Chapter 92: Secret Passage

We asked Diane to take Carl back to the inn, but not before I said, “Don’t worry. We will defeat the boss of that dungeon. You can be sure of that.”

“Be careful, Rick,” Diane said to me.

“What are you saying? I’m always careful,” I replied with a laid-back smile. For some reason, I could feel Sarah, Alicia, and Justine looking at me with expressions that clearly said, “You’re joking, right?”

“Hmm, Rick,” Carl called my name with an uneasy expression. “Sorry for offending you guys yesterday.”

“Ah, that. I had already forgotten about it, so don’t worry. But promise me you won’t enter mines again. Places like that can even have toxic gas,” I told him.

“Huh!” The boy looked startled. “I didn’t know that!”

“So only come into a place like this when you’re an adult.”

He nodded, a smile appearing on his face.

I turned to my party. “So, shall we get going?”

…

The small passage was very uncomfortable to go through. Just like Carl said, we could only pass through it by crawling, but it was really tight.

“Alicia, stop pushing my butt,” Sarah said. She was crawling right in front of Alicia. “I wouldn’t bump into your fat ass if you didn’t stop so often.”

“Fat ass! Listen here, Rick is the kind of man who likes big butts.”

“You two can wait until we get out of this hole. After that you can fight all you want,” Justine said, impatience clear in her voice.

After a while, we finally managed to stand up and walk normally again. Joseph had lent us a lamp made with phosphorescent crystals, so we were able to see in the darkness of the cave within a range of about five meters.

“It looks like Carl was right,” Justine said, inspecting the surroundings with her lantern. “There don’t seem to be any ghosts nearby.”

Sarah looked around with a tense expression. “Either way, let’s stay careful.”

“Sarah’s right. We have to be cautious in hostile territory. Alicia, stay behind us, okay?” I told the young woman.

“All right, I’ll stay back,” Alicia said to me.

…

After a few meters and turns, we finally encountered our first specter. It looked like a man dressed in rags that covered his entire body, but if you tried to touch him, his ethereal form would dissolve like mist. His figure glowed with a blue light, and his eyes were replaced by a ghostly glow.

We hid from it as soon as we noticed its presence. Fortunately, ghosts are generally quite slow, so it hadn’t noticed us. That explained how a little boy had managed to walk all the way to the core, since the intelligence of those creatures was even more limited than that of a goblin.

These spectral creatures didn’t communicate like humans. They murmured, as if reliving the pain of their deaths, and wherever they passed the air grew colder. The biggest problem was their ability to drain the life energy of living beings. Facing these monsters in large numbers was certain death.

Using my Tamer Appraisal, I was able to check the Ghost’s stats.

[

Monster: Ghost

Level 10

Health: 40 points

Mana: 50 points

Strength: 1 point

Defense: 1 point

Magic: 15 points

Agility: 2 points

]

“I was starting to think our walk was a little too peaceful. Well, this is a great opportunity to test our powers and do some grinding,” I whispered. Then I focused my mind to speak with the goddess’s servant. ’Brandish, even when we’re in a group, party members gain experience based on their performance in battle, right?’

’Yes, that’s right. Your development is determined by your performance in battle. Even in a party, if you fought alone, you would be the only one gaining experience,’ Brandish replied to me.

I thanked Brandish for the guidance, and then I commanded my party. “Sarah, let’s go—just you and me. You girls stay back, okay?”

The girls nodded, and Sarah and I approached the Ghost from behind. Sarah didn’t wait a second.

“Thunderblade!”

Sarah charged her sword with electricity and struck the specter with a precise blow.

Physical attacks didn’t have much effect on Ghosts, but the magic embedded in that attack still affected the creature. Even so, it wasn’t enough to defeat it, which meant Sarah needed a little push.

I extended my hand, my palm pointed towards the ghost. “Heal!”

The monster twisted as if the green light moving toward it—something that would normally heal a human—were poison. For creatures of darkness, healing powers had a harmful effect on them.

“If I had more points in magic, I think I could have killed it. At least this was a good test,” I murmured to myself before speaking again. “Now, Sarah!”

Together, Sarah and I used our skills at the same time. “Thunderblade!”

Our swords cut through the Ghost diagonally at the speed of lightning. The specter’s body vanished where it had been sliced, and where our blades crossed, a perfect X was formed. The Ghost’s body did not come back together, and the creature dissipated into dust.

We continued along the path Carl had marked on the map and soon encountered another enemy. This time, it was Justine’s turn. I paid closer attention to what the Sage and Saintess class could do.

[ Sage: A class with high proficiency in magic, capable of using all elemental types of spells. This class is focused on offense, but some of its powers may also cause status effects. A Sage has natural Medium Magic Resistance. ]

[ Saintess: A class with high proficiency in healing magic and holy arts. This class is focused on support, healing abilities, and increasing defenses. A Saintess has natural Low Magic Resistance. ]

’I wanted to grind Justine, taking advantage of the fact that the creatures here have a fairly high level, but I also didn’t want to throw her into a fight alone. I could have paired her with Alicia, but her mana is far more valuable than anyone else’s here.’

In the end, I decided to bait the monster’s aggro myself while Justine attacked it using one of her spells.

“Thunder!” Justine cast her magic, and in that instant a yellow bolt of lightning shot from her hand and struck the Ghost with ferocity, engulfing it in its power and turning the apparition into dust.

I felt proud of my team. Even at low levels, the girls were gradually growing stronger, and we were working well together.

But at that moment, a chill ran down my spine.

I remembered Carl’s words, and I also remembered what waited at the end of that dungeon—the monster that had struck fear into the boy’s heart. An undead that made those Ghosts look like mere cockroaches.

’I hope we don’t have to face it too soon.’

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