Chapter 67

Making my way through the dungeon floors was how do you say it, a goddamn pain.

I continued to glare at Cor, who was being carried by Nox on his shoulder, to the point that Nox had to ask me to stop a couple of times since I was doing it unconsciously.

We finally reached the 21st floor, so very close to the doors to the 20th floor. Everyone was looking really haggard and worn out because we were constantly being attacked by hordes of monsters at least once or twice every floor we went up.

The monsters we had to face gradually became weaker, but their numbers kept increasing.

Heck, on the last 5 floors we went up, I had to help because there were too many of them to deal with.

But that was not the worst part because, on the last 3 floors, we were about to be overrun. I begrudgingly agreed to wake up Cor because we needed the extra help since he was dead weight.

I agree on the condition that he stay far, very far away from me since I don’t know if he would attack me or not when he woke up, so Nox had the idea of throwing Cor to the horde.

My role was to guard Sarah from any monsters that had gone past Athrun and Nox as she was casting support magic on everyone, giving Athrun and Nox some breathing room to not worry too much about Sarah’s protection.

When monsters do get past Athrun and Nox, I would deal with them. Sarah would cast some support spells on me since I kind of needed it. I could handle the kinds of monsters coming for us, but the amount was the problem.

However, with Sarah's support spells, I could handle much more. Having a spell cast at me felt different from using a strengthening potion since the urge to fight was replaced by a warm feeling of some kind.

I thought these things as I unconsciously glared at Cor, who was unconscious in front of me, still on Nox’s shoulder, but I realized I was doing it again, so I consciously stopped.

Cor, in this life, was now the bane of my existence because just being around him made me scowl, and when we had to wake him up, I scowled even more. Once the horde of monsters was finished off, he would come straight toward me, and I kept on seeing red each time.

Like the last 9 floors we passed by, we encountered some monsters. At first, there were a few, but as we continued to the doors of the 20th floor, we encountered an increasing amount of monsters until, when we were close to the doors to the 20th floor, I felt tremors on the ground.

I took out the sword Athrun had given me, which was covered in blood and other fluids from monsters, to prepare for the fight ahead of us, and so did everyone else.

We were surrounded by monsters, and like the last couple of floors, there were too many to count.

They were Cactuars, cactus monsters around the size of an adult, with arm-like branches used to punch people and shoot out spikes.

Sarah immediately cast a 4-sided barrier with one of her hands raised as the Cactuars shot their spikes at us. Then, while maintaining the barrier, Sarah used her other hand to cast some support spells on everyone and began to heal Cor to wake him up.

When Cor’s eyes shoot right open, Nox immediately grabs him by his collar and throws him over the barrier, straight at the horde of Cactuars.

I heard a shout of pain, which made me smile a bit because he practically landed on a bunch of cactuses.

Cactuars can only shoot their spikes once, so after they finish, Athrun raises both of his hands, and his hair starts glowing, but not as brightly as before because he was running somewhat low on mana, like with Sarah, too.

Electricity sparked between his fingers. Sarah released her barrier, and Athrun released the electricity, which sparked around his hands.

The electricity targeted one of the Cactuars in front of us, and then it moved to the ones near it in an intertwining web of electricity, chaining together in a 20-meter radius, killing around a third of the horde.

Nox ran past Athrun after he was done, making a trail of runover Cactuars in his way. His armor looked to be more than enough to take on the brunt of the Cactuar attacks, which were arm-like appendages with spikes on them. Heck, as the Cactuar tried to punch him, they broke their arms in the process.

He made his way to where he threw Cor, who was fighting off the Cactuar despite him looking like a porcupine. It’s a surprise that he was able to move or even fight, but looking closer, I saw the spines that got on him were only in nonvital areas, which I guess is due to him relying on his instincts and intuition to not be hit in his vital areas.

Athrun and I followed Nox, then separated in opposite directions and began to clear out the monsters surrounding Sarah.

At first, when I had to help fight the monsters, he gave me directions since I had to help kill some of the monsters that were about to attack Sarah. I did what he told me, but he soon realized I could handle myself and let me do things on my own since I already got a grasp on the synergy of their party and integrated into it well.

As I dodged the Cactuar's punches, similar to boxing in my past life, I began cutting them all down.

My body began moving so fast, like it was a blur, and my strength made me cut apart all the Cactuar even better.

With the support spell Sarah cast, it felt like I was back in my old body in my past life, except for my size; the way I used to move with inhuman agility and strength was very nostalgic.

Eventually, after around 30 minutes of slaughtering the Cactuar, we kill nearly every single one of them.

I quickly finished off the last Cactuar in front of me, and I ran quickly to someone. Carefully putting the sword back in my sheath, I ran straight to Nox and Cor, who were almost done fighting the last 10 Cactuar left.

I was not about to deal with Cor coming at me again, so I decided to do a preemptive strike.

As he was busy fighting the last Cactuars, I took my chance and ran up behind him and swung at his head.

However, as I swung, he immediately ducked under my swing and smiled.

“Oh wow, I didn’t expect you to do something like that.”

Seeing that smile and hearing the happy tone of his voice, I was really ticked off that he somehow managed to dodge that, even though it was supposed to be a surprise attack.

“Oh, shut up!”

I kept swinging at him again, but he kept on dodging, which ticked me off even more.

I grew furious with it and just threw my sword. He didn’t expect that and hurriedly moved out of the way at the last second, which gave me an opening to get close to him.

Since he was covered in spikes, making him essentially a porcupine, I was limited to what I could hurt him with, but that didn’t stop me because his face was mostly unscathed.

Using my boots, I kicked him in the chest, which sent him flying a couple of meters back in the air. Since the support spell Sarah cast on me was still active, I only kicked his armor, which protected him from me fatally injuring him, and was one of the only places that wasn’t covered in spikes.

As he hit the ground, I ran toward him with blistering speed.

Guessing where he thought I was going to kick him like the previous times before, he tries to protect his manhood by steering clear of my kick.

He rolled on the ground to get out of the way, but that was what I wanted because I jumped up into the air and landed both my feet on his head, causing his face to be dragged through the sand as I landed.

Seeing that he was not moving, I took out my dagger just in case he was still conscious and pulled up his head from the sand by his hair.

I confirmed that he was unconscious and let go of his head as Nox approached me.

“Umm, that was a surprise… but I can’t blame you.”

Nox looked at me like I overdid it, and so did everyone else, but they didn't stop me because it would happen eventually, so I decided to skip to the end result.

“Yeah, I do not want to deal with him after we finish dealing with the horde, so it was the most logical and sensible thing I could think of.”

“I see…”

Turning away and looking at Sarah, Nox calls for her.

“Sarah, could you heal this idiot again?”

Sarah said okay and began running towards us, then she began healing Cor as Athrun walked up.

We all stared at Cor, and Athrun finally spoke.

“Hey, Nox.”

“Yes?”

“Shouldn’t the monster-attracting potion have worn off by now?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t use a normal monster-attracting potion. I figured this much would happen.”

Hearing their conversation, I knew that was the case because I knew Maria had made that potion, which came from the book of Magnus. Of course, the potions in that book aren’t going to be your run-of-the-mill potions.

This is going to be a problem because who knows how many monsters that idiot could attract to us.

“Umm, Athrun, Nox?”

They turned to me, wondering what I was going to ask.

“When we get to the 19th floor, could we drop Cor in the village by the lake since monsters don’t go near the lake? I want to get back to the surface as soon as possible, so leaving him there would be a good idea.”

Upon hearing my request, they nodded and said.

“I think that's a good idea; we won’t have to face any more hordes. How about you, Nox?”

“Yeah, I think so too, but I should stay with Cor in the village.”

“Why's that?”

I asked why Mox wanted to stay with Cor in the village, to which he responded.

“I’ve been carrying him all day, and I don’t know if the potion got onto me, but it’s highly likely.”

“Oh, I see.”

Continuing on with his explanation, he also said.

“Plus, someone has to keep an eye on him when he wakes up.”

He turned to Athrun and said.

“I don’t want to be banned from another village, thanks to that idiot.”

Athrun had a wry smile, like it was his fault or something, probably because he had taken his attention off Cor one too many times.

Once Sarah had finished healing Cor, Nox put Cor on his shoulder, and we began moving toward the doors to the 20th floor, which was in our sight.

Walking through the door and through the bossroom to the other side, I took a deep breath because it was the final stretch.

We ran past many adventurers straight to the village because of the monster-attracting potion attracting monsters to us. There weren’t a lot of adventurers in the third stratum, so we didn’t have to worry too much, but on the other hand, the second had a fair amount of adventurers that would be caught up in our mess.

From their perspective, it was a weird sight because I was a kid who was running alongside them, and Cor, who looked like he needed healing, was being handled roughly, with his head occasionally hitting a branch or two while none of us looked concerned over him.

It took us a couple of minutes of running to the village, and we fortunately didn’t encounter any monsters on the way.

At the gate, I debated giving Nox Maria’s key to the house she was renting, but I thought that was not a good idea since I didn’t want her to get into trouble, so I kept silent until we entered the village.

I asked them where we were going since I thought we were going to leave Nox and Cor by the gate.

“We're going to the house we’re renting; we have to restock our supplies.”

“Oh, I see.’”

Hearing what he said, he was right because they looked rather haggard. Plus, looking at myself, I also look as haggard as they do.

As we walked through the village and toward the house they were renting, I looked around and thought to myself that making a small detour was fine. If it weren't for them, it would have taken way longer and been more dangerous for me to get down here despite the number of hordes we had to fight.

I looked around as we passed by the market section of the village, glancing over the goods being sold by the side of the streets.

There wasn’t anything that I needed because I had stuff that was better than what they sold, or that the equipment they were selling didn’t fit me, until my eyes landed on a certain stall.

The clothes were presented on a rack, and I saw something that caught my interest.

I stopped walking, and Athrun noticed.

“Hey, Nyx, is there something wrong?”

“Nothing. There is something I want to buy first.”

Proceeding to walk to the street shop, I grabbed the thing that caught my eye, which was a grey cloak. It was the smallest one they had that was a bit too big for me, but it was the only one that fit me.

I took it to the shop owner, who was surprised to see a kid on the 19th floor, and I asked how much.

“Ugh…”

Surprised by me, he regained his composure and said.

“5 silver.”

Hearing the price, I pulled out a monster core from the pouch that was filled to the brim with monster cores and gave one to him.

I don’t know how much they would sell, specifically, but it would be more than enough.

“Is this fine?”

Handing it over, he was shocked, wide-eyed, by what I presented to him.

Seeing that he was in shock and not talking, I told him.

“Keep the change.”

Placing the monster core in his hand, I walk off with the cloak I just bought.

Running up to everyone who was waiting, Sarah asked what I bought.

I told her it was a cloak and the reason I bought it, which was to hide my face and stuff so Boras or his men do not see me come out of the dungeon.

“Oh, I see.”

We walked for a bit and reached the house they were renting. Sarah pulled out a key, and we walked in.

The interior was just like Maria’s house, except that it looked relatively unused and barren.

Athrun and Sarah walked to a chest in a corner and took out a fresh set of clothes and other supplies, while Nox placed Cor by a chair and removed his armor.

Athrung and Sarah walk to a separate room to change as I put on the cloak I just bought.

As I expected, it was a bit too loose on me. Not only that, but the end of the cloak was touching the floor, so I decided to fix it.

Taking my dagger, I made a cut around my shins as a marker to know where to cut. Then I took off my cloak and placed it on the wooden floor to start cutting.

“What are you doing, Nyx?”

Seeing what I was doing, Nox was curious.

“This cloak is too long for me, so I’m cutting it.”

“Oh, I see. I help.”

“Sure.”

Nox approached me and took off a big rectangular pouch from his belt. I wondered why he took it out and what was inside, so I asked him about it.

“It’s my alchemy bag, quite compact, isn’t it?”

“Umm… alchemy bag?”

“Oh right, I haven’t told you, but I’m also an alchemist.”

“You're an alchemist?”

Well, that is unexpected. I didn’t think he was an alchemist, but I remember when Athrun gave the empty bottle Cor had used; it made sense.

Nox opened the pouch, reached inside, pulled out a pair of scissors, and then said.

“Yeah, that's why I’m so strong. I make my own blend of potions on top of my muscles.”

“Is that safe?”

When I saw Nox fight, he drank one potion whenever we entered into a fight, which made me a bit worried if it was safe for him to drink.

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

“Well, I haven’t experienced any side effects yet.”

Nox said that with a slight smile and in a vaguely familiar way, like when I helped Maria with the owlbear, but much more subdued.

I remained silent, and we proceeded to cut into my new cloak to fit me.

When we were done, Athrun and Sarah came out of their room with a new set of clothes.

We walked out of the house with Nox seeing us off.

“Alright, goodbye. I wish you luck, Nyx, and in the meantime, Athrun and Sarah, I’ll find the girl who made the potion she gave him until Cor wakes up.”

Hearing Nox mention Maria, I made my face completely expressionless to my already expressionless face, to where even Clare couldn’t tell what I was thinking, and did not speak up because I would rather not get Maria in trouble, which I’m going to warn her about when I get back to her.

“Alright, goodbye, it won’t take too long; see you later.”