"...I guess. I mean she did leave us here at the 5th area knowing that we"d make it back on our own just fine. So you could be right that the person she"s going to save is probably weaker than us." Altris said."Hey, hey~ who do you think it could be?" Aery asked playfully.
"...Maybe it"s her boyfriend, you know, that Cecil guy." Dell said.
"Pfft, you were smart just earlier but how come you suddenly turn stupid?" Mell scornfully rebuked. "Please remember that Cecil is currently our first ranked student. He"s even stronger than Lucia herself, and there"s no way that he"s weaker than us."
"Oh... oh yeah, ahaha sorry my bad~ then maybe it"s a person from her clique then?"
"..."
"...idiot... didn"t you just say it was someone weaker than us?" Mell muttered while helplessly looking at her stupid big brother.
"What?"
"Every member of Lucia"s group is ranked in the top 6. They"re all currently the 6 rising stars of our academy so how on Alterna are they weak?!" Mell coldly replied.
"Hrmmm... you do have a point...well, who could it be then?"
"Y"know, although our tasks are only to go to the 5th floor of any dungeon... there are times when a dungeon break or something unexpected might happen... maybe it could be someone from her group of friends." Altris said.
The group began talking a bit longer trying to figure out why their party leader had abruptly left, but they quickly stopped upon remembering that they had a report to finish.
The party leader in question however, had just made it back out of the Great Erlutian Forest Dungeon.
The red aura was still wrapped around her body and she quickly dashed away into the distance.
"Wait for me Cel... even if I have to use all the mana in my tails I"ll quickly get to you soon." Lucia said while gritting her teeth.
"I shouldn"t have left him alone... darn it... just what could have caused him to lose so much mana... he"s only going to the Angla Public Dungeon"s 5th floor... what could possibly go wrong?"
The distance from the Great Erlutian Forest to the Angla Public Dungeon was about 3 days on carriage. Lucia used Elemental Burst to travel at high speeds rivaling that of a modern sports car from Earth. She was much faster than any carriage and she estimated that it should take her a couple of hours to reach the dungeon if she maintained her speed.
She arrived at the dungeon after 6 hours of travel, not taking any breaks along the way. Whenever her mana ran low, she would release the seal on her tails one by one and use that to maintain her Elemental Burst.
She looked very weary and travel worn. Her silver white hair was in a mess and her eyes were bloodshot, it was clear that she was overwhelmingly exhausted. She departed during the afternoon so it was almost midnight when she finally arrived. The dark red aura around her also caused an eerie and ghastly vibe to encapsulate her sudden arrival.
Even the dungeon guards were horrified at seeing her. They froze a little in fear, but then, when they blinked their eyes, the terrifying figure was nowhere to be found. All they felt was a chillingly cold and eerie wind fly right by their bodies.
"W-what the h.e.l.l was that?!"
"G-ghost? A ghost?!"
"s.h.i.t!!!"
The sleepy guards were now fully awake as if they were injected with chicken blood. They quickly woke up the rest of the guards and described the exact appearance of the ghost that they had encountered at the dungeon entrance to their guards captain.
The guard captain upon hearing that the "ghost" was surrounded by a dark aura quickly had every member of the town"s guard patrol the area and make sure that the residents were safe and sound. They even caused a commotion by checking up on every house inside the town when the guards went from door to door, knocking and waking the residents up.
Back at the guards station...
"That... that must have been a wraith," the captain said solemnly.
"Wraith?"
"Yes. They are high ranking undead monsters at the S-rank. Since you saw a female wraith then it was most likely a SS ranked creature. You two... you"re lucky to be alive right now..."
"What?!"
"Female wraiths are beings who resent the living, especially males... they"d suck out the life-force of any male creature they encounter... that"s why I said you two are lucky to be alive."
"M-mother in heaven... thank you lord for saving your child... I"ll go to the shaman temple and donate this month"s salary to them!"
"M-me too! Oh my G.o.d... we almost died back there Alph!"
The guard captain ushered the two out and quickly contacted the guild authorities inside the town and informed them of the potential hazard. This caused the guild to put up a late night emergency quest for town patrol and for the subjugation of the female wraith.
The emergency quest was labeled as 5-star Platinum ranked difficulty quest, although everyone could take on the quest regardless of their ranks since it was an emergency quest.
The "wraith" however, was currently on her way towards the dungeon"s 5th floor. Any monster in her way was slashed apart, frozen or blown to bits. She left a b.l.o.o.d.y trail of destruction behind her as she dove deep into the dungeon.
When she finally arrived at the dungeon"s 5th floor an hour later, she quickly headed towards the rest area since that was the place that the bracelet"s tracking rune was indicating Cecil was currently at. When she arrived, she frantically looked around the area and made her way towards a particular house.
She quickly bashed open the door and entered while frantically shouting, "CECIL!"
"WAH?!
"HOLY MOTHER OF–!"
"K-KYAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"!!!"
"LUCIA?!" Fina cried in surprise upon seeing her friend that was looking worst for wear.
"F-Fina! W-where"s Cel?"
Fina quickly grabbed her arm and led her to a room inside the house. When they entered, Lucia could see the sleeping Cecil on top of the bed. She then took a glance at her bracelet and saw that the gem was now yellow-blue in color.
Lucia quickly felt the tension leave her body and soon the exhaustion kicked in. She collapsed on the floor and released a relieved sigh. Then her eyes began to water. She covered her face with her hands and quickly felt someone softly embrace her.
"Don"t worry Lulu... he"s alright."
"Mhm, thanks Fina." Lucia responded with a light nod. After wiping her eyes, she quickly gazed up at her friend and asked, "What happened?"
"I"ll explain later... it"s almost midnight and you look like you need a bath and a meal." Fina said with a helpless look on her face while eyeing her dirtied and travel worn friend.
It was only then that Lucia took a look at herself. She saw that she was indeed a bit – no – she was totally dirty. There were splotches of blood and dirt all over her clothes, her face was probably in the same condition as well.
She did brutally destroy everything in front of her when she made her way over. Any monster or obstacle was destroyed as long as it was in her path.
Lucia nodded lightly and Fina led her to the house"s bathroom. The rest of Cecil"s party could only look on in wonder as Fina carefully led the ghastly wraith-like girl around the house.
When Lucia was in the bath, Ghina finally came over to Fina and interrogated her.
"Who...who was that... gh- person?" Ghina asked, she clearly wanted to say ghost, but seeing as Fina knew the person there was no way she was a ghost.
"It"s Lucia. Lucia Yukihime, our 2nd rank." Fina replied, not minding Ghina"s abrupt change in question.
"Lucia? What the... I thought her group was at the Great Erlutian Forest? How the heck did she get here?"
"She probably rushed over after she found out Cecil collapsed."
"You told her? When? How?" Ghina inquired.
"No, I didn"t tell her. She found out because of the bracelet on her hand."
"Huh?"
"It"s a bracelet that Cecil made to track his mana levels, if his mana falls to a dangerously low level, the gem on the bracelet would change color and let Lucia know. Also, there"s a tracking rune installed on the bracelet that lets the owner track down the source of the mana infused inside the gem." Fina explained briefly.
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"O-okay... but that doesn"t explain how fast she got here! Cecil collapsed only a couple of hours ago... if she found out that his mana levels had abruptly dropped... then that was almost half a day ago! So how in the heck did Lucia get all the way over here from the Great Erlutian Forest?! That"s a 3 day journey on carriage!" Ghina exclaimed incredulously.
"Well... I... don"t know?" Fina replied. She too didn"t know how her friend got here so quickly, though she did have an inkling as to how.
On the couch, Light and Lu Garulle were eating some late night snacks together. Although they were surprised at first when Lucia had abruptly smashed her way into the house, they didn"t put it to mind after knowing that Fina knew who it was.
Moreover, it was the 2nd ranked student in their cla.s.s, Cecil"s alleged girlfriend, Lucia. Everyone in cla.s.s had already acknowledged this considering how close the two were. The "normal" interactions that the two were constantly doing were very intimate in the eyes of the rest of the cla.s.s.
"Who cares, it"s actually very awesome how the two lovers actually meet up like this when one of them is in a crisis!" Lu Garulle exclaimed with a laugh.
"Lovers huh... I can see that Lucia very much adores Cecil... but the guy in question..."
"Hmph. I doubt the fool even sees it!" Ghina scoffed.
"..." No one could retort to that, even Fina was at a loss in how to defend her friend, since in a sense it was true.
"Well... anyway guys... you don"t mind if she stays for the night right?" Fina asked.
"Why would we? Actually I welcome it, she"ll be staying with us on the second floor right? Gossip time," Ghina smiled and said in response.
Fina forced out a laugh at her words. She also had to explain how Cecil had fallen into such a condition. She was also a little bit guilty since in a way, it was her fault. If she didn"t blast away the fool who made fun of Light, then maybe they wouldn"t have tried to find trouble with them.
Once Lucia finished with her bath and put on her sleeping wear, Fina served her some dinner. She quickly ate it, and then the girls moved to the second floor and walked into their large shared bedroom.
Lucia quickly sat down next to Fina, quickly making herself comfortable and waited for her to explain. Fina smiled wryly seeing this. She then opened her mouth and began explaining.