NOVEL NEXT Chapter 19
Chapter 19
“……”
After defeating the giant slime, a peculiar atmosphere began to spread among the team members. Specifically, they often stole glances in Kamon Vade’s direction.
Of course, this didn’t slow down the dungeon exploration. In fact, it sped up.
Grooowl!
“B-Beoigda. Boss Mons…”
Suddenly, Kamon quickly threw an item he had brought.
Whoosh!
Boom! Thud!
“Huh?”
The second boss monster, Beoig, was instantly thrown into confusion as it crashed to the ground. Seizing the opportunity, Chelsea shouted.
“Everyone, attack!”
And moments later,
Screeeech!
“It’s already over?”
“Yeah, we took it down so easily.”
The second boss, Beoig, a notoriously tough variant of the troll, was swiftly defeated.
Next,
Hisss!
“It’s a Giant Cave Snake. Even though it’s a degraded version of a Basilisk, if you look directly into its eyes…huh?”
Flash!
A sudden burst of intense light caused the giant cave snake to thrash its head wildly, losing its sight.
“Everyone, finish it quickly!”
Thud! Squeal!
The third boss monster, the Giant Cave Snake, was also easily defeated.
“……”
“……”
Naturally, the team’s atmosphere grew even stranger. Although they should have been happy about the faster progress and the lower perceived difficulty,
‘Is this really right?’
they couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that they were playing into Kamon Vade’s hands.
Eventually,
“Hey, Kamon!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Mellin exploded.
“M-Melin.”
“Why are you suddenly like this?”
Elaine and Lois tried to calm her down with surprised tones, but Mellin ignored them and shouted irritably.
“Are you going to keep doing things like this? This is a group task. We all have to work together. But if you keep acting on your own and put us in danger…”
“Mellin, stop.”
At Chelsea’s restraining voice, all eyes turned to her.
“No, Chelsea!”
“We’ve completed the task. There’s no problem.”
“But!”
“We’re not in a real dungeon, we’re taking an exam. Reducing time is very important, so…”
Chelsea trailed off for a moment, then looked deeply at Kamon before continuing.
“…Let’s go.”
At Chelsea’s low command, the other team members glanced at Mellin before starting to move.
Melin shook her head in frustration and glared sharply at Kamon.
“……”
Although she didn’t directly confront Kamon again, Mellin soon muttered in an annoyed voice.
“Kamon, that bastard. Did he know the test questions in advance?”
“What?”
“Otherwise, how could he prepare items that perfectly match each opponent? It’s weird.”
“It’s a bit odd, but doesn’t it work to our advantage?”
“How is it not bad? If he gets caught cheating, we’ll all fail.”
“Come on, that’s a bit…”
“Ugh, this is driving me crazy.”
Hearing their muttering, Chelsea slightly shook her head. Of course, she hadn’t dismissed that possibility either.
But,
‘If that’s true, then why…?’
Before she could finish her thought, Elaine’s soft voice interrupted.
“But if Kamon really knew the test questions, why bring items? Couldn’t he just clear it quickly with magic?”
“Exactly! You’re just picking on Kamon because you don’t like him.”
“Ugh, seriously!”
Ignoring Mellin’s indignant protests, Chelsea quietly nodded. The most fundamental question she had was,
‘Why isn’t Kamon using magic and instead resorting to these bothersome tactics?’
Even if he knew the test in advance, it didn’t explain why he would go through the trouble of preparing and using specific items instead of simply using magic to solve the problems. For a mage of Kamon’s caliber, magic would be a much easier and more straightforward solution.
So why?
“……”
Still unable to resolve her doubts, Chelsea continued walking in silence.
As they proceeded with the dungeon raid,
Rustle, crack!
“Is that… a cliff?”
They arrived at a spot where two enormous cliffs faced each other.
Whooosh!
A cold, biting wind brushed past them, and they could see the deep, dark abyss below.
“Wow, it’s really deep.”
“If you fall from here, you’re dead.”
“Look over there.”
Elaine pointed to a bridge that looked like it could collapse at any moment.
“Are we supposed to cross that…?”
As Lois muttered anxiously,
Grrr.
“Huh?”
“What’s that…?”
A pair of yellow eyes glared at them from the middle of the bridge.
“It’s a Werewolf!”
Roaaaar!
As the werewolf let out a fierce roar and began charging at them from the cliff, Chelsea shouted, maintaining her composure despite the sudden crisis.
“Quickly, get into formation!”
“Lois, Claire, move to the front. And Elaine!”
“Got it. Fireball!”
Elaine immediately unleashed her attack magic at the werewolf speeding towards them.
Whoosh, boom!
The fireball struck the werewolf, but its speed didn’t slow down at all.
“It’s coming, brace yourselves!”
“…Gasp!”
The werewolf lunged at Claire, who quickly raised her shield.
Roar!
Crunch!
“Ugh…!”
Thud, boom!
Claire was thrown back, crashing to the ground with her shield.
“Claire! Damn it, I’ll handle this!”
Lois intercepted the werewolf’s next attack with his shield.
And then,
Creak!
“Argh!”
The massive shield couldn’t withstand the werewolf’s strength, crumpling as Lois was also knocked to the ground.
“Lois! Aaah!”
“Don’t, Mellin.”
As Mellin rushed to rescue Lois, Chelsea quickly stopped her.
“Chelsea! Lois is…”
“Going alone will only get you hurt. First, we need to…”
“Ugh!”
“Damn it, Lois!”
Drip, drip!
The werewolf, standing on the shield, began drooling on Lois’s body and head.
“Ugh, damn mutt!”
The werewolf, like a predator about to devour its prey, drew closer to Lois. Chelsea gripped her sword tightly, ready to spring into action.
At that moment,
“Hey, you crazy dog. Whistle!”
Whistling to taunt the werewolf, Kamon Vade appeared holding a large, fresh piece of meat, dripping with blood.
“Meat?”
“Hey, you want this, don’t you?”
Sniff, sniff!
The werewolf reacted strongly, sniffing the air.
“Come on, look here. There’s tasty meat right here, much better than that over there.”
Whistle, whistle!
Waving the meat in his hand, Kamon caught the werewolf’s attention, making it move away from Lois and focus on the meat instead.
“That’s right, this is your favorite. White henbane powder.”
With a smirk, Kamon muttered as he threw the meat in the opposite direction.
Whoosh!
Roar, thud, thud, thud!
The werewolf roared and dashed toward the meat, tearing into it with wild abandon.
“……”
“……”
Naturally, the other team members watched in stunned silence.
Chomp, chew, gulp!
As the massive piece of meat disappeared down the werewolf’s throat, Kamon spoke softly.
“Good job eating. Now, have a nice sleep.”
With a gentle voice, Kamon watched the werewolf growl contentedly and collapse.
“Huh…?”
“What the… Did it really fall asleep? The werewolf?”
“Ugh, what just happened?”
As the team members reacted with confusion, Lois slowly stood up with a pained expression.
Then,
Clank!
Kamon approached the sleeping werewolf.
Grrr…
He examined the sleeping creature and suddenly kicked it a couple of times.
“Hey, Kamon! What are you doing?”
“…Are you insane?!”
The team members shouted in shock, but Kamon chuckled lightly.
“Why so scared? It’s already deeply asleep…”
Twitch!
Everyone, including Kamon, froze for a moment.
Fortunately,
“……”
The werewolf twitched but remained asleep.
“Phew.”
“That was close. I thought it would wake up.”
As the team members breathed sighs of relief,
“Man, don’t scare us like that. I was terrified.”
Lois, with a half-joking tone, complained to Kamon. Kamon shrugged and started walking towards the bridge.
Clank, clank!
“……”
Watching him, Chelsea spoke firmly.
“Let’s go.”
“But if it’s really asleep, wouldn’t it be better to make sure it’s dead?”
Still annoyed by their earlier encounter, Lois suggested, glaring at the werewolf. Mellin immediately smacked his shoulder.
“Hey, Lois. Stop talking nonsense and let’s go.”
“What? Why?”
“How are we supposed to kill it without silver weapons?”
“Oh, right. Silver weapons.”
“If you could use an aura blade, we might have a chance, but too bad.”
“Like you can use one…”
“What?”
Ignoring Lois and Mellin’s bickering, Chelsea and the rest of the team started moving toward the bridge.