[You have killed a Germ Q]
[You have killed a Germ Q]
Freya pulled out her sword from the body of a micro-monster that didn't look so small as it was at least taller than them inside this Micro-Strayed Dungeon.
"Oppa, according to the map, it's only one floor."
Freya said casually as she browsed the System's Map which granted them to travel the dungeon more skillfully, it was thanks to the reward of being the first to discover such a dungeon.
"That's better. It might take longer if there's another floor."
Russell said as he somehow felt relieved with the news. Although Strayed Dungeon's maximum floor was only two, it's rare to have a Strayed Dungeon with only one floor.
"We're nearing the Boss Monster. This is our first dungeon raid together! I'm excited!"
Amelie said with a smile painted on her lips while walking at a slow pace as she observed the surroundings via System's Map.
After an unknown period of time, they arrived at a circular red door as a notification entered their ears, prompting them to read the System's message.
[The Boss Monster, 'Immunosar's Cancer' has noticed your existence!]
Creak-!
The circular red door creaked open, revealing the appearance of the Boss Monster sitting floating midair as its body was in connection with vein-like branches. Its height was at least 10 meters, around five times the size of germ monsters. It has pincers that contained lumps of flesh which repulsed Freya who wasn't used to such an appearance as she thought that it was worse than seeing Kevin Springer being stabbed in the neck by Amelie.
"What a name, it's a straight-out cancer cell. That's too many legs!"
Amelie exclaimed as she sized up the Boss Monster.
"Hup-!
Bam-!
"No, no! Easy now."
Amelie jumped as a quick reaction in response to the sudden attack of the Boss Monster being tied up by vein-like branches around its body. The Immunosar's Cancer's pincer extended and reached the Star Quest Party's spot from at least 15 meters away.
"Hey! Freya, are you alright?"
Amelie said in a loud voice as she looked at Freya who was somewhat got hit by the impact. Freya nodded at her words as Estelle guards her master.
"Roaaaaarrrrr!"
The mouth of Immunosar's Cancer opened, it revealed lines of teeth.
"What the f*ck is that!?"
Amelie cursed, being a woman whose very different while she was in the Obelisk Academy, taking classes.
All of them looked at the mouth of Immunosar's Cancer and saw countless eyes on the teeth, not made of bones, but rather solid flesh.
The eyes looked at them as notification sounded in their ears.
[The Immunosar's Cancer has opened its gaze.]
[You have been affected by the curse-type skill: Cancer's Struggle (E+)]
[In 30 minutes, any individual with ranks below E+ will have their flesh transformed into an abomination.]
"Is this a joke?"
Amelie asked, enough for the others to hear as their rank was definitely above E+ rank at this very moment.
But the next notification caused Amelie to retract her words.
[If the individual in the area upon the curse activation is above E+ rank, the curse will be transformed into a psychological-type skill: Cancer's Dream (E+)]
[Cancer's Dream will make the individual fall asleep, dreaming about themselves chased by the Immunosar's Cancer, not with hostility, but rather with affection.]
"Let's beat the f*ck out of it."
Amelie said as her eyes turned black, as well as her pinkish hair color. It's her Shade Transformation Skill that was seen by Amery and Freya for the first time.
Russell chuckled at Amelie's words before they mauled the Immunosar's Cancer until it couldn't move anymore.
...
After at least 15 minutes...
[Your Star Quest Party has killed the Boss Monster, Immunosar's Cancer of the Micro-Strayed Dungeon: Vein of Immunosar (E+)!]
"Yes! Sigh... It's a tough one for an E+ rank Boss Monster. It's very different with Boss Monsters in the normal Strayed Dungeons, too..."
Freya and Amery looked and listened to Amelie who sat on the bloody ground with flesh such as eyes or branch-like legs scattered around.
"Ha... I've tried raiding a Strayed Dungeon, too. Back when I'm part of... you know.
"Well, it's more like I'm an exception because of my supposed talent my previous boss saw."
Shing-! Shing-! Spurt-!
Russell — who just cut the flesh a few times as red blood gushed like a fountain — took out something from Immunosar's Cancer's body.
"Is that a Monster Core that Boss Monster only possesses?"
Freya asked curiously as she looked at the red glowing orb that was about the size of an ostrich egg. Then, as the first one to explore and killed a Boss Monster in a Micro-Strayed Dungeon, the System notified them of additional rewards.
[Your Star Quest Party is now able to open the Treasure Chest of the Small Cell.]
"Huh? Where's that?"
It was Amery — who was silent all the time — that asked with a slightly wondering tone. As a person who was not talkative, she either was talking in her head or observing the surroundings silently but she didn't manage to catch a glimpse of something that the System referred to as the Treasure Chest of the Small Cell.
Creak-!
The circular red door from where they came in slowly creaked and opened, revealing a being that caused Freya and the others except for Russell to reflexively take a defensive stance.
"It's alright, look at the System's Map."
Russell said as he sized up the being standing in front of them, a few meters away.
Its body was made of blood as it has no skin or flesh. It has red glowing eyes, standing on its own two feet as its two long hands were holding something... a Treasure Chest!
"It's green."
Amery said casually, sizing up the being in front of them which was labeled by the System as a friendly unit.
"Hey, it won't talk, I'll take the treasure chest in its hand."
After a few seconds, Amelie took the Treasure Chest of the Small Cell cautiously as the being bowed before it vanished.
"That's weird."
She said succinctly as she turned around to face her companions who were eagerly looking at what she was holding. Amelie's lips curled up.
Thud-!
"By the way, let's get out of here first."
Russell said as the normal-looking rock they used to enter the Micro-Strayed Dungeon appeared as it formed a portal for their exit.
...
Whoosh-!
The five of them arrived at the hotel they rented for the night, along with the normal-looking gray rock that vanished into thin air with them as Russell picked it up from the ground.
"I'll put this back in its right place because someone might get suspicious from above if it took longer being out of place."
Freya and Amery were just about to voice their thoughts or asked why when Amelie's voice sounded in their ears.
"Okay, we'll open this treasure chest after you come back."
She said while putting down the Treasure Chest of the Small Cell with a red appearance as if it's bathed in blood. It has at least 60 centimeters in length, 45 centimeters wide, and 30 centimeters in height.
Russell put out the Mask of Night, wore it, then vanished in front of them.
"You know we can take that Strayed Dungeon with us so we can make a raid for it after it regenerated.
"It's very expensive, if not hundreds of billions, is the price of owning a Strayed Dungeon."
Freya said with a somewhat gloomy tone with the slipping opportunity to own a Micro-Dungeon.
"Hey, Freya, do you think the known Orion Space Station (OSS) hasn't noticed its disappearance for some time?
"We'd get in trouble if we bring it with us, and it would make the excuse of accidentally stumbling into it go awry.
"Also, it would only give us a short amount of time because they'd think that the Mana Energy Flow vanished out of thin air because we cleared the dungeon for the moment we were considered missing until today, but it's the opposite case where the Mana Energy Flow vanished because we entered it, and not cleared it.
"Although we might get questioned later with this slight loophole, it'd be a private matter. So, I know it's bad to lie to your parents, but at least the authorities wouldn't tell them anything other than what's appropriate.
"And I'm sure Russell already knew about it... So... don't stress yourself out, who knows, maybe they'd give the right to us for the Micro-Dungeon or reward us for discovering it."
Amelie replied, explaining her hypothesis or possibilities of what would happen.
Freya's mouth slightly turned agape as she listened, it was the same with Amery whose quiet again this time, and Estelle who they did not know what was thinking just had her face looking in Amelie's direction with her eyes under the blindfold.
"Amelie, you're really mature for your age, you know. It's just I can't imagine what you've been through even if you told me before."
Freya recalled the past of Amelie, about being abandoned because of an unexplored profession, living in some sewers until someone picked her up, placing her in the life of the underground business, forced to cry for her 'Dark Tears' to be sold that gradually killed many.
"But you never told us about how you were tasked to assassinate someone, in this area, too."
Freya voiced her curiosity, causing Amelie's lips to curl up.
"Ho... Do you really want to know?"
Freya didn't answer while Amery just listened from the side with her hands on the back of her head.
Amelie started her story of the assassination. According to her, it was her third and last assassination before she run away from her boss because she couldn't take it anymore which included the Dark Tears that were being sold.
Freya's ears and cheeks turned red with some of Amelie's words, causing her hands to cover her ears while Amery became curious as she asked.
"You already have that kind of experience?"
"Wow, wow! Amery, why are you asking me that? Is it because we're all girls here?"
Amelie found it surprising that Amery was curious about such a thing.
"By the way, no, I haven't had that kind of experience, it's just until something like this..."
Freya — who was barely listening with half-closed eyes — saw Amelie make a gesture with her right thumb and right index finger. Amelie formed a circle through it and matched the shape near her mouth before she slowly move it in an up-and-down direction.
Amelie was looking at Freya as she did the gesture, barely containing herself from laughter.
"Get away from me!
"No, don't come near me!
"Get away!
"You're not the cheerful Amelie I know before!"
Freya struggled as she stood up and felt repulsed by Amelie's action.
"Hahaha!
"Freya, you're so cute and innocent!"
Amelie said while laughing as her hands were on her abdomen.
"You pervert!"
Freya's ears and cheeks were dyed red in embarrassment as she loudly shout.
Whoosh-!
Russell appeared just on time — he looked at the scene inside the hotel room.
"What happened?"
Russell asked in curiosity, but Amelie just brushed it off; Amery remained silent while Freya turned her back, avoiding being seen by her older brother with her tomato face.
"Anyway, it's done.
"Time for the harvest."
Russell said excitedly as he didn't pry anymore about what transpired between the women.
...
At Outer Space, Post-Emergence Earth's Atmosphere, Orion Space Station (OSS).
"That's strange..."
The man with brown hair, yellowish eyes, and a fitted body detected the Mana Energy Flow again from its original place via the Orion Obelisk Humanity Satellite Dungeon Detector (OOHSDD).
Ring-! Ring-!
The man made a call as he reported what he observed as an abnormal occurrence or behavior of the Mana Energy Flow.
"That's about all of it, for now, Sir Emmanuel Lyncoster."
The man said politely as he hung the call before sitting down on one of the office-like chairs in the spacecraft. Due to his action, he reflexively looks at the gigantic, stretched-out window of the spacecraft, seeing the other parts of the Earth unknown to humanity.
"I wonder what would await us."
The man muttered as he looked at the different, bizarre phenomenon from far away.
One side of the Earth was burning endlessly, while the other side has its full darkness and storms with endless rain. These parts of the Earth could only be seen from the spacecraft's location, the humanity hasn't explored the other side of the planet yet.
They were covered in a thick veil of Mana that if the spacecraft or satellite were to cross over, they'd instantly explode.
"Too many unknowns, too many mysteries."
The man mumbled, feeling somewhat elated with what was in store for humanity.
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