suddenly wondered—what did that fat goblin say?

They know that Rain can understand many languages, it seemed to be a sort of unique skill.

Even the hardest and most complicated language, it will just a little effort and time for him to learn them completely. Although Lafetti and Granite know several diverse languages, unlike Scarlet who knows barely one or two, still the language of the Goblins in this Dungeon seemed to be different than what they know.

It’s like knowing English, and yet hearing the others speaking British English. They did speak the same language, but there’s a bit difference. And the tone and intonation made it somewhat harder even for them to somewhat understand them—well, not like they were extremely proficient in Goblin Language, anyway. They just manage to learn it in passing, after living quite a long time in this world.

Since the battle seemed inevitable, Rain immediately changed his coat, replacing the dark gray leather coat that he had worn until now with the unique item he had just obtained; the [Coat of the Midnight Raven], as well as the [Ring of Steel] and along with the [Goblin Lord Fang Earring] which he had worn on his left ear.

Immediately he felt incredible power surging through him, and even all his fatigue somehow disappeared.

With new, and powerful magic items, Rain felt himself once again getting powered up and ready for battle.

With a flourish of the long black coat, he turned towards the enemy horde—vision wise, there seemed to be no difference in number than before, but the items and equipment used by each enemy was clearly one level above that of before.

If the Goblins used tattered and worn out items and weapons before, then this time, the Goblin seemed to be wearing new equipment. And the aura coming from them is also something that cannot be compared from the previous group.

It seems like in every wave, the monster will become even stronger. And the confidence of numbers being not a matter for the group is slowly crumbling out, and Rain was finally realizing that. This dire and serious situation.

If this wave would never stop, or that there would still be another three to four waves after this- thinking about that, he couldn't help but started to worry if they could even hold on after a few waves?

But no matter… we can only do what we can…for now.

… …

Granite waited for the first group of Goblins to approach, and swept her newly obtained weapon: [Titan’s Wreckage]… which, was even stronger and tougher than the shields the Goblins were holding.

When the first Goblin had only just raised its spear and took up an attacking posture, Granite’s attack had already smashed onto the enemy's weapons, instantly breaking it into pieces.

Then, without any loss of momentum, the [Titan’s Wreckage] swept past the Goblin’s bodies, breaking them apart like broken toys.

However, even at this point, there was no sign of the force behind the spiked mace decreasing, as it continued to sweep across the air, smashing into the body of the entire group of Goblins in one fell swoop. One attack and almost a killed a dozen of them.

It was bloody, and gore enough that the remaining bodies of the Goblins were smashed like a squashed tomato—blood and guts scattered in the ground. Still, Granite had only swung once… and in only a single breath’s time, she destroyed an entire group of armored Goblins and Hobgoblins.

In fact, although Granite was indeed stronger before, the new weapon in her hands made her strength seemed exaggeratedly unfair. Now, with the [Titan’s Wreckage] in her hands, it seems like her power had skyrocketed on another level.

Furthermore, not only her strength and destructive power but also her aura and momentum were so strong, Rain felt as if she was Drova when battle-drunk he was watching.

The way she smiles and laughs, and the way her eyes gleamed brightly at the death of her enemies—she seemed to exude a feeling of being undefeatable but also filled with madness, one that would never lose no matter how many opponents there is!

Although Rain felt that Drova and Granite are almost like peas in a pod, aside from appearancec, it was at this kind of moment that they would really show their similarities.

Not even three breaths’ time after Granite defeated the charging group of Goblins, in front of them, another group came after, following the fat, ugly Goblin Champion. This time, it was more groups, coming out from the coffins.

In a blink of an eye, it’s like a flood of Goblins surging like a torrential river. No matter how many they killed, there seems to be no change in the number of enemies charging at them.

“They’re too many! What the hell is going on here? I thought we had already killed the leader! But why are they still coming as if they are endless?!”

“…I think this is a Monster Trial Wave,”

Rain heard that and replied. His expression darkened as a realization struck him. The worst possible to happen just occurred.

“Wave? What do you mean by wave?”

Rain shook his head; “What I mean is simple, there will be first, then this will be the second wave, and perhaps, after this, there will be the third wave, and so on.”

“You say it as if it would truly never end!”

Scarlet shrieked in horror.

“I don’t know,” Rain smiled wryly. “However, what I’m sure is that every wave will have a leader. In the first wave, and this wave would be a Goblin Champion. And defeating it would end the wave for a moment before another wave came in. Or at least, that's what it usually does."

"...That's...!"

"...I don’t know if this Dungeon is being unreasonable, wanting to kill any intruders and make it unconquerable. But what I’m certain is that every next wave will be much harder and stronger than the previous. Perhaps, the next wave leader would be a Goblin Lord or a King.”

At least, that’s what happens in Games. They call it a ‘Raid-type Dungeon’ a kind of Dungeon that needed a large group of high-level players to complete. And if this damn Dungeon is based on them...

“…then, there should certainly be a limit—perhaps the 3rd, or the 5th wave, or perhaps, worst even more. Nevertheless, this Dungeon is clearly not a Dungeon that can be completed with our current group…”

“Then, what are you suggesting we do?”

Lafetti asked somewhat worried.

“If what you said is true, before we even reached that 5th wave, we will already be exhausted…it’s not like we can keep fighting forever.”

I can… Rain thought as he heard Lafetti’s concern. With his current skills, actually, fighting forever is not a problem. Even without any potions, tonics or elixirs, his skills are already in the cheaty realm that he would be able to keep on fighting until his mind breaks down.

In fact, some of his skills real power only show when fights were dragging on for some time.

[Predation] and [Death is my Domain] is a great example of it.

With these skills, he would never get tired no matter how long they fight and instead become stronger as long as he won't die. It can even be said that with these skills, Rain can fight like a machine- a real Berserker.

Of course, not like he would want something like that. No matter how long he could fight, it doesn’t mean a thing for him.

He might be good at fighting, but he never likes it. Furthermore, even if he could still hold on, as much as he could, but Lafetti and the others would not. There will always be bound to limit. As strong as they are, they are not immortal, or monsters that don’t know fatigue. They will eventually crumble.

And with his current power, he would never be able to protect them alone.

“That is why we need to find an exit… there must be one, at least, a method to leave this kind of trial beforehand!”

“But how…would be a problem,”

Baaang!!

Granite rammed her shield on the ground, her expression turned into a savage.

“…it doesn’t matter, we just kill them all!”

The Amani Lamians may love peace, but that doesn’t mean they fear war.

The Amani Lamians have never retreated from the battlefield before.

If only that’s easy… however, Rain smiled wryly.

“In any case, no use to mope around for now. We don’t have a clear solution at hand, so we might as well, kill all of them first just like Granite said!” he said while preparing himself to fight.

“…saying ‘Killing them all’ doesn’t suit you Rain,” Lafetti said with a wry smile.

Although she was a Lamian born to fight, and never fear a battle or death, even. However, she fell in love with Rain's gentleness, not his violent side. And she rather let him stay ignorant in the world than let him become something completely unlike him.

She loved the peacefulness and gentleness he gave, and never want anything to taint it.

That was her sunshine...

The rain that washes over her tainted soul and distorted existence.

But Lafetti too knows that it would never be done. As long as this world remains twisted, it will force Rain to change. Despite this, Lafetti hopes he would not. A simple, hope and wish--a dream maybe.

“I rather you let me do those violent things, and just stay behind me. Though, in this situation, not like I can let you have that, without becoming involved in a fight, could I? But please do be careful,” she said with a concerned look on her face.

"To be honest, recently I have been feeling awfully excited about fighting rather often."

Rain replied with a helpless smile towards Lafetti.

"Perhaps, it is due to the fact that I am now being strongly affected, or influenced by the beast within me."

“…that’s only your imagination. And even if it does, its something you should not bother with. Fighting and Killing don’t suit you Rain. Don’t let that beast within you, influence your character.” she said with great worry.

“…perhaps, but in this world, I don’t think I can remain naïve or ignorant forever,”

“… ..."