Capítulo 43: Dungeon (3)
At the Scarcia Manor, the situation continued to be as hectic as it had been for the last several days. The number of guards and servants had been considerably thinned from the usual. This was because some of them had been sent to look for Arias, while others were sent out on Duke Coven’s order to patrol around Bernier City.
Two days ago, an incident occurred when a group of goblins was out creating chaos in several areas of Bernier City, putting it in a minor state of disorder. It was so similar to an incident that occurred about two months ago when the Hobson’s people were attacked by a group of goblins. But the difference perhaps lay in the fact that several areas had been affected. Even the ore mines and gardens, which were the Scarcia’s major businesses had also been affected by these goblins.
In one of the rooms inside the Scarcia Manor.
“You should try to eat something, Maria.”
Albert looked at the barely-touched food lying in front of Maria. Every day, she would sit with a sorrowful look on her face like a soulless person. She was so worried about Arias that she could not eat or sleep well. She had also been looking thinner and thinner these past several days and there was nothing on her face but stains of tears.
“I’m not hungry anymore.”
Maria answered weakly. Her blank gaze stared out the window in sorrow.
“I know you’re worried about Arias. I, too, am worried as much as you do. But you should take care of yourself. What would I do if you fell ill too.”
Albert could only sigh. He was, in fact, as worried about Arias as Maria. But as a man, he had to suppress all the sadness inside his heart and not let it show. At least, if they were to really lose Arias, he had to be the one whom Maria could rely on in times of sadness.
“But dear...I’m worried about our son. I have no idea how he’s doing right now.”
Maria said in a trembling voice, her mind filled with the feeling of sorrow that had held onto her heart. Drops of tears were brimming in her eyes once again. She could not help being worried about Arias. Her son was just sixteen years old, it would not be easy for him to survive in the woods full of beasts.
Albert looked at his wife with pity. Women were, of course, more sensitive than men, and the love that a mother had for her son was incomparable to anything. He had seen a sight like this before, back when Arias drowned and remained unconscious for several days. He did not know what would have become of Maria if Arias had not woken up back then, and the same went for this situation as well. It was fortunate that Maria did not know about Kyon’s death yet, or else she would have drowned even deeper into sadness.
“I believe that our son will be alright. Don’t forget he’s not the same Arias anymore.”
Albert wiped the tears that stained Maria’s cheeks caringly, his eyes showing genuine confidence. Though he was worried, Albert believed that Arias would come back safely.
.
.
Inside the dungeon, after dealing with the three goblins, Arias started hunting down almost every goblin on the third floor. Though there were not a lot of them on this floor, they managed to cause quite trouble for him. Compared to other mid-level beasts, goblins were a bit smarter, and their attack patterns were different from other beasts as well.
On the third floor, Arias found a pile of treasure. There were Crystal Coins that were piled together and were probably worth no less than two hundred thousand Crystal Coins, jewels, broken weapons as well as several kinds of metal. Aside from these, Arias also found a dimensional ring. Goblins, due to their nature, loved to hoard treasure and all things that glittered, and they were also notorious thieves. So, their camps usually had treasures like this hidden inside.
As Arias was examining the pile of treasure in front of him, he saw something out of the corner of his eyes; it was a small shadowy form that was quietly approaching him from behind.
“And here I was thinking not to eliminate them all. But since you’re asking for death yourself, I’ll surely oblige.”
Arias’ form quickly disappeared from the spot. The speed was not like that of someone who was still an acolyte. In the blink of an eye, Arias’ body had moved more than ten meters away. The shadowy form stared ahead of it perplexedly before it felt the heat of lightning on its head. Sparks of lightning flashed over the whole area.
“Kaaahhk.”
The ill-fated goblin let out a high-pitched cry before its body dropped to the ground, not having a chance to retaliate. Seemed like its ambush plan had failed without even a chance for a second try.
“Let’s see what’s in this ring.”
After killing the goblin, Arias turned his attention to the dimensional ring he had found. He was hoping that the ring would be storing something interesting. But alas, his face morphed into one of disappointment. There was nothing inside the dimensional ring except for a well-used armor and a magical weapon in poor condition.
“Hah...seems like I’m hoping for too much from the goblin’s stolen stuff.”
Arias sighed disappointedly before sweeping all the treasures into his dimensional ring. These were actually a huge amount of treasure by normal people’s standards. But it seemed to not be the case for Arias.
Aside from the treasures he had gotten from the goblins’ camp, Arias had also acquired more than thirty mid-level beastcores. These cores would make good money if he sold them to some weapon manufacturers, but Arias had a better way to use them. Money, for him, was just a worldly possession; its worth was nothing compared to the strength of his power.
Including the beastcores that he acquired on the second floor of the dungeon, Arias now had 56 low-level beastcores and 34 mid-level beastcores in total. This was no small number for an acolyte.
“Let’s see how much stronger my power can become.”
What Arias yearned for at the moment was strong magical power. He felt his pride wounded every time he thought about how he had to run away from Kyon as if he were still a Powerless. If he had been strong enough, something like that would not have happened. If he just became stronger.
Arias chose to absorb the low-level beastcores first. Several small quartzes were arrayed in front of Arias. The black energy of the beastcores was slowly absorbed into Arias’ body little by little. He had become quite an expert at absorbing beastcores already. He could control it so that not too much power would enter his body. In front of Arias looked like a black fire with the small quartzes as its source. The flame was lit up by the beastcores and continued to burn brightly for several minutes before it went off.
Arias opened his eyes with an increased level of power. He had now become a sixth-level acolyte. Sparkles of lightning moved around Arias’ body like small serpents.
“This level of power is not enough! I have to become stronger.”
Arias’ heart was full of the thirst for power. Arias took out all the mid-level beastcores he had. Their size was slightly bigger than that of the low-level beastcores, and the power concentrated within them was several times higher.
Arias slowly absorbed the mid-level beastcores’ power. Despite this, it seemed like the power concentrated within the mid-level beastcores still inflicted quite a lot of pain on Arias. Though he only had slightly more than half the number of the low-level beastcores, their power was several times stronger.
Sweat was running down from Arias’ whole body. His blood veins had turned black and bulged like they were about to burst. Arias gritted his teeth in pain. Absorbing beastcores gained power but at the expense of excruciating pain. Sometimes, Arias’ face would seem relaxed, and other times it looked like someone who had just swallowed poison.
The absorption of the mid-level beastcores took several minutes longer. It took more than double the time used to absorb the low-level beastcores. The lightning inside of Arias was doing its job well as always. Like a starving monster, it absorbed all the power from the beastcores without leaving a single trace. Finally, all the light from the beastcores’ had turned dim. The magic power in Arias’ body had greatly grown stronger. A pleased smile adorned Arias’ face.
“This dungeon is a land of treasures for me. It didn’t take long and I’ve already become an eighth-level acolyte. Maybe if I could clear this dungeon, my power might become strong enough to take Merson head-on.”
Arias’ power greatly increased after he absorbed the mid-level beastcores. His power had increased by two levels. His mind was imagining the time when he could clear this dungeon. If he could gather all of the beastcores that were in here, his power would increase tremendously. It seemed like Arias’ thought had brought a shadow of disaster upon the goblins who were still hiding on this floor.
“They’re going to respawn anyway. I’ll wipe them off today then.”
After that, the hunt began once more on the third floor of the dungeon. But this time it seemed like the goal was to truly purge all of them. Even bestial rabbits were not spared.
.
.
In front of the cave with the dungeon door, the flamed-feet wolves seemed to have lost all their patience. There seemed to be no use waiting for one weak prey, so they left several days ago.
In the woods not too far from the cave entrance, shadows of three humans were approaching to examine the area near the spot that was the flamed-feet wolves’ den. Two of them were busy inspecting some traces on their own, while the third stood behind them, looking at a map in his hand and scanning the surroundings as if looking for something.
“I think these are flamed-feet wolves’ footprints, Boss. Maybe this is their den.”
A skinny man with a narrowed face that looked like that of a fox said while still busy examining the traces of flamed-feet wolves with seriousness.
“Then why am I not seeing one of them?”
The stout man who was looking at the map asked out of curiosity.
“Maybe they’re out looking for food. I think it’s best that we find what we’re looking for fast. It won’t be pretty for us if they come back.”
“You’re sure this is not a fake map?”
“U-uh, I’m not sure.”
The narrow-faced man answered hesitantly. He lowered his head, too scared to meet the eyes of the one called Boss.
“What!?”
Upon hearing that answer, the boss’ face turned serious as he shouted with discontent. But before the fire of rage started to burn in his eyes, a voice yelled from somewhere nearby and immediately grabbed his attention.
“Paeter! Boss! I found the dungeon door!”
Presentes
-- Presente
recebido Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder