I See One Second Into The Future: Loner In The Apocalypse

Chapter 246 Acceptance

Hearing Nyoka's suggestion to go to another dungeon, Kairos nodded.

"There will be monsters there, right?"

In response, Nyoka raised an eyebrow.

"Of course there will be. It is a more standard dungeon, so that will be our main concern for the most part."

Kairos spoke rather softly.

"Alright then. Hopefully, the flesh of them doesn't taste too bad."

He truly didn't care all that much. The creeping need to grow powerful within him had subsided to a certain degree. Which was admittedly strange in general, and especially so for that situation. Nyoka was speechless for a few moments, still quite skeptical about his motives. Though he faced forward once more after letting out a small sigh.

"Then let's continue on."

Following that, they walked for quite a while. It was quite uneventful considering how they encountered monsters or people on their path before.

Eventually, in the silence, Kairos raised a question.

"Say, how do you make your way around here when there's hardly anything to see?"

Sara let out a small hum and put a finger on her chin.

"Oh, you can't sense the Black Star?"

Jeff scratched the side of his head.

"You can't do that? But everyone can do that."

Kairos blinked a few times, as he got more questions rather than answers. Nyoka seemed to notice this and reluctantly clarified.

"We are able to sense a far-off star, which we use to base our directions off of. It's basically just a Northern Star. You keep track of how far you've gone and use the Black Star to keep track of your direction, like cardinal directions."

Kairos slowly nodded before leaving it at that.

"Ah, that's cool."

He didn't have this sense, but didn't mind much. Normally he would've asked if there was some sort of method or way for him to do the same thing. However, he felt it was too much of a bother to even put in the effort to say those words.

And with that, they continued on silently. Not so much in animosity, for the most part, but simply because there was no need to talk about anything.

After a few hours, they gradually began approaching a rather massive building, on a slightly smaller size compared to the first one, but large nonetheless. It towered into the sky, with several needle-like towers reaching upwards that Kairos couldn't see the top of.

On top of that, there was a needlessly large staircase that went up to the actual entrance, which seemed to serve the purpose of spectacle rather than practicality. Upon seeing this Kairos took a deep breath.

"So, what should we do for the first level?"

Jeff shrugged his shoulders.

"We just kill and take what we can find. There's not much more to it than that."

Kairos raised an eyebrow, recalling how complicated the rules of the prior dungeon were. He felt like it couldn't be that simple. Though as he thought about bringing that up, Sara had spoken up.

"This isn't like the one we just went through at all. Instead, it simply has monsters wandering around inside among different traps. The actual dungeon itself doesn't separate people into their own tests, but rather just exists. Which means we might have to fight others if we happen to encounter them."

Kairos thought about it for a second before nodding passively.

"Alright."

He felt that it was better if it was more simple, even if it wasn't necessarily easier. As of now at least, Kairos wasn't in the mood to think of anything complicated.

They began leisurely walking up the steps, which became part of the difficulty of the dungeon, just getting there in the first place. The doors were soon in sight, towering and large enough to fit people even in the humongous monstrous forms, all resembling different animals somewhat. There were fairly chaotic sounds coming from above, and once they did reach the entrance, three monsterized people burst out from the entrance, just barely fitting as they squeezed past one another, desperate to get out.

Once they made eye contact, the people in the form of their avatars called out in hate.

"There are campers waiting out the entrance!"

"Fuck, you gotta be kidding me."

"Don't complain, just kill them!"

Although they had Kairos blinked a few times, before speaking up.

"We just came here."

Though all he got in response was a bestial roar from one of them as they ran over, ignoring the damage it did to his lacerations that began bleeding once more.

Nyoka couldn't help but scoff and shoot Kairos a smirk as his pupils became vertical.

"It's not like they're going to believe that."

Sara mumbled under her breath while her skin rippled slightly.

"Besides, it would be a waste to give up on an opportunity right in front of us."

Jeff didn't say anything but rather readied an attack stance as his skin began to harden.

They were all taking on the forms of their avatars.

Kairos realized that there was not much point in trying to use words to convince them of other things. He began his transformation as well.

As he had been, Nyoka transformed into a massive snake with multiple heads. The moment he did, one of the beasts let out a cry of despair.

"Medusa! Of all people to fight..."

It appeared that Nyoka had a bit of a reputation. Among the people down here.

"It doesn't matter! I bet he's a weakling anyway if he simply camps the dungeon entrance!"

Right after one of the beast-like people said that the main head of Nyoka shot forth, snatching one of them into his jaws and shooting up into the sky.

Feathers burst out from Sara's skin before her arms morphed into wings. She rapidly took on the form of an eagle and took to the air, flapping once with her wings and stirring up a strong gust of wind.

She didn't attack immediately, instead circling around to wait for an opportunity.

As for Jeff... he turned into what appeared to be a set of rocks. It was akin to a rock golem, made out of separate rocks that were somehow connected with one another. One of them that looked somewhat like a werewolf rushed towards him, lowering his head and pulling back an arm.

With a slam, the werewolf bashed into Jeff with his shoulder, yet as though hitting a wall, he recoiled off. And while he stumbled, a massive stone arm slammed into him, flinging him back.

Jeff, in his golem form, took a few extra steps forward, as though he could hardly control the force he had put in.

And for Kairos, he called upon the wolf within his mind, who readily agreed. Sparks of lightning gathered around him as his form contorted, bones creaking as they changed and needed to support his rapidly growing body.

His teeth grew notably, and he suddenly began able to sense the feelings each person here felt.

Nyoka and the others were all fairly calm, but also cautious. He seemed to feel a tinge of opportunistic delight, that they were able to take advantage of people in such a vulnerable position.

On the other hand, the three others all felt varying degrees of despair. They had become incredibly desperate. Though at the same time, they appeared to feel a certain degree of loss. While it was a bit complicated, Kairos somehow could sense that they were on a high just a moment ago.

One where they had betrayed people, presumably so that they could have the spoils to themselves.

For a moment, Kairos had felt bad for them, but they were still bad people. He wasn't particularly angry or disappointed by this revelation. It was a fact he simply came to accept, like how the sky was blue, or that the sun was bright.

With that in mind, he instinctively conjured lightning from his mouth towards the beast looking at him, that was like a fox, but with gray fur.

In response, the fox grew its claws and lunged towards him. Kairos raised up his left paw, which was an extended claw as well, covered in pulsating stone. It was also with the left hand that he had put on the gauntlet.

It had grown to match his current size.

Kairos was able to block the first attack with ease, though the other came quickly from the other side. Using his other paw, he blocked it at the cost of the claws ripping into his arm and causing black blood to spurt out.

He could clearly feel the desperation behind the strikes from the emotions he saw, though he remained steadfast, to the point it was stone cold.

Before the fox could attack anymore, Kairos spewed several violent currents of lightning from his jaws. The fox was far too close to dodge, and was hit directly, pushing it back. It spasmed wildly, crumpling to the floor the moment it was hit.

Coupled with its already heavy injuries, it was not faring well.

Despite this, the werewolf let out a confident cry.

"It's all or nothing! Use your swan songs!"