Chapter 333 Volume V - Chapter 51: Dungeon Exploration
The dungeon resembled a world where there were no living beings other than plants. There was nothing that could move like me, nothing other than a plant. And the further I walked into the plain, the more logical this thought became.
Honestly... there are two possibilities I can think of. Either this is really a place where there are no living things other than plants, or all the creatures are... hiding.
I'm pretty sure there are more than just plants in a B grade dungeon. So... the second possibility makes more sense.
The question is, where and why are these creatures hiding? Of course, they might not be hiding... It could simply be that this part of the dungeon, just this plain, is a safe place.
I stopped thinking when my head started to ache. Finally, I paused and checked the time.
Ten minutes had passed...
I turned around and looked back at the spot where the cave had been. A considerable distance had opened up between me and the cave. If I went any further, I might be late if I had to go back urgently, so I decided to make a circle around the cave rather than go any further.
All the while, of course, the mapping mode of my watch was on. Since it used mana rather than electricity to run, there was no danger of it running out of charge. And even though there was no internet connection here, many of its functions were still working.
One of them allowed me to create a rough map by scanning five meters around me with every step I took. Of course, this function consumed a lot of mana, so I couldn't keep it on for long, but for an exploration that would take almost an hour, there was no problem keeping it on.
So I kept moving forward. I saw some oddly shaped trees, but nothing dangerous. The tall grass-like plants up to my knees were quite sparse compared to where we first woke up. After a while more... though, I saw the river that I had seen here when I first woke up.
The waterfall-like structure that I had seen where we woke up was not very close, but it must have been behind us. So... this river was quite long. And it seemed to be flowing fast.
So, it must be drinkable... right?
With that in mind, I started moving toward the river. I didn't see anything different from what I had been seeing for minutes. It was only when I reached the river that I realized that this was... not a normal river at all.
First of all... the river was quite wide. It was as deep as my waist if I got in it. And it had to be... at least twenty meters wide. And, yes. It was flowing really fast. So if it was clean, it should be drinkable. But the problem was... the color.
The river was not colorless. On the contrary, it was strangely... bluish. I mean, from the outside, most rivers and seas look blue... yes. But the water flowing from this river, or whatever it was called, was not completely colorless, but had a slight blue tint to it.
Is it... really drinkable? The color doesn't say that at all...
I looked at the watch on my wrist and couldn't help sighing.
If I had one of the watches used by the guilds rather than the ones given by the academy, I could check if the water was clean... They were going to change our watches when we started the second year, though. I could get a watch with more functions now that the internship thing is in play.
But... it's useless to think about it now.
So I decided to get away from the river rather than gamble. The idea that a river that was already inside a B-degree dungeon, so exposed, could be clean... didn't make much sense.
In the first place, no creatures came to drink from the river. Wherever they were, water was a necessity for every living thing. The fact that I couldn't see a single creature in this plain without much elevation, no matter where the river ran... made it even more suspicious than it already was.
For half an hour after the river, all I did was make a big circle around the cave where I had left Lucia and Sue. I noted every detail of our surroundings on my watch, trying to grasp what the point of this dungeon was. When I realized I was back where I started... I couldn't do anything but take a deep breath.
Well, I guess this plain is really safe... even when we were carrying Lucia, completely covered in blood, for two kilometers, we didn't encounter a single creature attack. Now, no matter how much I walk around, I still don't encounter anything.
So... I guess the best option is to try to survive until Lucia is fully recovered. We also need to find a way to get food and water. Then, when Lithoa comes back, we can start moving.
Now, I should get back... It's already been an hour.
I turned my head to the sky one last time before I left. It was a strange feeling to see a bright but sunless sky. The fact that it was green made it even stranger... But I was getting used to it.
So, looking up at the sky, I started to make my way toward our cave, enjoying the view, even if only for a short while. However, after only a minute... I couldn't help but pause.
I stopped walking, I didn't move a muscle. I heard the low hum of the wind, and the grass and plants around me made rustling sounds in time with it.
My eyebrows suddenly furrowed. I looked around me, everywhere, my spear gripped tightly, my full attention on my surroundings to react to any attack. But... there was nothing.
My brow furrowed even more. Although I could not see any danger, I became even more cautious.
Why do I feel this way? What is the reason for this change?
I looked behind me, to my sides, and even on the ground, but... I soon realized that the problem was something I could not see with my eyes.
Mana, the problem was mana. There was something strange about the mana in the atmosphere of the dungeon. Until a moment ago, it was behaving and moving as it should, but now... it was different.
The mana in the atmosphere was usually dormant. It could not be used by humans or any creature, it required sharper senses than normal to be perceived. It would only drift here and there or find its way in a random flow.
But the mana in this dungeon was... slowly awakening. It was becoming qualifiable, becoming what was swirling around inside a person, ready to be used.
I gripped my spear tighter when I realized that the ring on my finger was vibrating slightly.
I was wrong, completely wrong. This plain was... not safe. This was a B grade dungeon, after all. To think that a place like this could be safe was... a huge mistake.
But what was the danger? That was the important question.
I paused with a sudden, slight change in my vision. My eyes quickly shifted to the sky. Because there was the change I had seen out of the corner of my eye.
That green light in the sky... a small spot in the distance had faded a little for some reason. But it wasn't just this spot.
The moment I looked up, countless parts of all that green light covering the sky began to fade randomly. As my eyes widened, the bright and green sky began to give way to darkness in a rapid transformation.
While this was happening, all the plants around me moved at the same time. They all crept abnormally, as if something was coming for them. A few bent down toward the ground. Some of them went straight into the soil. The river that I could see in the distance, with a faint blue in its color... began to shimmer strangely.
In just a few seconds, the huge plain that had been bursting with greenery turned into an empty flat plain where all the plants were hiding from the darkness.
I felt my grip on the spear loosen as I reflexively shook my head from side to side. With my ring vibrating more and more with each passing second, I finally swallowed and just started running, not even looking back.
The ground trembled. It certainly didn't feel like a strong earthquake. But... I didn't care.
I ran, and I kept running, full speed ahead toward our cave.
Halfway there, the earthquake stopped. The brightness of the river behind me reached such a level that my shadow fell in front of me, surrounded by a blue light. Then... a sound echoed throughout the dungeon.
~Awoooooo!
It was the howl of a wolf. It was strong, majestic. It tried to instill fear in me with its echo alone. As if... as if by magic. And it succeeded.
But... the really scary thing happened after that.
After that majestic, powerful howl... I heard other howls, less resonant and less powerful, but with a completely different kind of fear.
They were in all directions. They were everywhere. Far away, near, under the ground, in the sky... They reached the whole dungeon from everywhere, as if they needed nothing tangible to resonate.
Tens, hundreds, even thousands... each one seemed to say one thing. They were going to hunt. And one of the things they were going to hunt was... me.
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