บท 38: CHAPTER 38: Cuteness That Kills

Passing through the corridor until he got to the end of it, Ashen finally came across a tall burly man, the size of a small tree, with huge muscles that were enough to scare anyone away the minute they sighted him, just before noticed the big broad sword sticking out from behind him on his back.

"State your business," the huge man suddenly ordered with a fierce look that made Ashen feel like the man was just waiting for him to speak before reaching for his sword to slice him into bits.

"Em...," going for the white card he was given, about to pull it out of his pockets when he suddenly felt a gentle breeze against his face, only to look up and discover that the huge sword that he had barely seen was now being held by the guard of the dungeon.

"State your business," he said again but this time, Ashen didn't need another prompting,

"I'm going to the first floor of the dungeon. I was given this white card to give to you," Ashen said even as he scrutinized the tall and muscular man in front of him, with a solemn expression on his face and brown long hair that stopped at the nape of his neck, not wanting to take a single step towards him even as the man slowly beckoned for him to come closer,

"Alright," he finally said with a small smile, after inspecting the white card he just received from the young man standing in front of him,

"I just didn't think you were an adventurer because of how you looked, who would have thought that you were actually a mage in training," he began even as Ashen watched in surprise as the scary man suddenly turned chatty and more amiable.

"From my experience. It's the people that look like they don't belong somewhere and the ones that actually look like they do that you have to be completely wary of but the more I look at you, the more harmless you look," he explained as Ashen wondered if a fire spell in his hair might change his mind and actually stop him from talking,

"Can I go in now?" Ashen asked with a sigh, not in the mood to continue chatting with someone whose moods seemed to change like the wind.

Wanting nothing more than to leave.

Seeing the youth in front of him, twitch with impatience, Farel finally placed his large sword back in its place on its back before screaming out into the air in front of him as he turned his back towards Ashen,

"Open"

A loud whoosh of air came out as the doors banged open without a single sound as Ashen watched it all, a little as awestruck as he began walking through it not feeling the need to say any more than what he already said to the Farel who still continued standing by the door, a little distracted as he stared at what was beyond it,

"For whatever reason, don't go past the first floor or you'll die," Farel severely warned in a serious tone as he felt Ashen pass beside him to enter, having seen on his white card that he barely had the qualifications to survive on the first floor let alone go down to the second.

With a nod that Farel couldn't see, and a hidden determination in his heart even while being unable to stop the nervous racing of his heart, a little anxious about the kind of beasts he would be facing.

The door was slammed shut behind him as he was instantly thrown into darkness. Shaking his wand like a feather, he whispered underneath his breath,

"Litmus…," he whispered.

Thankful that he had taken the time off to read and relearn some of the spells he thought he might need.

Ashen walked for about twenty paces when he finally came across a set of spiral stairs that seemed to lead to some more stairs.

Slowly and carefully he climbed down it when he suddenly came to a strangely quiet clearing looking around to see the number one boldly inscribed on one of the walls on his right, as clearly as possible.

Tense and cautiously looking around, prepared for any attacks as he stood still not wanting to get caught off guard.

Two seconds went by and still, nothing happened.

Ashen then began to walk slowly seeing two different paths that could be taken looking down at the paper he held in his hand which had a mini-map of the first floor that Natal had given to him before they parted.

"It says that right here…," Ashen said staring intensely at the quickly drawn map in his hand, looking up as he recalled the fact that the right was where more monsters were, while the left badly had any monsters at all, even though both of them actually later met and led to the second floor.

After a while of standing, Ashen finally decided to pick the one on the left, since he knew that it was his first time in the dungeon and it would be best to play it safe and not get bombarded by a lot of monsters before he was ready for it.

Folding back the paper in his hand, he turned towards what seemed like an endless cave on his left as he confidently strolled in.

Watching the walls and the ceiling of the cave to avoid any unknown attack, Ashen walked for a while without being attacked when he suddenly saw what seemed like a huge squirrel dart in his part,

With huge cheeks and two big eyes, standing in front of it Ashen simply stood and watched as he wondered if the cute animal in front of him was indeed the beast he was supposed to kill.

"Nip..nip," it's cute squirrelly teeth chattering as if it was nibbling on something which made Ashen unconsciously drop his guard as he moved closer to it, wanting to see what it was nibbling on since the light from his wand didn't exactly cover the animal in front of him, which had half of its face turned away from him.

"Nip...Nip," grinding its teeth even louder, which was the only sound that seemed to echo around him.

At first, Ashen wanted nothing more than to shoot it a fireball and be done with it but not being able to bring himself to harm such a harmless creature, Ashen simply passed warily beside it, only turning completely away from it the moment he was nothing less than ten steps away.

"If things continue like this I might end up poor and not even be able to train," Ashen thought, already considering going back and moving to the right path of the first floor that he had abandoned.