Chapter 175 Lurking Dangers
--(Past || After Nathan entered Dungeon of Trials; Location: Outside the Dungeon)--
"We came here because Shadow said he found a clue... was he playing around?"
"I hope not"
The gruff voice answered curtly.
Two people were standing on Ward"s ground, looking at the traces of "Shadow".
The man looked young—probably younger than Nathan himself. He had dark hair and wore a suit. The look in his eyes was sharp and dangerous.
The other was a woman who wore an old-fashioned outfit with a hat and a long coat. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her face wasn"t visible as she stood behind the man. She had her hands wrapped in bandages, especially her knuckles.
Both of them were staring at a small piece of paper that was lying on the ground.
[Dungeon... target.... tailing]
They could only read three words from the three paragraphs due to the unintelligible writing.
-Tempo, Knuckle, did you find Shadow?
Their intercom rang.
The man answered.
"He has entered the Dungeon... to tail the suspect."
-Are you sure that he is tailing the suspect and not using that as an excuse to use the Dungeon?
"...Yes"
-Tempo... you do know what is happening at this moment, don"t you?
-I have been excusing Shadow"s past actions because of his special circ.u.mstances, but I hope he is not playing around this time. Or you would have to take responsibility as his guardian.
"I don"t think this is a bad situation, rather we should let Shadow run rampant."
Suddenly, the woman interjected.
-What do you mean?
"We have been getting reports about spies inside Ward. If Shadow creates an upheaval, we can use it to put more of our men here as extra "security" and it won"t even raise any suspicion.
-I guess that works too.
-Sigh... I"m sorry for earlier, Tempo. It"s just the situation is very tense.
"Don"t worry. As the brain of our unit, I know that you must be under the most pressure due to the Headmaster"s time limit."
"Then what should we do? Return?"
-Stay for a week there. Although the chances are slim, Shadow might"ve found the suspect.
***
--(Present || Inside the Dungeon of Trials; Location: Floor 3, Boss Zone)--
"This was why your mentor wasn"t coming to us... the boss monster had her captured."
"Are boss monsters intelligent enough to do that?"
Nathan and Henry were having a moment of respite. The illusions had yet to regain their shapes.
"Yes, if the conditions are met, certain bosses can do that though... this is the first time Floor 3 boss did this."
Nathan nodded, and once again scanned his surroundings.
"If your mentor is a hostage, then I don"t think we can attack the monster blindly."
"Can you go Super Sayian, again?"
Henry"s eyebrow twitched. For some reason, he felt that Nathan was making fun of him every time he spoke the word "Super Sayian".
"No, I don"t have much Aura left to use it again in such a short period of time."
"In that case, we"ll attack the roots."
"Roots? Do you know where they are?"
Nathan pointed at the ground.
It took Henry a moment to realize the answer.
"That"s how the illusions were able to attack us!"
Nathan smiled. It was good that he didn"t need to explain every little thing.
He stood up while telling Henry their next set of actions. The illusions were running toward them.
"We"ll attack the roots and slowly move towards the boss without alerting it."
Schwing-!
Henry tried to stand on his stable leg and swung his blade.
"Wouldn"t the boss kill your mentor?"
Thud-
A heavy voice echoed, and a root fell to the ground. The next moment, the illusion clawed Henry, however, it couldn"t inflict damage anymore.
Fwosh- Fwosh-
"Just follow me"
*
Katrina was looking at the scene in front of her with teary eyes.
Two days earlier, when she reappeared on Floor 3, she holed herself inside a hollow tree trunk she found luckily.
However, her luck quickly turned for worse when she noticed something was amiss.
On Floor 3 she was alone, there was no one beside her, nevertheless, she could feel someone"s gaze.
This was the same gaze that she still felt moments before entering the dungeon. She thought it would vanish when she entered the dungeon, yet it was still there.
She ran frantically to escape the gaze however, it never disappeared.
Later that day, she unknowingly entered the boss zone.
Katrina was ready to die when the treant lashed with all its roots, but suddenly a shadow covered the treant and the monster captured her.
The two days felt excruciating. However, the last night was the worst.
The monster kept her awake, and the constant pain caused by the root made Katrina"s nerves go haywire.
When she finally fell asleep, a loud noise woke her up.
She saw Nathan and Henry trying to fight the monster.
Katrina tried to shout and call for help, but struggling for the past two days had utterly drained her.
Her voice failed her, and she couldn"t utter a single sound.
"I just want to die."
She felt miserable.
She couldn"t surpa.s.s her sister. She couldn"t escape the bullying. She couldn"t walk outside because of her fear.
She couldn"t do anything.
"HAAAAAAA!"
Katrina was waiting for her end with empty eyes when a pillar of light shot into the sky.
Suddenly, all the illusions distorted and vanished, laying bare the barren ground.
She saw Nathan looking at the roots that were coming out of the ground where the illusions stood, then she saw him looking everywhere, searching for the boss.
Their eyes met.
Katrina was certain he saw her. She couldn"t hear what he was saying, however, she could now escape.
....wasn"t that how it was supposed to be?
Why were they not coming to save her?
Why?
Why did he lie to her?
Why wasn"t he helping her?
Why were they moving in circles around the boss?
A dozen minutes pa.s.sed, Henry and Nathan were moving slowly while attacking the roots that were hiding inside the illusions.
The monster was timing his attacks with the illusions attacks to injure them. But after knowing this, Henry and Nathan were able to deal with the roots.
They were taking one step toward the boss, but retreating two steps.
"Is he leaving me?"
"No..."
"Help me..."
"Help...."
"Please"
She felt everything, all her burdens, her dreams, her helplessness, crushing her.
Her hair was slowly turning to aquamarine color, and so were her eyes.
A great amount of Aether began converging into her body.
She was awakening her stigma.
Her mana core was sucking the Aether endlessly.
However, her eyes were lifeless. Katrina didn"t feel happy, nor did she rejoice.
It was at this moment; the illusions were beginning to get distorted. The concentration of aether in the air was constantly fluctuating and the monster couldn"t maintain its illusions.
The black mist receded.
"Henry!"
The boss monster tried to use Katrina as a hostage, however, five swords flew and struck the trunk at the area where the roots gathered.
Graaaa-
The treant felt endless pain as its roots were stabbed.
It had no choice but to cover its roots before they could attack it again.
But Nathan and Henry were faster.
Schwing-!
Henry swung his sword and cut open the roots holding Katrina.
Nathan held her and swiftly moved back.
Grrrrraaa-
The treat who realized that it had been outsmarted roared and charged at them.
"[Infernus Flame]"
A dark red flame burst from Henry"s sword, and he stabbed the monster in the abdomen.
The monster was blown away to smithereens.
[Congratulations, you have killed Lvl.7 Illusionist Treant. You have received 300 exp]
The fire ate the tree monster completely and then died down.
[The Floor 3 boss has been defeated.]
[Pa.s.sageway to Floor 3 will be opened for 6 hours]
Nathan carefully laid Katrina with her back against the tree.
Katrina"s hair was half black-half aquamarine, almost as if the process had been halted in between.
Her eyes were dull and lifeless.
Henry kneeled beside Nathan and gave her a potion.
"Here, drink this. I know you"re tired, but try drinking this. It"ll help."
Katrina nodded absentmindedly, then drank the potion.
Henry looked at her appearance with furrowed brows.
"Our timing was off"
"Yes, I didn"t think she would awaken her stigma at that moment"
It was common for people to be in shock for a period of time after awakening their stigma. After all, the process through which one goes through pushes their body and mind to the limit.
"I"ll go check the area and try my luck at the drops."
Henry left the area and gave Nathan some time alone with Katrina.
Nathan waited until Henry left.
"Excuse me"
He held Katrina"s hand and channeled ether to her.
Minutes pa.s.sed and slowly Katrina"s complexion changed, yet her eyes remained dull.
"You.. why didn"t you... help me?"
A hoa.r.s.e voice left Katrina"s dried throat.
Nathan didn"t answer and focused on channeling Ether.
Unknown to anyone, a black shadow was watching over them from deep inside the forest.