‘As expected.’
I gazed contentedly at the defeated Rock Centipede, which hadn’t even managed to show me a proper pattern before it met its end. The icy remnants of what used to be its head rolled across the ground like little chunks of rock.
Handing the finishing blow to the Rock Centipede over to the Knight Commanders was definitely the right choice. They handled it much faster, safer, and more efficiently than I could have.
If it had been me, I would have been rolling and hitting for quite a while.
“It was only big; it wasn’t anything special. You were right, newbie, it was pretty slow and easy to catch.”
Lize walked over and said that, the ice covering her silver armor melting and falling away. When she removed her helmet, her blue hair was revealed.
“Indeed. If I had faced it alone, I would have taken it down with ease.”
Erica also took off her helmet. The round bun at the back of her head stood out even more. Clink, the sound of Erica resheathing her Japanese sword echoed.
“Is that it, newbie?”
“Yup. How could it possibly come back in that state?”
“…… I’ve faced a monster before that could regenerate even when its body was in pieces. I just wanted to check.”
“That’s not just a matter of being torn apart, is it?”
I pointed at the corpse of the Rock Centipede. Its head was frozen and shattered, and below it, it was scorched and melted by flames. The rest had been thoroughly smashed to bits.
This was beyond mere words.
“That’s true.”
Iris chuckled softly. It seemed like her comment was almost a joke from the start.
‘I get the gist of what you’re saying.’
The monster that could regenerate even when in pieces referenced one of the mid-bosses from earlier.
That boss could slice its body into pieces at will and reattach itself, causing the boss fight to drag on and often turn into a game of tag, resulting in poor evaluations.
Still, it wasn’t at the level of a Rock Centipede.
A few years ago, Iris had faced that one and retreated without finishing the fight, so if I showed her proof of its subjugation, she would be incredibly happy and shower me with praise.
“Newbie. It’s your turn now. You know what to do, right?”
Erica glanced back. Her gaze landed on a glowing green Rune Stele nearby.
The stele that provided the rune disappeared and reappeared somewhere else, its location and timing completely random. It might show up again in a few days, or it could take decades before it reappeared.
This fact was confirmed in the writings of scholars who spent their lives trying to study the randomness of its appearances, only to fail and scream in despair. It was one of the few comedic moments in Brightest Darkness 4.
I walked up to the softly glowing green stele. The indecipherable ancient symbols were engraved on the stone. I could feel three pairs of intense gazes on my back.
“I’m starting.”
I placed my hand on it. The swirling green light within the stele began to transfer to me, and I felt a strong wind rushing through my veins.
I closed my eyes and chose the location for the rune tattoo. It was possible to etch it anywhere on my body, but the most conventional spot was on the back of my hand.
As I focused my mind on it, as if manipulating a game’s UI, the wind racing through my body started to converge on the back of my left hand. My hand trembled for a moment before a rush of heat surged upwards.
The heat soon subsided. I opened my eyes and examined the back of my hand. An unusual tattoo had appeared. It was the symbol indicating a Vitality Boost rune.
‘Can’t really feel anything.’
That might be because my stamina wasn’t being drained right now, and unless I were rolling consecutively four or five times, there wouldn’t be any significant stamina consumption.
‘There were definitely guys who picked female characters and got this tattoo on their lower abdomen.’
The original meaning was completely innocent, but looking at this reminded me of players who used to play with it in bizarre ways, like tattooing a character’s uterus.
They would deliberately choose a female character, customize her to be sexy, dress her in strict attire, and combine runes to create designs resembling hearts or female entrances.
‘Some truly genius players out there.’
Those players created heart shapes or uterus designs with combinations that no one else could think of. Some even modified the shape of the tattoos completely.
As I was lost in these pointless thoughts, the rune transfer finished. The green light completely seeped into my body, and the stele that transferred the rune lost its glow and crumbled into a pile of ordinary stones.
It would surely reappear in some dungeon somewhere in the world again.
Of course, that was just the lore. Just because a rune reappeared didn’t mean a player would acquire the same rune again in the same run.
That’s merely a device to enhance the believability of why players are able to acquire all the runes.
“Is it done, newbie?”
“Here, rune tattoo. I definitely absorbed it.”
“What’s the effect of the rune?”
‘……Huh?’
I froze for a moment at Iris’s question. How on earth do I check the rune’s effect?
In a game, I could just press Esc and pull up the character status window, but right now, there’s no status window or stat screen. I had no way to check the rune’s effects immediately.
I remembered the effect of the Vitality Boost rune. It increased the rate of stamina recovery for the character by a certain amount. But in reality, I had no way to confirm it through text or anything.
“……”
“……?”
Iris looked at me, who was just standing there dumbfounded, asking why I was acting this way.
“Isn’t something coming to mind? That’s the effect of the rune.”
‘Oh, that’s what it is.’
So when you acquire a rune here, the information about it just pops up in your head. Since I already knew about the Vitality Boost rune, nothing was particularly coming to my mind.
I didn’t have to worry about whether the Knight Commander understood the concept of stamina. After all, she had checked the stat names with the ability assessment orb.
“Uhm… It says it increases the natural recovery rate of stamina?”
“That’s quite a useful effect indeed. You’re lucky to have gotten that one. Congratulations, newbie.”
As I expected, Iris grasped its meaning immediately. Though it was an effect that wouldn’t particularly matter to me, it wasn’t something bad to have.
“With this, we’ve achieved the purpose of our entry into the dungeon. Now, all that’s left is to exit…”
Erica looked around.
“I don’t see a path leading outside. We might have to retrace our steps.”
Hearing that we might have to backtrack made Lize cringe. We had walked for nearly an hour and a half to get down here. Naturally, it would be a disheartening suggestion to go back.
No problem. Either way, a wall would crumble once I acquired the rune.
“Still, there shouldn’t be any monsters, so it shouldn’t take too long, except for the time it’ll take—”
Crack! Before Iris could finish her sentence, the wall just behind where the rune was located crumbled away to reveal a path.
“… Seems we won’t have to.”
“It seems that when you acquire a rune, part of the wall collapses. I’ll record this in the report for later.”
“Make sure to do that. Newbie, is there anything more to do here?”
I shook my head. Once I acquired the rune, there was no reason to come back here again. There were no items left, and nothing else to gain.
Even if there was a need to come back, I wouldn’t. Damn Rock Centipede.
“Understood. Everyone, prepare to leave.”
The way out was quick. Erica and Iris were discussing how exactly the dungeon’s structure worked, knitting their brows together in thought, while Lize stuck close to me, chattering away.
Outside, a darkness that obscured even the slightest visibility lay spread out. It felt like several hours had passed.
Considering that dungeons meant for unlocking runes typically cleared in about 20 minutes, we had spent an incredibly long time here. Moreover, most of that time was spent fighting the Rock Centipede gimmick.
Even accounting for the more realistic scale of everything compared to the game, both Iris and Erica stated it was a pretty large dungeon, so it was natural that it took this long.
‘Well, that clears out my rune slots.’
Now I just needed to find another dungeon where I could acquire a rune that negates Combat Fatigue debuffs and then steadily level up while continuing with the main story.
‘… Wait a minute. How far away is that place?’
As I thought of the next dungeon’s location, I paused briefly, struck by an unexpected realization.
Even in the game, there was a considerable distance between the city where the Silver Dawn Knights were located and the dungeon with the rune that would negate Combat Fatigue.
And considering everything was now expanded to a realistic scale, the distance between the two places was all too clear.
Just thinking about how long it took to travel to the Headless Armored Cavalier’s boss field—only a few minutes on horseback—made the answer apparent.
‘…’
I wouldn’t be surprised if it took a good three weeks at the very least.
“What are you doing, newbie? We’re leaving now.”
“Oh, I’m just thinking for a second. Sorry. I’ll be right there.”
Before I knew it, Iris had collected the gems around the horse and was urging me on. Lize and Erica were also waiting for me. I quickly apologized and mounted my horse.
“It’s getting late, so let’s hurry back.”
Iris drove her horse forward, with Erica hot on her heels. Lize and I followed a little behind.
“Wait a moment. I have something to say.”
“……?”
How long had it been since we started riding? Lize, who was riding right next to me, spoke up in a serious tone.
“What is it?”
“I can see you’ve got something on your mind. I thought I’d ask what it is.”
“Wait, was it that obvious?”
“Your expression made it impossible not to notice.”
“……”
Well, it was indeed a pretty serious concern. I had a general idea of the terrain and approximate location, but I couldn’t just take off blindly based on that.
It wasn’t just a matter of days—it would be nearly three weeks. I was unsure if I could find my way there properly.
“I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but worrying about it alone won’t help. I know you care about us, but we also care about you just as much. It might be better to figure things out together rather than just struggling alone.”
“…… Since when did you start being so serious?”
“I can read the atmosphere, you know?”
Lize chuckled.
But the moment she teased me about how ‘men’s problems are usually solved by touching women’s chests,’ it turned into perfect comfort.
‘Well, there’s really no reason for me to shoulder this alone.’
It was about time I revealed that my stats had risen, and it was the right moment to share the valuable information that could help the Silver Dawn Knights.
It was time to pull out the all-purpose shield once again.
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