It has now been over an hour since the duo left their hiding spot. With Silver's condition better than ever, they advance at a quick pace, but Silver still takes the time to take in the sights of the Dungeon with his now improved vision.
Even if it's often referred to as an "Inverted Tower", the upper layers looked much more like a cave: covered in moss and rock structures, running water, and all that. But of course the natural beauty wasn't all the Dungeon had.
Armando, who's in front of Silver, stops net and gestures towards some rocks. Silver understands, and they both go hide behind them.
"Two, three, four Rascal Insects.Well, could be worse," observes Armando.
Rascal Insects are just E+ rank monsters, but still facing them wouldn't be wise.
"We're not far from the exit," remarks Silver. "Maybe we could just rush, ignoring the monsters ?"
"Well, I'm specialized in speed, so it wouldn't be a problem for me, but you ? You could survive monster attacks but not retaliate; you can't manifest Mana yet."
"Then show me." says Silver with determination.
"It's not that easy," retorts Armando, "it takes time to properly do it, time that we do not have right now."
"I'm good at picking up new things. C'mon, didn't you say that I had a knack for it ?"
"To absorb Magia, yeah, but the rest ? I don't know."
"Just teach me once; it would be better than nothing."
"Or you could overextend and empty your tank without even realizing it. And I'm not saving your sorry ass if it happens."
"Tch." Silver didn't really have anything to say back; he was right.
"Ok, let's get moving."
Following Armando's signal, Silver starts to run.
After a few minutes, Armando starts to slow down. Silver looks at him, curious ?
"A problem ?"he asks.
Armando doesn't answer and starts looking around. After a moment, he turns towards Silver and tackles him to the ground. As they both fall, Silver sees a huge black mass flying over where he was standing.
They both quickly get back on their feet to see what just happened. Around ten meters away from them is standing a bull-looking monster with a disproportionately huge body and really short legs with a singular, straight horn on its forehead.
"A Cannon Bull ? For real ?" exclaims Armando.
The Cannon Bull is a D- rank monster whose main ability is its insane speed in straight lines.
"The hell's wrong with the Dungeon today ?! Those monsters shouldn't appear this high !" screamed Silver.
"Well, now we don't really have a choice; we're going to have to kill it."
As Aramndo talks, he takes out his weapons: two black daggers. Then his body starts to get engulfed in green energy.
"Hermes's boots."
As he says that, the energy starts to concentrate on his legs and feet, forming something resembling a pair of boots with wings on them.
The following moment, Armando is gone, rushing towards the monster at immense speed. When he approaches his target, he slightly sidesteps, plants his daggers in the huge body of the beast, then sprints, leaving two big blade marks on the whole body of the monster.
This attack was enough to draw blood but nowhere near enough to cause substantial damage, and Armando knows it. He has an idea but doesn't really like it.
"SILVER !" he screams, pointing at him. "I'M GONNA DRAW IT'S ATTENTION? IN THE MEANTIME LEARN TO RELEASE MANA !"
"WHAT ?" Silver exclaims, surprised. He thought Armando was going to tell him to evacuate, not hope for a miracle.
Armando evades a charge of the Cannon Bull and starts to explain.
"You feel the mana in your body, yeah ? Then try to push it outward, but too much that it evaporates, just enough to coat yourself in it."
"Okay, okay, okay, okay."
Silver takes a deep breath before concentrating. First order: feel the Mana; it shouldn't be too hard, and it's not. He quickly gets a grab of it. Now to the second step: push it outward. Silver's concentration gets even deeper, slowly but surely letting his mana escape from his body.
When it starts to evaporate, he tightens the release, but then it's not enough. This is a complicated and tight balancing act; Silver now understands why Armando didn't want to teach him here, in the Dungeon.
But Silver starts to get it. He can feel his body getting enveloped in a warm embrace, almost liquid-like. Perfect, he can do it ! Maybe he has a talent for it after all. At that moment, Silver opens his eyes.
***
While Silver was deep in concentration, the fight between the Dungeonaut and the monster continued. Armando was barely able to evade the beast's charges, managing to harm it while dodging.
Even if his skill wasn't yet perfected or really refined, it was good enough to be able to evade the monster and confuse it as much as possible by moving in all directions.
But a problem started to arise: his daggers were starting to chip. Well, it only made sense; daggers are meant more for a "one hit, one kill" type of fighting style, and the Cannon Bull was renowned for its tough skin and muscles.
And, to not help, Armando was starting to get tired. He had been running the whole day and had to have perfect concentration to not run into any monsters while protecting his new friend.
But the monster was refusing to even slow down to let him recuperate. At one point, it even managed to get perfectly between Armando and Silver.
At this moment, he could've sworn that the monster smiled as it turned around and charged towards Silver. Armando didn't even have the time to process it; the monster was centimeters away from Silver.
***
When Silver opened his eyes, he was met with a block of black fur. The monster was charging at him, and he had a second at most to react.
But his mind was crystal clear, and he managed to evade the monster. Then, almost reactively, he punched it.
The strength of the hit was phenomenal—way more than what Silver was expecting. The hit managed to disorient the best as it ended its charge on its side, dazed.
Before Silver could actually realize what happened, Armando flashed in his view before he pierced the monster's throat with his daggers. The beast let out a powerful scream as it moved erratically before stopping, dead.
First fight, first victory. As Silver was about to celebrate, he looked at his arm and hand, now completely red and partially blue. Finally, the pain hits him big time. He falls to his knees, wincing in pain.
Armando comes to Silver, ready to congratulate him before looking at his arm.
"Ouch, this has to hurt."
Silver can't even respond , the pain completely shutting him up.
"This has to be broken. I mean, it's not surprising given the power of your punch, but still."
Silver takes some long breaths and gets back up, still in immense pain.
"Now what ?" he says through his teeth.
"We continue. But man, the hell's going on today ? Why are there so many monsters outside of their layers ?" wonders Armando.
He was also starting to get tired, but if they stayed put for too long, it would become dangerous; they had to get moving.
***
They are now both walking slower and in worse shape than before. At this point, it would almost be a miracle if they managed to escape. They try their best to avoid any monster that they come across, but at some point their luck has to run short.
So close to the goal they come across another monster that they can't ignore: the terrain is open and it's blocking the only way.
"Fuck." was all Armando could say as he took his now damaged daggers.
Silver tries to get in position but can't raise his broken right arm. They both have, at this moment, very little hope.
In front of them stands a scally monster with four arms and two legs, all equipped with sharp claws. It turns around to reveal a crocodile-looking head with smoke coming out of its mouth: a Lizaster, D+ rank.
The monster screams before jumping in the air. Both Silver and Armando redies themselves for the fight, but
ZAM
A ray of light pierces through the monster before it explodes in the air. His remains can't even touch the ground before they evaporate in the air. What's happening ?
"Well, well, well, what do we have here ?" asks a powerful and deep voice coming from a figure far away.
As the figure approaches, it continues to talk.
"Only two of you ? Highly unusual, I'll tell you what ! And it seems like you're coming back from hell."
The figure is now in view: a man, probably in his forties, wearing a sleeveless black vest, a white t-shirt, jeans, and brown boots. He has really short brown hair and a short beard. He is also, for some reason, wearing thick round sunglasses.
"But you're in luck, boys. Why ? Because the kNYght is here to save you !"