Absorbing the Dungeon Core

"How long do you plan to hug me?"

Sylvia looked at me with a chilling gaze. Her eyes were so cold that I felt as though I was freezing.

Moreover, seeing her flames roasting the bees around us mercilessly, I could not help but imagine what would happen if she decides to use them against me.

Involuntarily, I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

I hurriedly released Sylvia and stepped backward with an awkward expression.

"S-Sorry, i-it was unintentional. You see, that was the only way to protect you with my ability. I'm not very good at using it yet."

Sylvia narrowed her eyes and stared at me fixedly. For some reason, her sky-blue eyes made me very nervous.

"… Dad told me that I must be careful about scum womanizers. Could it be that you are one of them?"

"Hey! I have had only a girlfriend in my life! I'm not a womanizer!"

"So you hugged me even though you have a girlfriend? Scum."

"… Please stop." I sighed with a bitter smile. "We already broke up, okay? She broke up with me just today, in fact."

"Really?" Sylvia stared at me suspiciously as if she wanted to see if I was lying. But after staring at me for several seconds, she sighed.

"Okay, I will trust you for now. However, you should stop hugging unknown girls as you please. Someday, you could end killed due to it."

I gulped down nervously.

Really…? Is she threatening me because I hugged her…?

Smiling bitterly, I hurriedly thought of something to change the topic.

"Then… What now?" Stupid mind. Can't you think of anything better!?

Sylvia shrugged indifferently.

"Now we just need to wait for a few hours. The monsters in the dungeon will come towards this place instinctively. We need to kill all of them before destroying the dungeon or they will fall into the real world."

I nodded to myself and fell deep in thought.

I already knew about what Sylvia said. After all, it's common knowledge among the public.

Clearing a dungeon is not only about destroying the core, but also killing all the monsters inside first.

When the core is destroyed, all the creatures inside will be returned to one of the two worlds a few minutes later. Due to that, all the monsters inside must be killed, otherwise, they could appear in the real world and kill innocent citizens.

And the best way to do it is waiting in the core. After all, the creatures inside dungeons are attracted to the mana of the core.

The time one needs to wait depends on the size and amount of mana in the dungeon. This one is pretty small, so at most, we need to wait two or three hours.

Unfortunately, I can't wait for that much.

I need the mana in the core to save my life.

If I wait, there is a high chance of an Awakened from the outside coming inside the dungeon. By then, it will be much harder to approach the core.

Now, Sylvia is the only one here besides myself. Even if she is stronger than me, I have a pretty good chance of reaching the core if I'm smart.

… It will be a bit troublesome if monsters escape outside, but the monsters inside the dungeon are not very strong. Plus, this place is a few kilometers away from the city. At most, I can ask my mother to send people to comb the place for monsters after this.

Just in case, though, I decided to wait another hour. Right now, I have been inside this dungeon for around four hours, and normally, it takes ten hours after a dungeon appears for an Awakened to be allowed to go inside.

Doing my best to not behave suspiciously, I waited near the core together with Sylvia.

One hour later, only a wolf and a few rats had appeared, and the last monster that appeared was twenty minutes ago.

'… Most of the monsters in the dungeon should have been killed already. I can't lose more time.'

With that thought in my mind, I looked at Sylvia.

"Hey, I will look at the core for a bit. I'm a bit curious about it."

"Okay." She said indifferently, not suspecting anything.

The core was like a sphere of light. It was sucking and releasing mana constantly at an amazing rate.

Moreover, the amount of mana inside it was so astonishing that I felt my hair standing up.

'Is it a core?' I gulped nervously. I was not sure if a human could survive after being in contact with so much energy.

However, I don't have another option if I want to live.

It will be a bit troublesome if Sylvia or someone else asks me about it afterward, but now, I don't have the leisure to worry about that.

Taking a deep breath, I took a step closer to the core.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I heard Sylvia's suspicious voice. "Getting too close to the core is dangerous."

But I ignored her. Instead, I rushed towards it!

"Wait! Stop, idiot!"

In an instant, I appeared in front of the core. Then, I extended my hand.

As soon as I touched it, an immense amount of energy entered my body!

My vision turned white, and an enormous pain assaulted every one of my nerves. But when I thought I was about to die, the familiar voice of the demon resounded in my mind.

[Well done. This should be enough.]

Immediately, my consciousness darkened, and I fainted for the third time today.

The last thing I saw before fainting was the whitish-blue hair of Sylvia as she shook her head.

"… Really, what is wrong with this guy? And why he is not dead after swallowing so much energy? As expected, he is not normal..."