Chapter 97: The Dungeon Core That Broke Him

"The Boss."

Reiji’s voice was calm. Almost bored.

Aoi immediately straightened.

"You found it already?"

He nodded once. "About a hundred meters ahead."

She glanced into the darkness stretching beyond the chamber.

Nothing.

She couldn’t hear footsteps.

Couldn’t sense mana. Couldn’t even feel another presence.

Yet Reiji had already located it.

She stopped questioning how.

At this point, she had accepted that asking would only earn another vague answer.

The two continued deeper into the dungeon.

The tunnels gradually widened while the number of red crystals embedded in the walls steadily increased.

The air grew heavier with mana.

Not enough to make breathing difficult.

Just enough to announce that they were approaching the end.

Several moments later the tunnel opened into a massive cavern.

A shallow underground lake occupied nearly half the chamber.

Red crystal formations rose from the water like jagged pillars while moss covered the surrounding rocks.

Standing beside the lake was a creature nearly three meters tall.

Green skin. Muscular build. Rusted iron armor.

A massive stone axe rested across one shoulder.

Its yellow eyes slowly turned toward the newcomers.

The Hobgoblin Chieftain.

Unlike the ordinary goblins outside, this one remained perfectly still.

It observed them.

Judging. Evaluating.

Aoi instinctively reached for the handle of her sword.

Even knowing Reiji would handle it, facing a Boss Monster always placed pressure on an Awakener.

The Hobgoblin inhaled deeply.

Then...

"ROOOAAARRR!"

Its roar shook the entire cavern.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Ripples spread across the underground lake.

Reiji sighed.

"So noisy."

The Boss charged.

Each step caused the ground beneath its feet to tremble.

Its enormous axe rose high into the air before descending with enough force to split stone.

Aoi’s pupils contracted.

Even knowing Reiji’s strength, the sheer size of the weapon made her heartbeat quicken.

Reiji didn’t dodge immediately.

He simply waited.

The axe continued falling.

[Shadow Step.]

His body vanished.

The axe slammed into the rocky floor.

BOOM!

Stone exploded in every direction.

Before the Hobgoblin could react...

Reiji had already appeared beside it.

"...Too slow."

The bone sword left its sheath.

Black-and-amber mana quietly wrapped around the blade.

One slash.

SHING!

The Boss froze. Its charge stopped.

Its breathing stopped.

Even the echo of its roar seemed to disappear.

Reiji calmly walked past it without looking back.

"..."

Silence filled the cavern.

A heartbeat later a thin crimson line appeared across the Hobgoblin’s chest.

Then another.

Its upper body slowly slid away from its lower half.

The enormous corpse crashed onto the ground with a deafening thud before gradually dissolving into countless blue particles.

Ding!

[Host has killed an F-Rank Hobgoblin Chieftain.]

[+1 EXP]

A faint crystal dropped onto the stone floor.

Alongside it a slightly larger crystal rolled several meters before stopping near Aoi’s boots.

She stared at it.

"...Two?"

One F-Rank Boss monster core.

One Dungeon Core.

She slowly bent down and picked them up.

Even after watching Reiji fight twice she still couldn’t quite process what she had witnessed.

One attack.

Again.

Not because the Boss was weak.

But because the difference between them was simply too great.

Reiji sheathed the bone sword.

"...Lucky."

Aoi looked up.

"Lucky?"

"Two cores."

She blinked before laughing softly.

"You really weren’t joking when you said monster cores are rare."

"They are."

He looked toward the place where the Boss had disappeared.

"Most Gates don’t even drop one."

Aoi carefully stored both crystals inside her pouch.

Today’s raid had been even more profitable than yesterday.

Without realizing it...

A small smile appeared on her face.

Maybe...

Working with the Night Empress really was the best decision she’d ever made.

Though Reiji remained calm outside he wasn’t calm inside.

’A dungeon core seriously? Now you drop? Like what the fuck?!’

Dungeon core was what he needed to open the Celestial Plane. He was left with just 10 Dungeon cores.

Just then the entire cavern rumbled.

Small pieces of rock began falling from the ceiling.

The underground lake rippled violently.

Reiji glanced toward the tunnel entrance.

"The Gate’s starting to collapse."

Another rumble swept through the cavern.

Large cracks spread across the rocky ceiling while several crimson crystals broke loose before crashing into the underground lake below.

Water splashed in every direction.

The chamber itself seemed to groan.

Aoi instinctively tightened her grip around the pouch hanging from her waist.

"So... we should leave?"

Reiji looked at her.

"What do you think?"

"...Right. Stupid question."

Without waiting any longer, the two headed back the way they had come.

The route was already familiar.

Broken monster weapons.

Scattered bones.

Crimson crystals embedded throughout the walls.

Only now, everything trembled with each passing second.

Chunks of rock occasionally crashed onto the dungeon floor behind them.

The cave was quite literally falling apart.

Even so Neither of them hurried.

There simply wasn’t any need.

An F-Rank Dungeon Gate didn’t collapse instantly after the Boss died.

There was still plenty of time before the dimensional space completely disintegrated.

As they walked, Aoi quietly glanced toward Reiji.

He looked exactly the same as when they entered.

Calm. Unhurried.

Not a single drop of sweat covered his forehead.

It was difficult to believe he had just defeated a Boss Monster.

’Does he ever get tired...?’

The question surfaced again.

During yesterday’s raid she had assumed he simply hid it well.

Tonight completely shattered that assumption.

There hadn’t even been a fight.

The Hobgoblin Chieftain hadn’t forced him to move more than once.

One teleport.

One slash.

Finished.

If someone told her that person had defeated a B-Rank monster yesterday...

She would’ve believed it without hesitation.

Meanwhile...

Reiji appeared perfectly calm.

Only on the surface.

’Seriously...’

He resisted the urge to sigh.

’A Dungeon Core chooses today of all days to drop.’

He almost looked back.

Almost.

Fortunately, self-control won.

Barely.

Dungeon Cores weren’t common.

Unlike ordinary monster cores, they only appeared after clearing an entire Dungeon Gate, and even then the chances were painfully low.

He currently needed only ten to open the Celestial Plane.

Yet...

The one that finally decided to appear belonged to Aoi.

Because of their agreement.

Reiji had never intended to go back on his word.

A deal was a deal.

Even if every cell in his body currently screamed at him to turn around and snatch it.

’No.’

He rejected the thought immediately.

One Dungeon Core wasn’t worth destroying the fragile trust they had built over the last few days.

Besides there would always be more Gates.

Eventually another one would drop.

Hopefully.

’...Hopefully.’

That single word somehow made him feel even worse.

Life really did enjoy making things difficult.

A faint smile appeared beneath his mask.

’Forget it. I’ll just farm another one.’

Several minutes later the familiar blue portal finally appeared at the end of the tunnel.

Unlike the unstable dungeon behind them, the exit remained perfectly intact.

Its pale blue surface gently rippled, patiently waiting for them.

The moment Aoi saw it, she subconsciously relaxed.

"I don’t think I’ll ever get used to watching an entire dungeon collapse."

"You don’t need to."

"...Easy for you to say."

Reiji stepped toward the portal first.

Before entering, he paused for just a brief moment.

His crimson eyes swept across the collapsing cavern one last time.

’Another ordinary Gate.’

No anomaly. No mutated Boss.

No Dungeon Break. No hidden surprises.

Just an ordinary Dungeon Gate.

For some reason, that felt refreshing.

Maybe he really had become overly cautious after the Desert Tyrant Worm.

Not every battle needed to become a desperate struggle for survival.

Not every raid needed to end with him wondering whether he’d make it home alive.

Perhaps ordinary wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

"...Let’s go."

He stepped into the portal.

Aoi followed immediately behind him.

The familiar sensation of passing through dimensions washed over both of them.

An instant later cool night air greeted their faces.

They emerged from the light-blue portal between the abandoned warehouses exactly where they had entered.

The surroundings were just as quiet as before.

The only difference...

The portal behind them had begun shrinking.

Its edges slowly collapsed inward as streams of blue mana drifted into the night sky.

Within seconds...

The entrance disappeared completely.

Nothing remained.

Aoi stretched her shoulders before letting out a satisfied breath.

"Another successful raid."

Reiji simply glanced at the empty space where the Gate had once stood.

"...Yeah."

His gaze then drifted toward the pouch hanging from Aoi’s belt.

She noticed.

Instinctively, she wrapped a hand around it.

"...What?"

Reiji looked away.

"Nothing."

"..."

That answer somehow made her even more suspicious.

She narrowed her eyes.

"...You were looking at my pouch."

"I was."

"...Why?"

Reiji remained silent for two full seconds before answering.

"I was wondering how long it’ll take before you spend everything."

Aoi blinked.

Then she laughed.

"Not anytime soon."

She lightly patted the pouch.

"I finally have savings."

Reiji quietly looked toward the night sky.

’Congratulations. You’re carrying exactly what I wanted.’

Sometimes... the world had an excellent sense of humor.