The pieces of information Dante had gotten from the Guardian was incomparable precious to a newcomer like him. However, no matter how he asked, Mira refused to give him a weapon, and she purposely had not answered some of his questions.
'Giving you more than you need wouldn't do any good for you in long terms.' She said.
With the first light of the morning, Dante bid farewell to Mira and head toward Sunfell Town again.
This time he paid more attention to his surroundings.
The environment was quiet around The Elevator. No one was at present. Time to time, small animals were throwing themselves on the rock-paved road from the nearby grassland.
'I bet The Elevator is the most tranquil place in [The Labyrinth of the First]' He thought.
Dante sucked the peaceful air into his lungs firmly and looked up to the blue sky. Everything was normal at first sight. As his eyes moved toward the horizon, he became stunned for a moment!
Last night, there was no way for him to notice it. However, not too far away, at the line of the horizon, the color of the sky was different. Some parts of it were red in color, even purple and grey colors could be seen with the naked eye.
Dante quickened his steps. The clouds on the horizon, combined with the unusual colors portrayed a menacing sight. He wanted to see the anomaly from a closer location.
He opened the map and compared the positions. [The Lower Catacombs] was at the direction of the red sky!
'Big sis Mira said [The Labyrinth of the First] is a world in itself. She wasn't joking.'
Sunfell was surrounded with a brick wall. It was fifteen feet tall and five feet in wide(1 foot = around 0.3 meters).
Dante didn't plan to spend time in the town. However, locating a trader or a blacksmith earlier could be handy in the future. So, he suppressed his eagerness and slowed his steps.
He spotted a few merchants and traders. He found blacksmith shops too, but unexpectedly, they were empty. There wasn't a shop owner or items in them, only the tools for forging items was at present.
The town was smaller than he expected. Its population was at most three to four thousand. Streets were almost dead, just a few places could be considered as bustling with people, and these places were mostly taverns and inns.
Thirty minutes was enough for him to reach his current location. Other than the odd blacksmith shops, there wasn't anything to speak about on his little trip.
Soon, Dante was at the other end of the Sunfell.
Unlike the other side of the town, there were a few patrol teams on top of the town walls. However, none of them were paying attention to their job. Some were drinking early in the morning, and some of them were still sleeping.
'There seems to be a danger of monster attack from this direction, but having a patrol team like these guys... I pity you Sunfell.' Dante thought.
When he passed through the iron door which was the exit of the town, a vast prairie showed itself in front of his eyes.
He felt the strong wind on his cheeks. This place was a Great Dungeon, but there was still a room for beauty inside of it.
About four miles to the east, Dante could see a big forest. According to the System, its name was [Bellmar, Heaven of Ten Thousand Beasts].
About five miles north of Sunfell, there stood a few bare mountains. That was The Yelling Peaks - his destination.
To the west of Sunfell, the prairie was spanning until the far horizon.
Dante didn't bother himself with unnecessary thoughts anymore and began to walk towards the mountains.
He needed to do two things before entering the caverns.
First and the most important essential was to find food and water. Dante had taken care of the water issue from a well in the town already. So there left the food.
Drawing water from the well and placing it in his inventory was mostly experimenting purposes. He didn't expect to succeed, but unexpectedly, his inventory was capable of containing liquids without a separate container.
The second essential was finding comrades. However, Dante didn't need to bother himself for finding food and comrades. The vast prairie was the home for the short-legged ox, and about a mile away from Dante, an ox had already been surrounded by a group of empty heads.
'Haha! I knew something like this would happen!'
Dante started running toward the group. With his 5.2 point agility stat, he was faster than a normal human. Before long, he was at twenty meters away from them.
However, as he neared 'the crime scene,' believing his own eyes was becoming harder and harder!
In Dante's vocabulary, there wasn't a word which was describing the pathetic drama in front of him!
A young man was wrapping his arms around the ox's neck and squeezing it with all his might! Another was continually punching the ox's chest area! A girl was pulling the ox's tail! The other four was waiting! If someone fell tired, they were ready to change places! Furthermore, every one of them had wild expressions on their faces as if they were fighting against a deadly dragon in a life and death battle!
"Hold it tightly dammit!"
"What are you waiting for, just hit its head!"
"Die already you stupid ox!"
*Moooo!*
"AHA HA HA HA!"
Watching these idiots a while was enough for Dante to burst into an uncontrollable laughing session!
Dante had to admit! Trying to kill a short-legged ox with bare hands at level 1 should be really hard! Yet... It was so funny to watch!
"W-why are you laughing? Lend us a hand! You'll get your share, I promise!"
Naturally, Dante had been discovered by them!
He hardly stopped his laughing fit and sped toward the crime scene! With each passing second, his speed was increasing!
'It's a wonderful chance for gauging my physical capabilities!'
When Dante reached the five-meters mark, he jumped into the air! Readied his punch and hit ox's head with the momentum he had gained!
The collision produced a loud bone hitting bone sound. The ox struggled fiercely, but it was futile. Before long, it stopped moving in front of the dumbfounded expressions of the group! It was dead!
[You have gained 1 EXP!]
'System, are you kidding me? Just one point? That means I have to kill nine more for a level up, even though I am a level 1 participant!'
Dante's punch didn't have enough strength to cause a cavity on the ox's skull, but it was enough to kill the ox with a single attack.
"Uhh! Its head was remarkably hard! My hand hurts!" Dante said while shaking his hand rapidly.
"Who are you? You are not one of the newcomers!" The newcomer who had been squeezing the neck of the ox spoke.
Dante smiled, "I am a newcomer like you. I was lucky, nothing more." He said, and under the group's stupid gazes, he reached out to ox's head with his right hand.
As soon as Dante placed his palm on the ox, it disappeared in a blink of an eye! After that, as if nothing had happened here, he began to walk away!
[Short-legged ox corpse obtained!]
"Hey! Where do think you're going? That ox is ours!" One of the newcomers jumped in front of Dante!
"To [The Lower Catacombs] of course! And I was the one who has killed that ox. How could it be yours?"
When the group heard the name of 'the lower catacombs,' their angry expressions instantly changed.
Dante walked past the youth, not even sparing a glance at him. "I wish you guys good luck in your ox hunt!" He said coolly.
Dante couldn't see it, but the youth behind him seemed to struggle about something. The others didn't look much different.
'Haha! It's coming... It's coming!'
"B-boss! Wait for me!" The youth behind him barked on top of his lungs!
'What? B-boss?' Dante's movements froze. Everything happened so quickly, even Dante wasn't waiting an outcome like this.