After Stephen left the vice president's office, he headed to the requests office.
The requests clerk received him respectfully. Stephen took out the paper he had gotten from Jens and handed it to him.
The clerk looked at the contents of the paper, was slightly surprised, then returned to his routine behavior and said:
"Mr. Black Crow, the dungeon is located in Seria Forest, south of Ooro City, so you can head there now. When you arrive, I will have informed them of your coming."
Stephen nodded, then left the guild.
The city of Ooro was surrounded by three forests: two of them were small, and the third was the Fog Forest, the largest forest in the world, surrounded by three cities—Aram, Mor, and finally Ooro, where Stephen now lives.
As for the city of Mira, it is connected to one of the two small forests of Ooro and separated from the other two cities by a sea.
Stephen arrived at Seria Forest.
'It took about an hour and a half to get here.'
'Once I get my flying beast, I won't have to waste time like this again.'
Strangely, despite the advancement of technology using mana, aerial transportation has been unusable since the beginning of the monster attacks, and the reason is still unknown.
Even though Stephen is the author of this novel, he never thought of a specific reason for this, so even he does not know why aerial transportation cannot be used.
As Stephen was about to enter the forest, he remembered something.
"I didn't tell Mark about this!"
Stephen frowned when he realized Mark would be very upset—perhaps even angry—and it would be hard to calm him down.
He sighed, I have to tell him now.
He sent a message:
[I'm going to a dungeon. The trip might take a few days, so don't worry /(.･o･｡).]
Stephen closed his watch and entered the forest.
...
Mark was sitting in front of his computer doing some work, such as gathering information and other tasks.
He felt his watch vibrate, opened it, and saw a message from his "dear" brother.
He read it, his face turning blank, then after a few seconds, it shifted to anger.
"He's injured and going to a dungeon! Can't he just wait one day to heal?"
"And what's with this strange symbol he uses? It doesn't suit him at all."
He looked angrily at the message.
"Brother, we'll settle this when you return."
He smiled a frightening smile.
...
"Achoo!"
Stephen sneezed and rubbed his nose.
"What? Is someone talking about me?.. Never mind."
Stephen arrived in front of the gate leading into the dungeon. The guards allowed him in since they had been informed of his arrival.
He entered the large blue gate.
Before him appeared a vast, incredibly beautiful forest that could captivate anyone—but Stephen knew what lay beneath that beauty, so he remained on guard.
As soon as he took his first step, he felt something rushing toward him at high speed.
Stephen quickly drew his sword and raised it, blocking the attack.
Large claws struck the edge of his sword. He pushed them away, then leaped toward the attacker and swiftly slashed at the neck of the giant eagle before him—decapitating it instantly.
Stephen felt pain in his shoulder but ignored it. He had grown accustomed to injuries over the years.
He looked at the sky and saw it filled with eagles.
'This type attacks in groups.'
'I have no choice but to use the blood skill.'
Stephen took out bottles filled with a red liquid from his storage ring. He opened them quickly and closed his eyes, controlling the blood inside.
The blood flowed out and formed sharp arrows. He directed them toward the monsters rushing at him.
He then raised his sword and fought the remaining ones.
After eliminating more than half, he gathered the blood back into the bottles and returned them to his storage ring.
He could still use them once more before they spoiled.
One advantage of storage rings is that time inside them is stopped, so the blood would not spoil.
Stephen had been filling a bottle with his blood every week—though not all of it was his...
'I only have thirty bottles. I can't waste them before even fighting the boss.'
In his novel, the demon had mastered this skill to an extreme level—able to control any blood within a hundred kilometers. It was insane and caused massive destruction among humans.
Stephen moved forward. In the distance stood a massive mountain peak, its top hidden by fog.
Since no one else was in the dungeon, he could deactivate his skill and remove his cloak.
He wanted to finish quickly, so he decided to use all his abilities.
He reached the slope leading up the mountain.
His eyes darkened.
'Fighting while climbing this will be very difficult.'
Even for him, fighting while occupied with something else was hard. Entering this dungeon was a big risk.
Still, he didn't want to use his shadow skill on weak monsters, especially since he could now use it on five monsters at his level.
If they were weaker, he could summon up to thirty shadows—but the stronger the monster, the fewer shadows he could create.
Stephen took a deep breath and began climbing. His sword hung at his side, ready to be drawn.
After climbing to a height where only fog could be seen below, he heard an eagle's cry.
He clung tightly to the rocks, drew his sword, and looked around carefully.
Wiiif! Wiiif!!
Boom!!
He jumped aside and steadied himself. An eagle struck where he had been, leaving a massive crater.
He tightened his grip.
Another eagle rushed toward him. He blocked its claws and pushed it away.
The impact shattered the rocks he was holding onto.
He slipped but quickly regained his grip.
Before he could catch his breath, the eagle attacked again. He climbed higher to avoid it.
He noticed several more eagles preparing to attack.
The attacking eagle pulled back to strike again.
Stephen leaped onto it and clung tightly.
Screech!
The eagle struggled violently, but Stephen climbed onto its back.
It flew toward the mountain to smash him, but Stephen grabbed its head and forced it upward.
Other eagles attacked. Stephen fought them midair and killed them all.
This battle took two hours. He struggled to control the eagle while fighting others.
It would have been faster if not for the environment.
He directed the eagle toward the mountain at full speed.
At the last moment, he cut its neck and leaped toward the mountain, grabbing onto a protruding rock.
"Huff…"
He could finally breathe.
A small stone hit his face.
'Huh?!'
The rock couldn't bear his weight.
His reaction was slow due to his injuries and exhaustion—he slipped.
'Oh no!'
He grabbed the rocks desperately, his skin tearing from friction.
"Ahh—"
He finally stabilized himself, but had no time to rest.
He still had a long way to climb—and his fall made it worse.
He had no choice but to continue climbing, hoping to find a small ledge to rest and recover.
It would likely take several days.
The mountain was enormous—he couldn't even see the peak.