42 Chapter 42 ~ Hidden Ancient Knowledge

With his earlier fight with the monsters, Vlad was reminiscent of the past: Back when he was still in a guild; Subjagating dungeons and fighting enemies together with his friends.

He has many experiences in things like these and he would never in one chance ever panic in any situation when subjugating dungeons.

Vlad was not at all displeased by Alicia when she had panicked earlier in the battle, he had regarded that as the normal reaction of someone who has different standards than him. He tried to mention it again to Alicia that she should not panic - only because he was concern that she might cause him trouble if she ever panics again as she did earlier.

( ... ) Vlad turned his eyes to Alicia who's walking beside him - who has seemed to let her guard down towards him, unlike what it was before.

Seeing this, he reached the conclusion that she's opening herself to him bit by bit as the time passes that they were together.

Vlad felt that it was natural as he already did save and help her on many occasions already.

But then again, he did something rather bad to Arthur - the person who she possibly likes and treasures. He did that to Arthur at the heat of the moment. Vlad's emotions of glee and joy of tormenting Arthur had led him to almost kill him.

But despite that, Vlad does not regret the thing he did to Arthur. In the first place, he was the reason he had turn out like that; he deserves it.

But what Vlad didn't expect and foresee was there was also someone who was hurt from his actions, and that was Alicia.

It was a rough start but she's starting to open herself towards him and her hate is also gradually being forgotten.

***

A few hours had now passed and Alicia and Vlad are now on a completely different floor.

Going this far, they've again encountered many enemies and Vlad took care of all of them; giving the chance for Alicia to fully recover her magic.

Vlad gave Alicia the opportunity to fight all their enemies before for him to see her magic. A mage who has the same Job Class as his, he wanted to see what she was capable of. Additionally, if he fought that fight, Alicia would then never get the opportunity to fight at all. Vlad could just easily take them out with at least one to two spells.

Giving her the reason to recover her mana had also given Vlad the opportunity to defeat all of the upcoming enemies for himself. It was not his real intention but it also worked out.

[ FireBall. ] simple magic was cast. A small ball of fire then appeared at Vlad's finger that is pointing towards the enemies - and in a blink of an eye, it grew to the size that was half of Vlad's height.

Then, the ball of fire was released. From the perspective of the enemies and Alicia, the projectile's speed was slow, maybe because of its largeness, they can still follow it with their eyes. But one thing was for sure: it didn't take long before it hit the enemies, exploding and then evaporating their flesh and their very bones.

There were still a few that were left. But they abandoned the thought of attacking the two trespassers and they began to scatter and run from fear that the ball will be thrown towards them next.

Fireball - One of Vlad's most basic tier-1 spells. At low level, it can only be used against one enemy, but with Vlad's level, he can turn it into something that can decimate a large group of enemies.

So with this spell, he had yet again defeated another group of the enemies.

[ Let's continue. ] Vlad casually said to the stunned Alicia.

[ U-Un... ] she nodded and immediately followed the back of Vlad.

Alicia who just saw his magic was flooded with mixed emotions of both fear and admiration.

All of the attacks he had used so far were all basic magic spells that mages learn from the academy. They're not at all being used in real battles as they are ineffective and weak. Yet the basic attacks Vlad has thrown were all at a different level. Alicia could only imagine what are his advanced magic would turn out to be.

His level of magic was clearly beyond what she was originally expecting.

At this point, she had been surprised many times by what Vlad can do and what he is as a person.

[ Alicia-san... We seem to be headed in a very large room... Prepare yourself just in case. ]

Vlad warned her. Not because there might be a being stronger than him, but because an unexpected event might happen. Or maybe because it is also one of his habits that he gained from conquering the game.

~~~

Soon, the two of them arrived in front of a large metal gate. The gate was almost identical to the one outside the dungeon; from its size to the details of being molded and rusted.

But unlike the one outside, this gate has a carving of an odd circular object drawn with strange patterns.

[ I wonder what this room is for... ] Alicia mutters to herself.

Alicia felt afraid, thinking that what is hidden behind the door would be something like the master of the dungeon or at least a very strong opponent.

[ Well, there's only one way to find out. ] with that said, Vlad placed one of his hands in the gate and opened it.

Immediately, their eyes went to the ceiling which stood high. Spikes of stones are hanging all over it; with one shake of the dungeon and they will fall to the ground. Even if Vlad could easily fend them off if whenever they fall, looking at them still made him feel wary.

Removing then his eyes towards the spiky ceiling and continuing to move forward, he looks in front and what he saw were just a bunch of statues and shelves storing books. They are lined up in a pattern neatly but it seems like they have not been taken care of for a long time.

[ Vlad-san... What is this room...? Do... Do you think there're any traps in here...? ] she asked Vlad in fear.

Unlike before, she's trying to act in caution and she's now afraid of causing Vlad any more trouble - hence she asks.

[ No. I don't think so... ]

As he said so, Vlad took a book from one of the large wooden shelves.

He wipes off the dust and he looks at the title of the book.

Vlad is still having trouble in reading and writing the language of this world, hence it took him a few seconds to completely read the title of the book.

\"The History of the Elves\" was written in the cover.

[ Elves... ] Vlad whispers in interest.

So far, all Vlad had seen in this world are humans. Since this world is the same as the game he had played, it was only natural the different races also exist in this world.

Interested, he stored the book inside his storage.

He then took another book - read the title, and repeat.

\"The Dragons of Brulhild\"

\"The Gate: Mystery of Another Country\"

\"The Kingdom, the Empire, and Other Smaller Countries\"

\"Sacred Spells of Ancient Magnus\"

\"Theories of Another World: Where did Goblins come From?\"

\"The Dwarves of Mt. Pulu\"

\"Legendary 'Device'\"

\"Goddess Clair and the Holy Empress\"

\"Advance Magic Spells: Fire Element\"

\"All Known Countries\"

\"Peace Between Races: Humans\"

\"The Guild of Heteromorphs\"

These were some of the titles Vlad had read. Some of it caught his attention and decided to store it.

[ Vlad-san... Some of these books are ancient... I can't believe they will exist in this dungeon... ] she mutters in disbelief as she also browses the shelves with great curiosity.

( The books here are mixed, huh...? Some look fake but there are some that look real and would be useful... ) he thought as he continues to take some of the books and read their titles one by one. And as he did so, he found one that got his interest the most than any other of the books.

\"The Tales and Names of all Known Heroes\"