Getting closer(4)

Zoe, who had remained at the entrance that would lead her to the 19th floor, checked her surroundings carefully. She could hear several monsters roaring in the distance, but none of them had approached the area where she was standing.

Twenty minutes had already passed since Mark had left, and with the fact that nothing had happened during that time, it was both a source of relief and boredom, but even so, she could not help but feel curious about what Mark was doing.

"Maybe it's something he has to do for his Familia... however, he said it was about him."

Even though she was curious, she still wouldn't ask Mark anything unless he said so of his own accord. She had begun to really enjoy Mark's company and did not want to put him back in an uncomfortable position like last time-.

'throb'

Suddenly she felt a strong pulsation that forced her to clutch her chest without even being able to breathe because of the pain. Along with the pain, she was able to see several images of various monsters gathered in a kind of cave, but the strange thing was that these monsters, unlike the usual ones, were able to convey various feelings from their expression; in fact, they looked worried and after an explosion, that pain in her chest disappeared and she was able to breathe again.

'pant' 'pant'

Zoe was breathing heavily, and her back was covered with a layer of cold sweat. Never in her life had she experienced something so unpleasant that she was still terrified of it, but more than anything else, she could not understand what she had just seen.

"Just-just what was that?"

With her head still full of doubt and her heart pounding heavily, she lost consciousness, but the bizarre thing was that her body did not collapse to the ground. She stood as before, but if anyone had been paying attention, they could have seen that her eyes were clouded.

Thereafter, the body that until then had remained still, took its first step, then its second step beginning to move faster and faster, and the direction in which she was heading was none other than the cave in which Mark was standing.

(Perspective Mark.)

Mark, who had been amazed by the strange characteristic of these monsters, had to recover quickly since they had started attacking again.

Various golden, razor-sharp feathers were fired at high speed at Mark, who retreated once again to avoid the barrage.

The moment he retreated, the lizardman and the gargoyle attacked him from both sides, but they were blinded by magic circles that quickly appeared around him.

"GHHA!"

The burning in their eyes and ringing ears made them cry out in pain.

Mark swung his sword, but the two monsters were dragged away by a web shot from the arachne at the bottom, managing to wound them only superficially.

The attack of monsters continued, a goblin with a pair of daggers, a war shadow covered in armor and other monsters attacked him together.

Seeing them coming, Mark fired several 'electric explosions' managing to thin out the group. Some of the monsters were thrown off, while some were injured to protect those who seemed weaker.

"GRRROOOAR!"

Out of the cloud of dust generated by Mark's magic came a humanoid goat-like monster more than two meters tall and holding a huge mace in its hand, which it crushed against Mark.

Mark tried to avoid the bat but was again in the crosshairs of the mermaid's feathers, which blocked his movement and forced him to support the full weight of the attack.

'BOOOM!

"GUH!"

Raising his sword, he managed to parry, but the strength of the hit almost forced him to kneel even with the support of his aura, and several web-like cracks formed on the ground.

The two remained in a standoff, but considering that he was surrounded by enemies, one of them tried to attack him while he was stuck.

"I've had enough! Intent!"

Along with the release of his ability, he activated the partial transformation again.

The weaker monsters remained petrified, but some felt only a strong pressure being generated by the human in front of them.

The monster goat, which was putting pressure on Mark, had an expression of pain as it supported the electrical discharges generated by Mark's body, thus decreasing the force it was exerting.

The moment the weight dropped, Mark tilted his sword, sliding the club away, and sent a mighty kick to the monster's chest that sent it flying away.

The moment the monster flew away, the lizardman, the gargoyle, and the arcane immediately attacked.

Arachne fired a web to slow his movements, but under the effects of the transformation, he managed to avoid it easily and immediately prepared to handle the attacks of the other two.

The three exchanged dozens of blows, managing to injure each other but none who could gain the upper hand.

Individually Mark, under the effects of the partial transformation, was stronger than any of them, but with the monsters cooperating perfectly with each other, executing the decisive attack was proving more complicated than expected and his stamina was wearing out quickly as he activated the transformation to reach the cave.

'fush!

The arachne's spear grazed his arm and he was barely able to block the attack of the other two, and as he was being blocked by the two, the siren, who until then had not been able to fire her most given Mark's proximity to the other monsters, attacked downhill with her eagle-like legs.

Just as she was about to reach him, there was a change and Mark's aura exploded tremendously, with various electric shocks being thrown around.

Mark was waiting for that moment. The presence of the siren attacking from afar and being constantly protected greatly restricted Mark's movements, so for this reason, he decided to fight the various monsters up close. From the beginning, he had left part of his concentration on the siren's movements waiting for her to get closer and now was the time.

"KYAA!"

The aura explosion caused by Mark forced the monsters to retreat slightly, but the siren did not have time to stop and had to support all the electric discharges with her body alone, but Mark did not stop there. He grabbed the siren's leg and swung it horizontally toward the monsters, flinging them away.

'tonf'

Mark threw the mermaid's body to the ground, and when he was about to pierce her head, a cry was heard.

"NOOOO!"

The tip of Mark's sword stopped immediately, even so, a small drop of blood came out of the mermaid's forehead, which glanced close to her eyes filled with terror and resignation.

"No? Now I'm really surprised, monsters that can talk is new to me. So in the name of all the bizarre things happening in the dungeon, what are you?" -Mark asked, keeping the tip of his sword suspended above the mermaid's head.

Although he was looking at them as if he was all right, he was not. He had already used up a lot of stamina, and when he activated the full transformation, he was even more exhausted. He was currently holding himself up stiffly, so he had to demonstrate his presence.

"..."

At his words, the monsters remained silent as they looked at each other agitatedly.

"Nothing? Then it looks like I can kill her."

"Wait! I'll tell you everything!" -The lizardman shouted quickly.

"Lyd are you crazy! He's a human and he's alone, we should just attack him!" -Shouted the gargoyle angrily.

"Gros is right!" -Aracne joined in.

"Do you want Ray to die!"

"Guys... go without me. I don't want to lose you just to save myself." -Said the siren weakly, blocked by Mark.

"Never!"

Seeing the various monsters discuss and their sense of camaraderie, Mark began to feel increasingly strange.

'Am I the bad guy in this situation?'-He couldn't help but wonder, but he was also beginning to feel annoyed.

"Can you all shut your mouths?"

His voice was weak, but the coldness hidden in those words silenced the crowd.

"Finally. Now if you answer my questions you can leave, that includes this siren." -Said Mark quietly.

"How can we believe you? You, humans, are all the same, mean and wicked." -Said the gargoyle angrily, pointing at him.

"Now let's add a new rule, you dare to say anything else and she dies, and believe me when I say I will." -Mark frostily replied.

Seeing the dangerous glint of the blade hanging above his companion's head, the gargoyle gritted his teeth in anger, but even so, he did not open his mouth.

"...Although his words were harsh, it is true that we have no reason to believe you." -The lizardman said after a moment of silence.

"Doesn't the fact that none of you have died yet count as proof?"

At his words, the various monsters opened their eyes in surprise. As he had said, none of them were dead, and the wounds some of them had, could be healed in a short time.

Obviously, the reason was because of Mark's decision. Initially, he thought he would kill them and get it over with, but as he studied their aura, he noticed that almost none of them wanted to kill him. All of them were simply frightened by his presence, so Mark tried to limit himself. However, there were individuals like the gargoyle and the arachne who felt a strong enmity toward him; therefore, he would have no problem killing at least them, and based on the condition the shard was in, he could easily change his mind about letting them go free.

"I'll talk." -Said the lizardman with a sigh.

"Not so fast lizardman. All of you put down your weapons and step back as far as you can."

The various monsters looked at each other indecisively, considering whether it was the right thing to do.

"What you are worried about? Heck, you are monsters, your bodies are weapons in themselves. What does it cost you to throw away the weapons in your hands?" -Said Mark exasperated.

The various monsters, the lizardman, and even the siren looked at him strangely, but after a while, they obeyed and walked away.

"You are a strange human, you know?" -said the lizardman with a touch of interest.

"From my point of view, you are the odd one out. Now will you answer my question and tell me what you are?"

"We call ourselves Xenos."

"Xenos?"

"That's right. As you can see, we are monsters, but we possess memories... memories of our previous life that allowed us to gain intelligence. Hoh! Before I forget, my name is Lyd"-Spoke the lizardman, or rather Lyd.

"This is quite... surprising." -Said Mark to himself.

[Not really. With the continuous cycle of death and rebirth, coupled with the fact that the reincarnation system of this place is of a fairly low level, I am not surprised that the accumulation of memories, that have occurred over decades, have created some artificial soul.]

'Artificial soul?"-Mark asked confused.

[It is a soul that can only continue to exist in the world in which it exists.]

Mark nodded in understanding.

"I see, so I guess this is your territory, but I don't understand one thing. You as well as many others, didn't seem to want to kill me, why?"

This was a point of particular interest to Mark.

"We don't want more enemies. Even though the dungeon is our home, we still get attacked by other monsters, and the reason we try to avoid interacting with adventurers as much as possible is because of our dream."

"What dream?"

"The surface." -Lyd said wistfully - "I have only a few memories, but among those is the surface, and every time I think of that scenery, I can't help but be fascinated. The others are also similar to me."

"I understand. You know that the adventurers are on the surface, so if you attacked them in the dungeon, it would make it more difficult for your dream to be realized... however, I doubt those on the surface will be so happy to see monsters coming out of the dungeon to get some sun." -Said Mark mercilessly.

"Even so, I hope that in the future it will be possible. If we don't create problems and help those in need, don't you also think it's possible?"

Hearing his words, Mark shook his head weakly. The relationship between people and monsters was too complex to be called simply bad. Whether it was politics, tradition, economics but also people themselves, monsters had to remain the bad figures, because the moment this fact changed, the balance of the world would be broken.

"Haaaa... I can see that you are honest and do not possess any bad intentions, so if you answer one last thing, which is also the reason I came here, I will go away and pretend I didn't see anything."

"All right, I'll trust it."

"Have you by any chance seen a cube of this size that seems to have several bright patterns?" -Mark explained.

"A cube?"

Lyd tilted his head in confusion, not understanding what he was referring to, while the siren, who was being held hostage, suddenly widened her eyes.

"I think I know where it is, or rather who has it." -She said weakly.

Mark looked at her deeply for a few seconds, but then withdrew the sword and put it back into its scabbard.

"Thank you, my name is Ray." -Politely said the siren once she was on her feet.

"Where is it?" -Mark asked again.

"It has-"

"Someone is coming!"

Before she could finish, someone shouted, and approaching footsteps began to be heard.

"You-"

"Ohi, don't look at me like that. I remind you that while we were fighting we made quite a bit of noise." -Said Mark in his defense.

"I said not to believe that human!"

"Calm down Gros, as he said, it's not his fault! Why else would he have released her?"

As they argued, the person behind those steps finally showed up, but when Mark saw her, he was speechless.

"Zoe?"