Chapter 23: The Scout

The spell Hiroko was about to cast got canceled by the creatures attack. The beast charged in and hit Hiroko which sent her back a bit.

"Hiroko are you okay!!" I shout before charging towards the beast.

Quickly charging in Mika begins slashing once more while hitting as many spots as he can before the creature reacts. Hitting vital point after vital point till he can finally hit a real fatal blow to this thing.

Time to combine this with my skill to finish this beast.

Force. As the skill activates and hits the center of the beast Mika strikes at the same exact time causing his blade to slash right through with no problem.

Slicing through the beast and splitting it in half as blood spills all over him.

I think that worked out better than the previous attack had but now I've gotta check on Hiroko.

Mika heads over to Hiroko with his blade sheathed once more, but as he gets over there he realizes she's okay but got the wind knocked out of her.

"Hey you okay?" I ask as I help her up.

"Yeah just took it out of me for a moment there." Answers Hiroko as she looks behind Mika.

The room began to light up to the point where neither of us could see, then suddenly we were in another room. That's the problem with these dungeons, the constant switching when things are done.

I wiped the blood off me and made sure nothing was around to attack us once more.

Sight.

Scanning around the room I couldn't see anything this time except for a weird wall that got picked up last second.

ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕟 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕨𝕠 𝕗𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕣𝕤! 𝔹𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕨 𝕚𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕣𝕖𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕.

That's the first time I've seen a message from this system in awhile but is it okay to trust it? This was last seen in the leaderboard viewer when I first realized everything was happening.

"𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕠 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕄𝕚𝕜𝕒." Says a voice before disappearing.

This is definitely not something that happens all the time I'm going to stay on guard for the time being.

"It should be safe Hiroko." I say while looking towards the spot in the wall.

"I hope that's true." Responds Hiroko as she stands by Mika.

After a second goes by we begin heading towards the wall and then realize it opens up as we get close to it. Now it's time to see what waits ahead of us.

The two of them head into the opened wall and are greeted by a mysterious figure who bares a Wolf mask on his face.

"It seems I was right to send word of a hero being here." Says the person whose voice sounds deep and sinister.

"Who the hell are you?" I ask while pulling my sword back out from the sheathe.

"That you'll know one day but today isn't it Mika. I'm just here to share something with you before your unfortunate downfall." Answers the person.

The presence of magic here felt a lot stronger when we entered then it did on the first floor but I can't figure out what it's coming from yet. If it's from that person it's quite a problem we'll have to deal with.

"What the hell are you talking about?!?" I ask with an angry tone.

"Again I can't spoil everything. But the hero you're looking for is here hidden on the final floor below us. The dungeon doesn't count the floor for it's probably not been included in the clearing conditions here. So head below and you'll find your scout." Answers the person while opening a passageway with the snap of their fingers.

As much as I want to fight this person it won't end well for us. I'll take this act of kindness before it's too late so we can find this scout and get our information.

"Let's go Hiroko." I say while walking towards the passageway.

Hiroko follows behind Mika and they both ignore the person sitting there while entering the passageway. As the two walk through the passageway everything seems to be changing the further they get.

The surroundings start to morph and change into a forest while a group of people appear ahead of them.

"That was weird as hell but who are they?" I ask while looking at the group ahead of us.

"I really don't know." Answers Hiroko while trying to get a better look.

About a minute or two goes by and we arrive at the exit of the passageway that use to be there, the group before is now gone.

I don't know what is going on here but I believe some sort of manipulation magic is being used on us. That's the only reason we'd be seeing things that aren't actually here or maybe that's why that group just disappeared.

The surrounding area remained the same but the two of them got a feeling like someone was watching them.

"This doesn't seem right. This could be a trap for the hero to get us." I say while looking around the area.

"I agree, we should be on guard." Replies Hiroko while drawing her short sword.

Hiroko was more of a magic person but she might be depleted from that fight. Shit that means if push comes to shove I'll be the one fighting this hero for the most part.

"You are quite a mysterious creature Mika. Always managing to find at least one of us." Says a man close by.

"I'm going to assume you're Nyoshi, show yourself coward." I reply while looking around with my sword out.

"Wise are you. You don't know all my abilities Mika but sure I'll show myself to my enemy." Says Nyoshi while using speed magic to dash by.

Within moments Nyoshi is a few meters away from Mika staring directly at him.

"Quite fast you are. I would say I'm surprised but I was waiting to meet a hero with speed magic." ai reply while looking at Nyoshi.

Nyoshi wore rogue like armor with an assassins scowl and some sort of mask covering his face. It was perfect for someone like him so no one ever knew what he looked like.

"Nice outfit. One would perceive you to be a normal adventurer but that is classic deception." Says Hiroko while gazing at his gear.

"Ah the traitor speaks up, about time. No matter I'll make sure you both die here today." Responds Nyoshi while pulling out strange blades.

The blades resembled that of mini claymore but to make blades resembling such a thing seems pointless. Why not just use an actual claymore, but I guess he prefers to have his speed.

Within a few moments Nyoshi was gone before their eyes like he was never there but that only meant a battle was about to begin with the hero.

"Be ready he's bound to attack." I say while scouting my surroundings.

I wonder if I could counter him fast enough with pause but it could be hard to anticipate his attacks. After this I'm definitely considering speed magic as my next source of magic.

After the thought left me I could hear just barely the sound of a branch breaking behind me.

3, 2, 1.

Clang!!!!

In that exact moment I was face to face once more with my sword holding back both his blades.

"I'm sure that's not the fastest your magic can go right?" I ask while holding my sword against his blades.

"This was just to test your reflexes. It won't be like this next attack." Responds Nyoshi while getting ready to move away.

Pause.