Chapter 159 – Unexpected Identity – 4

I stood in front of the Rune Stele, placing my hand on its surface and focusing my mind.

Then, a gentle green light seeped into me. Something strange began to stir within my body. It was a sensation I had experienced before, but I hadn’t quite adapted to it.

With my eyes closed, I concentrated my awareness on the back of my left hand. The power that had been rampaging inside me gradually gathered in one spot. My left hand began to twitch repeatedly.

Confirming that my body had returned to its original state, I opened my eyes. I looked down at my left hand. Next to the vitality enhancement rune that had been engraved at first, several more lines of the tattoo had been added.

‘Got it.’

Having obtained the rune, my work here was done. I removed my hand from the surface of the stele.

The name of the rune I had just acquired was ‘Mana Enhancement.’ As the name suggested, it had a simple effect of increasing the maximum mana capacity.

While the increase wasn’t exactly astounding and the rune wasn’t strictly necessary, it wouldn’t hurt to have. After all, using the special abilities of the Wingless Nightmare consumed mana.

The Rune Stele, having completed its purpose, lost its light and crumbled down into an ordinary chunk of stone. Unlike before, the crumbled stele didn’t reveal a new path.

Ideally, a passage should have appeared leading straight up to the surface, but with a dungeon this short, it was easier just to retrace my steps.

As I was about to leave the Boss Room, I paused momentarily upon seeing the half-destroyed centipede, or rather, the corpse of the centipede-shaped train.

‘…Should I take it as proof of subjugation?’

When I faced the Rock Centipede, I had gone in specifically to acquire the rune, so I didn’t need to gather any corpses, but now that I was on a quest, perhaps proof was necessary.

Realistically, simply showing the rune on my hand would serve as adequate proof, and if necessary, I could investigate the rune’s waves, but visually, nothing would serve as better evidence than the monster’s head.

‘I should ask Helga.’

I turned around and walked back the way I had come. Right. There was no need for me to think about this alone. Helga would know better than I did.

“Oh.”

A short exclamation slipped from Helga’s lips as she caught sight of the rock centipede, which was nearly 1/3 evaporated. The other bunny girls wore similar expressions.

Nix, however, seemed completely uninterested in the rock centipede’s corpse, wandering around me while emitting a creepy and strange smile.

She kept swatting at my hand, so I subtly extended my left hand, and she snatched it and placed it on her head, shaking it around. It felt oddly like watching a cat.

“So, should we take it as proof?”

At my question, Helga thought for a moment before shaking her head.

“Hmm… It’s too big to take. Even if we just cut off the head, we’d need at least three to carry it. And if you’ve acquired the rune, that’ll be the most solid proof.”

“As expected?”

“Yes. It is a bit disappointing that there are no other loot or byproducts…”

Helga’s eyes scanned the surroundings. Since Cassandra had mentioned that everything exiting this dungeon should be gathered, it made sense that there was no extra loot.

While I had already known there was no further reward inside this dungeon and had intended to acquire the rune from the start, that wasn’t the case for them.

“I’ll mention it to Cassandra. There’s nothing but the rune we collected, so she should offer some kind of reward.”

“That’s a good idea, commander.”

Helga nodded and walked closer to me, only to instantly freeze when she noticed Nix rubbing her cheek against my left hand as though she might make a cooing sound.

Her gaze quickly shifted elsewhere. It felt less like she was allowing Nix’s behavior and more like she was trying to ignore it.

“Everyone, prepare to return. I think we’ve rested enough.”

The bunny girls, who were whispering to each other while looking at the rock centipede, replied with a drawn-out “Yes~” that likely warranted a wave accent if written down.

If they were Helga’s subordinates, it felt like they were increasingly resembling her. They were floppy and did not hesitate to rest.

We ascended the passage that we had entered through in the same formation. Not long after, a gigantic opening appeared. It was the location where I had instructed Nix, Helga, and the general members to wait.

It seemed a considerable number of centipedes had appeared, as the corpses of the stone centipedes were strewn all around.

From the dozens of centipede corpses, the knight squad on our side bore not a single scratch, indicating that the knights had been unilaterally dominant.

It wasn’t surprising.

Though they were at a theoretical disadvantage against bosses due to fundamental stat differences, this also meant that against regular mobs with less disparity in specs, the knights could exert immense power.

In Vanilla, the knights of the Golden Dusk Knights could nearly wipe out half of a Player’s health with a single hit. And what about when the Darkest Light Mod was applied?

There was no need to mention the knights of the Silver Dawn Knights, who were treated as much more elite mobs.

“By the way, Commander.”

Helga, who should’ve been positioned in the back, had moved up closely beside me. I turned my head to see what was wrong.

Helga glanced briefly at Nix, who was walking with a massive lump of fat jiggling on her chest, before whispering in my ear.

“Do witches have any special ritualistic significance when it comes to breaking up corpses?”

“Ritualistic significance? What do you mean?”

Without exaggeration, it was something I was hearing for the very first time. I had never seen a document stating that dark magic users found meaning in tearing apart corpses. I had never heard such a conversation.

“No, that witch did so. Do you see the pile of gravel on the right? That was originally a centipede. That witch did that.”

Helga pointed out the pile of gravel scattered to my right. There was no way I could imagine that the original form had been a monster. It looked more like any random stone pile on the side of the road.

“…That was originally a monster?”

“Yes. After the battle, she just started smashing it up herself.”

“Hmm…”

While retracing my memories, I couldn’t recall anything particularly notable.

The only thing I had seen was a few dark mages who enjoyed conducting biological experiments, but those were done with purpose, not indiscriminate destruction of corpses.

“Oh, and when I asked her why, she gave me a strange answer.”

“A strange answer? What did she say?”

“When I asked what significance that action held, she said, ‘Here, it has no meaning.’ She may have just said that to sound impressive, but one never knows.”

‘Here, it has no meaning.’

It was a baffling statement that I couldn’t comprehend. The emphasis on ‘here’ suggested that it held significance somewhere else.

Given Nix’s personality, I found it hard to pin down the meaning behind that statement.

“Well, I’m not sure either. But I’ll ask her when we go out. If I do ask, she might actually respond correctly.”

“Ah, indeed. If you ask, Commander, she might provide a proper answer.”

Helga nodded in acknowledgment and stepped back, seemingly understanding the dynamic as Nix trailed behind me with a creepy smile.

By contrast, the distance from the surrounding knights was slightly wider than when we had entered. It seemed Nix’s actions with the corpses had a significant effect.

“Ah…! You’ve finally emerged!”

As I gathered the armor I had stacked in one place and exited the dungeon, Cassandra appeared right next to me with a knight in tow.

Cassandra’s fidgeting face lit up as soon as she saw me. The female knight behind her also displayed a noticeably bright expression upon seeing us.

Her eyes, filled with relief, turned towards us.

Given that the lord had personally come this far, the knights behind me showed expressions of surprise, but I wasn’t surprised at all since I had been through this countless times in the game.

‘Things are quite different, though.’

The person who used to occupy this spot in the game was the lord himself, his most trusted direct knight, and the player—just the three of us—giving it an air of secrecy.

But now, that wasn’t the case. Helga and her general members had entered and exited the dungeon together, making the atmosphere quite vibrant.

There was even Nix, who was practically an outsider, so it didn’t feel secretive at all.

‘Well, these guys wouldn’t just spill the beans anywhere.’

Unless Kaiquilia directly questioned what had happened, it was unlikely we would start blabbing about our adventure in the rune dungeon.

With how light-minded they would be, they wouldn’t even be able to stay in the Imperial Palace in the first place. I could only hope Kaiquilia wouldn’t catch on.

“How did it go?”

“You can relax now. I’ve finished the task.”

“…Thank goodness.”

As her tension seemed to ease, Cassandra wobbled slightly, and the female knight standing behind her quickly supported her shoulder. Cassandra wiped away the sweat beading on her forehead with a handkerchief and said,

“Did you suffer that much inner turmoil? You don’t seem to look well.”

Cassandra slightly shook her head.

“That’s not the reason. Just a moment ago, an inexplicable fear overwhelmed me, and my whole body trembled, making it hard to stand. Strangely, as soon as I laid eyes on you emerging, my heart settled. My poor appearance is likely due to that influence.”

‘Oh? Now that I think about it…’

With Nix nearby, I expected Cassandra to be terrified. I glanced around as these thoughts crossed my mind.

The short witch with half-purple and half-green hair was nowhere to be found.

Noticing me scanning around, the knight behind me crossed their index fingers in an X-shape. Realizing what that sign meant, I accepted it inwardly.

It seemed that she had teleported away somewhere as soon as she saw Cassandra, likely due to fear that proper conversation would be impossible if she stayed. I wondered if she had an unexpectedly thoughtful personality.

Although the timing was a bit off, it seemed Cassandra had come to see me and calmed down, resulting in a strange misunderstanding.

‘Now, what will happen next?’

I patiently waited for Cassandra to speak. What she said next would determine how the main story unfolds from here on out.

Technically, the direction depended entirely on the player’s actions from the beginning to now, while Cassandra’s role was simply to inform me; however, now that we had skipped to the mid-point, it was all about her now.

The narrative was entirely up to Cassandra.

In fact, seeking out the story at this point felt a bit absurd, but it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared for what lay ahead.

“Um…”

Cassandra began to part her lips.