Chapter 13 – The First Dungeon

Ｒｅａｄ ｏ​ｎ ＫａｔＲｅａｄ​ｉｎｇＣａｆｅ

“Haah…”

After the short battle, all the party members slumped to the ground. No one cared about the dirt staining their clothes.

No one was physically exhausted. Everyone was just mentally drained. Sky Shrimp looked the most shaken, his face pale as he kept glancing around nervously.

I turned my gaze to Isolin. The small girl, perhaps inexperienced in such situations, kept her eyes on the ground, breathing heavily.

Of course, I wasn’t much better. My trembling hands wouldn’t stop, and my legs felt weak. My vision blurred as my pupils dilated and contracted.

A long silence—

The cool breeze calmed my heated body, and the excitement subsided.

“I… I’m sorry…”

Sky Shrimp broke the silence. He clumsily got up and repeatedly bowed to the party members, as if that alone could atone for his mistake.

Seeing that, curses rose to the tip of my tongue. But I didn’t let them out. This was just an accident.

Who could have expected a roamer to jump out from the bushes?

In normal circumstances, if I were playing a game with a mouse and keyboard, I would have laughed it off. “Don’t feel too bad,” I would have said. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

But now, I couldn’t do that. Even though I knew it was an unintentional accident, the fiery anger rising in my chest blamed Sky Shrimp.

I had to suppress it. Venting my anger would only make things worse.

Slowly, I steadied my breathing and exhaled the heat inside.

“Huu…”

At that moment, Zeblin, who had been sitting, suddenly stood up and began striding toward Sky Shrimp. His red face and trembling fists hinted at what was about to happen.

Thud—!

Exactly as I had anticipated, Zeblin punched Sky Shrimp in the face and shouted.

“You idiot! Get your act together!”

“Guh…”

“We almost died because of you! If you’d just stayed in the back like you were supposed to, none of this would’ve happened…!”

Zeblin’s actions weren’t the best choice for the party’s morale. But no one criticized him.

Palm Tree subtly averted his gaze, and Isolin continued to stare at the ground, breathing heavily.

No one stepped forward. Avoiding responsibility. The shock of facing death must have shaken their mental state.

I sighed deeply and slowly spoke up, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“That’s enough.”

Zeblin, who had been about to throw another punch, froze. His heavy breathing slowed as his gaze shifted to me.

I’m no saint. Part of me felt a twisted satisfaction seeing Sky Shrimp, who had put me in danger, get hit. I even secretly wished he’d get hit more.

But I stepped in for the sake of the future. A party that’s fallen apart tends to make more mistakes. I had to patch up the cracks before they completely broke.

“But…!”

“It’s fine. We’re not dead. We’re all still alive.”

“That’s…”

The anger in Zeblin’s eyes faded. The heat left his red face, and his heavy breathing gradually calmed.

“Uh, well… whatever…”

Eventually, Zeblin returned to his spot and sat down.

I looked at Sky Shrimp, who was lying on the ground, holding his face. The area Zeblin had hit was swollen and red.

I felt a little better, though I wouldn’t show it. I forced a smile and cast [Heal] on Sky Shrimp’s cheek.

This party needed time. Time to recover from the shock.

We sat in silence for a while. Drinking water from our inventories, checking our gear, occasionally glancing at each other and quickly looking away.

After some time, the party members began to get up, one by one.

Then, Zeblin approached Sky Shrimp and bowed his head in apology.

“I’m… sorry…”

“No… it’s my fault…”

The tense atmosphere eased slightly as the two talked. After that, the silence returned, and everyone’s gaze turned to Isolin.

Isolin had calmed down considerably. Her breathing was steady, and her gaze was firm. Her trembling had stopped.

The confident mage Isolin hopped onto a small rock and spoke.

“Is everyone okay?”

Perhaps the confident mage Isolin was just a mask hiding her soft interior?

The party members nodded silently.

“So, what should we do now?”

What should we do? She was asking whether we should continue or retreat.

Zeblin was the first to answer.

“Let’s keep going. We’re halfway there, and it’d be a waste to give up now. The boss’s patterns aren’t that hard, so if we just watch out for roamers, we can clear it without any major issues.”

One vote to continue.

“I’m against it… I think it’s better to level up more and come back later. We don’t have to clear it now…”

That was Palm Tree’s answer.

One vote to retreat.

“…I think we should go back.”

That was Sky Shrimp’s answer.

Two votes to retreat.

Now only Isolin and I were left. Naturally, the party’s gaze turned to us.

Isolin was the first to answer.

“I want to keep going. The stronger we get, the better we’ll be able to handle situations like this, right?”

That made two votes to continue.

With all eyes on me, I looked at Isolin and asked:

“Hey, Isolin.”

“Yeah?”

“If I said I didn’t want to go, would you really give up on the dungeon?”

“Yeah.”

Hearing Isolin’s immediate answer, I fell into thought. Honestly, I didn’t feel the need to push through the dungeon.

If this were a game, I would’ve charged into even more dangerous dungeons without hesitation for faster character growth.

But this place was different. There was no competition. I wasn’t aiming for the top ranks. There was no need to rush.

Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I felt the scales in my heart tipping toward continuing the dungeon.

After a long silence, I made my decision. I slowly opened my mouth.

“Let’s go. We’ll be more careful.”

Three votes to continue. The dungeon runs resumed.

The party moved forward more cautiously than before. Even when we spotted monsters, we didn’t rush to pull them. We scouted the area thoroughly and only engaged when we were sure it was safe.

The battles themselves didn’t take long. At most, they lasted a minute or two. But scouting the area before each fight took over ten minutes.

Steady and safe. After about two hours, the party arrived at the boss room without any further incidents.

[Level 15]

[Goblin Lord]

The Goblin Lord looked exactly as the information I’d gathered described. It was about the size of an adult man, its body covered in muscles, wearing a crude chainmail made of interlinked chains. The massive greatsword it wielded was even larger than its body, and seeing it drag the weapon on the ground made me wonder if it could even wield it properly.

“Everyone, get in position!”

The boss room only had the Goblin Lord. Since it didn’t have any special patterns, it wouldn’t suddenly summon adds or anything like that.

“Start the fight!”

As always, the fight began with the main tank’s attack. Zeblin charged at the Goblin Lord with his sword and shield, and the battle officially began.

The Goblin Lord fight went smoothly. Occasionally, it would wildly swing its greatsword, causing Zeblin to lose chunks of health, but it was manageable damage.

About five minutes into the fight, the massive greatsword fell to the ground, and the giant goblin collapsed.

Thud—

“We… we did it!”

“Wooohooo!”

When the Goblin Lord fell, Zeblin and Palm Tree cheered the loudest. Isolin and I smiled weakly, and Sky Shrimp sighed in relief and sat down.

Despite the tension, the fight felt anticlimactic. But that was for the best.

As the tension left my body, I felt a strange sense of relief and absentmindedly touched my eyebrows.

[Talent Bloom]

[Hypocrisy]

A sudden system message appeared before my eyes, along with a new skill called [Hypocrisy]. The skill, with no description, couldn’t even be activated.

I checked the message and looked around. Everyone except me had gathered around the Goblin Lord, likely checking the loot it dropped.

It seemed I was the only one who saw this system message.

(Tl : Hypocrisy – pretending to be what you are not, or pretending to believe something that you do not)

Vrslop_translator