Rows and rows of monsters marched down the broken streets of the Brilsun Ruins far below us. They walked in haphazard groups— throngs of the gargantuan Gatho Mammoths lumbered alongside the far smaller Ground Cravers, accidentally crushing a few of them once in a while. But the Ground Cravers didn’t mind.
These accidents didn’t even register in the minds of the monsters. Because, to them, they were not doing anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps they thought they were still in their Lairs or in their homes in the Mothatis Mountain Range. It didn’t matter what they thought— their real senses were shut off as they were kept asleep by the Mindreapers leading them.
The powerful Platinum Rank monsters. The Level 70 creatures made of mana, which had powerful mind magic that could even keep a Level… whatever Daniel’s level was… [Hero] sleeping in the midst of combat. They were with these monsters, keeping them from waking and breaking free from whatever spell they were under.
I stared at these mindless masses, eyes wide. Daniel stood next to me, his face furrowed, and his hand tightly gripping the hilt of his sword. He spoke through clenched teeth.
“They’re… gathering an army?”
undefined“They are.”
I nodded. The Human man shook his head and just sat down. Rubbing at his temples, he let out a tired sigh.
“Seems like I might not be getting any sleep tonight, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Or the night after. And the night after. And…”
He trailed off. He glanced over at me hesitantly, trying to peer at my shadowed face.
“...do you think we should go back?”
“What do you mean?”
“Report this to the Valiant Dreamers Company. No matter how you look at this, this isn’t normal. Mindreapers… they don’t do this. They’re monsters. And this?”
He gestured at a group of [Rancor Mites]. They had been hopping along at a meandering pace until the Mindreaper stopped. Then the creature of magic turned around and pointed at them. Their movements ceased and they dropped to the ground, asleep.
Suddenly, all the other monsters surrounding the sleeping [Rancor Mites] charged at the lower leveled bug-like creatures. They tore them apart where they lay, gaining experience and levels without any resistance or effort. Narrowing my eyes, I turned back to Daniel.
“This isn’t normal. They’re trying to level up the stronger monsters. And they’re gathering them too. That’s why the canyon was so empty. I don’t know what’s going on, Salvos. And we need to go back.”
He stared at me with a grim look on his face; he was pleading, hoping for me to see his reason. I opened my mouth—
“You’re right.”
Daniel began to protest but stopped. He blinked.
“Uh… what?”
I felt my shoulders sag as the words left my mouth.
“You’re right. This is clearly too much for us to handle. I was expecting to fight… a few dozen Minotaurs when we reached this Dungeon. Even if they were higher leveled than me, I knew I could probably move faster than them. The reports we were given at the Adventurers Guild told us they typically had high [Strength] and [Vitality] over all else.”
Shaking my head, I glanced back at the floating Mindreapers, spread throughout the vast, sprawling sunken city.
“Mindreapers on the other hand… I can’t dodge their attacks. Not at all. And they can hit me from a distance, we saw that with the one we just fought. Even though he had been far away from us, his mind magic reached us in an instant, making my head feel like it wanted to burst.”
I took a step forward and crouched down on one knee. Placing a clawed hand on the ground, I admitted I was out of my depth.
“This Platinum Rank Dungeon… it’s not at all what I imagined. I expected monsters fighting each other. Minotaurs. Some Platinum Rank monsters. But I don’t see any Minotaurs. I don’t see any Platinum Rank monsters. I only see too many Gold Rank monsters for us to fight. And dangerous Mindreapers that would control you in your sleep.”
Daniel stared at me with joy in his eyes. He brightened and spoke excitedly.
“So you’re saying we should go back—”
“No.”
I cut him off before he could get his hopes up. I met his gaze and spoke slowly.
“We came here for a reason. I… wanted to level up too. Maybe become an Archdemon at Level 70— although I’m now not really sure if my next evolution will make me one— but the main reason we came here is to find the Fairies.”
My Human companion chewed his lower lip, his eyes darting between me and the Dungeon below. Before he could protest, I laid out my plan for him.
“We don’t have to fight any of these monsters. Not unless it’s necessary. All we have to do is sneak through the city without them realizing we’re there.”
“That’s dangerous, Salvos. If we’re found out, we could have a horde of monsters chasing after us.”
“I’m sure we could take on one of the smaller groups of Mindreapers.”
There were a lot of monsters gathered below, and from what I noticed, many of them weren’t even Gold Rank threats. Sure, there were still hundreds of monsters like the Saeves or the Drakes. But they were clearly in the minority here.
“In fact, if we planned an attack on one of them nicely, I think we could kill a Mindreaper and free the monsters under whatever mind magic they have them under, making them fight the other monsters in the area. And that could serve as our distraction to escape.”
“That’s true…”
Trailing off, Daniel still looked uncertain about this. He took a deep breath and sighed.
“I don’t think this is a bad idea, Salvos. Or at least, not a terrible one. But I will only agree to it under one condition.”
I cocked my head.
“And that is?”
“I need to get some sleep.”
—--
Now leaving [Dungeon: Brilsum Ruins].
My Human companion and I made our way back through the canyon, making sure to mark a clear path to the Dungeon so we could get there much quicker next time. I remained out of my Mortal Form, feeling more secure with the extra 6 [Vitality] I had when I was out of it.
I knew that switching back and forth from my Mortal Form would level it up more; that was what I had surmised and assumed from the one level up I got for it. However, if a Mindreaper attacked me from far away, I might not survive to reach it even if I used both [Self Haste] and [Charge of Embers] combined.
Agreeing that it was the best move to leave the canyons for now, I followed Daniel until we were at the very edge of the orange rocky cliffs. Then my Human companion collapsed and got to work— sleeping.
Sitting down next to him, I let [Rest] fully take over me and let my wounds recover and close up. Once I was fully healed, I got up and received a surprise notification.
General Skill [Rest] Level Up!
[Rest - Lvl. 2] -> [Rest - Lvl. 3]!
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