Asynchronous Race

A couple of days have passed since I entered the elven fortress of Faer Dath, there has been progress but not what was expected, the place turned out to be much more complex than it looks from the outside. The place does seem to have the 50 floors that Karen mentioned, but the problem is that many parts are collapsed or there are large falls, so it is quite normal to have to go back to previous floors to be able to continue advancing, once even to go up to the floor 7 I had to go down to 5 and then to 4, just to be able to access a new area on the 6th floor and finally get to the 7th floor. I'm on the 20th floor right now, but I'm actually further back right now for the same shit, at this point, I have no fucking idea where I am. To make it worse, while I was fighting with a monster that seemed to be a giant wolf the size of the same corridor, a part of the floor succumbed and I fell, The wolf caught me with his teeth, I managed to get out and manage to kill him but I lost the bag where I kept most of the food. If I had known that this would happen, I would not have tried so hard to get money. I only have food left for today so I will have to hunt if I don't reach the destination, the only good thing is that Tifa hardly needs food or water. Precisely the situation for which I prepared myself so that it did not happen is precisely the one I am in.

But although the situation could be critical in reality I have quite high hopes, I am advancing at a good pace and there are no dragons here so everything is quite easy, I am at the top of the food chain. I think that by the end of the day I should reach my destination, as long as I don't have to go down any more floors. Regarding rest, I usually look for a small room or a cell to sleep for about 4 hours, during that time I depend on Tifa to watch the surroundings. Regarding my armor, it received a big blow thanks to the giant wolf and it tore the upper part of my clothes, so with the remaining pieces I managed to do something to at least cover my chest, but thanks to the breastplate there is not so much problem for now. I have been making a map of the place to help me find the stairs more quickly, this is much more basic than the one I did in the Moscow tunnels because it is done on the run since I don't need to know anything else. My biggest concern is time, I don't have much left. Classes in Japan are about to start and I'm still stuck in another world. I want to get back home and spend at least one more day resting. I'm spending my vacation in this hole!

I wonder how Sakura ended up going down this hole and how fast she's getting closer to me. By chance did the homeless person who helped me run into her and tell her everything? Or maybe she just overheard Karen talking about me somewhere in town? Maybe she even went to stay in the same inn that I was in and by sheer luck they gave her the same room as me and somehow she deduced everything. Surely she is inside this place right now going up quickly because there are almost no monsters left because I have run into everyone and cleared the way for her. Maybe I'll end up in some huge problem and she ends up rescuing me from almost certain death, I'll end up throwing up if that happens. 

After going around a corridor, I was surprised to run into something unexpected, another group of adventurers, who, seeing me approaching, raised their hands in greeting. Since one of the most dangerous things in a dungeon is running into another person, it is impossible to know what that person has in mind, he could just be passing through, he could need help, or he could just pretend to be hurt just to kill you and steal everything you carry on top, so it is an unwritten rule to try to appear as inoffensive as possible if you don't want to be misunderstood, both for them and for me.

I reached into my bag and removed the safety on the gun to have it ready to fire in case I might need it later.

They were a group of three people, all men, from the way they dress, one of them seems to be a Knight, a magician who seems to carry the luggage and the last one seemed to dress a bit like me, with a great emphasis on mobility, so he's probably an assassin, I hope it's his class and not his regular job. I greeted them back and quickly checked my clothes and hood to make sure nothing would give me away that I'm not human. We approached each other but even so we closed the distance a bit, they were the first to speak mentioning that I should be careful because on the upper floors it seems that there are two huge wolves prowling. For my part, I replied that I had also come across one in one of the inferiors (although now he is dead, but they do not need to know that). They thanked me for the information and since we were a large group they told me that it would be a good idea to eat all together, this way it would be safer in case a monster attacked us, I rejected the invitation mentioning my lack of food and adding that II was already on my way back. But they insisted and even offered me their food, surely I had to look hungry because it wasn't that they had much, but it was something. They were a much nicer group than the first one I ran into in that forest, without a doubt good people. 

Tifa suddenly sneezed and apologized out loud, from my bag while I was eating. The adventurers stopped everything they were doing in their tracks and turned to look at me. Although they hadn't said anything, their eyes clearly said their intentions. They were the eyes of deep selfishness, the same ones he had seen a few times before. They immediately knew what had produced that sound and what value it had in this world. The assassin placed his right hand on his waist, holding something tight. I didn't wait to discover what he had, I threw the glass I had in my hand against his head, then I took out my gun and three huge rumblings sounded throughout the fortress.

They might not really have anything bad in mind, but I can't afford to take any chances. I had to do it, there was no other way. Tifa screamed when she heard the detonations and asked me what had happened, but I didn't answer her, because I had noticed how several monsters came running scared from various places, just like Tifa from the sound, because they hadn't heard anything like it before. I had screwed it up again, if Sakura was around, and no doubt she is, she would have heard them too. Which means she's coming to check out the place beforehand. I have to get out of here now, I have to run before he gets to me. I gathered all my things and went straight to the stairs to continue my journey, now I couldn't stop until I crossed the portal, it was that or be discovered. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

After killing the giant wolf that came out of nowhere with my katana I heard a noise quite different from any other that could be in this place. They seemed to sound like fireworks, but this world had nothing like that. It could only be the object that I suspected, a firearm! Now I was almost certain that my guess was correct. The other earth person who was summoned here had a firearm on him and just used it. And if he had used it, it was because he had had to defend himself from something, so I had to hurry up and save him as soon as possible.

There were a lot of things I didn't know about this mysterious person, so I wanted to ask him quite a few things. It is most likely that if he has a gun he is either a policeman or a soldier, and it is also likely that he was on duty when he was summoned to have a gun on him. I don't think someone else like a delinquent was summoned here by the Goddess on purpose, so I guess he had his reasons for killing those adventurers in the forest. Speaking of that, I also want to know how he came to be here, did he accept the pact of the Goddess, if not how did it come in the first place? And also how was it that he was not summoned to the king's castle where they were performing the summoning ritual as happened to me? is it that he is different from me? What will he be able to do, and how long will it take to teach me? 

I have to find that person fast or else I might not be able to bring him back to earth with me, because the ritual of return is only in a couple of days. I have to save him, it is my duty to be a person endowed with this power, I must give my best at all times.

I was lucky to rescue that homeless man in that alley near the main street, as he told me he helped a person get down here during the night. He said that he seemed to be a person in a hurry, and the only person capable of being in a hurry late at night would be someone who is being hunted, most likely for a crime, perhaps something like killing several renowned adventurers. I imagine that if that person does not know the place, he surely thought of hiding in a place rarely visited by the authorities such as a dungeon, surely he thinks of hiding there for a couple of days until the pressure goes down and returns to the surface pretending to be an adventurer. Following my instincts I came down here with the permission of the guild and seeing this place from the outside it seems the ideal place to hide.

 Name: Sakura Izumi Räikkönen

The average stats of a common man are between 5 and 10, that of a normal adventurer between 30 and 50, a gifted person around 100. Since I'm by far the strongest person around here, I shouldn't be afraid of anything. And even if something were to happen I have several things up my sleeve such as the aerial slash, which allows me to attack from a distance with my katana, strengthening the body allows me to do unhuman feats such as jumping quite high or increasing my strength much more, breaking the limit will allow me to increase my strength much more for a while, after which I will have to wait 7 days before using it again. Finally, my trump card, embed in light makes the weapon you have to multiply its damage and can destroy dark creatures just by touching them, the Goddess gave me these abilities when she sent me to this world to destroy the Demon Lord. With all this, I can face anything.

In the ceiling I saw a pretty big hole, I could get through there without any problems, so I braced my legs and jumped up to the upper floor, continuing through it I managed to get to where I think the source of the sound of the shots was. I ran into a group of wolves trying to eat a couple of bodies that were on the ground, it didn't take me long to take care of them. Checking a little more I managed to find what I was looking for, they had bullet wounds and the bullet casings were on the ground nearby, I took out the one I had and compared them, they were exactly the same. The same person who killed the adventurers in the forest is the same one who did this here, but if the adventurers have a short time to be dead it means that it shouldn't be very far, if I hurry I could reach him soon.

No, wait a minute, doesn't the guild have a machine to return to the exit of the dungeon on the 25th floor? If so he could try to get there and keep escaping down now that he did this! It must be your goal! He's thinking about getting there I count before so they don't catch him, I have to get there before him!

I followed the path to the stairs to the next floor, this time I didn't let the monsters stop me, so I ignored them completely. I can't let a person from earth walk in this world without my protection.

On the 24th floor, I thought of buying time by damaging the ceiling myself and making a hole that I could pass through, thus freeing me from having to look for the stairs. And thanks to a bit of luck the magical transporter was quite close to the hole I made. I quickly checked the machine and noticed that there was no room used all day. I had achieved it, I arrived before him, now I just have to wait for him to come by here sooner or later.

But an hour passed and still nothing had happened. I knew he must be close because I could hear footsteps along the corridor in front of me. It was clear that he didn't want to be found out by anyone, but I was determined to talk to him. I knew he must be watching me in the dark, waiting for the moment to slip away from me. The only thing I had to do was wait until he got tired and came forward, in that case it would be my victory.

BANG!!

BANG!!

!!!!!

Those had been shots!! They had been quite close to me! Surely he had been attacked by another big monster and was defending himself! I had to help him!

I unsheathed my katana and ran to help my partner in danger! I turned left after the hall and I could see that at the end of the next corner there was a strong light, probably from a candle. I kept running to finally meet him. But when I arrived there was no one, neither person nor monster. There was only one fire with one pan. There was no food inside the pan, but near it were two more shell casings, the same type as before. In a nearby wall, I could see the hole where they hit.

A distraction! Had I been cheated?

The Transporter!

I came back as fast as I could, but by the time I got there, I could only see the traces it left behind after being used. He had managed to evade me quite ingeniously. But how did he do it? If the hallway was empty, where was he hiding? And how did you realize that the bullets would distract me like that? But I had no time to lose, I turned on the transporter so that it also sends me outside and continue chasing me, I would certainly catch it outside with my speed.