Episode 6: Duo Dungeon (7)

"...?" Upon taking notice of the black-haired woman standing before him, Jace blinked, awkwardly greeting her. "Uh... Hi?"

"...hmph." With a frown on her face, Penelope scoffed, soon walking past the young man as she made her way over towards Landon who was just a few meters away from Jace. "Seriously, Landon? Seriously?"

"H-Huh...?" The blonde-haired man blinked in reply. "What do you mean seriously??? What did I do???"

"Hah... Whatever. You wouldn't understand anyways." Rolling her eyes at Landon, Penelope began walking over towards the blue portal without another word.

"Err... What's up with her?" With one look at the black-haired woman, Derek raised his brow in confusion. "Did she get off on the wrong side of the bed or something?"

"I have absolutely no clue..." Landon scratched his head helplessly.

"..." Glancing nonchalantly at the back of Penelope, Jace shrugged, soon turning his attention over towards the two men beside him. "...so I guess that's everyone? You said Toriq wasn't coming, right?"

"Mhm!" Landon nodded his head. "He had some work to do back at the cafe, so he couldn't make it..."

"I see. Then shall we be off?" he asked.

"If there are no problems, then let's go!"

With everyone's arrival, Jace and the rest of his party began making their way over towards the dungeon gate. In the next moment, the party ventured into the portal.

...

As the group slowly stepped out of the blue portal, their eyes were greeted by the sight of a dark and damp sewer system. There, it could be noted that algae was growing wildly all over the walls of the sewers.

"...huh. So it's an E-ranked Sewer dungeon this time..." Jace muttered, glancing around the area. "That's doable, I guess." Compared to the Insect dungeon from yesterday, Jace wasn't at all disgusted. In fact, he was completely fine with the dungeon's environment.

"Ugh... Gross. This place stinks!" On the other hand, Derek was frowning as soon as he entered the dungeon. "Were there no other available dungeons for us to take on instead?"

"Huh? What for?" Landon blinked at Derek's question. "This dungeon looks fine to me!"

"God you're a different breed..." Penelope sighed.

"Ehh? No way!" Landon cried out.

"...there's no denying that," Derek shook his head helplessly.

"Even you too?!"

As the group made their way through the walkway, Jace remained silent, only staring at Derek and Penelope throughout the conversation between Landon and them.

"Come to think of it... I haven't seen their profiles yet..." Jace thought to himself.

From when he first met Landon's friends, the thought of using [ Soul Seer's Eyes ] on them had never once appeared. Instead, he was preoccupied with the thought of linking and the usage of his other skills.

"...I guess now's the perfect time to use it," Jace muttered, soon activating his skill on them.

[ Hunter Profile ]

Name: Penelope Hart

Level: 7

Class: Magician

Race: Human

[ Soul Compatibility ]: 37%.

*Soul Linkage is not available for this person.

[ Titles ]

<Firefly's Volition (B)>

[ Status ]

HP: 168/168 | MP: 288/288

[ Stats ]

STR: D | INT: A+

AGI: C+ | MND: A+

END: E | LUCK: C

*As this person is not linked, you are unable to see further details of their stats.

[ Soul Compatibility: 37% ]

*Soul Linkage is currently unavailable for this person.

Fulfil the current conditions to link with [Penelope]:

-Activate [ Soul Channeler ] on "Penelope" once. [ ]

-Clear away the doubts that "Penelope" has on you. [ ]

-Have "Penelope" see you as a "teammate". [ ]

[ Abilities ]

<Flame Drain (B)>

<Fireball (D)>

<Well Wishes (A)>

<Fire RES (C)>

...

[ Hunter Profile ]

Name: Derek Ashford

Level: 7

Class: Striker

Race: Human

[ Soul Compatibility ]: 51%.

*Soul Linkage is not available for this person.

[ Titles ]

<Adverse Clouds (B)>

[ Status ]

HP: 284/284 | MP: 178/178

[ Stats ]

STR: A+ | INT: D-

AGI: A | MND: C+

END: B | LUCK: F+

*As this person is not linked, you are unable to see further details of their stats.

[ Soul Compatibility: 51% ]

*Soul Linkage is currently unavailable for this person.

Fulfil the current conditions to link with [Derek]:

-Activate [ Soul Channeler ] on "Derek" once. [ ]

-Link with "Landon". [✓]

-Learn of Derek's goals. [ ]

[ Abilities ]

<Spear Thrust (B)>

<Spear Throw (E)>

<Speed Boost (E)>

<Footwork (C)>

<Lover of Cats (F)>

...

"...?" At the sight of the profiles before him, Jace's eyes widened in shock. "What the...? What are these conditions...?"

As Jace was reading through Penelope's and Derek's Soul Linkage conditions, he was left completely speechless. The conditions for them were on a different level compared to Landon's.

In the case of Penelope, it required Jace to gain her trust. Meanwhile, for Derek, there was a peculiar condition that he was shocked to see.

"...link with Landon?" The young man raised his brow in confusion. "That's... What kind of condition is that?" Although he had already fulfilled the condition, it was still something that Jace had not expected to see.

After all, if listening to Landon's rants wasn't peculiar enough, linking with Landon was essentially a prerequisite to linking with Derek.

"As for Penelope... I have to gain her trust?" he frowned at the thought. Although her link conditions were the most normal of the three, it was also ironically the hardest. "...hah. Well, it looks like linking with them is out of the question. Well, I guess for Derek it's still possible. But... I'll think of that later. I'm in no rush."

"Ah! Monster in sight!" Whilst Jace was in deep thought, Landon's voice echoed in his ears.

"...?" Turning his attention over towards the front of the party, the young man took notice of a gooey slime ball sliding around without a care.

"Is that a slime...?" Derek rubbed his eyes.

"Looks like it," Penelope stated.

"Huh. For an E-ranked Dungeon, I wasn't expecting to see a low-class monster like that here..."

"There's a variety of slimes," Jace lazily answered. "That one tends to protrude out a poisonous toxin when it feels threatened."

"Woah!" Derek was taken aback by Jace's quick answer. "You know your stuff?"

"Haha! He's pretty knowledgeable!" Landon laughed.

"Oh really now?" Penelope glared at Jace.

"..." he sighed. "It's nothing much. I just read a few articles and books here and there. Anyway, as long as you don't get too close to the slimes, you should be fine. The toxin is only lethal when you're extremely close to it."

"Oh, so it looks like I'm safe!" Landon cheered.

"Ugh... I'm in the frontlines..." Derek frowned.

"Well, off you go!" he grinned.

"Fine, fine." Derek ruffled his hair, soon stepping forward. "As long as I don't get too close, I'm safe, right?"

"Yep," Jace lazily nodded his head.

"Alright. I'll attract its aggro!"

"We'll be right behind you!" Following his words, Landon prepared to fire at the slime.

"Here we go...!"

With his eyes locked onto the slime, Derek leapt forward with his spear in hand. In the next second, his spear pierced through the gooey layers of the slime.

"Goo...?!" Taken aback by the sudden attack, the slime attempted to retaliate. However, from behind the brown-haired man, Penelope and Landon began raining down bullets and fireballs on the poor slime. "Goo...!!"

"..." Meanwhile, Jace was calmly observing Derek and the slime, not giving any mind to the Magician and Marksman beside him. At that moment, he noticed that the slime was beginning to shake. "Derek, fall back! It's about to release its toxin!"

"...!!" As soon as the brown-haired man took notice of Jace's call out, he leapt back. Right at that second, the slime began secreting out a green poisonous gas around it. However, not long after it did so, Penelope's fireball turned it into grey ash.

"Nice one, Penelope!" Landon did a thumbs up.

"Thanks for the call out, Jace!" Derek grinned.

"...hmph," Penelope rolled her eyes. "Let's continue."

"Haha, looks like we got this in the bag!" Landon cheered.

"Sure..." Jace yawned.

With the four of them combined, the party began defeating slime after slime, powering through the dungeon until they reached the boss room. There, they defeated the big slime boss without much of a struggle.

And so, after only a few hours or so into the dungeon, the first gate of the day was cleared.

And, much like yesterday, Landon and his crew began heading off to the next dungeon, clearing it again without much issues. The party was on a roll, and so they began taking on more and more dungeons, clearing each one without any problems.

With that, the hours of dungeon clearing turned into days, until a week went by just like that.

...

"Wooo!! We're on a roll!" Landon could be seen exiting out of another dungeon with a cheerful expression as always. "Should we go on another one?" As he turned his head over towards the rest of his party, it could be noted that they were visibly tired.

"...just...how many more...dungeons?" Penelope tiredly uttered.

"That's a joke, right?" Derek stared at Landon in shock. "There's no shot you're up for another one..."

"..." Jace sighed.

"Woah, you guys look pretty beat!" Landon blinked.

"Obviously!" Penelope clicked her tongue. "How many dungeons in a row have we gone into for the past few days??? Do you not know of the word 'break'?!"

"W-What...! Hey!" Hearing her complaints, Landon coughed. "It wasn't that much! I mean, in like 6 days, we went into 11 or so dungeons?"

"...7 days, and it's 13," Jace interjected.

"Well, that's for us! For them, it's only 11!" Landon proudly nodded his head.

"Whether it's 11 or 13, it doesn't matter! Let's call it a day today!" Derek cried out.

"Argh, fine, fine!" he sighed. "How about this then? Let's all go out for lunch! My treat!"

"Lunch?!" As soon as Derek heard the word 'lunch', his fatigue suddenly disappeared. "Alright, deal! Let's go!" With brightened eyes, Derek began walking up ahead of the group. "Where to?"

"Should we have some hotpot today? Or maybe BBQ?" Following Landon's question, he turned to look at Jace. "You're coming too, by the way!"

"...do I even have a choice in this?" Jace scratched his head.

"Nope!" he grinned. "Anyways, hotpot or BBQ?"

"Let's go eat some BBQ! I'm craving some meat!" Derek enthusiastically replied.

"Haha, well BBQ it is!" Just as the group was about to head out of the barricaded area, a lady's loud voice suddenly echoed through the streets.

"AHHHH! SOMEONE, CATCH HIM!"