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Chapter 8
He warned me with genuine concern.
The higher the dungeon’s grade, the more complicated its interior became.
This was a Mythic Grade dungeon, so I had no idea how many floors there would be.
But I didn’t want to be chased by Unavoidable Misfortune anymore. I had to move forward.
And looking at Cadmus, I knew.
There had to be some way to deal with whatever was waiting ahead of us.
“We can’t stay here forever. We have to go home.”
Perhaps it was because of those words, which I added in an attempt to win his favor, but his eyes filled with pity.
He was a surprisingly sentimental monster.
“You’re quite sharp for your age. I wonder who you take after. My children weren’t like this when they were young.”
Was that actually part of his character setting?
His cheerful face still had all the freshness of youth, making him look no older than his early to mid-twenties at most.
It wasn’t important, so I quickly brushed the stray thoughts from my mind.
“You don’t seem to be a demigod, either…”
He muttered to himself as he glanced toward my neck.
He seemed to be looking at the necklace I had summoned in preparation for any unexpected situation.
“……”
In an instant, countless emotions erupted across the man’s eyes.
What was this? Did he know about my necklace…?
He was angry.
And then he was sad.
I remained wary, but he made no attempt to harm me.
“Be happy. Yes. Children should be happy.”
It had been a long time since an adult had looked at me solely as a child.
After hesitating for a moment, the man picked up a random pebble lying on the ground.
A brief flash of light burst from his hand before disappearing. Then he handed the pebble to me.
“This is my reward for keeping me company. I hope it proves useful.”
A pebble from the ground as a gift?
Given the circumstances, it could easily have been misunderstood, but when I saw the seriousness on the man’s face, I carefully put it away.
“Take care. I’ll pray to the gods that you two make it home safely.”
“Thank you, Cadmus.”
As Ruizel and I entered the Golden Gate, the gate wrapped itself in radiant light and began to shine.
Seeing this, Cadmus hurriedly shouted.
“Ah! Before you go, would you tell me your names?”
Perhaps because he was in such a hurry, there was something unusual about the force behind his voice.
My lips moved automatically, as though under a spell.
“Harmonia Ju Elorang.”
“Ruizel Tritan.”
Cadmus’s wide-open eyes and face disappeared beneath the brilliant radiance.
[You have successfully conquered Floor 1!]
[As a conquest reward, the one-time-use item ‘Cadmus’s Pebble’ has been awarded.]
[You are entering Floor 2, ‘The Ismenios Spartoi.’]
[The great dragon Drakon Ismenios has died, and his teeth have been scattered across the land. Defeat all the savage Spartoi born from Drakon’s teeth.]
There was another enormous Golden Lake on Floor 2.
No.
Floor 1 and Floor 2 were the same place.
The positions of the lake and trees were exactly the same.
But the time period was different.
Whatever had happened in the meantime, the once-beautiful forest had withered into blackened death, while a purple swamp flowed like a river and swallowed the glittering Golden Lake.
[You have been poisoned by neutralized Drakon venom!]
[1 minute remaining until death!]
“What?”
I had been poisoned by neutralized venom, yet I had only one minute left to live.
It was so absurd that I could hardly believe it, but I had no time to be dumbfounded.
Nor did I have time to be afraid.
“Watch out!”
This was a Mythic Grade dungeon.
I had never once let my guard down.
My body might have been that of a child now, but before my regression, I had never neglected physical training.
It had only brought me up to Normal Grade at best, but I thought my reflexes were fairly decent.
And yet, whatever Ruizel’s Agility stat was, his reflexes were moving at a speed my eyes could never hope to follow.
I was shoved forward, while Ruizel, who had pushed me away, was surrounded by the Spartoi.
The Spartoi were small and incredibly fast.
Ruizel’s head rose above the wave of Spartoi surrounding him, only to disappear beneath them again.
His movements were anything but ordinary.
He must have had a related skill.
But it was dangerous.
[44 seconds remaining until death!]
My mind kept going blank.
Why was I always so useless?
What I felt at that moment was probably anger.
No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t forgive my own incompetence.
“AAAH!”
Half out of my mind, I hurled the pebble Cadmus had given me with all my strength.
The Spartoi were too busy attacking Ruizel to notice.
The pebble struck one of them squarely in the head.
Thud!
The Spartoi had an incredibly hard head, and the pebble seemed to have done no damage at all.
The creature merely froze for a moment.
But then something astonishing happened.
The Spartoi that had been hit by the pebble became furious and attacked another Spartoi nearby.
Perhaps that was the signal.
The Spartoi became entangled with one another and began viciously fighting each other.
Ruizel escaped through the opening.
“You’re alive. Thank goodness…”
“Hey! Are you okay? How much time do you have left?!”
[16 seconds remaining until death!]
“Sixteen seconds left… Ah, fifteen seconds…”
“What?”
At first, I hadn’t noticed because I was too agitated.
But my hands and feet were tingling, and my entire body felt as though it were boiling from within.
Pain invaded my organs and made my body twist violently.
“Use your skill! Do something!”
[13 seconds remaining until death!]
I couldn’t believe how short my remaining lifespan was.
Unlike me, Ruizel seemed to have properly received the benefits of a Mythic Grade bound skill, so his condition was better than mine.
But he was far from unharmed.
He was covered in wounds from bites, punctures, and cuts.
“Useless damn skill, you haven’t been any help to me until the very end…”
“Don’t give up!”
[10 seconds remaining until death!]
No, Ruizel.
Who said I was giving up?
Just listen to me until the end.
Although… did we even have enough time for that?
Haa…
Fine.
You useless Mythic Grade skill.
At this point, I almost felt sorry for comparing you to a loyal dog.
Still, if you’re my skill, shouldn’t you at least try to do something?
No.
Do something!
Anything!
“If you die in front of me, I’ll never forgive you!”
At that moment, the number of Spartoi viciously tangled in battle had been reduced to five.
The remaining five Spartoi began shining in five different colors before transforming into round spheres.
[You have conquered Floor 2.]
[As a reward, five Spartoi Orbs have been awarded. Please determine the names of the orbs. Choose carefully.]
Who cared?!
Where was I supposed to find the time to think carefully?!
Just make them whatever!
Red, yellow, green, blue, and purple!
At that moment, an afterimage—whether a memory or an imagination, I couldn’t tell—floated through my mind.
They were colorful spheres, like the candies I used to eat when I was little.
Round candies I would roll around in my mouth after taking bitter medicine.
Whenever I ate one, it felt as though my whole body would get better…
[The power of the five mysterious orbs has been infused into your bound skill ‘Harmonia’s Necklace.’]
[The auxiliary skill ‘Five-Color Candy’ has been added.]
[Five-Color Candy:
-Dragon energy, growing stronger! Red Candy!
-Full Mana! Yellow Candy!
-Boost Up! Green Candy!
-Rapid Healing! Blue Candy!
-Dizzying Charm! Purple Candy!]
[3 seconds remaining until death!]
Stop explaining and just give them to me!
The moment I screamed inwardly, five candies popped out of the necklace one after another and slipped straight into my mouth.
The candies melted in my mouth with a sweet taste.
[1 minute remaining until death!]
“I-I’m alive…”
But I was still living on borrowed time for one minute at a time.
Fortunately, it seemed like I could solve the problem by continuing to eat the candies.
“Ruizel, how much time do you have left?”
Now relatively recovered, I sprang to my feet.
First, I needed to put some candy in the kid’s mouth.
“Blue Candy first! No, wait. There’s no reason to eat just one, so eat them all… Ah! Except the purple one!”
In my confusion, I had even eaten the strange-named purple candy myself, but there was no need for Ruizel to do the same.
The other four candies popped out of the necklace and flew straight into Ruizel’s mouth.
“It was about ten minutes… but it’s back to one hour.”
Ruizel’s face was bright red, perhaps because the poison had made his body feverish.
He checked his status and told me.
“What? There’s that much of a difference?”
“My time was dropping quickly because I was injured.”
He looked so innocent, as if he thought I was asking why fifty minutes had already disappeared.
I swallowed down the bitter emotion rising in my throat and quietly ate another Blue Candy.
[1 minute remaining until death!]
I was still a person with only one minute left to live.
There wasn’t much time to wonder what to do next.
A black hole appeared on the floor and swallowed us whole.
[Moving to Floor 3, ‘The Judgment Scale.’]
“Is this… Floor 3?”
Ruizel and I were standing on one pan of a gigantic scale.
On the opposite side was an enormous roulette wheel, while sharp spikes protruded from the floor below.
[The Judgment Scale is descending.]
[The roulette will determine the type and number of monsters in the opposing faction.]
[The Judgment Scale will only move once one faction has been completely annihilated. The heavier side will rise upward.]
[If the Judgment Scale does not move within the time limit, all creatures on Floor 3 will be annihilated.]
[30 minutes remaining until annihilation!]
Compared to the enormous size of the scale, the bridge connecting the two pans was extremely narrow.
If we fought on the bridge and fell, we would be impaled by the sharp spikes and die.
And if we did nothing until the time limit expired, the System would kill us.
But once again, there was no time to think.
The ominous ticking of the time bomb refused to stop.
[29 minutes and 43 seconds remaining until annihilation!]
