As they walked across a long, narrow suspension bridge built over a deep subterranean fissure, chilly air currents blew up from the abyss below, fluttering their clothes.
Greg was the first to step onto the relatively stable stone platform on the other side. Stopping in his tracks, he waited until Vivian walked across safely before turning around. His gaze settled on her still-serene face, a trace of awkwardness flitting through his amber eyes as he scratched his slightly messy blond hair:
“Um... sorry about earlier. I think I got a little too excited with my tone.”
Though it was for her own good, looking back on it, that tone really had been a bit excessive.
Nightmare suddenly interjected inside his mind: “Heh, admit it. You panicked. Worry makes one frantic, my other half~”
Greg: “Shut up!”
Nightmare: “See? You're panicking again.”
Greg: “I fucking...! If you bother me again, believe me, I'll teach you what Hajimi Blue North Mung Bean really means!”
While Greg was engaged in this silent and childish argument with Nightmare in his mind, Vivian had already stepped off the last few wooden planks of the suspension bridge, setting foot on the solid rock ground.
She shook her head slightly, her long ice-blue hair gently swaying with the movement. Her voice was calm, yet carried a deep, heavy weight that Greg didn't quite understand:
“That wasn't your fault.”
She paused, lifting her ice-blue eyes to look at Greg. Deep within them clearly rested a complex and heavy guilt.
“The one in the wrong... has always been me.”
Greg instantly snapped back from his mental squabble with Nightmare, his brain struggling to process her words.
Wait, what did she mean by "the one in the wrong has always been me"?
Wasn't it just that she lost focus for a second and got ambushed?
Sure, it was dangerous, but didn't everything turn out fine in the end?
Wasn't this level of guilt way over the top?
Completely unable to comprehend the complex emotions surging within Vivian right now, he simply assumed she was still blaming herself excessively for her lapse during the ambush earlier.
“Ahem.”
Greg cleared his throat:
“It really can't be blamed entirely on you. If we're being honest, I carry an undeniable share of the responsibility as well.”
After striking a mock-thoughtful pose for a moment, he continued:
“How about this? We turn the page on everything in the past and never mention it again. From now on, let's just focus on the present, okay? After all, the present and the future are what matter most.”
Vivian looked into Greg's amber eyes, which remained bright even in the dim surroundings.
Within her ice-blue eyes, that dense layer of guilt gradually dissolved, replaced by a reignited, even firmer light.
She gave a gentle nod, the corners of her lips curving upward by what seemed like a microscopic fraction of a pixel.
“Mm.”
Her voice was soft, yet it bore a relieved, resolute affirmation to move forward side by side.
Seeing that this matter was finally put behind them, Greg secretly breathed a sigh of relief and refocused his attention on their surroundings.
They had already left the relatively safe shallow and middle layers, officially stepping into the true deep zone—a place neither Greg nor Victoria and her group had ever trodden before.
Here, the air was thicker, and the mana concentration was noticeably higher, bringing with it a stronger sense of oppression and a subtle thread of danger.
Beneath their feet lay rugged, jagged black rock, with more ruin fragments scattered around, as if recounting the downfall of some ancient civilization.
Standing at the edge of this relatively open cliffside platform and gazing into the distance, one could vaguely make out a massive, shattered, distorted temple-like structure, standing silently at the horizon like the carcass of a slumbering behemoth.
That was the final objective of their journey—the domain of the second layer's Floor Boss.
Greg took a deep breath, once again checking the specially reinforced pouch at his waist, which was divided into numerous small compartments.
Inside were dozens of alchemy potion bottles of various colors, neatly lined up.
All of these were tailor-made for him by Chloe at his special request, customized according to the weaknesses of the monsters that appeared on the second layer.
Until he was completely certain whether Vivian was truly worthy of full trust, Greg wanted to avoid revealing his trump card—dark-attribute magic—in front of her as much as possible.
Even when facing the Floor Boss, he planned to have Vivian serve as the primary attacker for the raid.
Thinking of Chloe brought a faint warmth to Greg's heart.
When he went to see her with a long list of materials and desired effects, she immediately pushed aside Victoria—who had been bargaining with her—and kicked her out of the shop. Her eyes instantly lit up, and she accepted the commission without a second thought.
And when Greg offered to put it on credit first, Chloe merely shook her head firmly and said with conviction:
“I don't need any payment! Just being able to help Big Brother makes me super happy and fulfilled!”
This unreserved trust and kindness gave Greg, who didn't consider himself a particularly good person, a strong sense of responsibility to repay her.
He had already mapped out a plan in his mind to repay her, intending to put it into motion as soon as this dungeon trip was over.
What he found hardest to bear was being indebted to such pure goodwill.
Also, while he felt a little sorry for Little Gray being abruptly kicked out of the shop, this obvious differential treatment undeniably gave Greg a surge of secret satisfaction.
“Roar—!!!”
A roar bursting with brutality and hunger suddenly detonated from behind a pile of rubble not far ahead!
Immediately after, heavy and dense footsteps along with scattered low growls echoed faintly from all directions!
The monsters had discovered the two intruders!
Judging by the sound, there were quite a few of them, rapidly closing in!
Far from feeling afraid, Greg felt his blood pulse a little faster as an excited battle intent quietly welled up.
He quickly took a step to the side, standing back-to-back with Vivian, his sharp eyes scanning the direction of the sounds as he smiled:
“Get ready to fight!”
No sooner had Greg's words left his mouth than—
“Roar—!!!”
Another wave of thunderous roars erupted, and a horde of monsters swarmed out from the shadows and cover in every direction!
On the left, three Rock-shell Shield Bugs launched their attack first.
Burly as calves, their entire bodies were covered in gray-brown rock carapaces that glinted with a cold, metallic hardness in the dim light.
Their thick limbs pounded the ground as they ran, sending loose stones flying, their low roars bearing the murky scent of earth and stone.
With a clear objective, they fanned out and flanked toward Vivian, attempting to shred their prey with brute force charges and sharp chelicerae capable of crushing metal.
Almost simultaneously, several Shadow-stalker Spiders slid down noiselessly from the crevices in the rock wall on the right and above.
Though slightly smaller in size, their eight compound eyes flickered with greedy, eerie light, and their segmented limbs moved swift as the wind, leaving behind blurry afterimages.
As their mouthparts opened and closed, corrosive dark-green venom dripped down, burning wisps of gray smoke into the ground.
From behind, heavy footsteps rumbled like muffled thunder.
Two three-meter-tall Cave Trolls with bulging muscles approached with earth-shattering strides, wielding thick stone pillars torn from who-knows-where as weapons.
In an instant, the two were surrounded from three sides by over ten ferocious monsters ranging between LV35 and LV38, their retreat path subtly sealed off as the situation turned dire!
Rate on N.U.
