Investigation (4)

Aerym was stunned at Lancell's declaration. From his words, it would seem that this place was a dungeon. That in itself was surprising, but to enter a guardian room with just the two of them?

"That's suicide!" she retorted in complaint, "I'm not going in there!"

Raiding a dungeon guardian room was mostly done in a complete formation of warriors and mages from with differing Paths, in a way that complemented each other's strong point, and covered each other's weakness.

It had always been done like that, as guardians had always been far stronger than any average monsters. And if this dungeon was really a newly formed one, meant that the one in there would be a monster of the Waves. A special variant that was stronger than the normal monsters before the so-called 'Great Shift'.

However, contrary to her expectations, the shit-head didn't seem to have any intentions of stopping as he walked as he waved his hand. With a sidelong glance, he spoke, "Then suit yourself."

Aerym stiffened at his words. She didn't know any method to leave this place, but this shit-head seems to know something. And it was exactly as he had said before. If she wanted to live, her best bet was to stay with him.

She grit her teeth as she swallowed down her frustration, "Ugh!..." however, in the end, she still acquiesced, "fine! But I'm running away once I feel like it's impossible!"

Without stopping, nor looking at her, the shit-head spoke. "Sure."

Her irritation grew at his attitude. That black-haired girl was right. He really talked like everyone other than him was shit. It was kinda annoying, really.

In any case, she had no choice but to follow him, so she ran towards him and stopped just behind him. He glanced at her with a sidelong glance once again, but weirdly, he had a faint smile on his face.

That face...surely, he can't be thinking that she's fallen for him, right?

Aerym hoped he didn't. Or the last vestiges of respect she had for his strength would disappear too.

However, she couldn't help but ask about the weird smile, "What's with that smile?" she said, "it's creepy."

He shrugged. "Yeah," he also agreed despite being slandered, "I get that a lot."

Aerym was dumbfounded. Is this guy really sane? Or was it as she expected. That this shit-head was really treading the Path of a Berserker?

She sighed. She wasn't sure, but she felt like she's knowing him less and less the more she interacted with him.

◇◇◇

Lancell pushed open the large double door that was made purely of steel, and was somehow able to push it. As expected, he was a bit on the weaker side of the spectrum when it comes to raw strength.

The massive doors made a loud metallic creak, as it was slowly pushed open, and the inside was revealed.

Unlike from the outside of the guardian room, it was quite clean inside. The floors were tiled with smooth cobblestone tiles, the walls had torches that burned in a pure crimson colour, the wide space stretched for about 300 square meters, and it was dimly lit inside by the tiny floating yellow orbs the size of a human eyeball.

'These glowing orbs...'

Lancell felt that he might have seen these orbs before, so he consulted Arkenvalle.

(Valle?)

(I'm checking on it.)

It seems Arkenvalle had already read his thoughts, and is checking his memories, however...

(Huh?) Arkenvalle made a confused utter.

(Valle?) Lancell asked, (did you find anything?)

Lancell was a bit worried about what he might learn as Arkenvalle rarely makes these types of reaction. Of course, other than seeing Lancell get hurt. Any other than that was surprisingly met with indifference.

Despite her expression filled personality, she didn't care much about those who didn't have any connections to Lancell.

However, as opposed to what Lancell was thinking, Arkenvalle's answer was really unexpected.

(No,) was her answer, (I didn't find anything...)

Now it was Lancell's turn to get confused. It was impossible to evoke a feeling of nostalgia without having a strong impression of something, and anything subject to strong impressions are definitely inside one's memories without fail.

However, the fact that Lancell didn't know anything, nor did Arkenvalle learn anything from his memories, meant that something was wrong.

His mind may be...

"Huh?" a voice suddenly cut Lancell's train of thought. Lancell looked behind him, and glared at Aerym.

"Now what?" he said with a tone of faint hostility.

Aerym took a subconscious step back, but answered nevertheless, "N-No, it's just," she paused as if hesitating, but then continued, "where's the dungeon guardian?"

Lancell's eyes widened at her reminder. That's right. If there was a dungeon guardian, it would have already rushed towards him and threatened to grind him to dust. After all, guardians hated the very presence of intruders.

He looked around, with a tense face, and saw nothing that resembled traces of a battle.

"What is...going on..." Lancell muttered.

He then looked towards the other side of the room, as he squinted in order to see it clearly. Because of the low visibility, he hadn't actually seen it before but now, he saw it.

"Teleportation Circles...?"

It was the same magical formation that only appeared whenever a dungeon guardian was killed...

Someone had already cleared the dungeon before, and whoever did it, it would be someone unimaginably strong. So much that the dungeon boss was defeated without signs of being able to fight back.

And as far as Lancell knew, not even he could do that.

"Hey," Lancell called out as he glanced at Aerym, "this dungeon's guardian seems to be dead."

"Dead?" Aerym asked, "did you do it?"

"Did you see me do it?" Lancell asked back.

Aerym went silent with a dark face, however, it was good news anyway so she quickly composed herself, and asked, "So? What do we do next?"

Lancell then shifted his gaze forward, and pointed to the direction of the Teleportation Circle.

"For now, we go back."