Chapter 74: Questions (1)

Chapter 71

Sky Dancer Lady Katherine... This must be her.

Orion reached that conclusion almost instantly.

The doctor bowed deeply to the lady, who appeared to be in her early twenties, before taking his leave and leaving the duo alone in the room. The door closed behind him with a small click, its faint echo lingering briefly in the otherwise quiet hospital room.

Sky Dancer slowly walked forward, her gaze calm and cool, almost gentle. She pulled out a chair and sat across from Orion, who continued looking at her without saying anything.

"You must be Lady Katherine, right?"

The lady nodded calmly, and Orion returned the greeting with a slight nod of his own, bowing his head ever so slightly out of courtesy.

However, even after the brief exchange, the woman continued staring at him as though she wanted to bore a hole straight through him. Her gaze wasn’t particularly hostile, nor did it carry any obvious malice, yet there was something about the way she studied him that made Orion feel slightly uncomfortable.

He maintained his smile, wondering whether he should ask why she was looking at him that way. Before he could open his mouth, however, the woman parted her lips and spoke.

"And you are Orion Stormblade... the only survivor of the Dungeon X raid."

Her tone remained calm, but her expression gradually grew more serious.

"Mr. Orion..." Katherine’s gaze sharpened ever so slightly. "I fear you have a lot of questions to answer."

Orion’s smile froze.

What did she mean by the sole survivor of the Dungeon X raid?

Where were the rest of them?

Wait... Had something happened to them?

A disturbing possibility crossed his mind, making him frown.

No... He believed that all of them must be dead.

Yet, why was he so certain of that?

He had no idea.

Damn it! He couldn’t remember a single thing!

The harder he tried to recall what had happened inside Dungeon X, the more frustrated he became. There were no clear memories, no proper explanations, and certainly no answers to the questions that continued piling up in his mind.

It was as though a significant portion of his life had been ripped away from him, leaving nothing but an empty space where his memories should have been.

Seeing the confusion on Orion’s face, the young lady sitting across from him shook her head and smiled.

"Calm your heart down. I’m only here for questioning, not execution, you know?"

Her lighthearted remark seemed intended to ease the tension, although Orion couldn’t help wondering whether she was deliberately trying to make him lower his guard.

"Now, let’s start simple and clean."

She leaned back slightly in her chair before asking her next question.

"You did join the raid on Dungeon X, right?"

Orion nodded.

"Yes," he replied.

The lady nodded in return and moved on without wasting any time.

"How many of you entered the dungeon?"

Orion paused briefly before answering.

"Forty people. At least, that’s what I heard. We were supposed to be forty-one, but someone didn’t make it."

As he spoke, he glanced at her.

Sky Dancer let out a small chuckle and shook her head, immediately understanding what Orion meant. The warrior who hadn’t made it to the dungeon was none other than herself.

"I’m a very busy fellow, you see, so I might have arrived a little late at the dungeon."

She paused briefly, a trace of amusement showing on her face.

"And by the time I got there, Dungeon X was gone."

Her green eyes settled on Orion once more.

"And in its place... was you."

The words hung in the air for a moment before she continued.

"Orion, you are the only one remaining."

Orion frowned.

The only survivor? How had that happened?

Sincerely, he had no idea.

He couldn’t explain what had happened to the others, nor could he recall anything that would help him understand why he had been the only one to return. All he had were fragments of uncertainty and a growing suspicion that something terrible had happened beyond his understanding.

Katherine continued questioning him, moving from one subject to another.

"How many casualties did you suffer when you stepped into the dungeon?"

"None," Orion answered.

As far as he could remember, the Dungeon X raid team hadn’t suffered a single casualty.

Not one.

Of course, that answer was based entirely on what he could recall, and his memories were far from reliable at the moment. Still, accepting that every member of the team might now be dead was a rather disorienting thought.

Strangely enough, a part of him seemed to agree with that conclusion, even though he couldn’t explain why. It was simply a feeling he couldn’t shake.

Katherine nodded.

"I believe you."

Orion blinked in surprise.

Huh?

She hadn’t even brought a lie detector orb with her! How could she tell whether he was telling the truth or lying?

Orion genuinely disliked lying. It wasn’t his style, and he preferred dealing with things directly whenever possible. However, if a situation involved something he absolutely needed to keep secret, he wouldn’t hesitate to lie.

Even if he disliked doing so, that didn’t mean he was incapable of it.

And right now, there were certain things he had no intention of revealing.

Katherine continued asking him a series of questions, and Orion answered each one honestly whenever he could. Every time he finished responding, she would nod as though she believed him.

Watching her reaction, Orion couldn’t help wondering whether she actually knew what she was doing.

Is she even good at her job?

He wasn’t lying, of course, but if he had been, he was almost certain she would have continued saying that she believed him anyway.

She’s not a very good questioner, is she?

Well, whatever the case, that could only work in his favour. He certainly wasn’t going to complain about it.

Soon, Katherine had jotted down a considerable amount of information. After briefly reviewing her notes, she raised her head and looked at Orion again.

"Is Dungeon X a double-gate dungeon?"

Orion frowned slightly.

At the mention of the second gate, a brief image flashed through his mind: a large, white gateway.

The image appeared so suddenly that he instinctively raised a hand to rub his temple, trying to grasp the fleeting memory before it disappeared completely. Unfortunately, it vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared, leaving him unable to remember anything beyond that brief glimpse.

After a moment, he nodded.

"Yes, I suppose so. I can’t remember much, but I think a second gate appeared after the dungeon boss was slain."

Katherine nodded and immediately jotted something down.

"What was behind that gate?"

Orion frowned again. This time, he didn’t even bother trying to force his memories to surface.

"I really can’t tell. I don’t remember."

Katherine stared at him for a long while, her green eyes fixed on his face as though she wanted to peer directly into his soul and determine whether he was telling the truth or simply putting on an act.

Orion met her gaze as calmly as he could. He had nothing to tell her because he genuinely didn’t know what lay beyond that gate.

After a while, Katherine finally nodded.

"You are telling the truth."

She lowered her gaze to her notes and continued writing, muttering a few words under her breath.

"I see... He must have lost his memory in the second dungeon."

Her pen moved across the page as she pieced together the information she had gathered.

"And whatever happened to the raid team, as well as the disappearance of Dungeon X, must be related to that second dungeon too."

She paused briefly, considering the implications of her findings.

"There might be far more to this than the Scourge Guild realizes..."

Orion remained silent as he watched her continue writing. He couldn’t help feeling that the situation was becoming more complicated by the minute.

First, he had awakened in a hospital with most of his memories missing. Then, he had discovered the astonishing changes to his body and the strange Origin System. Now, he was being told that he was the only survivor of a dungeon raid whose other participants had apparently met with an unknown fate.

And somehow, the Scourge Guild was involved.

What a troublesome situation.

Soon, Katherine finished writing everything she wanted to record. She closed her notebook and placed it inside the storage pouch attached to her side before turning her attention back to Orion, meeting his grey eyes with a calm expression.

"All right, Orion Stormblade. There is one final question I wanted to ask."

Orion’s ears perked up slightly.

One final question?

He glanced at her storage pouch. Hadn’t she already put away her notebook? What else could she possibly want to ask him?

"This one is far more important."

Katherine’s words immediately caught his attention, and Orion nodded, preparing himself to answer her last question so he could finally return to figuring out everything he had missed while studying the changes brought about by his transformation.

However, what happened next was something he could never have predicted.

Katherine looked directly into his eyes.

"Tell me, Orion Stormblade..."

She paused briefly before asking the question.

"Have you reawakened?"