The particular dungeon that we were stuck in would come to be known in the future as 'The Pipes'. If you looked around the dungeon for a few seconds, it was obvious why.
The whole place was dark and eerie. But even in that darkness, you could see them all around you - endless pipes upon pipes, racing alongside the walls, coming out of the walls, and even going into the walls. And then, when you looked even closer - you'd realize that the 'tunnel' itself was a large pipe, coiling around you.
"This place has a special property, as we've seen." I began to explain. Liliana huddled close to me, while the Saintess folded her arms and listened. "If you keep going forward mindlessly, you're going to just keep looping inside of the pipes."
"Is it my imagination that you just said a remarkably demeaning insult...?"
"Well," I coughed, moving past the Saintess's remark. "That means we need to treat this place like it's a maze. We move forward sometimes...then backwards sometimes. Repeating that in the right order, we'll easily make it to the core."
The strategy to tackling the pipes was pretty simple. Even though I never entered dungeons in the past, I always did my best to pick up useful information and hints.
"What, that's it? I could've brute-forced my way through if I really wanted to. How boring." The Saintess spat, looking disappointed.
She wasn't wrong. Some Abnormalities could be brute-forced if you were strong enough. Of course, very few had a chance to reach that level of strength, considering the fast schedule of the world's end.
The Saintess was certainly one of those few who would become powerful enough to defeat a lot of abnormalities through her pure strength. And, at the end of the day, a dungeon was just another abnormality.
"You're so mean, miss..." Liliana murmured, to which the Saintess's attitude did a complete 180.
"Oh, don't say that...I'm only mean towards that trash. Go back to nicely calling me madam, okay?"
That's right...one of the quirks that was well-known about the Saintess was her liking towards those who looked fitting for her 'nun' aesthetic. She may have been closer to the devil herself, but she genuinely seemed to love the pure.
I sighed. 'This is going to be a long dungeon run...'
Back...forward...back...forward...and in the middle of it all, I only occasionally heard some abuse from the Saintess, who seemed keen on using me as her verbal punching bag.
It ended up being the shortest dungeon run I had ever experienced. No, even though it was the only dungeon run I experienced so far, this was still too fast.
Most of the dungeon was uneventful. In fact, we made it to the core without much of an issue. Why?
"It's a part of my ability. I passively repel most unholy beings. No low-level filth will dare approach us."
That was the Saintess's answer.
Of course, she wouldn't tell us the specifics, but apparently a part of her power was the ability to repel 'unholy beings'. I'm not sure what constituted that definition, but, well, did it really matter?
We finished a dungeon in record time, and it was like taking a stroll through a park. This ease of clearing must be a part of being a powerful ability user. I found myself slightly jealous.
The three of us now stood outside, each of us holding a dazzlingly shining stone in our hands. They were more like crystals, perfectly shaped and formed.
These were what mostly came from the dungeons. The 'materials'.
"It's so shiny..." Liliana murmured, her clear blue eyes perfectly reflecting the shiny crystal.
"So this is what they actually look like..."
I murmured, holding the stone up to my eyes. I had never actually seen a 'material' in my past life. But apparently, they were extremely valuable...at least, they had a speculated high value.
According to information someone had managed to beg out of a Pixie, they could be used for something important in the future. Which is why everybody hoarded them. It was also why the biggest guilds sought to monopolize the dungeons they cleared.
"Meh. It's just another shiny rock."
At least, that was what us low-level survivors thought. The Saintess, the leader of a guild, seemed to regard it as a waste of time.
"Tell you what. As thanks for helping me get this one over, I'll slide this 'material' to the two of you. I think you need it more than I do. Especially you, trash." She tossed it to me in the blink of an eye, and I barely reacted fast enough to snatch it out of the air.
"You're continuing to be extremely rude, Miss..." Liliana stepped forward. The Saintess just sighed, shrugging at her.
"That's what I mean. Honestly, I would rather take you and kill that trash, but you're so weirdly attached to him. It's not worth it." The Saintess turned away. "So, at least, we can maintain a friendly relationship, huh? Of course, as long as I get to deal with you and not...that."
"'That'? Am I seriously getting treated like an inanimate piece of trash right now? For real?" I murmured, which caused the Saintess to laugh. Liliana's frown deepened in response. The mood was becoming a weird mix of tension and comedy (at my expense).
"Well, I'll see the two of you around! Enjoy the gift! I'll see you around, Lili~!"
'She just had to make sure to specifically say goodbye to Liliana, huh?'
Without waiting for any further reply, the Saintess headed off, disappearing into the empty city streets. She left just like she had appeared, as sudden as a strong gust of wind.
Liliana looked up at me with a pout. It was a cute expression that I had never seen on her before.
"Sir Alan, I don't understand just how you let her talk to you like that...she doesn't understand just how capable you really are."
I chuckled, rubbing the back of my head.
"Don't worry so much about it. In return, we've gotten a new connection with a strong guild, and extra rewards."
'Besides, it's not like she's wrong about me being trash.'
I decided not to say that to Liliana. Her mind was sharp, so I'm sure she had her own suspicions, but she didn't push me about my attitude towards myself. Instead, her eyes were filled with excitement towards my words on what we'd do next.
"Besides, with the fact that we've now got three stones, we've got the basic qualification to try our best at making one...a guild."
"A...guild...you mean, our own group?!"
I nodded, and looked back towards the dungeon.
"A part of why 'materials' are so valuable, is that they can give a small - very small resistance to allow abnormalities to enter a specific location. That's the real reason why so many are going to end up hoarding them."
"Then...if we get enough, we can build something like a safe zone?" Liliana reasoned. Her ability to follow really was a godsend.
"That's right. So, we're going to keep entering this dungeon, and try to get as many materials as possible. And using those as a bargaining chip, we'll get people to join us."
That was the full form of my plan to establish a guild. It could've been done by anyone who had my information in advance, but with so much of the world scattered and communication almost non-existent, only the most influential and powerful would have that sort of information.
Maybe the world hadn't changed that much after all.
Liliana smiled gently. "I almost wish that woman was here to hear your plan, Sir...I mean, not that I'd want her to take our ideas, but, I'm sure she'd lose that irritating smile once she learned how she basically just gave us the key to becoming stronger..."
'Um, Liliana? The way you phrased that sounds a little uncharacteristically scary and vicious.'
Though I'm sure she meant well, her trust in my 'capability' didn't really make me feel better. In fact, it hurt. Because I knew that it was trust born without the knowledge of where all of my information and 'deductions' were really coming from.
Would Liliana still view me as an equal if she found out that I was just an average person with some special knowledge?
I didn't know.
"That's the plan for the future, anyways. To begin with, before we challenge that dungeon, we need to do some more training."
Her mood immediately hit 0. It was like I could see her deflating real-time.
"Sir...you're not trash, but you really are cruel..."
"Don't whine so much. We can even train at night because we've got these to secure our training ground now!"
"Sir..."
Another two weeks and a few more days passed. That's right, I had spent over a month by now just working to improve myself and Liliana.
By now, I had hit a peak. For some reason, my body seemed to quickly return to the state that it was in during my previous life. The physical body I had lost was completely back, in a time period which shouldn't have produced such drastic results so impossibly fast.
It was true that among those with abilities, there were some who had a knack for growing supernaturally fast, but it shouldn't have been to this extent...and from the beginning, I was never one of those people.
I had an idea of why this happened, but I couldn't really confirm it. Not unless I regressed again. Which I wasn't planning on doing. No, I wanted this to be my second and final life.
To that end, a month of training might seem like a waste of time, but this was a month pent for slow and steady preparation, specifically so that the last could be one of relentless action.
And it wasn't all training, either.
We had managed to recruit over fifty people with abilities under the banner of our guild, which I'd come to name 'Lily's Pond'.
Why was it named after Lilianna? And why did I make an obvious pun on her name and the term 'Lily Pond'? Obviously, the latter was just because it was slightly amusing. I liked puns.
Honestly, she was a far more suitable candidate for leadership than me. Her appearance alone made her stand out, and she only seemed to grow more otherworldly as time went on.
Branches, flowers, and leaves hung off of her clothing, and nature seemed to follow her everywhere she went.
Relentlessly training her ability for a month straight, alongside fighting the abnormalities that appeared in the dungeon over and over...it had boosted her growth by a significant portion. She was now at the level of most guild leaders during this time.
That is to say, she could easily defeat your average abnormality just using her own brute force.
She was far more suitable to act as the leader and face of our guild. I, a seemingly normal person with some slightly above-average physical abilities was more suited as a vice-leader of sorts.
"You just think too little of yourself, Alan..."
Lilianna would say that when I made the decision to keep her as the leader. I still disagreed, but...she was just calling me by my name for real now, completely leaving out the 'Sir'. That made me happy. Happier than any praise I could get, really.
Obviously, as the Saintess's guild, 'Sistine Chapel', rose to prominence, she became closely related with our guild. Of course, making Lilianna the leader and face of the guild certainly wasn't also partly to make that happen.
Definitely not.
With that said, not only had we made a large guild, but we also had a strong alliance with another large guild.
Using that influence was going to be the key to trying to save the world - at least, that was my naïve thought. Still, even if I had uncertainties, even if I had doubts...I pushed forward. I had to.
I kept training, kept growing, kept expanding my influence and reach - because what else was I supposed to do?
The end of the world was coming. And there was no way around it except through the Flood Dragon's corpse.
"..."
I leaned my head back against a nearby couch. It was comfortable, but I wasn't in the frame of mind to really be considering that.
There was a little under a month before the Flood Dragon appeared. Considering my circumstances, I was definitely now in a place to take action towards killing it...
I could kill it...right?
"-ake up!"
I heard the end of a sentence as a finger flicked my forehead, forcing me to refocus. I look around, before my eyes eventually settled on the girl in front of me.
She had a beautiful row of roses sprouting along her wavy blonde hair now. It was like she was wearing a naturally-grown garland at all times. Flowers were usually odorless to me, but I swear that they all emitted a pleasant, light scent, too.
Liliana stood there, leaning over to look at my face with a worried expression. Her blue eyes were trying to search through mine for any sort of emotion or meaning.
For the first time since I had met her, I denied her that chance to see inside my feelings. I kept my gaze cold and leveled.
"Is something the matter, guild leader?"
Liliana huffed, straightening out and shaking her head.
"Uuuuuu. You went through all of that effort in getting me to use your first name, and now you're the one who's being formal with me? You really are cruel, Alan." She sat down next to me without hesitation, giving me a sideways glance. "...hey, would you like to hear something? I have...a story to tell you."
Despite myself, I couldn't help but give her a curious look.
Surviving through the apocalypse together does wonders for your bond with someone. Double that fact when you consider that we constantly had each other's backs. Our lives had been in the other's hands too many times to count now.
I joked with her. She joked with me...
I went from treating her like a partner, to treating her like a real companion.
She had changed so much that she was almost unrecognizable. That eerie look in her eyes was all but gone. Her constantly formal and polite speech had disappeared. And of course, she had no issue calling me by name, now.
Even that odd aversion she had to physical touch...something I didn't dare comment on.
It was much like that. As close as we were, neither of us pushed into the other's personal matters. We respected the boundaries that were wordlessly erected between us in the present, and whatever past there had been before the 'tutorial'.
Who was 'Liliana' behind what I knew of her? To be honest, I had always wanted to know.
"To be honest, Alan...when you first found me...I had just finished killing my family."
"...what the hell?"
'...what the hell?'
My words ended up coming out before my thoughts.