====[ The Black Knight's POV ]====
I and my partner, a prideful researcher, are now currently in quite the situation.. We are stuck inside an ancient ruin because I accidentally dropped the teleportation device on the ground, causing it to shatter into dust. Now, my partner is giving me an earful on how expensive that device was and how it was worth a whole castle. And that it was my fault we are stuck down here.
We came here by teleportation so naturally we didn't know how to exit this damn place, so we compromised on having me search for an exit, while my partner keeps his eye on the data we are extracting, according to the magic instrument we brought, it'll take approximately 2 to 3 weeks to completely transfer the data. What data it is i have no idea, but the internet connection, or, "Aethernet" as they call it, is so magnificently slow, it'll take almost a whole month just to forward some PDFs or something... Of course we came prepared because we brought a month's worth of food along with us in this handy dandy "Storage Ring" I've got.
.... A month has passed, and the upload is still ongoing.. But! Now it's already 98.7% complete! Give it a few more hours and it'll be finally done! And we'll be able to leave this place! Also, I have mapped out the exit route so we are not lost! I REALLY hope nothing bad happens, because that would totally suck.
But, the gods of plot- *cough*, I mean, the gods of fate REALLY wants me to have a bad day today. Because as if on cue, a group of three Adventurers actually managed to open the huge steel blast door, you know... The one with the password set as 123456... I really want to smack whoever set the password up on the head a multitude of times. Now I have to fight them off and everything... *sigh*
" Wh- WHAT?! Who are you?! ". My partner yelled, come to think of it.. I don't know his name... Even though we spent a month here.
" That should be MY line! Who are YOU?? ". The Adventurer youth said. He has walnut brown hair and red colored eyes, he seems to be a swordsman. His female companion, an elf, is probably a rogue. His male companion, a human with black hair, is most likely the party's support cum rear guard. All three of them seems on guard, which is fair.
" How could this be?! Hey! You DID lock the door, right?! ". My partner addressed me.
" Of course I did! ".
" God damnit! Now the mission is compromised and all of that waiting was wasted on nothing! NOTHING!! ".
" You go ahead and escape, bring the instrument with you! I'll handle them! ". I yelled to my partner.
" What about you?! ". My partner asked. He sounded almost worried.
" I'll be fine! Now go! ".
With that, my partner started to pack up the magic instruments and escaped, but not before casting a << Defense Up >> spell on me, so he does have morals after all. And then, I turn my attention to the group of Adventurers and addressed them.
" Now I would like to solve this peacefully, but I guess I can't really afford having you alive after seeing us, soo... I'm sorry, but your adventures have to end here. ".
And like that, I activated my skill and engaged the Adventurers.
====[ Evan's POV ]====
It has been almost a month and a half since we started the ruin exploration quest, we amassed quite the amount of treasure, materials, magic stones and some random assorted artefacts, so we were confident that this quest will be profitable. That said, we can't exit the ruin without first finding the actual "exit". We can't just backtrack to where we came in from.
We are now currently battling against a group of spider type monsters akin to what we encountered earlier on, but bigger, badder, and uglier. Now that we have experience in fighting all kinds of monsters, I feel like we're steadily growing in terms of fighting power, strategy, multitasking, and adaptability. It's certainly a very good news.
One by one we took care of the spider monsters, once you get the gist of how they behave, it's really a simple matter of just timing your actions right. Finally, our team feels professional somehow. Finishing off the spider monsters was an easy task now, even if they outnumber us. I reckon Luke, Melania and I have leveled up quite a bit.
Once all of the monsters in the area was cleared, and all of the loot they dropped were collected, we took a rest before we continue, we hope that we can clear the ruin by today. Luke took off his stuffy armor and slumped down lazily on the floor, without regard for hygiene.
" *sigh* Even though the armor I now wear works wonderfully, it still gets really hot after a while... ". Luke complained, he recently got a new set of armor from loot he received after defeating a centipede type monster, the armor was made of the centipede's carapace, which gives off a dark maroon color, it was also segmented into many small pieces, akin to a traditional japanese samurai armor. The armor has high physical damage resistance and a moderate resistance to magic, but it's a bit heavy. He pondered about selling it at first, but he decided to wear it for himself since it "looked cool".
" Is that so? ". Melania responded. She also received new equipment from loot, she got a pair of curved daggers from a praying mantis type monster. It shone silver in the light with a glint of jade green, making it look stunning.
What about me? I don't want to talk about it... Why? Because it's ridiculous that's why! You wouldn't believe how much anger I felt when I opened a mimic chest after fighting it for so long, only to find a silver, comically large spoon. What happened to the spoon? I threw it away, of course. I don't care if it has some Super Magical Cheat Ability sealed inside of it, I don't want to be the guy who ACTUALLY shows up to a fight wielding a SPOON. What, am I gonna say "Thank you Lord for this meal I'm about to have" before I engage in combat? Of F*cking Course not! Are you kidding me?! Don't take me lightly!
I started a fire and prepared a meal for Luke and Melania while still whining about my terrible luck, I have now more or less got accustomed to cooking, and I feel like I've improved. What am I making today, you ask? Why I'll be making stir fried monster meat with random veggies of course! ..... I have no creativity when it comes to food.... But at least it'll taste good!
So I prepared the ingredients while waiting for the wok looking pan to heat up, I cut the meat of a bird type monster to manageable pieces and chopped up some vegetables we brought as supplies, then I chopped up the aromatics and herbs. Once the pan is hot enough I put in some olive oil... Well... This world's equivalent of olive oil, and went to town with the ingredients. I managed to whip up a semblance of a meal and called Luke and Melania over. Even though the food seems depressing at first, they said it tasted nice.
After the meal was finished, we all prepared for the final push for the exit, according to Luke, the exit is guarded by automatons, courtesy of the Progenitors. Automatons are a real pain in the arse to fight, as they don't feel pain, they don't fear death, and they're tireless.
" Are we all set? ". Luke asked.
" Yup! I'm ready! Let's go! ". Melania responded.
" I'm all good too, let's continue. ".
" Alrighty! Let's get out of here and finish this quest! We'll certainly gain a LOT of money from this.. Hehehe~ ".
So we set off to the exit, but, on the way, I felt something enticing me to come closer. So I stopped and addressed everyone.
" Wait, I feel something, I wanna go check. ".
" What is it? More treasure? ". Luke asked.
" I don't know... All I know is that I really want to check it out. ".
" Okay then, let's see what we have here. ". Luke agreed, but, Melania seems a little hesitant.
" Are you sure? I'm worried it's a trap or something. I don't want anyone to get hurt. ". She said.
" It's fine, if it becomes dangerous, we'll immediately draw back. ". Luke said.
" Okay, if you say so.. ". Melania said.
So we diverted from the original path and went down a flight of stairs, which led to an underground level. We passed through an automatic door and entered a wholly different area, because all of the other floors in this ruin looks like an office space of some kind, with bright white lighting and clean interiors. This underground level has sleek, black walls and eerie red lighting.
" Uuuhhh... Where are we? ". Luke asked.
" I'm not sure... ". I answered.
" This doesn't seem good... Do we continue, or should we call it a day? ". Melania asked.
" Let's continue. ". Luke decided.
So we continued forwards, the place seems empty, with only some random cables strewn about the place. After searching for a while, Luke found a huge steel door.
" Hey guys! We might want to check this out! Come look at this! ". He called to us.
So Melania and I went over to Luke.
" What's that? ". Melania asked.
" It looks like a door of some kind. Can you open it, Luke? ".
" Of course not, it's made of steel. Oh, wait, what's this panel here? ". Luke said. While extending a hand towards the panel.
" Oohh, I think it's a password input panel, try some random numbers, see what happens. ". I said.
" Random numbers... Hmm... Let's see.. Will this work? ".
Luke tapped a few keys on the panel, he typed 123456... Will that even work??
" Why did you type in 123456? ". I asked.
" Well, you said type in random numbers! So I did, I won't expect it to open or anything. ".
As he said that, the door actually started to open with a groan. Huh... Can't believe that was the password. Truly, we live in a small world. But we didn't get a chance to laugh at the strangeness of the moment, because just beyond the door, is a pair of people, one is dressed in scholarly looking robes, his head is covered by a hood and he wears a scary looking red mask on his face. I think he has the 8th grader syndrome. While the other one is wearing a jet black suit of armor with a featureless full face helmet, while he looked like a knight, he isn't wielding any type of weapon whatsoever. He's completely bare handed. Maybe he specializes in close quarter combat? What a weird duo.
The both of them seems to be standing over some kind of computer terminal hooked up to a magic crystal looking thing... I don't know what that is... The first one to react was the person in the robes.
" Wh- WHAT?! Who are you?! ". He said.
" That should be MY line! Who are YOU?? ". Luke responded.
" How could this be?! Hey! You DID lock the door, right?! ". The hooded man said to the knight looking guy.
" Of course I did! ". The knight answered.
" God damnit! Now the mission is compromised and all of that waiting was wasted on nothing! NOTHING!! ".
" You go ahead and escape, bring the instrument with you! I'll handle them! ". The knight said, to the hooded guy.
" What about you?! ".
" I'll be fine! Now go! ".
With that, the hooded man packed up his stuff and fled using a back route. The knight then turned to us and said.
" Now I would like to solve this peacefully, but I guess I can't really afford having you alive after seeing us, soo... I'm sorry, but your adventures have to end here. ".
Right after he said that, I immediately felt a cold feeling in my guts, so I casted a large << Void Shield >>, large enough to cover all three of us safely. Just as I managed to cast the shield, we were barraged by hundreds of small projectiles accompanied by a distinctive ear piercing roar. This black knight, there's a reason he was bare handed... It's because his skill allows him to transform any part of his body into any sort of weapon he wishes, right now, his right hand has been transformed into a WW-2 era German MG-42. Yes, this was as scary to witness as you'd think. And yes, I am very envious of his skill. Damn it.
====[ Author's Note ]====
Uh oh, another "other-worlder"?! How will the gang take care of this situation? Find out next episode!
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