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Right in front of her...
Splash, a piece of rotting flesh fell from her face. Inside was a white, shapeless mass of brain matter.
"Ah!!"
Merna shot up with a whoosh, her emotions completely collapsing. She scrambled on her hands and knees towards the edge of the shelter. Fear squeezed out what little rationality she had left.
She just wanted to run, no matter where, even if it was into a horde of monsters.
As long as she ran, she could escape this predicament.
Run!
As long as she ran, she could escape this terrible fate.
Run!!
"Can you run?"
Merna thrashed on the ground like a water duck for a moment, then turned to look at Leuf, her face streaming with tears.
Leuf reached out and grabbed her ankle. The next instant, he pulled her up from the ground and hugged her to his chest. Ignoring whether she was stained with a corpse, he reached in with his hand.
Merna froze. She immediately struggled violently, but before she could even thrash twice, her body stiffened.
Something cold and hard was pressed against her waist.
Leuf leaned in close to her ear, saying with an ambiguous tone.
"You can't run, Miss Merna..."
Swish!!
Lightning flashed, accompanied by the sound of blades being drawn from their sheaths behind him. The two other guards watched Leuf cautiously, as he reached inside Merna's clothes, which still had intestines hanging from them. They were on high alert.
"Are you crazy!?"
Being in a tense, life-or-death situation in a dungeon for a long time.
A crazy companion was often more terrifying than a monster.
This was a consensus among all adventurer teams.
If this happened, they should immediately kill the person in the dungeon. If they weren't in a dungeon, they should abandon them and find new companions.
And they were, coincidentally, in a dungeon right now.
The anomaly of the past two months had led all the adventurers trapped on the island to a consensus.
—The dungeon of this island had been twisted and changed, as if due to a mana riot, and the abnormal weather was also related to it.
The original 'progressive dungeon,' which had three levels of increasing danger, had surfaced on the reef, located on the island.
It had become a 'composite dungeon,' with three levels nested together.
It was worth mentioning that the danger of the two was not even on the same scale.
In the former, the monsters of each level stayed on their respective levels. If adventurers cleared the first few levels, they could safely escape and plan for the long term, according to the cycle in which the monsters were reshaped by the dungeon's mana.
But the latter...
Because of the nesting, the monsters' range of movement was not constrained by the dungeon.
This meant that even if you were on the first level, you could be suddenly attacked by a Lord-rank monster from the bottom level, which could lead to your entire team being wiped out.
In this situation of high pressure and constant peril, if they found a mentally unstable companion, they had to kill them as soon as possible.
After all, a stab in the back from one of your own hurt the most.
The two men confronted Leuf.
He froze, then suddenly chuckled. He pulled his hand out from Merna's clothes, shoved the wooden Merna away, and turned to look at the two men.
He said with a fierce, hateful expression.
"I've been crazy for a long time, you bastards!!"
Hearing this, the two men actually breathed a sigh of relief. A crazy person usually wouldn't think they were crazy. They looked at Leuf's clear eyes, and then at the remains of the corpse on Merna's clothes. They clicked their tongues and sheathed their blades.
"You're in the mood, huh... She's not doing well. If you keep provoking her, and she goes crazy, it won't be good for us."
Leuf spat on the ground and waved his hand.
"Alright~ I get it, I get it."
He turned to Merna.
"Let's go, Miss Merna. The magic circle for the barrier needs you to maintain it."
The other two guards also came to Merna's side. They were silent, urging her to move with their eyes.
The latter vaguely glanced at Leuf. Although he had left, the thing in her arms had not. It still gave off a cold sensation.
It was a dagger.
Merna froze for a moment, then moved, following the others towards the outside of the shelter. Leuf intentionally kept his gaze on her, waiting for her 'decision.'
If she chose to commit suicide to escape the predicament of being a 'mana replenisher,' now would be the best time. Otherwise, once she was in the middle of the crowd, even suicide itself would be a luxury.
Smack, smack!!
Perhaps the dagger in her arms gave her the courage to bargain. Merna reached into her clothes, clutched the dagger, and ran towards the crowd not far away.
It surprised the other two men.
"She's... she's a little proactive today..."
"Maybe she really is crazy..."
Leuf's face behind them was grim as water. His cheeks trembled.
"Damn it..."
The monsters retreated.
Outside the shelter, a magic circle for a barrier spell was set up at each of the four corners of the hilltop. The source of that thin, film-like barrier was at these four corners.
Even though the magic circles were crudely covered with tree branches and torn clothes, they still needed regular maintenance because of the water flow.
How did they maintain them?
By having the barrier spell caster redraw the magic circles.
No...
To be precise, the barrier spell caster had to redraw the magic circles with their own mana.
"Miss Merna, sorry for the trouble."
The temporary leader of the thirty-odd surviving adventurers was a North Saint. He was bald, tall, and his body was like a tower. His mere presence was intimidating.
Now, however, he put on a smile. He pointed to the magic circle carved on a rock under a crude shelter on the ground and said softly to Merna with a gentle expression.
Lightning continuously illuminated their surroundings. Rain fell like a curtain, enveloping everyone.
Merna quietly looked at him. Clang! She pulled the dagger from her clothes and pressed it against her neck. Her lips, completely drained of color, trembled. Her teeth chattered.
"...I... I have no more mana. Please let me go. Please let me go..."
The glistening blade flashed in the lightning. A clamor rose from the crowd, along with angry shouts.
"Who the hell gave her a dagger?!"
"Damn it!!"
Klem, who was in the crowd and wore an eye patch, saw the familiar dagger hilt in the lightning. He looked at Leuf beside him in horror. Leuf had his head down, his face expressionless.
The North Saint seemed startled. He took a step forward, carefully reaching out to shield Merna's body from a distance.
"Miss, what do you mean by this? Everyone knows you have no mana. After all, we haven't had much time to rest, and we don't have enough food to recover mana. But..."
With that, he took out a fist-sized magic stone from his clothes. Lightning flashed, and one could still see the murky mana light within the magic stone. It was clearly a fresh one from a Specter.
"See? We have magic stones, don't we? Why would you lack mana?"
Merna looked at the magic stone and screamed in a panic.
"You all know! You all know!!"
"These magic stones have impurities!! The mana can only be used occasionally in emergencies!! But I've been using them for a month!! A whole month!! I can feel the Specter's aura corroding my body!! Please!! I can't use them anymore! Specterization... I'll turn into a..."
Her words stopped there. Merna looked down at her palm. A hand was there, tightly gripping her wrist. It was forceful, prying the dagger in her hand away from her neck, inch by inch.
The face of the temporary adventurer team's captain suddenly appeared beside her. The smile on his face also disappeared.
"Miss Merna, what you're saying... I've never heard of it... Did you get it wrong? Everyone?"
"Yeah! There's no such thing!!"
"Strange, I've been in the Archipelago for five years and never heard that either?"
The crowd echoed his words. The North Saint held Merna's hand, speaking word by word.
"You see, it's not true. Everyone is waiting for you to maintain the magic circles. It's not right to be so willful... This is about saving lives. This is about saving everyone's lives. We're all grateful to you..."
With a clatter, the dagger, mixed with rainwater, fell to the ground. Someone rushed over to restrain Merna. Some, fearing she might get hurt, even used a healing spell on her, a flash of green light appearing around her, not caring about their own mana consumption.
The latter only looked at the dagger on the ground, her face pale. Her lips parted, but she couldn't speak.
At some point, the rest of the adventurers had come over, forming a circle, quietly watching her. Lightning flashed. Everyone's faces were grim and unclear.
The North Saint picked up the dagger. He looked at the blade, which had faint traces of green moss on it. His gaze swept over Leuf, who had his head down and was silent. His voice was cold and hard.
"It seems someone heard this rumor and believed it to be true..."
"...I stole it. The dagger is mine," Merna said, her voice hollow and lost.
The North Saint suddenly chuckled. He grabbed Merna's hand and stuffed the magic stone into it.
"Oh, so that's it. We've all been mistaken..."
Merna's eyes were vacant. She looked at the magic stone in her hand, her face showing an expression that wanted to cry but couldn't shed any tears. Like a doll, she walked over to the magic circle.
Light flashed. She began to maintain the magic circle with a numb expression. She didn't know if it was her imagination, but as her body was drained of mana, her face grew paler.
And all the people around them quietly watched this scene.
Did anyone truly not know that the magic stones from Specters couldn't be directly absorbed by the human body?
Everyone knew.
They just pretended not to.
The bald North Saint quietly watched Merna for a moment, then suddenly turned to Leuf, who had been silent with his head down from the start.
"Leuf, we're short on mushrooms at 'home.' Why don't you and Klem go and pick some fresh ones?"
Leuf looked at the gray umbrella mushrooms growing in the cracks of the stone by his feet. He was silent.
"Leuf, I understand how you feel, but you were too impulsive. Even if you 'saved' that child, what would happen? Wouldn't she still be cleaned up?"
Squelch... squelch...
In a deliberately lowered voice, boots sank into the mud. They were on the side of a mountain on the island. Leuf and Klem, hunched over, were cautiously moving along the reefs on the edge of the island in the rain.
Splash, splash. The black seawater pounded the reefs. The coastline at the edge of the dense forest provided a relatively open view. Several Specters occasionally flickered in the dense forest in the distance.
Leuf and Klem were doing their best to avoid stepping into the bottom level of the 'Composite Dungeon,' but they could only do their best.
The location and distance in the 'Composite Dungeon' were impossible to judge. With the next step, they could be teleported directly to the bottom level.
But...
It didn't matter.
The situation couldn't get any worse.
Leuf's face was tense. "If Merna had succeeded in committing suicide, these people would have scattered. Who would have cared about us?"
Klem grabbed Leuf's collar. "Are you crazy! If we don't stick together, we'll die even faster!"
Leuf quietly looked into Klem's eyes. "I've been crazy for a long time, Klem. I went crazy the moment Celis died five months ago."
Klem froze. He reluctantly let go of his hand. "Leuf, don't be like this. I know seeing Merna's hair reminds you of Celis."
"But what you're doing now isn't what Celis wanted to see. Have you forgotten what she said? She told you to live well, to forget the past, to stop fixating on the so-called miracle of sudden wealth. She was happy, and she didn't need that much money, and she didn't need you to work so hard, Leuf. Before you can be a family man, you have to be yourself. Don't..."
His words stopped.
Klem realized he had said the wrong thing, but it was too late.
Leuf stopped. He quietly tilted his head to look at him, his face very calm.
But his calm demeanor revealed a hint of madness.
"Klem, listen to me. I'm going back to the main island. I'm going to kill all the monsters in the central dungeon. From the first level to the bottom level. I'm going to kill every single one of them. Then I'm going to smash the mana source at the bottom level. At the very end, I want that damned thing to kill me too."
"We found the best mage this time. King-rank, King-rank!! Leuf!! We also have the best boatman! The best healer! The most outstanding barrier spell caster! And you! And me!! The strongest warrior!!"
"It has to die, Leuf. It has to die, Leuf. It has to die!!"
He leaned in close, staring fixedly into Klem's constricted pupils, which were bloodshot.
"This is my revenge. I told you not to follow me."
"Leuf!!"
Klem looked into Leuf's eyes. He couldn't say a word, listening to the other party constantly calling him by his own name, with completely incoherent logic.
The best mage? A shared ship? When did she ever agree to be in an adventurer team with you?
She clearly said, 'I already have an adventurer team! My apologies!'
And that person went missing in the shipwreck! Whether she's alive or dead is a mystery! What healer? What barrier spell caster!! Those were the people from other adventurer teams on that ship!
The moment the two looked at each other, crack! Lightning pierced the sky.
A giant wave crashed down beside them.
Slam!
—!! BANG!!!—
A huge roar exploded in the dense forest on the mountainside beside them! It sounded at the same time as the wave, but it completely drowned out the sound of the wave, almost shattering their eardrums! Both of their faces were horrified. They both turned to look at the dense forest beside them.
In their line of sight, a huge hole suddenly exploded in the center of the dense forest! The rain curtain was pierced. A visible shockwave formed in the air.
The air in the center of the shockwave suddenly collapsed, then expanded! A grey shadow was thrown out of the dense forest in the afterglow of the lightning, thrown high into the air. In an instant! It turned into a grey dot and disappeared from the startled eyes of the two men.
The lightning disappeared. Darkness suddenly descended. The sound of the rain resumed its gentle drumming.
Leuf and Klem stood there, lost and bewildered.
"What... what was that?"
"I don't know... but the sound... it sounded like the noise before every earthquake. This..."
Swish... swish... swish... swish...
As they spoke, a whooshing sound, a tearing wind, came from the sky above them, but it was not from the rain or wind around them.
The lightning in the distance whistled, leaving a trail of light in their vision that illuminated the entire night sky.
Something was falling from a great height.
It was that same grey blob from before.
In the constant flashes of lightning, at first it was the size of a pinprick, then it became the size of a fist, and finally, the size of a washbasin.
And then!! Thump!!!!
A huge thud from the landing stirred up a storm. The reefs on the mountainside not far from them were shattered by the falling object! Stones flew everywhere, scaring the two men into immediately getting down on the ground. At the same time, the rain and wind were torn apart by the air pressure, plowing through the ground beside them. The immense impact made the entire mountain tremble.
The entire mountain shook, and soon, it quieted down.
Leuf and Klem looked up blankly, staring ahead.
A hole about ten meters in diameter had appeared where the mountain of reefs had once been. Half of the entire small mountain, about thirty meters in diameter, had been flattened. The ground still emitted a low, vibrating hum.
In the center of the landing point, a Specter monster, dozens of times denser than the ones they usually saw, stood up straight.
The bone blades on its hands had been shattered by the immense impact.
As they watched, the bone blades slowly wriggled out from its hands with a squelching sound. The Specter was gradually splitting, from one to two, then to three...
Finally, dozens of Specter monsters, densely packed, stood in the crater, filling the entire space.
Klem's teeth chattered.
"This is... splitting? Is this how the earthquakes are made? So that's how the monsters after the earthquakes are created... They are thrown directly from the deepest part of the dungeon into the sky? How can this be??"
Gulp.
Leuf swallowed. Although the sound of the storm was loud, he could still hear it clearly.
"No, no, that's not right. The bodies of Specters are insubstantial. They can stack together. They... they..."
Klem's mouth hung open, his face full of confusion and bewilderment.
"They were stacked together when they fell?? Ah, ah?? Were the bone knives thrown out by someone who stacked them together?? No, that's impossible. Then they must have been spewed out from the deepest part of the dungeon..." As he spoke, Klem's face was filled with confusion.
"Spewed... spewed out? Why were they spewed out? I've... I've never seen a dungeon like this. Have you heard of it? A mutation caused by mana turbulence? It created a more powerful Lord-rank monster? But why is it killing its own kind, even its own subordinates? Does this Lord-rank monster have something wrong with its head?"
"Wait, spewed out... grayish-white... this..."
Klem was like this. Although he wore an eye patch and looked menacing, he could always say something shocking in a moment of crisis.
A madman and a fool, they made a perfect combination.
Leuf's face was green. He ignored the other person, just staring blankly ahead.
"Don't... don't ask. Don't f***ing ask anymore..."
In his line of sight, in the curtain of rain.
The countless faceless Specter monsters all turned in unison. They 'looked' at the two of them. For some reason,
From this one simple movement, he could read the humiliation and anger of these monsters.
It was incredibly intense.
Cold sweat streamed down Leuf's face.
"Run!!!!"
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