Chapter 50: Chaoter50-Entering the Dungeon
So..." he asked, watching me carefully. "Will you come into the dungeon with me now?"
Damn...
I couldn’t bring myself to answer.
Instead, I looked away and fell silent.
What the hell was I supposed to do now?
This had to be one of the most complicated situations I’d found myself in since coming to this world.
If I refused now, Eden would think I still didn’t trust him, even after he’d put his own life on the line with a Blood Pact.
And a Blood Pact wasn’t something people entered into lightly.
Just as its name suggested, it was a pact forged using the blood of two or more people. Once the ritual was complete, the agreement became absolute.
Anyone who broke the pact faced only one punishment.
Lightning.
The moment someone violated its terms, lightning would descend from the sky and strike them again and again until they died.
In other words, a Blood Pact wasn’t just an agreement. It was a life-and-death contract.
Even knowing all that, I still wasn’t convinced about going into that dungeon.
The Blood Pact proved that Eden had absolute faith in his own ability.
It didn’t make a C-rank dungeon any safer.
The monsters inside weren’t going to become weaker just because he’d sworn an oath.
When Eden realized I still hadn’t said a word, his smile slowly faded.
"So..." he asked quietly, "you still don’t believe me?"
"No, no. That’s... that’s not what I..."
He cut me off before I could finish.
"Then why won’t you say yes?" Frustration was beginning to creep into his voice. "Why are you still staying silent? Does my Blood Pact mean nothing to you?"
No, no. Why did things always end up like this?
"I... I..."
The words caught in my throat.
After watching the two of us in silence, Allen finally let out a quiet sigh.
"Haa..."
He closed his book and looked directly at me.
"Young master, don’t worry. Nothing is going to happen to you. I can personally guarantee that. Now, please accept Eden’s invitation."
Huh?
Allen... was actually giving me his guarantee?
For some reason, the moment those words left his mouth, the knot in my chest began to loosen.
I felt... relieved.
Maybe it was because I knew Allen better than anyone.
He had never let me walk into a dangerous situation without preparing for it first.
Even back in that Special Rank dungeon, he’d given me his shirt without telling me it was actually a protective artifact. The plan hadn’t worked out the way he’d intended, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d been trying to protect me.
And that wasn’t the only time.
He’d stepped in to help me during dangerous situations more times than I could count.
So if Allen said something was safe, then I had no reason to doubt him.
I slowly let go of Eden’s shoulders.
"...Okay, Eden."
I let out a long breath.
"Let’s go."
His face immediately lit up.
He turned toward Allen, flashed him a thumbs-up, and grinned.
"Thanks, Allen. You should’ve said something sooner. You’re the best."
Allen simply gave a small nod.
...Ehh?
Wait.
I slowly turned toward Allen.
No way...
Did he reassure me just because he wanted to help Eden?
Fuck.
Didn’t that mean...
Before I could finish the thought, Eden suddenly grabbed both of my shoulders, snapping me back to reality.
"Alright, Michael. Here we go."
"What do you mea..."
Before I could finish, the world around me blurred.
In an instant, my body disappeared.
The next moment, I reappeared only a few inches away from the dungeon portal.
The second my feet touched the ground, my stomach twisted violently.
I doubled over, clutching it with both hands.
Shit. I think I’m going to throw up.
Eden looked at me for a second before bursting into laughter.
"No way. You still can’t handle teleportation? Damn, you’re weak."
I shot him a glare.
"You..."
I paused, trying to suppress the nausea.
"...shit of shit!"
He blinked.
"...You mean ’piece of shit,’ right?"
He chuckled and shook his head.
"Whatever. Now get moving."
Before I had a chance to recover or even brace myself, he planted a hand on my back and shoved me straight through the dungeon portal.
***
The next second, I found myself standing in the middle of a vast clearing deep within the jungle.
The moment I arrived, I instinctively scanned my surroundings.
After a few tense seconds, I finally let out a quiet breath. As far as I could see, there wasn’t a single monster in sight.
Only then did I notice the heat.
Why the hell was it so hot?
I looked up, raising a hand to shield my eyes from the blinding light.
A massive sun hung high above, nearly twice the size of the one on Earth.
Damn. So that giant thing was the reason this place felt like an oven.
No wonder it was so unbearably hot.
A hand suddenly landed on my shoulder.
"First time seeing a sun that’s twice the normal size?" Eden asked with a grin.
I glanced at him and nodded.
"Yeah."
"Well, now that you’ve satisfied your curiosity," he said, "can we get moving? We’ve got better things to do than stand here staring at the sky."
We?
What exactly did he mean by we?
I couldn’t do a damn thing in a C-rank dungeon.
At least, that was what I wanted to tell him.
Instead, I just nodded.
"Yeah. Let’s go."
We walked in silence for a while before Eden spoke again.
"By the way, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you."
I looked over at him.
"What is it?"
He kept his eyes on the path ahead.
"Why did you lie to me?"
My heart skipped a beat.
"...About what?"
"Your ability." He finally turned toward me. "You told me the reward you got from that Special Rank dungeon was Teleportation. But it was actually Telekinesis. Why’d you lie?"
I’d been expecting this question.
Allen had asked me the exact same thing before.
Thankfully, I’d already come up with an answer.
"Oh... that." I scratched the back of my head. "I didn’t want to lie to you. I just didn’t have a choice."
Eden’s brows knit together.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well..." I rubbed the back of my neck. "When the HUNTER Agency interrogated me after the dungeon incident, I told them I’d received Teleportation as my reward instead of..."
Eden cut in before I could finish.
"But why lie to them in the first place?"
I looked at him in disbelief.
"Wait. You’re serious?"
He frowned.
"What?"
"Let me ask you something first." I glanced at him as we walked. "Do you know what’s been going on between the Frostburne family and the Federal Association over the past month?"
He shook his head.
"No."
Good.
That would make this easier to explain.
I nodded.
"Alright. Then let me start from the beginning. Since last month, the Federal Association has been trying to sabotage several of our businesses. They’ve already managed to hurt a few of them, and it’s seriously strained our relationship."
Eden blinked.
"Huh? Why would they do something like that?"
"Because we had a monopoly in several sectors," I replied. "They’re trying to break it."
"I see..."
He nodded slowly.
"That makes sense."
"So when the HUNTER Agency questioned me," I continued, "I deliberately lied about my ability. After the interrogation, they told me I’d be under surveillance for the next three or four days. If I’d told you about Telekinesis during that time and they somehow found out, it could’ve created a huge problem."
I shrugged.
"So I had no choice. I had to stick with the lie until I was sure they weren’t keeping an eye on me anymore."
Eden stayed quiet for a moment, thinking everything over.
Then he nodded.
"I get it now. More than five days have passed, so you finally felt safe enough to tell me."
He gave me a small, apologetic smile.
"Sorry. I didn’t understand what you were dealing with."
I waved it off.
"It’s fine. You don’t need to apologize. You couldn’t have known."
That went even more smoothly than I’d expected.
To be honest, I hadn’t really lied to Eden.
Almost everything I’d told him was true.
The only thing I’d exaggerated was how bad things had become between the Frostburne family and the Federal Association.
Allen, on the other hand, had heard a completely different explanation.
Even so, the two stories fit together well enough that if Eden ever brought it up with Allen, neither of them would have any reason to suspect I was hiding anything.
We continued walking in silence for the next few minutes.
Before long, the open clearing disappeared behind us, and we stepped into the dense jungle.
As soon as we stepped into the jungle, a broadsword burst out from a massive bush and came hurtling straight toward me.
It was aimed directly at my face.
I instinctively tried to dodge, but before I could react, Eden grabbed my left shoulder.
"You. Up."
The moment the words left his mouth, my body shot into the air.
Higher.
Higher.
Only when I finally stopped rising did I dare look down.
I was at least a hundred feet above the ground.
I let out a long breath.
"Fuck... that was close."
Once my heartbeat settled, another thought crossed my mind.
So this was how Eden’s Levitation skill worked.
Woh. What an incredibly useful ability.
As I’d mentioned before, Michael’s memories contained information about all of Eden’s skills.
The problem was that he’d never actually seen any of them in action.
He knew what abilities Eden possessed, but not how they actually functioned in combat.
Which meant I didn’t know either.
This was the first time I’d witnessed one of his skills in action, aside from Teleportation.
Curious, I looked back down.
Eden was fighting several monsters all by himself.
...Orcs?
Wait.
Were those really orcs?
I narrowed my eyes and focused on one of them.
The instant I did, a familiar system window appeared before me.
---
Orc Warrior
Height: Approximately 7’7"
Weight: Around 460 pounds
Strengths: Monstrous strength, dense musculature, exceptional pain tolerance, and strong battle instincts.
Weaknesses: Slow reflexes, low intelligence, and vulnerable to precise attacks.
Critical Body Parts: Eyes, throat, heart.
Rank: Uncommon Rank Monster.
—
Oh my...
