“Should we trust him?” Fecius spoke to Arthur once Arnold left the room.

“I hate to admit it but he’s our only lead out of here. Weren’t we worried once we found out that the only entrance we knew about was gone? That’s exactly why we’re searching for the holy sword.”

Their plan was: find the holy sword and kill the monster on the first floor first to gain a boost in strength. However, half of that plan was ruled out. Once they got the holy sword then they’ll advance on their own to find a way outside.

“You have a point…”

“I don’t know how Arnold knows all of this, though. I’ve never heard of him taking extra dungeon classes outside thhe academy. In fact, he studies only the stuff related to his major in the academy.”

Arnold only had swordsmanship classes along with normal subjects like math and history. History doesn’t cover dungeons, it only covers the continent's past.

“Perhaps someone told him all these things? That seems like the most likely explanation.” Fecius said, “I heard a rumor that many noble families make use of Serz’s powerful connections. Maybe Arnold made a contract with someone who studied this dungeon?”

Of course, that was all speculation. Serz is a very large organization with access to many secrets that even world leaders don’t know about. They’re a criminal organization, sure, but they are the best informants on this continent. It wouldn’t be strange if they already have people in this dungeon actively sending out information to their higher ups.

‘So Arnold might have an informant…’ Arthur fiddled with the notebook in his hands.

“Where did you meet Arnold, miss?” Arthur looked at the angel who was still here.

“The palace.” She replied.

“The palace…? Uh, do you mean…”

“Yes, the palace that belongs to the God who blessed you. He wanted to raid the entire palace for its treasures but we made a deal.”

“…That’s… Ahem, I see.”

‘Why the hell did he want to steal the offerings!?’ Arthur put his hand on his face as he thought about what a bastard Arnold was.

Even Arthur was tempted to take those treasures. They were in desperate need of a boost of strength, after all. Magic items can give them that strength. But he forced those desires down.

“Is it true that you’re the new hero, Sir Arthur?” Rafaela asked as she bent down to look into Arthur’s eyes.

“I am.”

“No offense to you, sir Hero but you’re surprisingly weak. A non-divine aura user defeated you with brute strength. I was under the impression that white aura dominates all aura types in combat.”

“……”

Her words were harsh but she had a point.

Arthur was weak.

Despite being the hero, he couldn’t even defeat a 5th star swordsman. No, maybe Arnold was a little stronger than that. The point was that Arnold toyed with him until he got bored. Or was he just testing Arthur’s new power?

The duel was never in Arthur’s favor.

The two of them frequently had duels when they were younger. Of course, as kids their duels weren’t as brutal as the adult’s were.

Arthur could remember all the times they dueled. The memories weren’t pleasant most of the time but those were the only memories he had of Arnold.

Arnold wasn’t his childhood friend like everyone thought he was. He was actually friends with Olivia, Grace and Celeste. He met the other two through Olivia.

Olivia.

The one who he fell in love with. Also the woman who once loved Arnold.

If it had been in the past then Arthur would’ve had bitter feelings remembering that. However, things were different after he confessed to Shirley. His feelings were genuine.

His fight with Arnold also changed his perspective of things.

All he needed was a way to let out all that pent up rage.

It was like he was enlightened. Making anger his motivation to become strong was never the right thing to do nor was getting angry that the one he loved, loved another.

His motivation should be the things he loves doing: like saving others.

“—But I want to save people even if I’m weak. If I work harder then I might become far stronger than I am now,” said Arthur as he looked at Rafaela, “I was a fool to make Arnold my goal.”

“Hmm, I’m glad you’ve noticed your shortcomings,” the angel smiled thinly, “Please excuse me. I plan to go around the kingdom to heal any injured soldiers.”

“Ah, yes. Goodbye.”

Rafaela left.

“Should we wait for everyone here at the castle or go search for them?” Hofir spoke for the first time since he came into the room. His voice sounded deep, like an adult man’s voice.

“What do you think, Fecius?”

“Hmm, Her Highness Shirley should be able to find us. We demihumans can recognize each other’s scents even if we’re far away from each other. I think she can lead everyone here just fine.”

“I see. I never knew that. We have another issue at hand. We should gather more of those crystals Arnold mentioned since the one he gave us lost its color. We can try and get in touch with the rescue party. Chances are that they are ahead of us.”

“That makes sense. The disciple mentioned that there are a lot of strange occurrences in this dungeon so they could’ve been sucked to the upper worlds as well.” Fecius said, agreeing with Arthur.

A knock suddenly came from the door.

-Lord Arthur, are you busy? My Father would like to see you.

It was the eldest princess’ voice that they heard.

“It seems they’re done with the preparations for the battle. We should go, you two.”

“Okay.”

“Mm.”

◇◇◇

‘It doesn’t seem like this place will be hard to infiltrate.’

Arnold was currently standing on top of a very tall tree, overlooking the camp of the barbarians. These people don’t wear a lot of cloths despite living in a cold environment.

A majority of the men wore something for their upper bodies while some didn’t wear anything. The only thing keeping their groins from being seen was leather or animal skin tied around their waists.

All the woman wore something for their upper bodies and skirts for their lower bodies.

There weren’t a lot of children from what Arnold could see. There was probably a low chance of any children surviving the infant stage or reaching adulthood.

‘Hmm, maybe these people just want to live in a better environment. That’s probably why they’re attacking the kingdoms.’

It was merely his conjecture based on how the people from earth are. If they find a better environment to live in then they’ll take it even if it means killing the current inhabitants. That was how every city begins—one colony invades another. The one on top takes everything.

“How do I go about finding this witch….” He scanned the settlement for any large structures.

It was common sense that the most important person lives in the best house or building.

“Is that it?” he noticed a large hut standing in a clearing.

The other huts were surrounding it in a circle, almost like a natural defense. There were even simple fences built around the circular area.

“I don’t sense the chief anywhere. Just a bunch of weaklings. Oh well, I’ll save my aura this way. Huup!” Arnold jumped down.

He unsheathed his sword as he walked towards the gate.

“—You there! Stop this instant!” one of the guards noticed Arnold which alerted the other one to respond by holding out his crude spear.

Arnold continued walking.

“Aaaaah!” one of the guards charged at Arnold with his spear.

His body suddenly collapsed right next to Arnold.

“What the fuck!?” his head was sent flying towards the other guard, “Y-You killed him! He was my brother-in-law! I was going to marry his sister!”

“Don’t care.” Arnold avoided the guard’s spear and hit his neck, knocking him unconscious.

He walked into the village and was immediately assaulted with arrows from all around the vicinity. A thin barrier surrounded his body that caused the arrows to bounce off after hitting it.

There was a bracelet around Arnold’s wrist. It was a magic item he took from the palace. It could stop the physical force in weapons. It converts the wearer’s attack power into a defensive wall, just like the one Arnold had now.

Arnold’s STR stat was in the 130s which was far stronger than any of these barbarians who don’t even have basic training in weapons. Their arrows were so crude that the sharpened edges broke off the moment it touched the barrier.

Arnold’s left hand was covered in blue flames. He pointed it to his left.

A powerful beam of fire shot towards his left, killing some of the barbarians. The others who weren’t killed were afflicted with a burning effect from his [Flame Gauntlet] skill. The archers fled seeing that powerful display of power.

Arnold shot a cluster of dark blue aura towards the fleeing people.

“Uwaak!”

“Kyaah!”

“Aaaaah! My legs! My legs!”

Most of them lost their legs or arms but none died since he controlled the amount of power he shot at them.

“All of you attacked me first so blame yourselves.”

Expect equal retaliation if you attack a person. All he wanted was to trade with the barbarians. But they tried to attack him on the spot. Isn’t that impolite—no, inhumane of them?

One would normally ask what the stranger wants instead of attacking them.

Arnold shot an aura blast towards another direction. The people who were hiding behind some huts, waiting to ambush him, were blown up by his destructive power. Arnold could hear countless screams as the huts collapsed.

◇◇◇

Arnold looked around.

None of the barbarians were attacking him anymore. In fact, many of them fled the village to who knows where.

He was now standing outside the witch’s hut. Of course, he wasn’t sure if she was here. It could just be that they built this place to put any enemies under a trap. Anyone would assume the most important person was staying in the biggest structure, after all. Using that notion to one’s advantage against intruders was a tactic even guilds used for invading players.

Arnold pulled back his fist.

-I would appreciate it if you don’t do that.

A voice suddenly came from inside.

He grabbed the door and yanked it out of its frame. The dark room inside was lit up by the light that entered.

He could see a figure sitting on the edge of a bed.

He heard a sigh, “The door wasn’t locked, you know.”

The voice belonged to that of a young woman.

Arnold’s eyes adjusted to the dark room. He was able to get a good look at who spoke to him.

“So you’re the witch who has been helping these barbarians out.”

The person sitting on the bed was a young woman with long black hair. Her body was completely bare. Arnold could see her milky white skin and long legs. Only her hair prevented him from seeing her chest.

She was beautiful. Not in the sense of human standards. No, she resembled a goddess more than anything.

Where had he seen this godly beauty before?

‘She has the same aura I’ve felt before. But where?’

“…Are you going to get this over with or are you going to keep staring at me like a lecherous beast?” the girl frowned slightly.

Arnold stepped forward while looking straight into the girl’s eyes. His boots moved at a steady pace.

“Now, Elhirim! Suron!”

“ROOOOOAR!!!” A black smoke suddenly manifested above Arnold.

A black spirit wolf chomped down on Arnold’s shoulder. A black snake crawled up Arnold’s legs and wrapped itself around his lower body.

Arnold could see the girl smile smugly.

“!” However, her eyes suddenly widened and her mouth gaped.

Arnold’s body was surrounded in his dark blue aura. The wolf’s teeth couldn’t even bite down on his shoulder since his body was reinforced multiple times.

Arnold spoke with a poker face.

“Dark magic summoning, huh. Not only was it chantless but you were able to hide the magic circles that were active. Not a lot of magicians can do this even if they study for years.”

The magic circles he was talking about only revealed themselves when she shouted earlier. She was able to mask their presence which wasn’t an easy feat. That proved to Arnold that she was a very talented dark magician.

“These beasts are surprisingly weak for spirit animals, though.” Arnold looked down at the snake.

He grabbed its head… and crushed it.

Its body fell onto the ground with a thump. Black smoke rose from the corpse.

“Elhirim! You killed her!”

“I’m sure a dark magician like you can revive it.”

“What!? Do you realize the amount of rituals I’ll have to do and the sacrifices I’ll have to give!?”

“I don’t really care. Your mutt is really annoying. Tell it to back off or I’ll break its jaw.”

“…Let go of him, Suron…”

The wolf turned into smoke and hurriedly manifested next to the witch as if to protect her. It growled at Arnold menacingly.

“We can finally talk now that that’s out of the way…” Arnold smiled pleasantly, “…Witch."