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It has been an hour since they left the coastline.
They haven't encountered any monsters yet, but as they went deeper into the forest, the ground became more and more muddy.
Except for Merna, who was lagging behind, everyone was running as if for their lives, following Os in the direction of the light.
Os was running the fastest. The bald North Saint, who was acting quite erratically, was in a state of despair a moment ago, but after he confirmed that there might be survivors on the island, he became more desperate than anyone else.
Not far away, a flickering light shone from the mountain ridge.
"Quick! It's over there!!"
Mud and water splashed! Os was running so fast that the adventurers were having a hard time keeping up. Their figures were scattered and far apart.
And at the edge of the crowd, two people were running, but they were still pulling and pushing each other.
"You're crazy! Leuf! You're really crazy!"
"Yes, I'm crazy!"
"You! You... you've given up, Leuf. I'm begging you, come home with me. Don't let my sister's efforts be in vain. Come home with me..."
"..."
"Are you really throwing your life away? You actually hid the fact that the Ghost Blade Secret Sword can cut through the Divine Strike Art?! Are you not afraid that Mr. Allen will kill you?!
Everything you've done on the ship was to risk your life! You even hid it from me! Do you not trust me?"
Leuf turned to look at Klem. The latter was holding on to Leuf's hand tightly. Seeing Leuf's action as a sign of his resentment, he froze.
"I... I'm doing this for your own good. If it weren't for Mr. Allen, you'd already be dead!"
"If I die, I die."
"What?" Klem looked at Leuf in disbelief.
Leuf looked at him seriously. "If Mr. Allen had killed me on this journey, it would have been God punishing me for dragging you into this.
I'm the one who brought this upon myself."
Klem was speechless. Leuf, on the other hand, grabbed Klem's hand. His eyes flickered, and he suddenly changed the topic to Allen.
"Mr. Allen is a good person.
Klem, you've helped him, and you've always been on his side. You never did anything to harm him. When we got to the island, I saw it clearly. He didn't care about anyone else's lives, but he paid attention to you and Merna.
The Archipelago is dangerous, but he is very strong. If I'm not mistaken, his swordsmanship is on par with the King-rank.
If he kills me, then so be it!
Because that means you can safely leave this dungeon with him. Even if we didn't get any good magic stones on this journey, you'll still have enough to live on for a while.
"When Leuf said this, he paused. He let go of Klem's hand and looked at the distant Inferno Volcano.
"...That's what I've been thinking."
"But he didn't kill me. So I returned to this 'Main Island' that I've been dreaming of.
I'm very grateful to him. But with my ability, I can't repay him. And Mr. Allen doesn't care about my gratitude. Klem, I'm also grateful to you, but in the end, I've dragged you into this.
I'm sorry. I'm the one who burdened you."
Klem was speechless. He could only look at Leuf's face. The latter was looking at the volcano.
His eyes looked "distant."
"Klem, I'm not asking for your forgiveness. But from now on, please follow Mr. Allen. If there's a chance, he'll definitely save you. No, that's not right, Klem! If we find a camp of adventurers, you stay there! Don't follow him. That's the safest way. You just need to wait for a result. That's the safest way."
Klem was stunned for a long time. He looked at Leuf, who was looking at the Inferno Volcano. The scar on Leuf's neck was a vivid presence. His lips were trembling.
"Leuf... Leuf...
Celis is dead. Your wife, my sister, she... is dead."
"I know. It happened right in front of us. I can't forget."
Klem's eyes grew hazy. It seemed he had a memory of his sister's smile. The fire of anger in his eyes burned, but it was quickly extinguished. He said in a low voice.
"I understand that you want revenge! Leuf! I understand you! Because I want to as well!
But revenge at the cost of your life is not what she wanted to see! If you die this time, all her efforts will have been in vain! Do you understand? You do! You know better than anyone else!
What was my sister's dying wish? She told you not to feel guilty! In reality, she was the only one who knew the barrier spell! The range of the barrier spell was getting smaller and smaller. Everyone would have died. Only we three..."
His voice grew softer and softer, turning into a murmur in the rain. Klem's fist clenched tightly. He reached out and grabbed Leuf's sleeve, pulling him to his face.
"Leuf, I can't let you continue this. Either you kill me, or you come home with me!"
Lightning sliced through the rain. It illuminated their faces.
Leuf looked at the distant volcano and smiled. For some reason, his eyes were gentle.
He turned his head. It was just an illusion.
He leaned in close to Klem's face, staring straight into his eyes.
"Go home? Where? To your home? Or to my broken home? Or to my parents' grave to pay our respects?"
When he said this, Klem's mouth opened a few times. He became demoralized and dejected.
Leuf casually pushed Klem's hand away. "Let's go. If Mr. Allen catches up and sees us fighting, it's not going to be good for you. You need to get away from me."
As he said this, Klem wanted to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth.
He saw Leuf's eyes constricting. The latter reached out and pushed him away!
BOOM!!
The ground cracked! Mud and water splashed everywhere!!
A bright red light, mixed with mud, shot up from the ground. A red and brown shadow, a monster, tore through the air between them!
Klem fell on his butt in the rain.
Thump, an arm fell onto his body. Blood squirted all over his face. Klem suddenly looked up!
A stinking wind, with a mouth, came at him.
In his eyes, the massive, one-meter-wide mouth of the 'Hellfire Specter Parasitic Worm,' with jagged fangs, was slowly opening. It was chewing on a torn human arm, which was corroded with a crimson slime.
In this moment of life and death, only one thought came to Klem's mind.
—B-rank monster, 'Hellfire Specter Parasitic Worm'! This is a monster that should only be in the Inferno Volcano!
Damn it! The dungeon is really expanding! Leuf! Leuf lost his arm! I have to help him!
I have to...
...help him...
Swish!!!
A blade of cold light, coming from a strange angle, pierced the worm's mouth, and a familiar Water God Style 'side cut' severed its entire mouth!
Clatter, it fell beside Klem's pale face.
Leuf, who had his arm cut off, immediately pulled out his sword. The wound, which was still bleeding, was filled with flesh and white bones.
Klem, who had been an adventurer for a long time, immediately got up from the ground, ignoring his emotions. He stood beside Leuf's broken arm and drew his sword.
But the worm, which had just been attacked, started to move.
It was a six-meter-long, one-meter-wide, cylindrical body. The front and back of its body were covered in brown, wrinkled flesh. It had a mouth at each end. The one on the right, which was cut off by Leuf, was writhing on the ground.
In the middle of its body, it was not flesh and blood. Two bone-like human tibias, about fifty centimeters long, connected the two ends of the worm. The space that should have been filled with flesh and blood was transparent, like a specter.
But the colors were different.
The 'Specter' was a foggy gray, while the 'Hellfire Specter Parasitic Worm' was a brilliant, magma-red.
So why did the name have 'parasitic' in it?
Because...
Leuf's and Klem's eyes were not on the menacing mouth. They were looking at the transparent, specter-like part of the body.
Inside, small, embryo-like red specters, the size of a shoulder, were being born.
They looked like grotesque, mutated monsters.
Human-like eyes.
Fish-like bodies.
Insect-like heads.
They were slowly swimming inside the body of the worm, looking at Leuf and Klem. Was it an illusion? They seemed to be smiling.
It was strange and frightening. These were the mutated monsters in the molten caves of the Inferno Volcano.
They fed on magic stones. They would occasionally eat human flesh.
The key to defeating them was to avoid attacking the middle of the body, and instead, cut off the worm's head and tail. Then, the parasitic mother would be buried on the spot.
But they had to be careful not to cut the bone that connected the two parts, or else...
Crack! As Leuf and Klem watched, the bone that connected the two parts of the worm snapped. The red specters, as if freed from their chains, crawled out of the worm's body.
The word 'crawled' was an illusion.
To be precise, they 'swam' in the air.
Klem's voice trembled. "The worm before it gives birth is a C-rank monster. The worm and the specter insects after it gives birth are B-rank monsters. Damn it, they're giving birth to these things again. Leuf! Your arm is bleeding! You need a healing spell!"
Leuf used his Battle Aura to seal the blood vessels. He gritted his teeth and cut off the part of his arm that was corroded. He then pushed back a worm that was trying to attack him.
"What are you talking about! Celis could do it! Can you?!"
"..." Klem's hand lit up with a faint yellow light. A weak golden arc of electricity flickered in it. "I can't!! But you need a healing spell!!"
"Kill this thing first!! Same as before, I'll kill the worm, and you'll repel the specter fish insects! Celis would use a barrier spell..." He stopped.
His wife was dead. His habit still remained.
Leuf roared furiously.
"Ah!!!!" With one strike! He held the mouth of the worm on his sword. The blade and the mouth were entangled.
Crack, crack!! The stinking mucus splattered everywhere!!
After ten seconds of a wrestling match, slash!
Leuf sliced the worm's body in half and violently threw the corpse at the specter fish insects that were circling them. Boom! The corpse hit the ground.
It passed through the specters' phantom bodies.
"Tch!"
Klem saw that his face was corroded, and he pulled Leuf back.
With two steps backward, he ran into an invisible barrier.
The two turned.
Behind them, Merna, who had been running behind them, was staring at the worm's corpse.
And at Leuf's mouth.
Her voice trembled.
"This... this... can this be eaten?"
Klem: ...
Leuf: ...
The specter's body was made of mana. The 'mana barrier' was a natural counter.
And the small, fist-sized fish insects were very fast and could inflict fatal wounds on humans, but their magic was not strong enough to break through Merna's mana barrier.
Even though they were persistent, after five minutes, they swam away.
—
Squish, footsteps stepped in the mud.
More than ten figures ran through the forest.
It was Leuf's group. Leuf, who was running in front, was holding a few finger-sized, red, magic-stone-like objects.
They were using them as torches.
After they had escaped from the attack, they had gathered a few more adventurers. They also managed to kill a 'Hellfire Specter Parasitic Worm.'
"Merna, where's Mr. Allen? Why isn't he here yet?" Klem asked.
The scar on Leuf's face was very clear, and the skin on his missing arm was new. He only glanced at Klem and focused on the path ahead.
No, he was not looking at the path.
He was looking at the magic stones in his hand.
The red lines on the magic stones were crawling. They were alive.
Merna, without waiting for Klem to ask again, said. "I've been looking back a lot in the past ten minutes. He's not there. It's been a long time. It shouldn't be."
A newly joined adventurer said, "I just saw Boss Os a minute ago. He was running very fast. The monsters couldn't catch him. He didn't even care that his friends were dead..."
"Is that so?"
"..."
Squish, squish.
The sound of footsteps stopped. The sound of water running came from in front of them.
They were at a small river. They all stopped. Merna was looking back, and she almost bumped into him. She quickly turned her head.
She froze.
The wind from the mountain blew through the rain. A strong, fishy smell, which even the rain couldn't cover, came from the river.
They saw a red light, which covered the mountain on the other side of the river.
Os was standing in the red light and the rain. He had the corpse of a worm monster on his body.
The light came from the ground, which was covered in broken magic stones. It was like a bloody sunset, illuminating the mountain.
Twenty meters away, in the rain, a figure stood in the middle of the monster corpses.
His voice was as calm as ever.
"Os, count the number of people."
Os, who had just arrived a moment ago, snapped out of his daze. He looked at the other adventurers and said.
"Fifteen. Two of our brothers just died on the way. The others are missing. I'll go look for them..."
Allen looked at the person sitting on the ground, who was looking up at him.
He said without looking at anyone.
"Don't bother."
"Just assume they're dead."
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