Chapter 33 Dungeon (4)

"Ouch..."

I hissed as the rough fabric of the bandage touched my wound. The pain was bearable, but it still made me wince.

I could have easily avoided the discomfort by drinking one of my precious health potions, but I was trying to be economical with my resources.

After all, they were expensive and I only had a few left.

After bandaging my wound up and making sure that the bleeding had stopped, I took a deep breath and steadied myself before standing up and walking over to the headless Yeti.

With a steady hand, I drew my Katana and carefully sliced open its ribcage, trying my best to avoid getting any blood on my clothes. Inside, nestled between the creature's organs, I saw a pulsating Azure Orb filled with Mana.

Without hesitation, I grabbed the core, storing it inside my inventory, not even bothering to wipe away the blood on its surface.

Glancing down at the crimson snow under my feet, I frowned.

"This smell will attract Winter Wolves..." I muttered to myself.

I knew I had to move soon if I wanted to avoid the predators residing within the Ice Dungeon.

Whoosh…

As if on cue, a powerful gust of wind knocked me forward, the blizzard becoming even more unbearable. I needed to find shelter soon if I wanted to survive.

Ice Dungeons were notorious for their treacherous weather and dangerous monsters. Even an E Rank Earth dungeon was safer for rookies than an F Rank Ice Dungeon.

Growl…

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of growling behind me, and I guessed that a pack of Winter Wolves were fighting over the Yeti's lifeless body. I had to pick up my pace.

As the blizzard threatened to engulf the last of the Yeti's tracks, my heart leaped with relief at the sight of a small cavern. The entrance was so well hidden by the snow and the trees that I wouldn't have noticed it if not for the footprints.

I cautiously stepped inside, my eyes scanning for any signs of life. The cavern was empty except for a towering mound of bones piled up in the back. As I inspected the remains of various creatures, a realization hit me: there were no human skeletons among them.

Then it hit me. This Yeti had never seen a human before! Now it made sense why the monster was curiously glancing toward me before the fight.

I sat down on one of the skeletal remains, using it as a makeshift chair, putting my Katana on the hips. My eyes remained fixed on the entrance, knowing that I wasn't alone in seeking refuge from the blizzard.

There was a chance that other creatures knew about Yeti's demise and sought cover in the cavern, so I had to be ready to defend myself.

Rumble...

The distant sound of rumbling caught my attention, and I frowned, recognizing it as an avalanche. The sound seemed somewhat odd for an avalanche, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

Suddenly, my eyes were drawn towards the shadowy figure near the entrance of the cavern. Instinctively, I released my Mana outwards, allowing it to blend into the surrounding environment.

The creature outside hesitated for a moment, sniffing the air as if detecting something unusual. Finally, it turned around and walked past the cave, making a wide circle around it.

"Good thing I've raised my Mana..."

Despite being Rank F-, my Mana attribute was stronger than average, which allowed me to scare off the silhouette.

If it weren't for consuming all those Mana cores, I would've probably engaged in another useless fight while injured.

As the storm outside intensified, I could hear the wind howling through the entrance of the cavern. I sighed, knowing that if I had an Ice Mana Art, I would be able to train within such a climate.

However, there was a reason why I didn't have and wasn't rushing to get one.

The Shadow Dungeon that I was going to raid in a few months had a hidden manual of Shadow Affinity Magic Art.

Magic Arts are different from Weapon or Battle styles. A human can only have one of them at a time, hence, when you used any of the protagonists, you couldn't learn the Art.

I knew about this art, because it was regarded as a must-steal thing, because If nobody took it, eventually the book would fall into the hands of a demon, who would cause a lot of massacres across the human continent.

This Shadow Magic Art was the first of its kind to appear in the game. For a long time, it was regarded as a Darkness Affinity, but midway through the game, one could decipher some differences.

Usually, the Darkness Magic Arts didn't allow its user to carry the shadows of their killed enemies.

I couldn't help but recall the countless times I had died at the hands of this mid-game boss responsible for decimating around 10% of the human population.

The demon was a true monster, feared by all who encountered him. He wielded the Shadow Magic Art with deadly precision and used it to create an army of undead soldiers.

A distant memory of a massive Shadow Dragon using its massive jaws to devour a Drake appeared in my mind. The memory made me shudder, but I quickly shook my head to dispel the image.

"I just have to steal it!"

I said aloud, trying to convince myself.

Everything could be prevented if I just raided the dungeon beforehand and took the Shadow Magic Art for myself. I didn't need to worry about anything else. All I had to do was get stronger to be able to fight against the Shadow Dungeon's boss.