Chapter 12 Hidden Dungeon (5) Meow

[...]

"..."

[No, you cannot take anything from this world]

"Tch, I hate you system" Elysia muttered in annoyance.

In the destroyed city, a collective group of 50 people walked, among whom only 10 were combat-oriented, and the others were civilians.

Elysia walked among the civilians, portraying herself as a weak girl.

She gazed ahead at a woman's earring—an S-ranked artifact.

Elysia loves treasure the most; whatever treasure she likes, whether in terms of looks or use, she craves it, and it always results in others' misfortune.

Last night, at the center of the Fantastic Forest, a massive explosion occurred along with the roar of an unknown monstrosity, throwing the whole forest into pandemonium.

Many beasts and people died last night, all because of the aura released by the monstrosity. Luckily or unluckily, other strong beasts and some citizens who didn't feel much of its aura survived.

By the time morning arrived, there were many monsters running away from the general location of the monstrosity, resulting in a monster wave that destroyed all four of the fantastic cities.

Luckily for the citizens, there were many Awakeners around them who protected them from the monsters.

Elysia woke up in the morning without a care in the world and witnessed the destroyed city.

Luckily for her, there was a rescue party near her. With her low rank in aura and mana, she easily passed as a civilian; henceforth, there was no need for her to fight and shorten her lifespan.

"Sebs, behind you!" Suddenly, a woman with black hair shouted to a man with brown hair.

Without looking behind, he jumped sideways and dodged a claw slash from a snow liger, easily 2 meters in height even when standing on all four legs.

Sebs looked at the liger and immediately slashed horizontally using his whip blade. However, the liger ducked, and upon seeing this, he flicked his wrist, causing the blade's end to bend and stab the liger in the back.

RAARGGHH

The liger roared in pain and glared at him.

Suddenly, the liger's eyes turned bloodshot, its pupils glowed with a bright blue color, and its body became even bulkier. It rushed towards him at immense speed, not caring about its injured body.

Sebs, in alarm, tried to jump in the air, only for him to suddenly freeze in place for a moment. That moment became the distance between life and death for him, as the liger closed in and bit his upper body in a single bite.

"SEBS!" The same woman screamed in pain and sadness, rushing towards the liger, forgetting her position. This resulted in a breakthrough for the monster's side to attack the weak civilians.

"ELENA! MAINTAIN THE FORMATION!" Another woman with black hair tied in a ponytail shouted, but her words were not heard by the woman in rage.

Another man with red hair, seeing this, fired a massive fireball at the direction which he was assigned and assisted in the position left behind by Elena as well as his own.

"EMI, I will see her position as well, so let her pour her rage on that beast." He shouted to the woman in question and immediately fired a wind slash, killing another monster attacking the group.

"<Quick Draw: Dark Slash>"

Elena arrived in front of the berserk liger and slashed at it, but instead of backing away, it slashed towards her with its claws. She, in her rage, still held a certain amount of rationality; henceforth, midway through her slash, she changed the direction and slashed at the liger's claws.

Although she did block the attack, she misjudged the strength behind it and was thrown away, colliding with a tree and breaking it in the process.

<Earth Spear>

The moment she was pushed back, a spear came from beneath the liger and impaled its heart.

Upon seeing it happen, Elena glared at the man who did it, who only looked at her with stern eyes and said coldly, "I do not care about your revenge, except for this mission which I have been assigned, and because of you, they might die, so calm down and take care of other monsters."

Elena continued to glare at the blond-haired man and started to kill the monsters which she could handle while her eyes teared up, and she started crying along with killing the monsters.

'He froze up for a moment, a mistake he wouldn't do in the middle of the battle; something happened to him, and I guess it is because of someone.' Blondy mused and killed an ape with an earthen spear.

'But who would kill him? And not to mention right now?' He thought and assisted his teammate by releasing earth spikes beneath the wolf about to attack a woman who was fighting with a spear.

'Thank goodness, Joseph stopped Elena and killed that liger, but still, why did Sebs freeze when he was about to dodge i-' The spear-wielding woman thought, only to sharply turn around and seeing earth spikes and a wind wolf dodge it. "Thanks, Joseph," she shouted and went to attack the wolf.

After battling for 1 hour straight, when the sun shone directly above the group, which is now decreased to 49, all of the monsters attacking the group finally died.

"Guys, let's not waste time and hurry on to the shelter," Emi, the girl with black hair tied in a ponytail, said. Upon listening to her, others nodded, and Elena, although extremely tired now, finally calmed and just looked at the ground in silence.

"Emi, let them rest for ten minutes; let's talk in private for a bit." Joseph was the only one who disagreed with her. She, after hearing him, looked at her companions, only to nod and follow him at a distance.

'Hmm, these guys from C to B Rank are quite strong, but still, I only saw three colors of auras on them. I wonder why?' Elysia, after sitting against a broken wall, thought to herself.

'Say, System, can you reveal just a little bit of anything regarding this world to me?'

[No, you have to know about it yourself.]

'Tsk.'

[…]

'But still, I wonder what happened last night? That shapeshifter's soul signature has vanished, and its location was on the same direction as to where the incident happened last night. Sigh~ there goes my potential pet.'

[You were really dead set on having it as your pet, huh?]

'Why yes, indeed, but oh well, she is dead, so here I am searching once again.'

"Alright, guys, let's go; the break time is up." The moment ten minutes were up, Joseph and Emi returned from their private talk and instructed everyone to be ready to move once again.

"Everyone be in the formation which we discussed before, and Joseph, as well as Sophie, you are supposed to fill in the spot left behind by Sebs."

"Yes, Captain," the girl with short dark blue hair replied, while Joseph just nodded and stood behind everyone, keeping his eyes forward towards the civilians, looking out for them or pretending to look out for them, and instead searching for the one responsible for Sebs' death.

…

After an uneventful walk for two hours, the group finally reached the center of the city, or what was left of it, and entered a building guarded by four guards.

Emi went to talk with them for a bit, and in just seconds, she called for the group to arrive, which they promptly did.

"Alright, guys, just go inside the building and walk down the stairs leading to the underground shelter," Emi said and went somewhere else.

Other Awakeners took the civilians towards the underground shelter.

…

The underground shelter, a massive space easily half the size of West Fantastic City, was undoubtedly very simple in appearance, with only mana-enchanted lights hanging on the ceiling and an extremely large amount of space separated by genders in the middle.

Elysia kept walking calmly and continued to eavesdrop on the conversation in the hope of learning anything. Finally, she had her answer regarding the auras after listening to two elves talking about it.

There are five types of auras in the world: Red, Blue, Green, Violet, and White. Each color represents the type of Awakener the individual is. Red Types are those who have awakened in the physique department, Blue for Magical, Green for Mind Types, Violet for Soul Types, and White for those who have awakened in all four types.

There are some individuals who have awakened with two types of auras, but eventually, by ranking up higher, the colors fuse together and form another color.

She also found many interesting things, like names of Royal Family Members of all six kingdoms.

She even learned about a fallen race who were hunted down by the six races and are still pursued to this day. They once had their kingdom established in Azaroth, but it was destroyed long ago. Others speculate that they were the ones behind this incident, and she sensed their hatred and wrath, which poses a threat to her, as it is a race that might result in her being hunted down - The Vampire Race.

She even learned about how others cultivate in this world, which is the same as her own universe.

The creation of a core, increasing its size along with the formation of rings, which is limited to seven for all states; Gas, Liquid, Solid States, along with the drop stage.

In the state stage, the energy is compressed and increased in amount to increase the rank or change its state, but after reaching seven rings in Soild State, the energy is further compressed to the point it creates a drop of liquid, and those drops determine your rank. The thing is that the drop state goes infinitely. But there has been no one, whether in her Universe or this world, who has reached it, all according to what Elysia currently knows.

"Meow."

Shaking her out of a concentrated state, she heard a cat mewing beneath her, and upon looking down, she saw a cat with the purest of black fur and the most beautiful violet-colored eyes she had ever seen.

"Meow."

The cat meowed once more and touched her legs with both of its front paws, as if asking to be carried.

Elysia, finding the cat cute, took it in her arms and looked at its eyes while smiling softly.

'I couldn't detect it, neither can I through its soul, and it can only mean one thing: this cat has a soul stronger than mine,' she thought to herself, once again muttered, "Damn System."