Chapter 28

I decided to ignore the invisible person for now as I turned and began to walk away, "We are going to die," The woman called out, her anger fading into fear.

"We all die at one point or another," I said as I strode toward the exit of the room.

I felt the healer and the last remaining fighter look at each other before charging at me, "If you are going to leave us to die, then we'll take you with us," the man cried, clearly driven over the edge by this situation.

The woman cast some sort of buff magic on the man before falling to her knees and clutching her head. She was clearly very close to mind down, which just made things easier for me. The man finally reached me and began to swing wildly with his blade. I simply dodged and ducked under his blows before I thrust forward with my spear, tearing a hole in the man's stomach. He stumbled back and held a hand to the wound to keep his innards from falling out.

I casually walked forward toward the man, causing him to grit his teeth and place both hands on his blade. With his hand gone, there was nothing keeping his guts inside his body, so they began to seep out of the wound and hang toward the ground. The man stepped forward to swing, but I moved faster and rammed my spear through the underside of his chin, watching as it protruded from the top of his head. The man's body fell to the floor with a thud, leaving only the woman, who looked up at me from her place on the ground. Blood poured from her nose, and her eyes were drooping to the point of almost being closed.

"I want you to know that you brought this upon yourself," I said, readying my spear.

"We would have died anyways," She said with resignation as she closed her eyes fully.

I just shrugged, perhaps she was right, but there is always a chance. I didn't extend her suffering and killed her with a single stroke of my spear. The man with one arm looked at me lifelessly from his place on the ground as I walked over. It seemed that he had died from blood loss in the time the healer had her attention on me. Lastly, I turned to the woman who hadn't moved from her place on the floor. I used a foot to turn her over, finding her eyes open and looking at me in pain and fear. She tried to speak, taking a few times actually to get the words out.

"I can't move," she eventually cried, tears streaming down her face.

I knelt down beside her and spoke, "Just close your eyes, and it will all be over,"

Her bloodshot eyes bulged as her cry increased in volume, "NO, NO, NO," she wailed.

"Okay," I said, getting up and walking away.

As I did so, I noticed a Ligerfang stalking into the room from behind the woman. It clearly had its eyes locked on her, so I decided just to let nature take its course. I had offered her an out, but she didn't want it. That concluded my business here, so I just finally continued on my journey to Rivira. I encountered a few monsters, but for the most part, it was smooth sailing all the way down to the 17th floor. There was no Goliath present, so I made my way to the 18th floor with no difficulties.

I noticed that the invisible presence stopped following me once I reached the safe floor. I just shrugged, maybe she's gone back to Hermes, I thought as I walked toward the edge of the floor, avoiding the man-made town. I passed by many inviting-looking lakes, but I ignored them all as forged a path to the edge of the floor. When I arrived at the edge of the floor, I called upon Regulus's power to create a small room in the wall of the dungeon. I stepped inside and reshaped the wall behind me, leaving a few inconspicuous holes to let air inside.

The space was only about the size of a small bathroom since I didn't want to risk pissing off the dungeon by tampering with the walls too much. Once it was secure, I placed a hand on the floor and used Regulus to engrave the same exact magic circle from my room onto the floor instantly. Then, I reshaped the rock and exited the area before sealing the way behind me. Then, I sat on the ground and gathered an immense amount of magicules for about 20 seconds before I disappeared from my position and appeared back on the magic circle inside the wall.

[Spatial Magic: Warp Portal acquired]

I leaned against the wall as I recover from the shock of having about two-thirds of my reserve instantly depleted. I exited the room and sealed it behind me once more before heading off toward a small but close-by lake. I stored my clothes inside my storage before hopping inside the lake. Due to Clean Wash, it had actually been a while since I had last bathed normally, I enjoyed the feeling of the cool water surrounding my body as I swam. As I lounged in the lake, I considered Warp Portal.

With the spell, I can teleport to any magic circle I have created from anywhere, but it costs an extreme amount of mana, and it takes time. I can mitigate the time and cost by teleporting directly from one magic circle to another, but I would mostly do that only when transporting from my room to the dungeon. I figured I would usually just teleport from whatever floor I am on directly to my room instead of trekking back here to conserve costs. I forced myself to stop thinking for a moment as I floated in the water.

For just a moment, I emptied out my mind and just enjoyed my surroundings without thinking about my plans for the future. I closed my eyes and just floated in the cool water of the small lake. I don't know how long I just floated there, but I eventually snapped out of my thoughts and returned to the shore, and got dressed. Now that I had my teleportation circles placed, I was more motivated to hunt monsters and power up since I can now cut out having to do all that walking and running. I decided to go down to the 19th floor instead of heading up. I had been through those floors once, and I figured that was enough.

Once I was ready, I headed back through the forest toward the location of the town. Once I neared the town, I saw a large party of adventurers gearing up. There were quite a few of the Loki familia's banners held high, which confused me. The Loki familia had just gotten back from an expedition, so it was unlikely they were immediately heading out on another one. After gazing at the armor and nervous looks of the adventurers and their armor and weapons, I realized what it was. They seem to be getting ready to challenge Goliath, I thought as I scanned the crowd, locating Finn and the Hiryute sisters.

Finn, as per usual, seemed to notice me the moment I spotted him. He waved to me, so I took that as an invitation to approach and speak to him, no matter if it was or not. He glanced over as I approached, but most of his attention seemed focused on the group of Loki familia adventurers who were split into spads, with a leader for each spad directing their squad while also communicating with the other spad leaders. Above all of the squad leaders was a nervous-looking man who directed them. It was clear from his posture that he was very nervous to be performing in front of Finn.

"You must be the hardest working person I know," I said casually to Finn.

I wasn't sure if we were actually close enough for me to just talk to him, but he retained a friendly attitude as he answered me, "I only do what is best for myself and the rest of the familia he said,"

"You call me hard-working, but it seems to me like you live in the dungeon," He said with a chuckle.

I was about to respond, but the two Amazonian sisters approached, they both waved at me as they walked over, "Come to check me out again?" Tiona asked with a good-natured laugh.

"Perhaps," I said with an embarrassed smile.

"You seem stronger than before, and it also seems like it's your first time here in Rivira, want a tour?" She said as she casually tried to get closer to Finn, "We won't have much to do since Goliath isn't due to spawn for a while,"

I thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Sure,"