12 Sealed Widow Dungeon (2)

"Kiiiek!"

"Kuehrk!"

SLICE—!

[You've gained 70 exp by killing a Goblin!]

[Due to the effect of [Studying], you'll gain another 70 exp!]

[You've gained 70 exp by killing a Goblin!]

[Due to the effect of [Studying], you'll gain another 70 exp!]

Walking around the forest filled with green oak trees, I swung my sword around, killing Goblins left and right.

My clothes, which were clean just a few minutes ago, were now covered with the green blood of those ugly little monsters.

With a monotone expression, I watched the information window pop up and disappeared right in front of my eyes.

As this was just a parallel world, it was only natural that the same monsters appeared here.

However, I didn't expect that so many of those ugly goblins would gather here and attack us.

SLASH—!

With only one swing of my sword, another goblin was decapitated, its head falling to the floor as green blood splashed everywhere.

Goblins were truly the most abused monsters in all the novels, so it wasn't very surprising that my sword sliced through their body like a stick of butter.

Raising my head, I turned to the injured Noir, who was fighting goblins a few meters away from me.

He was doing fine despite his injuries, so I didn't have to worry about him all that much.

"How's it going on your side?"

"Fine. Even with injuries, I can kill goblins with ease."

"If you need help, just tell me. I can easily also take on your half too."

And will also gain double exp by doing that, so it was pretty much a win-win situation for both of us.

Though it was faster when we split up the goblins, so I didn't really mind sharing my prey.

What really bothered me, though, was the fact that the dungeon boss had noticed our presence but hadn't really done anything yet.

Was she perhaps waiting for us to come for her, or was she preparing something?

Well, that was a problem for the future for me. Right now, there was some other annoyance I had to get rid of.

Suppressing a sigh, I looked at the horde of goblins that were awaiting us.

Although they were weak, their numbers were just too high, so it would take us ages if we tried to kill them all manually.

Even though I was low on mana, I eyed the skill of Noir, which I had copied some time ago.

It is now the perfect time to test it out.

==============

[Judgement Cut (active) {Unique}]

(If the target is considered evil, this skill rises in strength.)

Envelope your blade in an overwhelming amount of mana and slash at your enemy, suffocating them in a fiery wall of mana.

==============

Channeling mana into my sword, I activated the skill, copying the movements he had made when he previously used it.

Blue mana particles slowly gathered around me as the air gradually got colder. In fact, so cold that I could even see my breathing rising in the air.

"[Judgement Cut]!"

Crackle—!

Instead of black mana, light blue mana erupted from my sword as I slashed toward the horde of goblins. My mana enveloped them before turning into solid ice, as everyone hit by my attack froze.

As I finished the skill sequence, the forest was covered in complete ice, reminding me of a beautiful miniature sculpture made of ice.

"That's a pretty nice skill."

Spinning my sword in my hand, I put it back in the sheath as I looked around, seeing if any goblin had survived my skill, while ignoring the system windows that were popping up in my view.

Unsurprisingly, no goblin in my radius survived being frozen.

[Judgement Cut] was seemingly a pretty useful skill to have. Even though, admittedly, it also came at a high cost.

'Mana: 2124/6500'

I grimaced when I saw my current amount of mana, which only equaled a third of my maximum capacity.

"Why didn't you tell me that [Judgement cut] took so much mana?"

With a twisted face, I looked over at Noir, raising an eyebrow as I asked him.

"Noir?"

Noir, however, did not answer and just looked at me with an expression of disbelief. With knit brows, he stared at me as if I was some kind of species he had never seen before.

"Hello? Is something wrong?"

"...No. It's nothing..."

Finally, he reacted, shaking his head with a hesitant movement while putting on a stiff smile.

His behavior seemed unusual to me, which led me to think that maybe he was hurting but didn't want to tell me.

With a doubtful expression, I walked toward him, scanning him with [Reading] to look for any injuries he could've been hiding.

Of course, I still couldn't read his status due to his weird skill blocking my attempts, but looking for injuries was something I still could do.

While I couldn't find any injuries, I was soon greeted by a familiar and annoying message that popped up in my view.

[Due to the Skill [Liar's Mind], the target's status can't be read.]

"Tsk." I clicked my tongue as I eyed the system window.

Seriously, what type of skill was this, even?

[Liar's Mind]?

That sounds like some edgy bullshit a villain would have.

At first, I had believed that Noir would be the protagonist, but before even thinking about that possibility further, I threw that thought away.

I doubt that the protagonist would have such an evil-sounding skill.

He was a dense moron throughout the entire story, so why would he suddenly have a skill called [Liar's Mind], which sounds more like the skill of a villain?

Unfortunately, I couldn't even read the description of that skill, as the skill even blocked that.

What a bothersome ability he had.

Rolling my eyes, I diverted my attention back to Noir, establishing eye contact with him.

"...who are you?"

"I would like to ask you the same question."

Instead of answering my question, he responded with his own question.

"Who exactly are you, Weiss Azelio?"

"The daughter of the duke family..? I already told you who I am, so why are you asking me such a senseless question?"

"No, that's not what I meant." He shook his head, leaning his head toward mine.

Our faces were only a few inches apart from each other as we exchanged glances of great curiosity.

"I know that you are Weiss Azelio. But who or what exactly is Weiss Azelio?"

"Am I supposed to say something philosophical now? Like 'I think therefore I am'?"

Finding the strange conversation to be weirdly amusing, I released a short giggle before taking a step back.

While I also had my own questions, I refrained from asking for now.

I knew that I could just order him to tell me everything, but something inside me was stopping me from prying further into his background.

I didn't know whether it was just my own conscience or some other reason, but I would rather just wait if he would tell me of his own accord.

"Come on." I said while making a 'come here' gesture with my hand before turning around. "The village is not far from here, so we should hurry up."

"...you're right."

After pausing for a second, seemingly getting lost in his thoughts, Noir nodded toward me.

***

***

The Fukuhagi village was a small village that looked just like any other one.

Amidst the forest and the gigantic farmland, the village was located. Surrounded by all those things, filled with resources, I was sure they had no trouble surviving in such a place.

That is if you ignore the monster activities or crazy villagers.

Even though this was a parallel world, I imagined the village to be much more bloody than the peaceful view it showed now.

As the widow probably has a big grudge toward the villagers, I expected the village to be burned down and destroyed, but surprisingly, it seemed to be fine.

Unscathed even.

"So why are we here?"

Noir, who had just blindly followed me, asked when we arrived.

Admittedly, I didn't tell him anything about my plans, so there was no way he would've known.

"To end this."

"End this?"

I nodded.

"Yeah. There are some traces of her presence here."

Using [Reading], I scanned over the area, seeing traces of dark mana everywhere. Naturally, there were traces of her at any place, but in the village, those traces seemed to be the most prominent.

It made sense if you linked it to her past. It was probably the place where she had the most memories with her husband, so it would be a pretty fair assumption to say that she seemed to return to this place again to relive the memory of him.

"Your perception and insight are terrifying," Noir said, nodding toward me with a look of approval.

"Not really." I nonchalantly shrugged my shoulders as I glanced at him from the corner of my view. "It's due to my skill [Reading]. Which is also the reason why I could copy your skill if you were wondering about that."

"Should you tell me something like this? I could use it against you, you know?"

"In what way?"

Turning my head toward him, I raised an eyebrow.

"My skill will be revealed when I enter the academy anyway, so I see no advantage in hiding my skills from anyone."

Of course, I would have loved to keep all my skills a secret, but it will be impossible to hide them when I entered the academy.

Lying wouldn't work, as one of the first things they do is check your skills and mana attribute with a device to assign you to the best-suited class, so the only option left was just accepting reality.

Speaking of academies, an interesting question came to my mind.

If I, with my legendary skill, couldn't read Noir's status, what would happen to the devices?

"What if I try to kill you after this is over?"

Noir's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, causing me to stop walking for a moment.

"Well..." I said while turning around to him, directly facing him. "...I'd like to watch you try killing me."

Although we were about even right now, I was sure that with enough time, I would surpass him.

My talent, combined with my growth speed, was something that barely anyone could match.

"You sound confident."

"That's because I am confident."

And with those words, I ended the conversation.

Walking in silence, we soon came to a halt when we arrived at one of those small wooden houses.

"This seems to be the one with the darkest energy..."

I whispered to myself as I put my hand on the door, deactivating [Reading] as I did so.

I had to try to save all the mana I had left, so deactivating [Reading] for now was something that I, unfortunately, had to do.

However, even without that skill, I could've guessed what kind of house this was.

It was probably the home of the widow and her deceased husband, which would explain why there was so much collective dark energy gathered around here.

"Alright, here goes nothing."

Taking a deep breath, I then chose to open the door.

Creeeeak—

With a loud creak, the door slowly opened, and a small smirk formed on my face.

No, it wasn't because of what was in the house or anything, but because of the system messages which popped up in my view.

[You have angered 'Widow'!]

[The boss 'Widow' will now chase you!]

[Prepare for combat!]