The days that followed were long and full of continuous fighting. By now, all she wanted to do was to fall asleep and rest her tired body in a comfortable bed.
“Not even a bed, just sleep...” she muttered.
But she couldn’t because that came with the risk of losing herself, possibly becoming one of those transparent souls.
Regardless, she had received another two levels and reached level 23. Giving her another 100 stat points which brought her to a grand total of 150 unspent points. But Rin had already placed them into her wisdom and intelligence attributes. Bringing her total mana pool to 5200 and adding a substantial amount of damage to her magic.
With a yawn, she looked down at her hand. Within it was the final fragment of the warden’s key. It was a pitch-black piece of metal and didn’t seem to be anything special. But it was the only thing she had from the dungeon that seemed to be associated with the system
Creating a table with her ice, Rin set down the four fragments and shaped them to be in the form of a key. Immediately, the fragments began to emanate a black light and started to pulse with an energy. Seconds later, the table shattered but the key rose into the air and hovered in place.
[Would you like to use the Warden’s Key?]
Rin blinked rapidly as a system screen awakened in front of her eyes. Instead of being the usual blue, the borders were black while the center was still translucent. Although this time it was a deep shade of red.
‘Of course, it wasn’t a normal key...’ she thought.
There was something she remembered like this in her past life, and it had resulted in her being stuck in some chamber for almost a year. She shuddered at the memory, but maybe, maybe this time would be different.
Tapping her chin, she decided to accept the prompt. Although it came with its risks, it would most likely be better than wandering the emptiness and eventually succumbing to the shadows.
As soon as she accepted the system’s message, the key twisted as if someone was opening a door. It then started to slowly rotate and trace around in the shape of an unrecognizable rune, leaving particles of black mana behind.
Rin watched as the particles ignited with the color of crimson before a white magic circle formed around the rune.
The circle pulsed rhythmically, almost as if it had a heartbeat. While the key, seemingly spent of its energy, dropped to the floor with its color completely gone.
“Is this the exit?” she muttered skeptically.
The last thing she had expected was for a key to create a magic circle within the air. But she had also been reincarnated somehow, meaning that whatever lay in front of her eyes wasn’t implausible.
Reaching forward to touch the circle, her arm suddenly paused right before her fingers made contact.
‘I hope time flows slower in here,’ Rin thought.
She had just remembered that Jamie and Merial wanted her to raid a dungeon with them. But if time did move as intended in the dungeon, then the opportunity would be missed.
She also understood why everyone she had talked to regarding the dungeon warned her against entering. The grim and somber atmosphere along with the harrowing environment would gnaw at anyone’s mind.
Many would go insane and lose themselves in the void-like space. But Rin wasn’t going to let that happen. She had somehow been given a second chance, and she wouldn’t use it sparingly. She would go all out and gather strength in search of her answers in the new world.
Taking a deep breath inward, she reached her arm outwards into the circle. Suddenly, a bright light surrounded her body. Forcing her to close her eyes as she felt a nauseous feeling run through her entire being.
‘Not again...’ she thought, remembering the feeling when she had initially arrived at the void.
However, this time it wasn’t so bad. The light faded after just a couple of seconds and when she opened her eyes, she found herself beneath an overhang in front of a large mansion.
The mansion had a large, wooden doubled door entrance with elegant gold handles. The overhang had two polished stone pillars supporting it, while the rest of the structure was crafted with cobble stone. The weird thing though was that the windows were blotted out with a mundane grey. It was like an illusionist had cast a spell, that whatever was beyond the windows was not meant for her to see.
“Interesting,” Rin muttered under her breath.
She walked up to the large doors and grazed her hand over the surface. However, she frowned suspiciously when it felt just like regular wood.
Stepping backwards a couple of steps, the overhang was no longer covering her view. But what she saw caused her to reel back in pain.
It seems like the darkness that was present earlier was entirely gone. In place was the blue sky and a bright yellow sun. But apart from the mansion, there wasn’t anything else on the ground except the same mist she had been so familiar with in the dungeon.
Letting her eyes adjust to the light, she cracked open a cider and sipped on the drink. As always, it was refreshing and delicious. She took the time to examine the mansion to see if it had any other entrances or features. But there was none at all.
Having no other choice, she walked to the massive doors and grabbed a handle. She swung the door open and peeked inside to see a large hall. The ceiling was nearly five metres above her head while the walls were nearly twenty metres apart.
They also had torches placed symmetrically which effectively illuminated the entire hall. As for the ground, there lay a large red carpet that was embroided with elegant golden patterns.
It was an odd sight for sure as on the outside it looked much smaller than what was on the inside.
“Dimensional magic,” Rin said aloud.
There were a good number of items that were alike the inventory function that utilized dimensional magic. But wielders of the specific school of sorcery were rare. Whoever had constructed the mansion definitely had great expertise.
Stepping forward she felt the soft carpet beneath her feet, but there was something else that eclipsed the feeling.
There was a certain pressure emanating from deep within the mansion, and it was by no means weak. It was heavy and bore down on her like a mountain, but she had no other choice.
“Too late to back out now...” Rin muttered.
Walking through the hall, she looked at the walls which were occasionally decorated by paintings. Some were pleasant to look at like a grassy meadow, but most of them were graphic depictions of torture.
There were people being flogged, some were being burnt while others were buried alive. All types of horrifying acts were being committed in the paintings. But Rin didn’t have much of a reaction as it was quite tame compared to what she had experienced.
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Continuing through the hall she soon came across a large room with two wooden spiraling staircases leading to a second floor. The stairs were also covered with the same red carpet, but the pressure was much stronger than before.
Rin took a quick look at the ground floor to see if there was anything she had missed. But there were only more odd-looking decorations.
Seeing that the only way she could head in was the stairs, she took them and reached the second floor. The sight that awaited her was yet another hallway, and although it was much smaller than the one before. It was still decorated quite lavishly.
Looking to the walls, Rin saw that instead of paintings. There were colorful linen banners hanging on the sides. They were embroidered with golden silk, woven into elegant patterns. It was a pretty sight, but she didn't care for materialistic things.
Starting to walk through the hallway, she felt the pressure was increasing with every step she took. It wasn't to the point where she couldn't handle it, but it did slow her considerably.
‘At least level 500,’ Rin thought.
She wasn’t sure why such a being was present inside a dungeon restricted to those under level thirty. But she knew there was a catch, hence why she continued to walk through the hall. And there was the fact that the system was usually fair, it wouldn’t whisk her away to a place where the goal was impossible. She just had to find the correct path.
Finally making it to the end of the hallway, a wooden door stood in front of her. And behind... was the being that was emitting the pressure.
Drawing a deep breath into her lungs, Rin grabbed the handle and opened the door. Her body tensed in anticipation of whatever lay behind it.
But what she saw betrayed her expectations. She assumed that what was behind the door would be some kind of grotesque creature. But instead, there was a cozy hearth with two comforting chairs and a small table beside it.
Dumbfounded, Rin simply stared at the sight but soon noticed the back of a figure’s head. The being was sitting on one of the chairs and had just placed two cups on the table
“Well? Are you just going to stand there?” the figure asked.
The voice was deep and unmistakably produced by a male being. It reverberated throughout the entire room and carried a certain charisma.
‘Dangerous,’ Rin thought as a bead of sweat dripped down her forehead.
She scoured the room for any escapes and pulled out her blades. Readying her magic in preparation for a fight that could commence.
“Now, now, don’t be so worried. Let’s just have a little chat,” the man said with a chuckle.
As the words came out of his mouth, the pressure surrounding the figure vanished completely and the man now felt as harmless as a little rabbit.
Narrowing her eyes, Rin started to cast a spell, but the man turned around to look at her for the first time. He waved his hand casually which caused her blades to fly out of her hand and onto the floor.
Now defenseless, Rin jumped back and inspected her enemy. The first thing she noticed was that his face was sculpted to perfection. He had thin angled cheekbones which sat above a sharp jawline. While his narrow, crescent shaped eyebrows complimented his hard eyes.
Expecting a reaction, the devilishly handsome man flashed her a stellar smile but frowned when nothing happened. Appraising the girl in front of him once again, he found her much more intriguing.
“Interesting...” he muttered as the smile reappeared on his face.
Rin had been courted by countless handsome men in her past thus she was no stranger to good looking men. Although she supposed that this man in front of her surpassed all others in that department.
But still, she didn’t let her guard down and used her identification skill.
[Cannot Identify]
What she saw caused her to furrow her brows. In all her experience, she was always able to at least glean some information with the identification skill. Yet now, it gave her nothing at all. Rather it did give her one thing. It was that this man was far beyond any creature she had faced.
‘Maybe she’s stronger...’ Rin thought.
Rin compared the man in front of her to the woman who had seemingly killed her in her past life. If the two were to engage in an all-out fight... she shuddered at the thought.
“Don’t you think it’s rude to pry without one’s consent?” the man chuckled and interrupted her thoughts.
Hearing his voice, her eyes widened in shock.
“You knew I used that skill?” Rin asked dubiously.
There was nothing that had ever reacted to her use of the identify skill as it didn’t use mana.
“But of course,” he smiled and continued with a wink, “I won’t tell you how though.”
Frowning, Rin simply glared at the man. She didn’t understand why he was residing in a mansion within a dungeon called hell.
“Oh, don’t be like that, I’m not going to hurt you,” he sighed, “Just come over here and take a seat.”
The man tapped the armrest of the second chair and looked at her with a bored expression on his face.
“Well?” he pressed.
Deciding that it would be for the best, Rin cautiously walked over to the chair and stood behind it. Crossing her arms as she stared at the unknown man.
“Tea?” the man asked.
As the words came out of his mouth, a pitcher sprung into existence and hovered in the air before it started to pour a warm liquid into one of the cups. He then grabbed the cup and took a sip before releasing a satisfied sigh.
“No thanks, I have my own,” Rin replied.
She pulled out a glass of cider from her inventory and took a sip of her own. While the man paused his cup at his lips and silently stared at her.
“What?” Rin asked, noticing the man’s gaze.
“Hmm... what do you mean what?” he asked and resumed drinking his tea.
Although Rin could see him sneaking glances at her behind his cup, hence she sighed.
“You want one right...?” she asked.
“Nonono, nothing like that...” he replied and turned to the side.
But when he turned back towards the girl and saw that she was still staring at him with a deadpan gaze he coughed.
“Keum... Keum... I was just wondering what you were drinking. Yes, that exactly, just wondering,” he whistled.
Not convinced by his act, Rin sighed once again. She wondered why such a powerful being would act this way. Although the strong usually had several odd qualities, some screws loose in their heads. But for a man this strong to behave like a little child mystified her.
Rin summoned one of the glasses in her hand and tossed it at the man, not bothering to hand it over nicely. She knew that with his earlier display of the tea kettle, it wouldn’t be hard for him to catch the glass. And as expected, just before the glass hit the ground, the man waved a finger.
Rin watched with interest as the liquid that had spilt flowed back into the cup which landed perfectly in the man’s hand. She had tried to discern what kind of magic he had used, but frowned when she didn’t feel a disturbance in the mana. Meaning that his control over mana was impeccable, or there was some other energy that he had used.
“My, that’s cold-hearted,” he joked before taking a sip, “Oh wow, this is really good, care to give me more?”
But when he looked over to the girl and noticed her grumpy expression, he grinned.
“Guess not,” he chuckled.
Rin watched as the man drank her precious cider with a scowl. She still had quite a few left, but she disliked that the man in front of her was taking his sweet time.
Finally finishing the drink, he opened his mouth to speak, “Alright, wow that was good. Anyways... let me formally introduce myself, I am Bob Ji-”
“Is that even your real name?” Rin interrupted.
She didn’t mean to be offensive to any Bobs, but it just wasn’t a name that seemed to suit the man.
‘Bob’ blinked and started to laugh as he noticed the look on the girl’s face.
“Sadly, it isn’t,” he chuckled, “But I can’t tell you my real name otherwise someone wouldn’t be too happy.”
Rin rolled her eyes in annoyance, “Who would you be scared of?”
“Trust me, you wouldn’t want to meet her either,” he said with a shudder before muttering, “Actually, maybe you two might get along...”
His words trailed off while Rin suppressed a yawn. Being awake for nearly 72 hours was quite a feat in itself. But the conversation being held at the moment simply added to her fatigue.
“Okay that’s great and all, but can I leave now?” she asked.
“No, you can’t,” came the immediate reply.
“Why?” she pressed.
“Because I didn’t tell you yet,” he responded as Rin released an exasperated sigh.
“What is it then?” she questioned.
She was growing more annoyed by the second, but something told her that being patient would be best.
“Well, I was just about to get there before you so kindly interrupted me,” he smiled.
Bob stood up from the chair and clasped his hands behind his back.
“What I was trying to say was that you succeeded in collecting all the key fragments and coming here," he explained.
“Okay, but I already know that?”
“But what you don’t know is that you are the first to meet... Me,” he said with a laugh.
Hearing the man, Rin shook her head. It seemed like he was only going to embarrass himself even more.
“Alright, I’m leaving, cya...” she said.
Turning around to leave, she walked towards the door before it slammed shut in her face.
“Wait, there’s a couple more things,” he said from behind her.
Turning around once again, she looked at the man with a scowl. She was already frustrated enough with the man and now he was beyond getting on her nerves.
“I must say, you look even more beautiful when you’re angry,” he grinned.
Hearing his words, her cheeks turned a tint of rosy, pink as she blushed before the scowl reappeared on her face.
“Get, to, the, point,” Rin hissed through gritted teeth.
The man laughed once more looking at the sight of the girl.
“Well, the point is that you cleared the dungeon in seven years with the second fastest time being nearly a century,” Bob said with a face devoid of any expression.
‘Seven years? There’s no way I’ve been here for seven years,’ Rin thought as the blood left her face.
Seeing her pale face, his eyes softened, “I’m sorry, you’re just too much of a pleasure to tease. The truth is, it’s only been about three days since you arrived here. Except that I wasn’t lying about the second part...”