Three years had passed since the last Phantasia, and now we're graduated from Tyone Academy. We are now going to the guild as we're looking around the city. This city hasn't changed at all. Well, there are some new buildings though, like a library that wasn't there before. That library is so huge and tall, I wonder what's inside. I was too busy with my school and controlling Lunette's behavior. I hope it will subside since we've graduated from our school. I can't help but worry about what will happen next.
We arrived at the Guild and we entered the building as soon as we arrived. The people were looking directly at us as soon as we entered the building. Their gaze looks so scary like they're wondering why kids like us enter this building. I can feel the coldness from their gaze, it looks like they're trying to gather some information from us. Well, information is useful no matter how it is. Hunters are often fighting each other as well, so it will be good to know something about their magic or weapon.
The Guild Master greets us and calls for us in a hurry tone, "Luna! Lunette! Over here!"
Lunette quickly runs towards him and I just follow behind her. Doesn't she feel anything about the glares around us? She looks like nothing happened and doesn't feel anything at all. Some of them are playing with their guns, swords, and other weapons. Of course, there are some of them that don't mind us. They are just searching for a good quest for them. I can't help but feel nervous, it almost makes me crazy.
"Hey, Guild Master, long time no see." Lunette speaks after we reach in front of him with a cheerful tone.
The Guild Master raises his eyebrow and says, "Long time no see? It's not that long, right? Only a few months ago." Then he looks at me.
I sigh and answer him, "Yes, not that long. The last time we were here was when our big sister drank and sang in the guild hall. Many of her fans gathered in the guild hall and cheered for her."
That time was such chaos. Big Sister Wave sang in a drunken state, but her voice was beautiful as always. Guild Master was drunk as well, he danced together with the other fans and hunters who were in the guild too. Lunette is being Lunette, she took a cup of alcohol from a hunter and took a sip then quickly got drunk. The whole guild was filled with laughs and chatters, everyone was having fun in the guild. To be honest, it was such chaos, but also fun.
Back to the present, Guild Master speaks to us again with a serious tone, "Luna, Lunette, do you mind checking on a cave-like dungeon? It was just newly discovered." He said with a serious tone to us.
I was surprised by the sudden request, so I tried to compose myself and prepare myself to listen to the details. I speak with a slight hesitation in my voice, "Are you sure? This is our first quest and we're completely amateurs."
The Guild Master speaks again, "Come on, it's just a quick expedition. We need to know how dangerous the dungeon is, then I'll give you permission to get to other cities. What do you think?"
Huh? That's a good offer, but too good for us. Why did he give us an offer that doesn't give him any benefits? I think we need to think carefully before we act. It's clear that the Guild Master is planning on something.
Then, Lunette suddenly speaks up with full excitement, "We take it!!"
Huh? Wait!! Don't you even dare to take the quest without my confirmation. Lunette!!
"Okay, it's settled then. Take the mission, and I'll give you the permission to travel to each country you want." The Guild Master laughs and gives us the quest.
I quickly turn my gaze to Lunette and shake her body vigorously while screaming at her, "LUNETTE!!!"
She is just laughing nonchalantly like there is no problem. She winks at the Guild Master and vice versa as he gives Lunette a thumb up for dragging me in. Why is she so annoying?! What would big sister say if she heard about this?! Stupid Lunette!! She almost kills me at this point, my hands are trembling and shaking in fear as I think about how Big Sister Wave heard all of this. My heart is beating in panic and the sweats are coming through my skin as we walk home. It's not like we can stay silent about this as well, we need to tell her, but she would be angry if she heard this.
Once we're home, we're sitting on the ground with Big Sister Wave towering us. Her hands are on her hips. We don't need to look at her to tell if she's mad or not. Her facial expression is telling us that she's very mad right now. The way she frowns, the way she glares at us, the way she stands. Every part of her is so scary. We don't even dare to speak to her. The atmosphere is very heavy and so silent, there is only a voice of our breathing in the room. Oh my goodness, I'm dead. She's so scary right now, like a beast.
"Um…Big sister, I can explain." I dare myself to speak to her with a scared tone in my voice.
She quickly looks at me with a cold glare, "You dare to speak back to me? Explain it then." Her voice is so stern, almost like she can kill me with only her voice.
I quickly fell silent once again, my gaze fixed on the ground. All of my limbs are shaking even more than when I was traumatized. Oh my god, she's so scary! I want to run away from her right now, but it will give us more trouble. I glanced at Lunette with an upset glare, silently telling her how much I was angry at her. She gives me a slight, hesitant smile. DOES SHE UNDERSTAND ABOUT OUR CONDITION RIGHT NOW?!
Big Sister Wave coughs to get our attention, and we suddenly drop our faces at the ground again. Our eyes stuck on the ground. I can't do anything right now, nor say anything. The room falls silent so eerie and the pressure almost kills me. I can feel my own legs start feeling numb and in pain. If I try to stand up, I'm sure I will fall in no time since my strength is leaving my legs.
She speaks with a scolding tone and a slightly raised tone, "Why don't you understand? You both just became hunters recently, you haven't taken any quest yet! And now you both want to explore a dungeon? You both can't even hit me for once!" She continues scolding us by raising her tone.
Ugh…Thanks to Lunette, we get scolded by big sister. I know she's worried about us, and she's right. She's always right. She doesn't want anything to happen to us. It's not like she doesn't want us to be hunters like her, but she wants us to take step by step from small quests. Yet, Lunette just suddenly accepted the high quest that's threatening our lives. Though, we can't refuse it now since we accepted it on our own. Even if we know the Guild Master we won't get any special treatments.
If we don't clear the quest, we probably will get a fine. I don't wanna lose my sword or guns, but I don't have any money right now. We haven't done any single quest and have no income.
Big Sister Waves sighed and spoke to us, "Alright, I think we have no choice. You two, make sure you don't get any serious injuries, that's the condition." Her voice is stern and leaves no arguments.
Lunette spoke at her, trying to argue with her, "But, big sis-"
She glances at her with cold glares like telling her, "Don't you dare to speak back at me." Lunette suddenly falls silent as her body is trembling.
I just look at Big Sister Wave and say, "Okay, big sister. I promise I won't let myself get any injuries."
Big Sister Wave nods and lets me leave the room before glancing at Lunette who's sitting on the ground again. She speaks to her, "Lunette, I know you're the culprit. Why don't you explain yourself?"
Lunette sighs and sulks, "Eh~ Why me?"
She speaks again at her, "Because you're the one who always drags Luna into a problem."
Lunette speaks again with a sulking tone,"But that is not fair!"
She speaks again at her, "It's not about fair or not, stop acting like a child. You're 15 years old already, y'know?"
Lunette finally gives in and surrenders, "Ugh…Fine…"
And so, we both go through the day with Lunette getting scolded by her. She doesn't let her go anytime. At night, we prepare ourselves if we need something for the next day.
Next day, we have ourselves in front of the Guild and about to walk to the quest location. The Guild Master and Big Sister Wave see us off. We have a quick chat with them before we begin our quest. He said our party will be near the dungeon, and the dungeon's shape will be like a cave. We've learned the basic things, like what we need to do in certain conditions and some about monster types.
Technically, depending on the area monsters are different. Like in the forest there are usually beast type and plant type monsters. And in watery areas there will be water type monsters. Of course, sometimes there is an unexpected situation where the monster doesn't fit with the area. But that's quite a rare situation. I wonder what kind of monsters we will meet in the cave. If it's in the middle of the forest then it must be something that is related to it.
We leave the city and there are only trees around us. The place feels so cold and comfortable. The wind breezes our hair and our skins. I think I will cherish this moment for a while. But then, a plant monster appears from the ground. Its color is really similar with the trees around us, it's very difficult to distinguish between the monster and the trees.
Lunette smirks and says, "I think this is the first time we will beat a monster, huh?"
I nod and answer her, "I think you're right. This species is a treant?"
The monster has a brown body color with a big mouth on its stomach. It just looks like other trees with its body covered by wood-like skin. It has leaves on its head just like other trees and it has two hands like a normal human and four legs but everything was made of wood. The treant screams at us while walking towards us.
Lunette speaks in a confident tone, "Looks like this tree wants to have a fight, huh?" She smirks with a hint of confidence like she can beat the monster easily.
Ugh…Why is she always like this? I look back at the treant that is walking towards us, trying to gather some information from it. Its movement is slow due to its big body. I think it's not that hard to beat it.
Lunette charges towards the treant and wields her sword from her sheath. "Time to shine, Aurius!" She speaks as she calls her own sword name.
The monster blows a punch at Lunette, but she quickly dodge it by jumping into the air. She then attacks the treant with her sword and gives it a scratch to its head. Seems like its skin is harder than iron. I don't know how, but it's true. If it was just normal wood, then Lunette's sword would easily cut it into pieces.
"Ugh…Just a small scratch?" She said with an annoyed tone.
She stops swinging her sword then starts circling the monster. She throws a barrage of fireballs at the monster while continuing circling it. The treant screams as it takes the damage from Lunette's magic. Plant type monsters are weak against fire, after all. Slowly but surely, the fire on the treant spreads and its skin is peeled slowly before turning into ashes.
I think I don't need to intervene in her fight. She looks like can handle it by herself. The treant continues to scream in pain as Lunette continues to attack the treant. Her fire burns its body, even some of its leaves are burnt and almost leaving it only a piece of wood. I can see how thin its body is right now. A tree without leaves isn't a tree, right?
The treant uses all of its strength to blow a final attack at Lunette with its burnt arms. Lunette dodges it and blows a final strike with her sword. She cuts the treant into two pieces. All I do is just watch her fight with the monster.
Before the treant is completely burnt I speak to Lunette, "Lunette! Dumb! Don't burn the monster completely!"
I quickly use my magic to remove the flame and freeze it. We won't get any materials if she burns the monster into ashes. Lunette just smirks nonchalantly like it's not a problem at all. I can't help but sighed as I walked approaching the treant's body. I remove the ice by deactivating my magic. I touch its arm but it quickly turns into ashes. Lunette always does everything too much. Guess she will burn the whole cave if she really needs to.
Lunette stops me and speaks to me, "Luna, what are you doing?"
I tilt my head and give her a curious expression, "Hm? What do you mean? I'm gathering the material from the monster."
Her eyes are looking at me like I'm the weird one. What is she thinking? It's normal to gather the materials from the monsters we beat. Stop, don't look at me like that.
She sighs desperately and says, "Luna, do you know our inventories are limited? It's not like we're bringing a huge bag with us."
Ah…She's right. Why do I never think about that? I guess I'm used to her careless behavior and start forgetting basic things. But really, how did that cross her mind? I stand up and clean my clothes from the dust.
After that, I walk towards Lunette and say, "It's rare to see you using your brain."
Lunette is surprised and she pouts at me, "Hey! That's not true!"
I just walk past her and say, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
She scoffs at me but starts following me eventually. We continue our journey to the place that is written on the quest. There are some monsters blocking our way, but we quickly clear our path so we can reach the place. Sometimes there is a plant type monster, whether it's a treant or killer grass, or maybe other species. Sometimes, there are beast monsters like wolves, owlbears, or basilisk. And some insect type monsters blocking our way as well like formica and redfungus. Formica is a giant black ant-like monster that usually works in groups. Different from redfungus, they're a passive monster but if someone reaches their territory they will turn alive and attack them. Redfungus is a mushroom-like monster and they have red bodies with red hats on their heads, it's hard to notice them when they're passive. Even though we call them red, some of them have purple or violet body colors but still in the same species.
After a while, we finally reached our destination, the cave dungeon. I can tell Lunette uses her mana more than she thinks. There is a hint of tiredness on her face, but she doesn't seem to mind it.
I exhale as I look at her and say, "That's why I'm telling you to not overuse your magic. You're tired even before we enter the dungeon. How much mana do you have right now?"
Lunette smiles with a slight hint of tiredness as she speaks, "About half? I'm sure I can handle this, don't worry. It's my job as the older one to protect the younger one."
She's just too stubborn even for her own sake. We groups with the party that Guild Master made for us. I can see there is one man and one girl outside the cave. One is sitting on the rock, and one is looking at the sky as if inspecting something. I hope they aren't troublemakers like Lunette.
Lunette runs towards the person who's looking at the sky despite her exhaustion, "Leo! Long time no see!"
Huh? Leo? Is he Leo? It's such a really long time.
The man turns his gaze towards Lunette and speaks, "Fufu…Lunette, huh? So you became a hunter as well?" He chuckles softly at Lunette.
Lunette stands in front of him and speaks again, "Yes, I want to have an adventure so I became a hunter." She nodded at him.
Then, Leo turns his gaze towards me, "I see, so Luna too. You both are always sticking to each other. Nothing has changed since we're at school."
I let out a soft sigh and put a tired smile on my face as I said, "Right. We don't know what she will do if I'm not watching her. It's really a long time, three years I guess?"
Leo nods and answers, "Right, since our last Phantasia."
Leo is quite a weirdo, just like Lunette, but he looks more reliable than Lunette. Well, Lunette can be reliable too though in certain situations. The person that is sitting on the rock stands up and walks towards us.
She speaks to us with a friendly tone, "What are you waiting for? Let's go inside so I can go home quickly." Then, she wraps his arm around Lunette's shoulder.
Lunette seems confused about her friendly act. It's not like we have met her before, but she acts like we're close friends. All of us fell silent with her too friendly acts as she walked towards the dungeon. The only voice around us is only the voice from the swaying trees and breezing wind. The situation is becoming awkward, I don't know what I should say or do. Wait… Why does she sound like a boy?
She speaks again to us before she enters the cave, "Surprised? I'm a boy. Now, let's get moving."
Huh? Me and Lunette's faces turn into a surprised one. I never expected it. Leo just smiles and gives us a signal to follow the person. I can feel my brain stop working right now. Both of us nod as we follow the person with Leo into the cave. Who is he anyway? I never saw him before, it's not like I remember every person I met though.
The atmosphere is so thick and heavy, the only sound here is only the drips of water and our footsteps. The air is pretty cold here, glad I'm still wearing the scarf that big sister gave me before. The place is so dark around us, we are almost unable to see anything. Thanks to Lunette for using her magic to make a fire on her finger to light our surroundings. I'm glad we have a walking lamp in our party.
A group of barghests appears in front of us blocking our way. It's a four legged monster with long claws on their front legs. It has black fur on their back like hair but connected from its head to its back. They growls like normal beasts and they are very aggressive. Their body is black and they have long ears on their heads. They have long fangs in their mouths and we can see it even when their mouths are still closed.
"A group of black hyenas," said Lunette with an innocent tone.
Hey! I'm having a difficult time describing the details of the monsters and she just described it with a few words? But that's the simplest and the best way to describe it. They growl at us again with a loud voice again. Their growl is almost like a scream.
Leo speaks with his usual calm and teasing voice, "Well then, let us see your improvement after these three years, Lunette."
Lunette pulls out her sword and says, "Alright, don't be mad if you don't get any chance to fight."
Leo just chuckles softly at her then he turns his gaze to me, waiting for me to do the same with Lunette. What did he expect from me? Why does he want to see my improvement as well? It's not like he's my caretaker or something. Ugh…Fine, I think I'll try.
I pull out my guns, Liric and Eirys, to get into the fight. Lunette smiles at me and silently tells me that she leaves the middle position to me. Maybe I'll support her if I need to. Lunette dashes towards the group of barghests to launch an attack. The group probably has six to ten barghests, pretty a lot. Barghests isn't known as a powerful monster, but it's still stronger than wolves or normal animals. We can't underestimate large amounts of monsters. But that girl, charging into a group of barghests without hesitation like charging into a group of kids.
One of the barghests attacks her with its fangs, but Lunette blocks it with her sword. She bounces the barghest back and then she slashed its chest, immediately killing it. One of the barghest runs towards her from the back and ready its claw to attack her. Lunette notices it and jumps to turn her body upside down in the middle air to dodge it. She jumps to its back and stabs its back using her sword. The barghest screams in pain and starts attacking everything in front of it. She makes the barghest attacks on the fellow barghest. I quickly shoot its head to kill it and Lunette jumps from its back onto the ground. She moves efficiently and in precision almost like she has been in this job for such a long time like a pro. Her movements is fast like a leopard and she stings her enemies like a bee in high accuracu.
Lunette looks at me as if she's saying, "Nice" to me. She then turns her gaze back to the barghests and dashes again towards them. Maybe she thinks I can easily cover her with my guns, but it's actually not that easy. I need to predict her next movements, but her movements are quite quick. I'm still not pro at using my guns, yet she treats me like I'm a pro. She continues to swing her sword like a pro swordsman, she exterminates them slowly but surely. When they come in her blind spots, I quickly cover Lunette by shooting it on its head to kill them.
I never thought about it, but Liric and Eirys strengths are quite powerful. Maybe because they were well made, I'm really lucky to have it. These guns were my inheritance from my parents. They're small, but quite strong like scorpions. I'm kind of curious about Lunette's gun, I never saw her use it until now. Her gun is Drayvorn, a crimson colored gun that is similar but longer and heavier than mine. She only has one gun on her back, but she doesn't seem to want to use it anyway soon. I can only guess if it was much more powerful than mine in many ways.
After a while, the fight ends with no one injured on our side. Leo smiles at us as if he has expected us to clear the fight with no injuries. It's not as easy as it looks, you know? His smirk is going wider at us, really annoying. Lunette answers him with the same annoying smirk as Leo and makes a "V" sign with her fingers.
The other person claps his hands and says, "Just expected, Luna and Lunette, two people who battled Gyrus in the Phantasia three years ago."
How did he know about us? And how does he remember something from three years ago? Wait, maybe I've seen his face before.
"Surprised? I think you're completely forgotten about me. I feel a bit sad, you know?" the person chuckles at us. Then, he continues, "It's me, Loir, from Redione Academy."
Loir? Never heard that name…Wait, Redione Academy is the academy who won first place. Maybe I remember someone talking to me in the arena after one of them got down from the stage. I see…So that's him, I never thought he would be my party member in our first quest.
He speaks again to us while leading us into a deeper cave, "Let's keep going, we need to continue our expedition." He continues walking towards the deeper level.
Leo just smirks and shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. I don't know what he's thinking right now as usual. We continue our journey together into the deeper level of the dungeon. The monsters are getting more and more each level, and they are getting stronger and stronger for each level. The barghests are getting faster and coordinated. Sometimes two or more barghests attack her at the same time.
Lunette speaks with a slight joking tone, "I see…Like a normal dungeon in game."
Leo chuckles as well and says, "I don't know what game is, but is it the first time you get into a dungeon?"
I speak to him with a confused tone, "I'm sorry, sometimes she is talking about nonsense. But really, this is the first time we entered a dungeon."
Loir speaks to us with a calm manner, "Well then, let me explain what a dungeon is. Make sure you don't fall behind so you can listen to my explanation." He continues to walk in front of us while explaining.
I was surprised by his sudden statement and quickly tried to catch up with him. Lunette runs towards him as well to catch up with Loir while he's continuing to explain it. Leo smirks at us and shrugs his shoulders. We just walked beside him and tried to not fall behind.
Simply, dungeons are underground prisons. Yes, you get it right. It wasn't a place with golds, or treasures, or ancient weapons, or anything else. It was an unused and forgotten prison. But why are there so many monsters in there? Some monsters get into the dungeons and use it as their residence. Monsters are usually wandering around their territory to find some food and to multiply themself, but some of them use a dungeon as their base to defend themself. As the time went by, they began to evolve to adjust their habitats.
After centuries, the general knowledge about dungeons was completely changed. If someone says "dungeon", they will refer to it as a place with a lot of treasure and jewelry, even ancient weapons. That's not wrong since some monsters usually collect shiny things. Some hunters died in the middle of an expedition. Some of the monsters use the hunters' equipment and weapons. Of course, not all monsters do that, they're usually humanoid type monsters. They have the biggest brains than the other types of monsters.
By the way, we must not mistake demi-human as monsters or we will become fugitives in countries. It's not a pleasure to mistake them as monsters. They have rational thinking and common sense like normal humans. In fact, they have their own country such as Flateral, Dorumon, and Azkiel. Those countries are led by demi-humans such as mermaids, beastmen, and demons. It's not like the countries are full of those races, but half of the inhabitants are those races. We will probably get banned from the countries forever if we mistake them as monsters.
We continued our expedition into a deeper level, and now we reached the fifth level in the dungeon. Of course, the monsters are getting more and stronger just like I said before. The variation of the monsters isn't only barghest now, there is al-miraj, and owlbear too. Al-miraj is simply a small creature with white fur and a horn on its head. It has two long ears and walks with four legs. Their movements are fast due to its small body.
Lunette tries so hard to keep up with their speed, wielding her sword and swinging it to those monsters. Al-mirajs usually appear in a big group, that's why I don't really want to fight it. It's not like I have fought them already, but according to the monster's record they are.
Lunette is struggling to attack them, her sword and magic isn't fast enough to hit them. Of course, we need to cast magic before using it, even the smallest one, that's why some people use a gun as a proxy of magic. But, a gun isn't as strong as magic and we can't aim it from a long distance, that's why people use a bow for a long distance weapon.
Lunette speaks in a tired tone in her fight, "Ugh…Why is it so hard to fight with bunnies? I mean, it's just a group of bunnies but they're so fast!!" I can tell her frustration in her tone, I can't help but laugh at her protest.
Leo, who is attacking the al-mirajs, is having a difficult time as well, but he remains calm and teasing behavior. He chuckles at Lunette but is still able to kill some of them. Maybe his weapon suits more in a cave-like than Lunette, his weapon is short and his magic makes it even easier to catch them.
He chuckles softly at Lunette and speaks in a teasing tone, "Lunette, are you getting stronger? You're even stronger than me now."
Lunette pouts at him and continues to fight again while saying, "Don't underestimate me! It's my first time fighting in a dungeon!"
Loir whistles a bit with a slight hint of amaze and says, "That's kind of amazing. It's usually hard to use a sword in a cave for the first timer, but you can kill some of it already."
I see…So, Leo didn't make fun of her and actually praised her. Lunette just put a smug on her face while continuing to fight the monsters. I don't know if she can be proud of it, but it's not like she will listen to me anyway.
We continue our journey into a deeper level and we reach the seventh level of the dungeon. We met an owlbear that was blocking our way, but quickly exterminated by Leo and Loir. It's almost like they have been working together for a long time. Loir put his sword back to its sheath on his back. His sword is kind of short, maybe because he is adjusting to the cave. But I'm kind of curious why he is bringing a scythe behind him?
Leo chuckles and says, "Surprised? I have been at the same party as Loir for one year. He already became a hunter one year before me, so this is his second year of being a hunter."
I nod and mumbles softly with my hand on my chin, "I see. So if you're one year older than us, does that mean Loir is two years older than us?"
Loir speaks with a prideful tone, "That's right, I'm your and Leo's senior, so you need to be more respectful to me."
Did he hear me? I don't think I was speaking it out loud though. Or does he just simply have a good hearing?
Loir speaks again to us, "Come on, now. We need to go into a deeper level, you know? And I haven't done my explanation yet." He says as he continues walking and continues his explanation.
In dungeons, some monsters evolved into stronger ones. Such as wolves that evolved into werewolves slowly to protect themselves, or lizards that evolved into winged-lizards. The differences between winged-lizards and dragons are they can't use an elemental breath and are much smaller than them. Dragons are a race in a country named Yoruka. There are some elemental enemies such as golem, a monster made of stone without a soul inside. Golems have their own differences too such as lava golem that is made of lava, ice golem that is made of ice, and cyclone golem that is made of wind. Golems are the most troublesome enemies in the dungeon. Their body has the properties that are made of.
Each dungeon was different and has its own type since it was made by humans long ago. Sometimes it was made of metal like a shelter, sometimes it was made of rock like an underground castle, and sometimes it was made of dirt like a cave like we're in right now. As I said, dungeons were prisons, so long ago there were humans living in the dungeons. Loir said sometimes there are notes from the past humans who lived there. Probably, the person is a prisoner.
As we continue, the dungeon is getting darker and darker each level. We reached the twelfth level of the dungeon. The monsters are much stronger until I can't compare it with the outer level. Some monsters that block our way are the evolution from the outer level. There is a group of lunatics in front of us. It's not like we can do our expedition easily.
Lunatic is a rabbit-like monster, just like al-miraj but way stronger. It's an evolution of al-miraj, they're walking with two legs and a pair of arms. Their bodies are smaller than us, but still bigger than al-miraj. If I need to explain it in a simple way, it's just a humanoid white rabbit that can use a weapon. Their movements are faster and their accuracy is higher than al-miraj's.
We continue our teamwork as we fight against the groups of lunatics. Leo uses his magic to make the floor flexible so the lunatics will lose its balance. But, we feel the effect as well so it's kind of bothering us as well. I can hear the sound in my mind like "BOING BOING". It's kind of funny but annoying in the same way.
Lunette shouts at Leo with an annoyed tone, "Hey! What is it supposed to be?!"
Leo is just laughing in the back line, "Fufu, don't worry, it's not like they can move properly too."
Glad I'm choosing guns as my weapon for now. I can only sigh at their behavior. I can see Loir is laughing as well in the front line. He seems too far away so Leo's magic is unable to reach him. It's the first time I saw his magic, I don't have any chance to see it in Phantasia. So it has its own range, huh? I just fire my guns towards the monsters like a rainy day until we're done.
After a while, we finished dealing with the lunatics and kept going. I can't believe we have made it so far with this party. It's almost like we're just joking around while dealing with the monsters. Leo is just being Leo, always teasing Lunette whenever he has a chance. Lunette is just being silly and sometimes joins Leo to joke around. Loir is the most mature in our party. He occasionally checks our conditions and makes sure we're always ready. But he has his own silliness as well. After we defeat the monsters, he usually observes it like he's really into it. I can see his eyes are sparkling when he is inspecting the monster's features. He almost looks like a kid right now.
A group of werewolves are attacking us as well as we are dealing with the lunatics. They're fighting against each other, almost like normal monsters that are fighting for their territory, and now we are dealing with this condition. Those monsters are attacking each other, and sometimes both of them are attacking us at the same time. It's almost so hard to take a rest right now, I can't help but panting due to my exhaustion. I can feel my legs are tired and barely can support my body as well.
"Seriously now? Is this what hunters have in the dungeons?" I said with a confused and tired tone as I continued, "We've been fighting for hours."
Lunette sighs at me and speaks as well, "Luna, stop exaggerating things, we get some rest, right?"
Werewolf is a wolf that evolved and is almost like a human. It has a quick movement and its eyes are very good. They usually come out at night and live in a dark place. They have long hands with long claws on their hands and legs. They are bigger than humans and much stronger. All of their bodies were covered by wolf fur with the black color. They're usually howling in the middle of the night. They're very aggressive and like to eat flesh and drink blood.
She's right, but it's not like we got a proper rest too. We need to stay alert as well so it doesn't count as a rest, does it? The werewolves and the lunatics are completely surrounding us and put us in the middle of their fight.
Loir shrugs and speaks with a calm demeanor, "I think we're surrounded. It's not like we have any other choice except to beat them though."
Right, we had no choice. I put back my guns and pulled out my sword from my sheath, ready to get into the front line. I walk to Lunette's side while Loir gets to our side as well. I think being separated here isn't a good option for now, even Leo is on our back too.
After a while, one of the lunatics attacks us and we start our fight. Lunette quickly wields her sword and blocks its attack to make some chance. Leo uses his knife to cut its arm and make it injured. The lunatic screams in pain and one of the werewolves attacks it and finishes it. I sigh in relief knowing we can save our stamina to do our expedition.
"DUMMY, DON'T FEEL RELIEF YET!" Loir shouts at me in panic.
One of the werewolves attacks me from my back. I don't have time to dodge it or block it, so I just turn around and jump back with my reflex but still in its range. Leo moves quickly and cuts its arm before the werewolf manages to attack me. I'm glad I got no injuries for now. I need to focus for now. I use my sword to attack some of them. I slash their arms, legs, and everything no matter how big the scratches I cause.
One of the werewolves hit me with its claw on my shoulder, but I killed it anyway by stabbing its head. The fight is getting fiercer, almost all of us got some minor injuries on our bodies. Lunette continues to use her sword and her magic to attack them, but it's not a good idea to use fire magic too much in a cave. I can tell she feels tired already judging by how she moves. Loir and Leo are tired as well, they're almost fighting nonstop against the groups of monsters. Loir has a cut on his leg, while Leo has some injuries on her arms.
As the battle continues, the injuries on our bodies are getting more and more. To be honest, I don't think it will end soon. It's a good thing that the lunatics and the werewolves have their own fight, but please don't put us into the fight! It's not like we can do something about it anyway.
Loir speaks with a loud voice but there is still a slight hint of calm tone in his voice, "Let's get through this herd of monsters. It's not like they will notice us as well."
Right, they have their own fight so I don't think they have time to bother us. He's such a good party leader, I don't know why he looks so different compared with the last three years ago. I mean, his body still almost looks like a girl, but I don't know why he looks like a girl before. Maybe because he introduced himself as a boy so I naturally see him as a boy.
Loir tries to make a way for us to get through to the herd of monsters. He uses his sword to make a way through the monsters by slashing them one by one if they attack us. Of course, we don't rely on him completely, we protect ourselves as well just in case. We're a party, we can't burden one person too much.
After a while, we managed to get through the monsters and reached a room. The room is so dark and eerie, well it's a prison after all. Lunette uses her magic again to light the room, but she looks pretty tired right now. I think our walking lamp needs a rest for a while. And the other party members seem tired as well even if they don't show it openly. I don't think keeping going is a good option for now.
Loir speaks with his calm tone but there is a slight hint of pants coming from his mouth, "Let's keep going a bit more."
I was surprised and I quickly spoke up to him, "Loir, I don't think keeping going is a good option for now. Lunette is tired, you and Leo are injured as well, and so am I. I know it's my fault to let my guard down before, but we can't keep going like this."
Loir shakes his head after hearing my protest then speaks, "Luna, you don't know this place yet. This is the first time you're here, after all."
I gulp a bit then speak again, "Yes, so what?"
He continues with a calm tone and slight stern, "This place isn't safe, at least not here. This place is so dark, and in the dungeons there are a lot of dangerous traps. Even if it's scary, detention rooms are the safest place in dungeons."
What? How? Isn't it more dangerous? It's not like we can rest in that eerie and bloody place. What is he thinking?
Leo chuckles and explains it to me, "Luna, detention rooms have no traps in it. And monsters don't use it as a territory since they usually breed pretty quick. Detention rooms are too small for them as a territory."
Ah… I see, maybe I can't think clearly right now. It's true this is my first experience, maybe I just need to listen to them who are more senior than us. I think we can't rest when we know there are hidden traps around us, huh?
We continued our journey in the twelfth level to find a safe place to rest. The corridor is so dark and so eerie. As expected from a buried dungeon in a cave. As far as we walk, there is no treasure or ancient weapon. Maybe those things are very rare and not all monsters collect those things. Maybe a humanoid type monster such as ghoul or draugr or revenant likes to collect those things. Well, there are some legacy from the past people, even I never heard someone found it by themself. I just heard a rumor from people in the library.
We finally reached the thirteenth level of the dungeon, we've been walking too far for now. We occasionally have a rest before, but not after the groups of monsters attacked us. This level is for prisoners, which means the detention rooms.
"Alright, maybe we're safe here. Detention rooms are used for them to imprison their enemies. I don't know what happened before until they made a dungeon, but based on my experience, there are no traps or monsters on this floor. Let's have a rest now, but be careful."
All of us nodded and began to rest. Lunette and Leo sit on the ground, probably because they're too tired for now. Even in this condition, Leo still has his teasing manner with Lunette and always has time to annoy her. Loir sits and takes a rest as well before pulling out a lunch box for us to eat. He is signaling us to approach him to eat together.
The room is so eerie and there is so much blood on the wall and floor. I don't think I still have my appetite in my current condition so I better take a walk. Although, I'm not that hungry either. Lunette's eyes are sparkling with excitement after seeing his lunch box. Leo eats the food without any hesitation and doesn't look like he cares about his surroundings. Leo aside, but this is the first time Lunette enters a dungeon as well, how can she be so careless about her surroundings?
Ugh… I don't understand that girl. I continue walking around the floor and checking around. My trauma doesn't attack me this time even with all of this blood, maybe because I know it's not a human's blood, but a monster's blood instead. We can easily differentiate their blood by the color, human's blood is red while monster's blood is blue. I think my trauma has lightened up a bit in the last three years, but still I can't look at human blood or flesh directly. That's what I thought after I saw a knight's dead body on the floor. My head becomes empty and my eyes are vacant. Though, the body is covered by armor so I can't see their flesh, but judging by how it looks, it seems like almost centuries have passed.
"ARGGH!!" I scream in panic and stumble to the ground.
I sit on the ground with my shaking hands and shaking legs. I don't know if I'm just surprised or truly scared with this, but I barely feel my strength in my legs.
Everyone came to me in panic after I screamed. I feel sorry for what I've done but it just surprised me. It's not like my trauma attacking me again since its body was covered by armor, it was just a pure surprise.
Lunette gets in front of me and asks me in a worried tone, "LUNA, WHAT'S WRONG?"
I point at the dead knight and they look towards the direction. Leo just frowns a bit without any hint of surprise or panic, just as I expected. Lunette's eyes are sparkling with excitement, such a weirdo. She's kind of boyish and always interested in something that is nonsense or weird. All I know is that she only likes weapons and magic. I never expect she will be surprised after seeing something like this, she won't after all. Loir kneels down and starts inspecting the dead knight. Ugh… How is he so calm? He looks like a pro detective right now.
Loir slips his hand into the armor like it was nothing. I hope once he pulls out his hand it's not covered by blood. I gulp as I'm waiting for what he will find inside the armor. Loir slowly pulls out his hand from the armor, then he puts his hand inside again. After a while, he pulls his hand again from the armor, then puts it inside again.
I'm kind of curious about why he does that. Once I look at his face, I can see he's grinning in a teasing manner looking at me. I look around and see the others do the same as well in the same manner. I can't help but get angry at them.
I started shouting at them with an angry tone, "YOU GUYS!! STOP PLAYING WITH ME!!" I couldn't hold back my rage anymore and yelled at them. I think I have reached my limit.
They're just laughing at me and so annoying. I can't help but move forward and try to punch them, but Lunette locks my arms and makes me struggle to do that. I know, I look like a kid, but I can't help it. They're just too annoying, I don't understand how they can have time to annoy me right now. Damn you all!!
Loir speaks up with a serious tone and a serious face all of a sudden, "Let's stop this joke and be serious." But it doesn't last long, he tries to resist the laugh as the others laugh as well.
I can't help but laugh as well. Maybe it isn't that bad for having a joke to lighten the situation. After a while, all of us stop and Loir pulls his hand out from the armor. We can see him grabbing a small piece of paper in his hand. He goes silent for a while before frowns. Of course, all of us went silent as well and curious about what he's reading right now. After a while, he gives us the paper and he's signaling us to read it. It was a note from the knight before dead. It's written about his life before he's gone and what happened to him.
It says that the moon rises with violet color, everything changes into purple even his eyesight as well. He doesn't know why or what's happening right now, but all the people in this dungeon, including the guards and the prisoners, are going crazy. They start attacking each other with their weapons and they can even break the jail with their bare hands. Their bodies are slowly changing as if they aren't humans anymore. Some of their bodies become bigger, some of them become smaller, and some of them become thin.
Not all the people can keep their rational thoughts, some of them start growling like animals and the animal's features grow from their bodies. Some of them only have a slight animal's features such as tail and ears, but the others have their bodies completely covered by fur and can't keep their rational thoughts.
Leo frowns a bit after reading that and speaks in a curious tone, "People with a slight animal's features, is he talking about the beastmen? And the people with their body completely covered by fur, is it about beast type monsters? Moon with violet color, hmm… Maybe about 'The Miracle Moon'?"
Lunette is confused and asks him with a curious tone, "'The Miracle Moon'? What do you mean?"
Leo speaks with a serious tone and informative tone, there is no any slight of teasing this time. "Sometimes, the full moon is right above us with violet color. During that time, there are so many light particles appearing from the ground to the sky. The view is so beautiful, so everyone calls it 'The Miracle Moon'. If we use magic during that time, the magic is stronger than usual. But why does that become a problem?"
What?! Are we killing humans all the time?! I stumble back as I feel a bit dizzy. What does he mean? Don't monsters exist in the first place? We just exterminated werewolves and lunatics, and you want to tell us we just killed humans?! This is different from what we learned in school. Wait, relax, it's not like everything is true. I need to calm down and continue reading.
The next line is about the knight's experiences in the dungeon. The dungeon's door was closed by stones because of the humans that were unable to keep their rational thinking. His friend that was trapped with him turned into a small but strong physique. He helps the knight to run away from the humans, or the monsters. It was a terrible day, his friend died in front of him and after a day passed, he's the only one who's still alive. He doesn't understand why the moon doesn't affect him, but he chooses to write a note if someone finds him. After a long time of running away from the monsters, he finally ran out of food and was completely hungry. And as we know, the knight is dead now, his body is right in front of us.
I don't understand, they said monsters are made by mana and exist in the first place. No one said the monsters are humans that lost their rational thinking. Have we been mistaken for them for all these years? I don't get it.
Leo speaks up with a serious tone, "I think what the school taught us is real. There is some research about that, and they actually explain how monsters are born by mana. Monsters are reproducing and conceiving their children with mana, so they need mana to breed. This one is strange, but makes sense. There are some cases that races with rational thinking are going wild because they absorbed too much magic. Maybe this person wants to tell us about the origin of monsters and demi-human races."
Lunette speaks again while trying to catch it, "By why? Can't they use magic to break the gate or kill the monsters?"
"It's the Book of Origin. It must be related to this!" I said with a fear in my tone. I can feel my trauma is attacking me again, but this is important so I can't let myself overtaken by the trauma.
I continue while trying to hold back my fear, but the floor collapses and makes us fall into the deepest level of the dungeon. We reached the fourteenth level, the deepest level of this dungeon. We pull ourselves together and stand up to gather some information. This dungeon is so scary, but this isn't the worst part. I look up and see a big chimera standing in front of us, staring at us like a beast staring at its prey.