Chapter 82 - The Underground Catacomb 1_2

The night comes when I return to the mausoleum. And I never expected, a little girl to be waiting for my return.

"Uwaaa... big sis!" Kimi who was crying ran up to me. She ignored the expanding darkness.

The little girl hugged me tightly.

"Big sis won't leave me like mama Haruka and papa Wielth, right?" She asked while crying.

I stroked the head of this little black Fox-kin to calm her heart. "Of course, I won't leave you alone."

If she makes such a question, she might get a nightmare where she sees me die, right?

"Did I die in your illusion?"

The little girl shook her head while she was still burying her face in my stomach. "Hm-hm, big sis is not dead. Big sis kicked me out, left me, and dumped me to the street after big sis married brother Vier. Then, every day, when I was cold and alone on the street, I saw big sis happy life with brother Vier from the window. And, and, and big sis will always beat me up every time big sis noticed what I'm doing."

"Wait, what?"

Isn't that was a plot of the story that is often used in cheesy dramas. Why I'm hearing it in here?

And marrying Vier, ignoring Kimi?

Yeah, those two things aren't going to happen. Plus... I don't have such a bad and disgusting personality! I'm a good gorgeous girl!

"Listen to me, Kimi. I will never leave you even if I get married. You are my precious sister, so once again I will never leave you." I stroked her head again. "Let's go to the mausoleum."

Kimi, nodded her head then let go of me.

We passed through the door and I was instantly greeted by three people who looked so sad without passion. Chloe even cried in the arms of her brother, Alan. 

"It's good to see you guys wake up," I told them.

I sat down to directly use the Magic Tool. I warmed up the food I made this afternoon.

I'm sure they're exhausted. And it would be a good idea to eat food to refill their energy and before they go to bed.

No one talked when I re-prepared and then served the food.

It seemed sadness was too tightly hugging them. I made a wry smile when I saw them hold their bowls without the desire to eat.

"You don't have to think too much about what you see and experience when you are inside the illusion. They were never real," I said, trying to cheer them up.

But, my efforts were in vain, sadness still surrounds them.

"I don't know why you could say that statements so easily," Ruciel said. The Fallen Elf girl looked at me with her red eyes.

And yes, I don't need to see the girl twice to know that she just cried, just like Chloe and Alan.

Of course, I was so curious about what kind of episode made the Fallen Elf girl I loved to cry.

"You will never understand how we feel. I bet, a fool like you doesn't have any noteworthy memories," the girl continued slightly annoyed.

"That was rude, I also have important memories."

Ruciel did not reply to my words. She turned his face away and a few moments later, she ate her food. The kids follow her.

When our dinner finished, I said, "I know you're so exhausted, but hang on for a while. We will leave this place after we explore and inspect the Underground Catacomb."

"Do you still want to continue this exploration?"

"Yes absolutely! We've come this far, we've struggled with everything we had, and even we got painful experiences inside the illusion. Don't you think that all of it would be a waste if we left without bringing treasure in this place?"

Four people gave me different looks. Ruciel looks fine but the kids, lose their spirit, they look so exhausted.

"Listen to me kids. An adventure isn't always fun. It was full of obstacles and sometimes bring despair. But, when we complete the adventure, we will be even stronger. Just like what's happening right now. Because of this adventure, you kids already become stronger! Right? And do you not want a hidden treasure in this place?"

The words I say to encourage the kids may not be the best. But, those words worked, a small flame of spirit burning in their eyes.

"For your sake, big sis. I will finish off this adventure."

"If I can become stronger, I will also complete this adventure."

"Un! I will fight, I will prove I am useful!"

I made a pleased smile and made a strong nod. "Excellent! Now, take a rest. Tomorrow we will face the peak of our adventure in this place."

This night, Ruciel and the kids fell asleep soundly. I didn't want to wake them up so I decided to stand guard alone. 

Then I was surprised, Ruciel woke up to replace me on guard. I tried to turn down her offer but she silenced me with the words, "I'm not a kid, and taking a guard don't is also a part of my job."

So, I got time to take a rest. 

The next day, after we prepared, we visited the Underground Catacomb. We are not resuming the plans to hunt down Decaying Illusions Phesrooms because we want to complete this adventure as soon as possible.

The level of children almost reached twenty. Therefore, I'm sure we can conquer the Underground Catacomb without getting into much trouble.

"Alright, let's start this adventure!" I said excitedly.

"OOO!" replied the kids. Their spirit was bigger than mine.

We passed the black gate to the underground.

Our main goal was to get the treasures stored within this Underground Catacomb.

Once again, we explored this dark hallway. And I didn't forget to make a ball of light with Illumination Spell.

A dozen minutes passed before we finally encountered five Headless Ape! This Underground Catacomb was ruthless!

Our fight begins!

"Hyatt!" Kimi makes a cute battle cry as she launched an attack using her Fire Sword.

And yes, this time, that little black Fox-kin managed to injure the monster, she managed to cut off the monster's waist or maybe the monster's cheek.

Not only did her ability to attack, her ability to dodge the monster's attacks, and her ability to follow the monster's movements also increased.

A fists come and my little black Fox-kin dodges. Alan comes from the side to get close to the monster quickly.

"[Shield Bash]" he shouted.

The boy then hit the monster's face using his shield that was covered by a red light.

"Ukyo...!"

The monster staggered and got the Stun Debuff! The monster's movement stopped for seconds.

Seeing the opening, Chloe e shouted, "[Mana Bind]"

A meter-wide Magic Circle appeared under Headless Ape's feet. Then, the monster's movements came to a complete halt as the blue rope that appeared from within the Magic Circle tied its body firmly.

"[Power Slash]"

"[Heavy Cut]"

Using the Arte, Kimi and Alan best up the monster. It took them dozens of minutes and another Mana Bind before they could finally kill the ape monster.

"You guys are amazing!" I said to praise them.

But, for some reason, the kids seemed unhappy.

"Why is your response like that? Are you not happy after receiving praise?"

My sister's fox ears twitched. A moment later, the little girl pointed at me with her index finger and said, "We won't feel happy when we get such praise from big sis!"

"Why? And Kimi, don't point at someone carelessly, that's rude."

"Hmph!" She snorted in annoyance. "Why big sis didn't realize it? Big sis killed three monsters easily while we had to try our best to defeat the monsters that big sis had already wounded! So yes, praise from big sis won't make us feel happy!"

"Little pie, you don't need to use me as a comparison. And you need to know, what you guys are doing deserves praise because I'm sure, even a C-Rank Adventurer will have trouble defeating the monster."

"Big sis lie!"

"Then ask, Ruciel."

"Why are you pulling me into your trouble?" The girl complained and asked. Then she sighed. "You can accept this stupid girl's praises because she's right. You did something amazing and you can be proud of it."

"Oh!"

And the kids are happy!

Why?

Why are they happy when they get praise from Ruciel. While in fact, they did not react at all when I praised them.

It's not fair!

With a broken heart, I continue this adventure with them.

From time to time, we meet headless Ape and we fight against them. 

We had a lot of trouble because they were quite a lot.

But on the other hand, we got a lot of Exp from them.

< Level up! 16 to 17 >

My level is up again.

In addition to hunting monsters, we also searched and ransacked the rooms in this Underground Catacomb.

We're looking for treasure!

Now, we found another room. This place is like the inside of a Mausoleum, filled with coffins and bones.

We checked this place for some time before we finally got two pieces of Magic Equipment in the form of bracelets and pendants.

"[Appraisal]"

[Bracelet of Fire] [High-Grade]

|+ STR +5

|+ Fire Magic Resistance +15%

[Blue Ice Pendant] [High-Grade]

|+ DEF +5

|+ Water Magic Resistance +10%

We got good Magic Equipment.

Our explorations are on the ups. Then, after finding three other Magic Equipment and after killing five Headless Apes, we finally found a gate. 

The double door made of stone in the gate was decorated with skull carvings. They look creepy. And yes, this is the gate to the Boss Room.

And I'll say, the room behind the gate is the main objective why I want to explore this place.