Saving the Rune – 2

That very evening the word ‘rune’ was mentioned by Iris, we rode horses towards a mountain ridge where a newly discovered dungeon was said to be. The party consisted of Iris and I, Rije and Erica. There were four of us in total.

Claudia remained at the castle, saying that at least one person needed to stay to protect the city.

After riding horses for about an hour, we arrived in front of the entrance to a cave revealed between collapsed mountain slopes.

After tying the horses to a nearby tree, Iris, who had cast a barrier using a scroll to prevent monsters from recognizing the inside, approached the cave entrance and drew her sword.

“Although the rune’s wavelength has been detected, no internal exploration has been conducted at all. That’s what we need to do. We don’t know what’s inside, so don’t let your guard down.”

Rije and Erica also drew their respective weapons. Rije’s were twin daggers embedded with blue gems, like the color of her eyes, and Erica’s was a Japanese sword with intricate patterns carved into its blade.

It wasn’t changed because of a mod; that’s indeed the original NPC’s weapon.

‘Well, it’s a Japanese company.’

Although the actual setting of BraDk 4 was Western, there were no users who would nitpick about a Japanese sword appearing in a game made by a Japanese company in Japan.

From the very beginning, across all four installments of the BraDk series, sword-type weapons weren’t particularly good in terms of performance, so they couldn’t even become a subject of controversy.

In user-made tier lists, at best, one or two would barely make it to mid-tier 3, while most were stuck in Tier 5, a position equivalent to trash.

“I will enter first.”

Iris, who firmly held her longsword in one hand, stepped forward boldly, first extending the torch in her other hand. Rije followed behind her. I was third, and Erica was last.

Perhaps she was clear about the distinction between public and private matters, but Rije closed her mouth as if by magic as soon as she entered. It was to the extent that she felt like a completely different person from before.

The overall scale of the cave seemed larger than what I had seen in the game. Indeed, considering how large the boss here was in the lore, it was only natural that the boss room’s scale would also be enormous.

‘My neck is already stiff.’

Just thinking about having to wrestle with that guy for a long time, my neck was already aching. I sighed deeply to myself and walked behind Rije.

“……”

Only the clanking sound of armor echoed through the cave. This was because Iris, Rije, and Erica were all thoroughly armed in silver full plate armor.

Now, they truly felt like knights. Although underneath their armor, they were still only wearing white sleeveless tops and dolphin shorts without even underwear, I decided not to mind that.

Naturally, I was dressed in my usual cloth clothes and leather pants. Just in case, I tried on armor once, but it became impossible to roll, so I had no choice.

It didn’t mean I had to roll much more uncomfortably, but rather, like when armor weight exceeds a character’s available weight capacity, it meant I just tilted my head forward and couldn’t roll at all.

I also wondered if that made sense and tried it several times, but my body didn’t even flop onto the ground; it truly just swayed for a moment and that was it.

Even running was impossible. Claudia laughed, saying I needed to build up my stamina when she saw me shuffling around, but I knew why this was happening, so I couldn’t laugh at all.

So I just took it off.

‘I’d rather go around naked than give up rolling.’

It was clear which of the two was the priority.

“Stop for a moment.”

Iris stopped walking. Before them, a vast cavern opened up. I recognized this place at a glance. This was the passage leading to the boss of this dungeon.

“The space is too wide. Rije, stay close to me. Newbie, stand next to Erica. We’ll move in pairs.”

Rije took a step forward and stood next to Iris, and Erica took her place beside me. As if truly on edge, elements were subtly leaking from the weapons in their hands.

Compared to the three who cautiously took steps without letting their guard down, unsure of what might appear, I walked merely pretending to be moderately vigilant of my surroundings.

The trash mobs appearing here were nothing special. Besides, even if I didn’t step up, the Knight Captains would take care of them all.

One boss here is enough to drain my mental energy.

“Erica, where is the rune reaction detected?”

Erica, who heard Iris’s question, briefly looked down at the necklace around her neck. It was a necklace humming with green light.

“It’s quite a distance underground from our current location. Assuming the path isn’t winding and connects in a straight line, at this speed, it would take a little over an hour to arrive.”

“An hour in a straight line? Then we should account for at least two hours to arrive, shouldn’t we? A round trip would easily take five hours, wouldn’t it?”

“And if monsters appear along the way, the time will increase further.”

The moment that was said, Iris wrapped wind around her blade, Rije made ice flowers bloom on her twin daggers, and Erica covered her weapon in flames, all happened almost simultaneously.

Something with rough scales, a mix of black and gray, was approaching from a distant passage. Upon seeing the appearance of that something, Rije and Erica recoiled with a cry of ‘Eugh!’

It was a centipede almost the size of a human.

Dozens of pairs of legs wriggled disgustingly, and were all covered in scales. Antennae protruding from its face twitched incessantly. The hard carapace on its back was also entirely covered in scales.

What’s more, it wasn’t just one. No less than five more identical creatures were approaching from behind.

“Eugh, I never imagined such a monster would appear. What in the world is this place?”

“……It is a bit disgusting. No, not a bit, but a lot.”

Rije and Erica shivered, causing elements to surge into their swords. Ice covered Rije’s body, and flames erupted from Erica’s sword, illuminating the surroundings.

‘I guess I can’t take them when I get the spellbook later.’

Later, not just centipede-like monsters, but dungeons filled with truly human-sized insects will be discovered.

That place was famous for directly traumatizing players, not just characters. It was so bad that the developers even placed an NPC at the entrance to warn players to turn back because the area beyond was swarming with bugs.

However, and quite grimly, one of the spellbooks I needed to obtain was located there. If it weren’t for that spellbook, I wouldn’t have even given that place a second glance.

“I’ll deal with them quickly. Newbie, you stay quietly behind.”

Having said that, Iris, seemingly unfazed by the disgusting sight, wrapped a whirlwind around her sword and charged at the centipede. Rije and Erica also let out groans of ‘Ugh!’, then enveloped themselves in ice and flames respectively, and charged.

-*Thwack!*

And with one blow, they burst the centipede’s head.

The centipede, its head burst, writhed its body and twitched its joints, then soon curled its legs and died. The same happened to the other creatures. Their bodies burst and were torn to pieces with just a graze from a weapon.

“Oh?”

As they were dealt with far too easily for their utterly hideous appearance, a bewildered sound escaped Rije’s lips. She seemed to have never imagined they would die in one hit.

The cause lay in the fundamental difference in specs. While this was a dungeon that opened in the Level 20 zone, the Silver Dawn Knight Captains were mid-to-late game bosses.

Naturally, it was possible for them to overwhelm trash mobs here with their sheer specs.

“You’re not surprised this time either, Newbie.”

Iris, who had cleanly chopped the centipedes into pieces with a few sword swings, turned her head towards me. Although I couldn’t see her expression due to her helmet, I somehow had a hunch about what kind of face she was making.

“Do you perhaps have any idea about this dungeon?”

It was a voice filled with subtle expectation. I replied without a change in expression.

“I do know something.”

“Really?! No, wait. But why didn’t you tell us until now?!”

“I’ll need your help later. For now, I’m enough on my own.”

I looked around and found a large crack in the wall. I walked towards it, heading for the center of the cavern until a stalactite was right beside me. From there, I stepped back three paces to the right.

The three of them seemed to have no idea what I was doing.

“Oh, you guys shouldn’t be there, you should go stand over there.”

“……?”

Although they looked very bewildered, the three of them retreated to the passage where the centipede monsters had just emerged, just as I said. They seemed to think there was no harm in listening to me for now.

After confirming that the Knight Captains had retreated to the safe zone, I plunged the blood-stained sword into my stomach. Since Rije had already blabbed about the blood-stained sword’s special abilities, no one was surprised.

In that state, I absorbed blood to its limit, then pulled out the sword. A sinister blood-red color swirled around the blade.

“Newbie-ssi, why are you suddenly using that? And what’s the reason you told us to stand here?”

“You guys shouldn’t get swept up in it too, should you?”

“What do you mean, we shouldn’t get swept up in it too? Newbie, what in theㅡ”

-*Rumble!*

Before Iris could even finish her sentence, the cavern floor began to collapse with a thunderous roar. The floor on the passage side where Iris, Erica, and Rije were, sank first, as if tearing apart left and right.

The three were startled and tried to save me, but a gap several times a person’s height had already formed between us a long time ago. No matter that they were Knight Captains, they couldn’t leap across that width without a running start.

Moreover, even at this moment, the crack between us was steadily widening. The speed of the floor collapsing gradually accelerated. The crack gradually approached me.

Iris urgently shouted.

“Newbie! Don’t tell me, again…!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I won’t die. You trust me, right?”

“It’s not a matter of trust or anything! If something like this was going to happen, you should have told us in advanceㅡ”

Before she could finish her sentence, the remaining part that had barely held on also collapsed, and my body began to plummet downwards. Rije, Iris, and Erica’s silver armor rapidly grew distant.

“Just follow the path straight down! I’ll be waiting at the bottom!”

As I plummeted downwards, I shouted with all my might towards the top. I wasn’t sure if they heard me, as the sound of the floor collapsing was so loud.

‘When I go back, I’ll probably get an earful again for not telling them in advance.’

It couldn’t be helped.

This boss was one that had to be defeated by thoroughly executing its mechanics, so if there were multiple people, aggro would jump around, likely just prolonging the fight. If unlucky, an accident could even happen midway.

Taking such risks was out of the question. Receiving help from the Knight Captains would be sufficient even if limited to Phase 4, after all mechanics were cleared.

‘It’s about time to prepare.’

Had I been falling for what felt like over 10 seconds? Finally, upon confirming a puddle of water visible beneath my feet, I calmly prepared for a plunge attack.