Chapter 166: Illusionist.

Chapter 166: Illusionist.

This skorr and mushroom, uhhhh, what did you call it again?

Curry, I answered the mercenarys question as he put another spoon full of curry rice in his mouth.

Yes, yes! Good stuff you got there. So, this skorr and mushroom curry reminded me of an adventurer I met three years ago. A great skorr slayer. Some would even call him the skorr slayer, a legend around Cedaraille, the adventurer began recalling a story after I served him his curry. Vali the Skorr Slayer, was his name. Not the largest guy, but you dont need to be big to kill skorrs. Just fast enough to dodge those nasty tusks. Youre like a good example, MLady Priestess.

Mhmm, I nodded before grabbing another dish from Saoris kitchen and serving it to another table.

So, his reputation was pretty great, to the point somebody personally requested him to take on a Quest to kill a giant skorr. A C rank threat! Vali, never frightened to fight skorrs, accepted it immediately. He prepared for the hunt with so many tools that the weight of his backpack forced him to bend forward to stay balanced, the man continued. Alone and in the dark, Vali entered the skorrs territory while it was sleeping. Smeared in its shit to hide his smell, Vali took three nights to place all his traps before giving the beast a rude awakening on the fourth night! Undaunted by the giant skorrs rage, Vali led it through all the traps like a fool. Spikes, stones, poison, pitfalls, you name it. In the end, Vali was once again victorious! Hahahahaha!

His laugh was pretty infectious, causing our other patrons to join in on the fun. Instead of tankards full of mead or cider, they banged their cups of water together and downed them in one go. Considering we were inside a dungeon right now, they were quite merry.

After having his fun, the storytellers mood suddenly turned sour, looking more saddened than cheerful. Still, every legend has to end sometime and even Vali couldnt escape this fate. Those three days of living in the shit of the skorr, unable to eat or drink much to avoid creating noise, and being so focused on the task that he forgot how long it took him to execute his plan. Poor guy ate the wrong mushrooms and, with how dehydrated and exhausted he was from the hunt, he didnt last long. Made it to our citys gates but, before he could enter, he just fell over. Dead.

I honestly thought he was spouting some mostly fictitious tavern story, so I barely paid him any attention. However, hearing what this Vali guy did to fulfill the Quest and then die, almost making it back home in one piece, was kinda heartbreaking. I knew the adventurer lifestyle was dangerous, but I didnt think someone would go out like this. Really goes to show that anything can kill you, regardless of how prepared you are.

Sorry, about your loss. He must have been a good friend, I tried to comfort him.

But that was when one of the storytellers eyebrows rose and he gave me a look of confusion. Huh? Ahh, sorry, MLady Priestess. He wasnt my friend; in fact, I only saw him once or twice at the tavern. I only ever spoke to him once, when he was on his way back from that last Quest!

???

Yeah, damn, I only heard his story after the guild read his journal and I asked Cleo about it. Vali the Skorr Slayer could read and write, did you know that? Honestly, he gave me a pretty bad first impression since he was covered in shit when I ran into him on the way back to town. Damn, I had to rush to the bathhouse the moment I got into town to get rid of that horrendous smell. Phew!

What the hell was the punchline then?! Hey, give me back my life lesson moment!

I shook my head at what actually happened, but it seemed like the adventurers didnt care about how the storyteller knew this Vali, only that the story was good. I rejoined Saori in her kitchen with a frown. Did we really have to open our restaurant in the middle of the dungeon?

Why not? Saori said with a shrug while continuing to stir the stew pot. They brought their Davi with them and we had enough to sell. There wasnt a lot of them, some even declined, joining the others at our table with their own dinner. With the four of us, the preparations went by quickly, wouldnt you say? Saori pointed at Ellaine who looked exhausted as she ate her dinner, struggling to keep up with etiquette with her sore body. The cuts she made were uneven and too large, as shed never had to cook before, but the extra hands meant the rest of us had to do less.

Sure, but doesnt this feel weird? Look at them eating so peacefully while right around the corner is a cave full of deadly monsters, like that land-bat thing. Even for Peolyncian standards, this seems so strange.

Saori gave me a quizzical face as she replied, Oh, really? I believed this should have been something you would have read before in one of your light novels or seen in a video game. Well, since it's so easy to take our restaurant anywhere we go using your storage, we can open for business anywhere we're allowed to, so why not even a dungeon? Uno and the others are guarding the entrance, while we four are enough to serve everybody. You could also play some music if you wanted to, Lady Hestia.

I sighed, accepting her reasoning. Sorry, Im not in the mood to sing. I was prepared for a meal with some music and then bed.

I love singing, but that didnt mean I wanted to sing everywhere and anytime. If Im not in the mood, Im not in the mood.

After we earned some money with the restaurant, the adventurers thanked us for sharing a warm meal with them before going back to their respective camps, meaning our party could finally have our own dinner. We reviewed what happened today and then went to sleep.

Once we were all awake, we reentered the third floors cave and hunted down the remaining targets for our Quests, fulfilling all 20 Quests in two days. With our primary task done, going back to the surface to hand in the Quest and switch our Jobs out would be the more efficient choice. Since our Job levels were maxed out, Saori, Tasianna, and I couldnt benefit much from the experience gain.

Nevertheless, all of us decided to move onto the next floor. It wasnt about efficiency, okay? It was about satisfying our curiosity and experiencing the dungeon our way. Plus, Ellaine mentioned that the deeper we went, the more likely we were to find loot boxes.

Now, I wasnt a gambler but the chance of gaining an awesome weapon or catalyst from these boxes quickened my heartbeat. How often had it happened to me while playing an RPG game, where I would buy gear from an NPCs shop but then acquire a far stronger weapon or armor as loot later on? It was infuriating and exciting at the same time.

According to the adventurers, floor four and lower are where the difficulty starts to spike. Fewer Rank Gs and Fs while Rank Es are more common. Dungeon breaks can also happen, so we should be careful of D rank monsters since Ellaine cant handle them yet, I informed everybody before we went down the stairs. Lets stay on floor four for a bit and then retreat. Alright?

Agreed.

Rumors and general gossip were already a great benefit that our restaurant gave us, something taverns and inns enjoy quite a lot. It made us similar to a bartender in a video game, who was able to give information to the player. In this case, we learned that this dungeon had 20 floors and that the floors were divided into difficulties.

Floor one to four were the beginner stages for newbies. Five to nine would spawn only rank Es and Ds, ten upwards to 14 would only spawn Ds, while floor 15 and beyond was only a place for strong adventurers since rank Cs spawn there regularly and you could be overwhelmed by them quite fast. Floor 20 was the home of the dungeon boss and core.

It made me question how a dungeon master was supposed to reach the core, but then I figured there has to be a safe way to do that. No dungeon master would be stupid enough to not have a hidden staircase or a teleport device built for these instances, especially with the aid of the adventurer guilds and a duke.

Regardless, another thing the adventurers informed us about is a dungeon break, the event where a monster from a lower floor enters the ones above it. Monsters have a set floor they spawned on but the dungeon itself could become a bit aggressive sometimes, creating entirely new entrances meant for monsters or adventurers to skip entire floors with, leading to some very dangerous monsters entering areas where the average adventurers there cannot handle them.

That was why the garms caused such a ruckus on the first floor since everybody believed they were part of a dungeon break. If an event like this were to happen, the only correct answer was to run away and inform adventurers suited for the task to come to the rescue. With how dangerous a dungeon could be, as the guilds expect you to be able to handle yourselves if you hadnt hired a mercenary bodyguard, an anomaly like a dungeon break could be the difference between life and death.

With our newly acquired knowledge, we delved into the fourth floor, which looked more like a labyrinth than a random cave. To Saori, Tasianna, and me, there wasnt much of a difference even if there were more E ranks, but for Ellaine it was the perfect training spot.

I beg for the Earths protection! Earth Wall! Ellaine cast while her brown gemstone ring shone brightly, blocking the bite of a [Blood-Gnawing Land-Bat]. She then turned around the corner and shot a [Wind Slash] at the baffled monster, causing it to flinch back in pain.

Instead of charging into the beast, getting in range of the bats long fangs, Ellaine cast [Earth Strike], boring a sharp rock through the bats feet, pinning it down. Using another [Wind Slash] to scar its face, Ellaine lunged in and dug her swords tip into the creatures throat before decapitating it.

Nice! I exclaimed with a thumbs up. Seems like [Chant Recovation Lv. 5] is helping out. Now you just need 1350 more SP and you can upgrade it up to level 10.

It feels awesome, Ellaine replied with an elated smile as she wiped the blood away from her sword. [Chant Revocation Lv. 1] barely did anything, but with level 5, it reduces the length of the chant by half. The instructors in the academy told us about this, but leveling [Chant Revocation] up was always a tall order, and none of the instructors had leveled it all the way to 10. I am very envious of the fact that you three have this skill at level 10.

Ellaines enthusiasm for the skill point System was almost at the level of a theory crafter. She had a chance to look through her whole skill list before we went to sleep and decided to finish leveling up her [Chant Revocation] before buying or upgrading other skills, explaining that being able to cast fast was essential to complement her sword fighting.

She came to the same conclusion Saori and I had. I mean, its not the most complicated idea ever. Casting takes a lot of time and focus, so speeding it up means you dont need to deal with one of the usual issues of a spellcaster. Plus, it increases your overall damage dealt.

I changed the experience share to only include Ellaine, meaning she was receiving 100% of the kill experience, except in a situation where the garms killed something. They werent included in our party, they were in a separate party with Saori, at least according to the System, so they could still earn experience by hunting independently.

We continued onwards with this setup where Saori, Tasianna, and I would isolate targets and lead them towards Ellaine for her to fight against, honing her skills and battle senses in a controlled environment. The [Taunt] skill was especially useful for this method.

As we were traveling through floor fours cavern, Saori and Tasianna went ahead of us to find new targets for Ellaine. While Ellaine and I were waiting for them to return, I suddenly noticed something in the corner of my eye.

Is that a chest? I mumbled, drawing Ellaines attention. As we didnt have much to do, we shrugged and decided to open the chest, already giggling in anticipation for what was inside.

Second times the charm, righ-

Griguk.

Eh?

Griguk.

Eh?!

[Terror (Minor)] [Fear (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

Ah! Hestia, a monster is guarding it. Could you identify what type of toad monster that thing is?

Toad? Toad?

Toad?! EEEHHHHH!?!?

EIIIIIIIEEEEEEKKKKHHHHHH!

Hestia?!

DIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

An immense heat surged from my chest into my right arm as purple flames flared up with a snap of my fingers. Without cooling down, the heat got to the point where the purple color changed to yellowish-purple and the fire grew larger and larger. Without looking at the target of my rage, fear, and anxiety, I shot the super-heated [Corrosive Fire] at the creature of my nightmares without worrying about the destructiveness of the attack.

With a loud kaboom that could deafen anybody, the area exploded like a bomb, engulfing both the monster and the treasure chest with it. Unlike the last time this happened, I was still able to think properly; the moment I shot out that attack, I shielded Ellaine with my body while casting [Sanctuary]. As it exploded, I ran away carrying Ellaine in a princess carry.

As the flames and dust settled down, I let go of Ellaine and we both inspected the damage I caused. The flames had died down already, leaving small corrosive obsidian chunks behind in a huge crater where the chest and beast used to stand. It wouldnt be an exaggeration to say that a huge chunk of the wall, floor, and ceiling were missing.

L-Lady H-Hestia, what was that?! Ellaine asked with a trembling voice, while her eyes gave me a clear sign of the terror she was feeling from me.

I couldnt help but hit myself in shame, clearing my head up as I explained to her what happened, I-I have a phobia of amphibians; frogs and toads specifically, due to an event in my childhood. Looking at them scares me, seeing them jump around with their ugly mugs frightens me, and their gross tongues just terrify me. Im sorry for putting you in danger like that

Ellaine frowned as she heard this and turned her head back to the result of my carnage. She patted my shoulder timidly before saying, Its alright. I am fine. Thank you for sharing that information although, if I had known prior, I would have been able to help you-Why is the thing still alive?!

Ellaines calming words were interrupted by her stepping back, pointing my eyes to the fact that the damn, freakish, terrible toad somehow survived my attack! And it was floating?!?!?

Griguk.

There are flying toads in this hellish place?! Why! Why!

As I was frozen in place by this fact, a group of people suddenly appeared on the other side of the crater. What the fuck was that?! Oi, Talon, what the hell did you do?! You only needed to distract them and wed swoop in for the chest!

Shut it, I just cast a spell to frighten them. Whatever happened, it wasnt my fault that those girls A robed man came into view, carrying a long black staff with him. His entire body was covered up, showing no skin except for the left side of his face as a half-mask was covering his right. Fire He shivered as he saw the result of my work and gave me a look of fear and anger.

His staff suddenly lit up and a black magic circle appeared on it. My mind is my power, my imagination, my creation. Hide in images, the light is the illusion! Mirror Image!

Like the sound of cracking glass, the sight of the man and the group behind him cracked into pieces like a mirror before it re-assembled into an image without them in sight. Coincidentally, the toad also vanished into thin air.

What?!

The both of us exclaimed. Our eyes were fooling us, making it seem like nobody was there, but my sensory skills told me exactly that wasnt the case. I cast and threw a [Rock Blast] in the area, causing another shattering glass sound before the image of an empty labyrinth path shattered in light particles.

They ran away. I wasnt entirely sure that that robed man was the cause of the toad, but if my gut was correct, then he had to be it. An illusionist. A mage who could create illusions to disorientate people and monsters, causing them to drop their guard or allowing him to sneak past. I didnt expect to find one around this area, really.

As I was considering chasing after them, Saori and Tasianna came running over to us, worry showing on their expressions. I quickly explained to them what happened to calm them down, making them understand why I did something that excessive.

Traumas shouldnt be joked about, Saori shook her head.

[Enhanced Wisdom Enforcement Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 1]

Others:

[Singing Lv. 5] (+1) [Dancing Lv. 5] [Musician Lv. 6] [Merchant Lv. 1] (New)

[Handicraft Lv. 1] [Enchanting Lv. 4] [Artificer Lv. 1]

[Identify Lv. 1] [Identity Blocker Lv. 3] [Noble Aura Lv. 3]

[Royal Etiquette Lv. 7] (+1) [Riding Lv. 3] (+1) [Scholar Lv. 2]

[Calligraphy Lv. 6] [Mathematician Lv. 6] [Telepathy] (New)

Spell List:

Custom Spells:

[Create Crack] [Wind Gust]

Earth Magic:

[Earth Wall] [Rock Blast] [Earth Strike] [Rock Bullet] [Sturdy Earth] [Earthen Spears]

Wind Magic:

[Wind Bullet] [Wind Cutter] [Air Shield] [Wind Slash] [Swift Winds] [Wind Blast]

Titles:

[Hestias Retainer]

A note from AbyssRaven

Oh my.

If you guys want to support me, Hestia and "A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale" (or just read up to 17 advance chapters + any Patreon-only chapters) please check out my Patreon: Rawr!

If you guys enjoyed this chapter then, please follow the story. If you guys want the story to grow, then giving it a rating or a favorite will do wonders: Rawr

Thank you for reading this chapter.

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About the author

1 Fictions 7 Posts 1 Threads

Thursday, May 27, 2021 1:24:40 AM Germany [Member of Zard Skwad]

Bio: Hey there, AbyssRaven here. I'm just an avid Light Novel and Fantasy story reader who randomly thought of a story and began writing about it.

I eventually found out that I've been spending a bit too much time with building, planning, and researching for the story, that I've decided to just share it with others.

Writing is mostly a hobby for me, but I would still love any kind of criticism to improve on it.

I'm also german, so please excuse anything that sounds a bit weird...I wouldn't mind you pointing it out though.

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