Chapter 18- Monster Hunting (Part 3)
"There is no need for y-" the captain of the guards tried to answer but he was cut off harshly by Scarlett.
"Where is the dungeon?"
Her voice was cold and emotionless with a hint of anger. He gulped down a mouthful of saliva in fear and replied with a stuttering and meek voice.
"I-It's…It's in that direction."
Scarlett then ignored him completely and looked at Acht. He was already finishing off the last kobold. They were scared of him in the first place so even though there were 8 kobolds in total, they didn't want to fight him which made things easier for the boy.
After killing them off, he extracted the soul stones from their bodies and returned to Scarlett. He then handed her the stones and said.
"Those are the last ones. I checked for anyone hiding nearby or running away but I didn't feel anything. I could only feel a 10-meter radius around me so I don't know if one of them ran away or not though."
"That's fine. With each level, the area you could scan around you also increases." She answered before looking at the stones for a few seconds.
Then, she shifted her gaze to look at Acht and asked, "Would you like to enter the dungeon and clear it up?"
She didn't want to order him around just because she was his trainer. She believed that he should make his own choices since she won't be with him forever.
"The kobold dungeon?"
"Yes, I know its location. So, would you like to enter it? It's your choice, we can also call it a day and then go back."
"Hmm, let's continue. I will have to enter a dungeon sooner or later anyway." He answered not so long after. There was no point in pondering over it, killing more kobolds means more soul stones and more soul stones means more soul force to absorb for him.
"W-Wait, Miss Scarlett. He isn't a hunter, he can't enter a dungeon. It's really danger-"
"I will go with him. Am I not enough to protect him in a G-rank dungeon?" She asked with a glare.
"A-Absolutely not!" He shook his head vigorously.
She didn't speak anymore and started walking away with Acht. It was as if she was telling him not to follow her anymore.
The captain understood the gesture and sighed loudly before walking away with a sad look. He wanted to gain the favor of a big shot like Scarlett but he ended up making her angry.
************************
The duo walked for a few minutes in silence, Acht was wiping the blood from his clothes and his sword while Scarlett kept looking around for some reason.
"That's the kobold's dungeon." She pointed at a big cave on a small hill near the forest. She then sat down and pulled out the soul stones.
"But first, I will show you how to absorb these soul stones. Come and sit down in front of me." She tapped the grass in front of her as she spoke.
Acht then sat down and took the soul stones from her hand.
"Try to feel the energy inside of them. Then, I want you to guide that energy out of the stones just like how you channel your soul force when you want to use it."
Acht followed her instructions and the energy quickly started sipping out of the stones and into his body. In a few seconds, the blue color of the stones disappeared and turned into a dull grey color.
"We should go now. We should finish before sunset."
The two then approached the big cave entrance. It was very dark inside but not too dark so they could see clearly.
"One rule before we enter. Whenever you enter a dungeon you should always expect the worse. Dungeons are still a mystery to us and the cases of dungeon abnormalities that killed hunters aren't rare. Never underestimate these places, ok?"
"Understood." He nodded his head while keeping his eyes on the dark entrance.
Then, they both walked inside. The eerie silence of the dungeon with the occasional sound of water dripping from the ceiling made the atmosphere creepy and uncomfortable.
"Keep your eyes on any movement in the shadows. Most monsters never choose a direct confrontation." She whispered to Acht.
They both kept walking through the darkness as the tunnel kept getting smaller and smaller until it was only one meter above their heads.
Then, a loud sound of a monster screaming reached their ears. The sound was coming from the front. It was the sound of a kobold. To be more précise, it was the sound of two kobolds but it was quite different from the ones they both heard outside.
The duo then kept walking while Acht pulled out his sword, ready for any sneak attack. A few seconds later, they finally saw the monsters.
"What?" Their eyes widened in surprise.
The two kobolds weren't fighting or even communicating. They were…copulating.
The male kobold held the female and did all kinds of things to her body while totally ignoring the fact that two humans watched him in action.
The scene was disgusting, to say the least. Two ugly things were mating loudly without a care in the world, even Acht felt disgusted by such a sight.
He then instantly pulled a knife out and threw it at them. The knife flew like a bullet and struck the male kobold right in the head, killing him instantly.
When she felt her partner die, the female kobold finally woke up from her euphoria and saw the two humans who killed her male.
She then screeched loudly and tried to charge at them in fury. But, Acht was faster by a step, he pulled his sword and dashed towards her. He then bent to the side and made a diagonal cut with the blade.
The sword cut open her abdomen and caused a huge injury that reached her chest.
The kobold screamed in agony before falling to the ground and dying in her own blood.
'What an abomination to see…this will make it even awkward to continue hunting.' he didn't know whether to laugh or cry at such stupid luck.
He then took a peek at Scarlett. At first, one would think she looked normal but Acht saw it clearly…she had a hint of red on her cheeks.
'Don't blush like that! You are making it even more awkward for me.' he wanted to blurt out these words but decided not to do so or she will probably kill him on the spot.
"Ehem, I will get the soul stones and we can continue." He said with a light cough to diffuse the suffocating silence.
"Ok."
Then both of them started walking again, no one spoke to the other as they tried to Shake off the horrible memory that lived rent-free in their minds right now. Acht would've rather chosen to see a massacre of millions of people happening in front of him rather than seeing two kobolds have sex again. It was that bad.
Then, for the next hour, the duo faced many monsters on their way. They weren't wandering around in big groups so Acht was able to deal with them pretty easily.
The tunnel they were walking in seemed to be endless at first but soon, they saw the end.
"Hmm, is this the end?" He asked Scarlett.
"No, there is still the dungeon boss left. It's the strongest creature in the dungeon and it resides in the last chamber of the dungeon."
She then walked to the end of the tunnel and continued, "The boss in this dungeon is the 'Kobold Chief'. It's the strongest kobold out of them. You have to be careful while dealing with it."
"I know. Let's go inside." He answered with a nonchalant look.
The last chamber of the dungeon had a stone door closing it so they had to push it open in order to enter. It didn't seem easy since the door weighed 70 kilograms.
When Scarlett was about to touch it. Acht spoke again, "Wait."
"What?" She tilted her head with confusion.
"I want to try something." He answered.
He then approached the door and tapped on it. He then activated his gift.
Suddenly, the door started making sounds as if it was opening up. Then, in one movement, the door pried open.
'It seems that I can also push things away with my power. Gravity is full of surprises. I can't wait to see what other things I could do with it.' He thought with a satisfied gaze.
He was discovering new things about his element every day. He felt as if he was opening a present full of surprises.
What he didn't know, however, was that it wasn't all because of the gift but because of his talent. No one could become that good at controlling his powers in such a short time. But, his lack of common sense made it impossible for him to see that he was an anomaly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to support this book. Thank you and have a good day <3