"Remember when you promised that man you'd visit a dungeon after your grandfather's funeral?" Furcio reminded Ethan. "Yet, here we are."
"I didn't want to delay it any longer," Ethan said. Unpredictability was something he hated in the past. As an assassin, he liked planning. Being meticulous in his line of work was necessary, or he wouldn't have reached the age of 50 in his past life.
However, in this world, predictability might have been just as bad as sitting down and waiting for a bullet to hit you.
With a large target on his back, he couldn't linger around and sit down while waiting for his unknown enemies to kill him. He could only act as unpredictably as possible.
"How did you plan to go to a dungeon without attracting your enemies' attention?" Furcio said. "The butler said it was too dangerous."
"Are you scared?" Ethan lifted his eyebrow, smiling.
"You haven't been in a real dungeon yet," Furcio frowned. "Whatever you read in the books isn't entirely true. Dungeons are far more dangerous than you can imagine. Only the humans in this world think it's all monsters and beasts."
Ethan said nothing. Furcio should know more about the dungeons than the current Ethan.
"What was this?" Furcio frowned when he saw the large rock in front of him.
"A dungeon," Ethan beamed. In fact, he didn't really think this dungeon should exist in this world. When he was still playing the game, he was quite familiar with the map of Yeonsin, including the locations of each dungeon.
So, upon examining the mines that the Kai Family owned, he was surprised to know that there were a few dungeons from the game that did not exist on the map.
There could be two reasons for this.
The dungeon either had the ability to hide or disappear. Or perhaps, these dungeons were a recent manifestation, emerging in this world due to some unknown shift or event.
Now, Ethan knew that the second reason was close to impossible. If a dungeon appeared, everyone would feel it. The ground would shake and the detectors of Yeonsin would be wailing until your ear breaks.
So, he immediately assumed that the dungeon might have the ability to hide itself and the detector was not able to detect it because its rating was too weak.
The fact that it did not show any signs of rapture or no monsters actually appeared near the dungeon should be another reason why the detector did not detect any activity from it.
Furcio only stared at the large boulder. "How did you know this was here?" he asked.
"I could feel it," Ethan said. "Shall we go now?"
"Are you certain about this? This is an uncleared dungeon." Furcio frowned. "You have to go back in less than sixteen hours or they will know you're gone."
Ethan simply nodded. He had informed Jihoon of his desire to remain in his room, seeking refuge from the dangers lurking outside the mansion. Jihoon was very emotional when he heard Ethan's words, but he raised no concern about it.
Jihoon had agreed, promising not to disturb Ethan until the time for the funeral arrived — which should be about sixteen hours away.
Using a drop of their blood, the two of them opened the entrance to the dungeon. Then they disappeared in front of the boulder.
The next thing Ethan knew, he was already in front of a deep cliff.
The air was icy and sharp, making him shiver. The wind howled loudly, echoing through the plateau surrounded by steep cliffs. He squinted but was unable to see the bottom; it was as if the depths of the cliffs disappeared into an endless abyss.
"Do you know what this world is?" Furcio asked, his face dark and gloomy. In fact, he never thought that one day, he would let a human child coax him into coming to a place like this.
Who would have thought that his desperation to obtain magic stones would take him to an unknown dungeon that remained undisturbed for decades?
"Probably," Ethan looked around, his memories from his past life as clear as day. He never actually thought that this dungeon would still be here! In fact, it was still unexplored, untouched by the outside world.
Furcio only glared at him, his gaze chilly. "Let us perform the pact. We do not know what is going to happen soon."
Ethan nodded. If he was right, Furcio should have sensed the ones living in this place. He was, after all, someone like them.
"Aren't you going to show your real face?" Ethan asked. He thought this was needed in situations like this.
"This is my real face."
"You look as young as me," Ethan mused.
"We age differently."
"I don't believe you."
"We don't have a real face. We can only imitate another face. This is the face that I had when I arrived in your world," Furcio uttered. "This is my real face."
Ethan sighed. He didn't know if the man was telling the truth or not, but his appearance wouldn't affect the pact, so he didn't really care. He was just curious to finally see Furcio's real appearance. "Let us proceed," Ethan said.
Furcio nodded. "Follow my hand gesture." Without waiting for an answer, he started moving his hand, which Ethan immediately copied. From his memories, he knew that a Harmony Pact did not involve any grand ceremony. There was only one thing that the participants needed to do, and that was... dancing together.
Looking at Furcio's gestures, Ethan understood that this should be the start of an elaborate dance that both of them needed to complete. Soon, their feet started stomping, and their hands started clapping. It didn't take too long before the two of them moved as if they were one.
The cold, chilly air seemed to join them in their dance, adding a surreal quality to their movements. The surrounding atmosphere became full of light energy as if the very elements acknowledged the importance of this pact.
Soon enough, Ethan and Furcio started dancing in harmony, their movements fluid and synchronized.
As the dance continued, Ethan could feel a strange connection forming, a sense of understanding and trust that deepened with each step. It was as if the dance itself was forging a unique bond between them, something beyond mere words or appearances.
The chilly air seemed to swirl around them, embracing their movements and infusing the pact with an almost magical aura.
This was the power of the Harmony Pact!
Ethan only grew more excited!
This only meant that the things that he had seen in the games could be very useful!
After about fifteen minutes of dancing, stomping, and swaying their bodies, the ceremony finally ended.
"...," Ethan used a towel to wipe the beads of sweat on his face.
"The ceremony is done," Furcio uttered. For some reason, Furcio's gaze toward him was now different. Actually, it even contained a hint of curiosity. Of course, Ethan would not blame him for this.
Harmony Pacts are known among beasts, not humans. Perhaps, the man did not expect that he would be able to do it in the end.
However, this short rest was interrupted when they felt a chilling aura behind them.
The two of them immediately turned and... suddenly saw various insects moving towards their way.
"This world indeed has occupants," Furio uttered. "This is an unexplored dungeon.We must defeat their Queen, or we will not be able to leave this place."
"Right," Ethan said.
"What are you planning to do... young human?" Furcio looked at him, waiting for him to make his move.
"Jump," Ethan answered without batting an eyelid.
"Pardon?"
"I said we jumped!"