“Thank you very much. Do you know that you live in a dungeon?”

“Yes, we do. According to our records, our ancestors were hunted almost to extinction. Reason wasn’t written. And they managed to clear the first floor and reached here. After coming here, they tried to clear this floor and fought the boss of this floor and failed miserably. Almost half of them were killed by the boss.

And understanding that they can’t kill the boss and ascend a floor, they decided to settle here. It had everything they needed, so there wasn’t much of a problem with that.”

“So, you know where the boss is located?”

“Yes, we do. In our ancestors records, south of here there is a cliff and if you climb that cliff you will first face an ancient Ent, after defeating the Ent, you keep heading south.

After that you will have to face a dryad. Being that sucks people’s vitality to survive. Man are extremely weak against the dryads for they are rumored to be extremely beautiful.

After the dryads, you will have to defeat the next monster. According to the records, that monster always changes. It can be minotaur, elks or even a centaur. Only after defeating that monster can you face the boss.

Demonic giant serpent of the forest. It protects the gateway tree that will take you to the next floor. At least that is what our ancestors believed.”

Damn it. I went toward the wrong direction.

“I didn’t encounter anything beside you guys. Why is that? Is this forest that desolate?”

“No. You didn’t encounter anything because you kept heading north. If you start walking south now, you will encounter other lifeforms. Monsters of this floor. And as soon as you start heading north, they will stop appearing.”

“Got it. Thank you.”

“Can I ask you few questions of mine?”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you really going to fight the boss of this floor?”

“Yes. I already spent whole year on this floor. I need to ascend to the next floor quickly.”

“But demonic serpent that is this floor’s boss is frighteningly strong you know. Many of our kin tried to defeat it and failed.”

“Hehe. Let me ask you this then. Were you kin much stronger than you?”

“Not by that much. But still they were considerably stronger than us.”

“Then I’m sure I can defeat the boss somehow.”

She ponders for a while. Looks behind her to her comrades and to me. I think she is hesitating whether to follow me or not. Well, I suppose that is reasonable. She looks young and youth and adventure is inseparable.

I’m sure she wants to exit this dungeon and explore the world. She looks to me decisively.

“Can I follow you?”

“Mmmm mmmmm mmmmmm.”

“Mmmm mmmm mmmm.”

As soon as she says that, others start mumbling under the branches covering their mouth. I let one of them speak. He looks at me surprised.

“Didn’t you want to say something to her?”

He looks to Vein.

“You can’t follow him. What will your parents think? You are our chief’s only successor.”

As he says that, hesitation starts to appear in Vein’s eyes. I guess she loves her parents dearly. I think she is rethinking her hasty decision.

“Can I follow you?”

I hear someone from behind me. And see Tamnus looking at me.

“Of course, no.”

“Why?”

“I have no obligation to bring a burden with me.”

“Who says that I will be a burden.”

“Anything weaker than me is a burden. And you are weaker than me.”

Realization dawns on him as his eyes fill up with disappointment. I turn back to look at Vein and see almost same expression on her face too.

As they understand that they can’t come with me, I let them down.

“If you want to exit this dungeon, get stronger. Don’t depend on anyone else. Power you gained by yourself is the only power you can depend on. Remember that.”

After leaving that bit of wisdom I turn around and start heading south. As I disappear among the trees, the satyrs turn around too. I don’t know if some of them will exit this dungeon. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder.

But something puzzling me even more is the reason why their ancestors was hunted. From Alex’s memories I don’t see anything that might cause that. There isn’t anything especially precious about satyrs.

And as soon as I start heading south, I start sensing other lifeforms heading toward me. So, I guess I long as I’m heading toward the boss, monsters of that floor will target me. I wonder what will happen if I simply pass by them in my camouflage.

To test that out I activate my camouflage and start walking south. After five minute I encounter my first monster. In front of me stands magnificent beast. Deer with glowing antlers. I don’t know why, but I really don’t want to kill this beast.

But problem is: it is looking straight at me with hostility in its eyes. While we were glaring at each other I see others appearing around us. So, I guess my camouflage was useless after all. Something is telling them my location.

So, my only choice is to slaughter my way to the boss. Then slaughter it is. I think I will test out my new katana here.

I activate my new spell matrix for my mana katana and classic Japanese katana materializes on my hands. As I unsheathe it, I fell its edge rotating and vibrating at high frequency.

I think it is rotating at least ninety thousand RPS. And I have no idea how fast it is vibrating. Still I feel like I can cut through anything with this katana.

And as soon as they see me unsheathing my katana, the beasts start to get restless. I think they can feel the fatality of this katana already.

As I see the look of caution and hesitation in the beasts’ eyes, same old silly grin crawls up my face.

“Shall we begin.”