PLAGUE

Arya and Ervin stood in front of the passage leading to the exit. During their previous fight, huge rocks had fallen from the ceiling, blocking the path.

Arya pointed her wand at the rocks and mumbled, "<Fire Beam>." Immediately, a beam of hot flames gushed out from her wand and punched a hole in the rock.

After a few more such attacks, the rocks crumbled, allowing them to exit. Ervin walked towards the exit of the dungeon, his steps lighter than they had been in days.

The exhaustion that he felt was nothing compared to the sweet hope of finally getting a good night's sleep in a warm bed. He was already dreaming about his pillow, but Arya wasn't quite ready to call it a night.

"You guys go on ahead," the redhead said, her tone casual. She then started heading deeper into the dungeon while saying, "I'll meet you at the guildhall the day after tomorrow. So don't worry about anything and rest."

Ervin paused, his excitement deflating slightly. "Are you sure? The dungeon's cleared, and it's late. You should get some rest, too."

Arya waved off his concern with a grin. "Don't worry about me. I just want to check something real quick. Besides, you're the one who looks like he's about to collapse."

Ervin frowned. What she said was true; he was exhausted, and Arya was strong enough to take care of herself. Plus, she had just evolved her class—she was stronger now. "Alright, just be careful."

"Always am," Arya replied, but Ervin somehow found it hard to agree with that statement. If he knew something about her, it was that she was a reckless bull hellbent on charging head-on toward every problem around her.

He just shook his head and watched her for a moment longer, then shrugged and made his way toward the exit. He didn't have the energy to argue, and besides, the redhead was right—he needed sleep. No more giant rats, no more mysterious labs, just the sweet, sweet bliss of sleep.

***********************

Arya descended into the dungeon's depths, her steps quieter than before. Ervin had told her about the third floor and how the giant rats were stored in a lab on that floor.

She wanted to have a closer look at that room. After a bit of searching, she found the staircase leading to the lower floor, but it was blocked by large stones.

She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the pile of rocks, her eyes narrowing as she muttered, "<Fire Beam>."

A thin, concentrated beam of flame shot from her wand, striking the rubble with a sharp hiss. The rocks sizzled and cracked under the heat, and Arya repeated the spell a few more times until the blockage crumbled, revealing a narrow passage leading to a lower floor.

Arya grinned to herself, satisfied. She carefully made her way down until a faint smell of damp earth and metal reached her nose.

At the bottom, Arya found what she had been searching for—a hidden lab, similar to the one Ervin had described. The rats had destroyed everything inside the lab, but the large metallic doors were still intact. Her gaze immediately fell on the message written on the door in dark, dried blood.

The language was ancient, but Arya knew how to read it. She had been taught how to read it by someone very dear to her—her brother. Deciphering the message was easy.

<If you are here to find out more about what happened your father, then don't bother. He is dead. I killed him. Now stop chasing after me and get lost.< p>

P.S. This is a low-level dungeon, so you'll be fine, but don't enter dungeons alone. It's dangerous.>

Arya snorted, her fingers brushing the rough surface of the wall. "I already know that you killed him. I was right there when you did that. What I want to know is your reason for doing it. I know you can hear me, brother. Can't you give your little sister just a tiny clue? I've been a very good girl, haven't I?"

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Then, the blood on the wall began to shift, the words reforming into a new message.

<Good girl? You? The only thing you've ever been is a pain in the backside. Anyway, how do you even know that I can hear you?>

Arya puffed out her chest, a smug smile curling her lips. "Oh please, brother. What do you think I've been doing all this time? I've been reading all kinds of books and researching your class. I found out about all the skills you can learn, including the one you're using right now to hear me speak."

The blood on the wall seemed to pause before it shifted again.

<Whatever, girl. Just stop following me.>

"Sure, as long as you tell me why you killed Father. And I don't need that 'he discriminated against me and treated me like garbage, that's why I killed him' nonsense. Tell me the real reason," Arya proposed, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

There was a longer pause this time, as if her brother was considering her words.

<Well, I killed him because he was a scumbag. Anyway, don't have time to argue with you. work do—PLAGUE needs my help. Now stop bothering me.>

With that final message, the blood began to fade, disappearing back into the wall. Arya didn't seem disappointed, though. In fact, she looked rather pleased with herself.

"PLAGUE, huh?" she murmured, a satisfied smile on her face. "Is that the organization you're working under? Thanks for the info, brother."

With a light-hearted hum, Arya turned and made her way back toward the dungeon's exit.

************************

Meanwhile, in an underground chamber somewhere deep in the forest outside Chandola, Ronan, the red-haired man who had been communicating with Arya, sat on a wooden chair across a plain wooden table. He sighed and deactivated his skill, "<Interact >," and as he did so, a blonde woman with a curvy figure and a sharp, cute face walked into the room, adjusting her spectacles as she went.

She looked to be in her early thirties, and in her left hand, she carried a small suitcase. "Done with your task?" she asked while ruffling his hair.

Ronan just sighed and removed her hand from his head before nodding. "Yeah, I'm done. There was a tiny problem, though—my sister unexpectedly entered the dungeon and killed the mutated rats inside the experiment tube. Fortunately, I managed to collect their blood samples before she interfered."

He held up two large vials—one filled with red blood, the other with a strange green liquid.

The blonde woman took the vials without a word and placed them carefully in her suitcase. "You need to take care of her one of these days," she said, almost as an afterthought, before turning on her heel and heading towards the exit. "Anyway, let's go. We have more important matters to attend to."

Ronan smiled and followed her out of the chamber, his thoughts lingering on his sister. She was getting too close—too close for comfort.

***********************

Back in Chandola, Ervin was having his own adventure—though one far less exciting than Arya's. He had activated "<Lurk >" and entered the same sewage pipe he had used to exit the city earlier. Now, however, he was regretting that decision. The stench was unbearable.

"Man, this stinks," he muttered to himself, holding his nose in a futile attempt to block out the vile smell. He had noticed that his sense of smell seemed to have improved, likely due to all the leveling up he had done recently. Unfortunately, this newfound sensitivity was more of a curse than a blessing at the moment.

He hurried through the pipe, eager to get out as quickly as possible. It didn't take long—thankfully—but by the time he emerged, he felt like he needed a bath, several times over.

He made his way back to his rented home and jumped right into the bathroom for a quick bath. By the time he was done with the bath, it was already time for sunrise, but he didn't care and slipped into his bed.

That was one of the best sleeps of his life. He slept for the entire day. That was nice, but apparently, someone else was getting even more sleep than him.

Systie, the cat, was curled up on the windowsill, fast asleep. A wicked grin spread across Ervin's face as he leaned in close and blew a sharp puff of air into the cat's ear.

"Nyaa! What was that for!?" Systie yowled, leaping into the air with all the grace of a startled kitten. "I was having such a nice dream!"

Ervin chuckled, thoroughly amused by the cat's reaction. "I want to talk to Terra-sama about all the things we found," he said, ignoring Systie's indignant grumbling.

"Damn human, you could have waited until my dream was complete," Systie muttered, though the annoyance quickly faded from its voice. The cat's blue eyes lit up as it prepared to fulfill Ervin's request, projecting the image of Terra, the goddess, into the room.

To Ervin's surprise, Terra was lying on a makeshift sofa, munching on cookies and engrossed in a book. When she noticed Ervin staring at her, she quickly slammed the book shut and tried to hide it behind her back, her face flushing slightly.

"You didn't see what book I was reading, did you?" Terra asked, her tone slightly anxious.

"Nope," Ervin replied instantly, though the truth was quite different. He had definitely seen what she was reading, and it wasn't just any book—it was an adult manga.

Terra eyed him suspiciously, but Ervin kept his expression innocent. After a moment, she seemed to relax. "Good," she said, though there was still a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "So, what do you want to talk about?"