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Chapter 206: Back to the Catacombs (2)

Moments after abandoning Ethaniel and Erith to their own deeds, the rest of the group steadily made way their way through the hallways that was slightly lit up by Hikari. Although the interior was familiar to the same, it felt as if the entire area that they were in was completely different.

"..." As they walked, they silently observed around the around when suddenly Raina spoke up. "So... I've been thinking; This is definitely unfamiliar surroundings for all of us and it might be rather risky if we continue on this way..." she stated. "...can't we head back and take another route?"

"We've already come this far, we might as well just go on with it," Rustly uttered out. "It's not like Madam Ru would purposefully lead us into unexplored areas for us all to be killed, right?"

"...well I guess you're right," Raina nodded her head. "but, I still feel as if something is off."

"Hmm, is it?" Frey tilted her head. "I feel the normal atmosphere we experienced before! Eerie, creepy, dark, but this time with Hikari's light!"

"Could it just be my imagination then?" Raina muttered out. "The atmosphere is rather different from before..."

"Hmm, whatever it is, we'll just continue on," Rustly stated. "Turning back might cause us all a setback if we go back now."

"Why the rush?" Frey questioned. "We've already been out for like three days? I dunno. But something along those lines! So, any longer wouldn't hurt."

"Perhaps food?" Hikari asked. "Well... For the slimes at leastI haven't seen them eat anything since going back to the caverns, or at all in actuality."

Back at the caverns where the group had been stuck in for the past few days, the original group before the arrival of Hikari and Crowelin had been eating the rations prepared by Greld. However, with the passing days, the food slowly dwindled. As for the slimes that were with them, none of them was seen eating at all.

"Huh? Food?" Yer seemingly blinked. "Meh, we can survive just with water. Eating solid stuff is quite rare for us."

"You only survive off water?" Frey raised her brow. "How come I've never seen you drink any?!"

"We do," Erith stated. "Our bodies just subconsciously drain the liquids around if it's fresh and it just so happened that we were at a forest. So nothing much is needed to be said and done."

"Oh, I see..." Frey nodded her head. "If you already had that much amount of water, you're not hungry, right? If so, then why the rush again?"

"Just continue on and stop asking questions!" Rustly clicked his tongue.

"Okay then...?" Frey blinked at Rustly's tone of voice. "We'll just continue down the path..."

"..." Taking note of the conversation that had occurred between Frey and Rustly, Shinto thought to himself. "Hmm... A reason needed to rush back towards the den..." Whilst thinking to himself, he suddenly felt a silent tap from behind him. "...?" Turning back, he noted that it was Hikari, seemingly pointing towards something in front of her.

"Hey, Zay!" Belatedly noticing Hikari's whisper, Shinto quickly turned his attention over to it. "The reason as to why he's rushing... You think it might be related to that 'illness' he said he had?"

"Huh... It could possibly be it?" Shinto replied.

"Right? And on that note... What do we do about that quest?" Hikari asked. "If we don't accept it, Rustly will do everything on his own and it might lead to bad things... And on another note, even if we accept it, we'll be left in the dark."

"..." Shinto was in deep thought as he averted his gaze over to the details of the quest, [ For the Unbloomed of a Curse ]. "...well, even if we go about it rationally and ignore the quest rewardsif this curse were to take hold of Rustly, we'd be watching someone die before us. Do we really want that?"

"Well... You're right," Hikari silently pouted. "But... Do we really help someone who might mean us harm? Well in a way... Think of it as: 'Will helping him bite us back?'"

"Perhaps that would be the case with a noble or a typical human being... But this is a slime we're talking about, well to be precise: Sentient monsters," Shinto stated.

"Sentient mobs..." Hikari continued her whisper. "They usually despise humans as much as every other race like the elves and merfolks. But ignoring that note, having Rustly keep us in the dark like that may very well lead us into something way out of our league, especially yours. Just look at the difficulty! It's ranked SS."

"Hmm..." Still, in deep thought, Shinto continued. "The unbloomed flower of Myriad, if it's that difficult of a flower to bloom, then... I guess there's that. But," he firmly turned to Hikari. "We'll never know its true difficulty unless we actually try it, right? The quest penalty for failure is the destruction of all quests relating to the catacombs. It's not as if we'll have our skills locked, levels lowered or heck even have it reset."

"..." Hikari thought to herself as she considered Shinto's points. "...well, I guess there's that. Are we Are you going to take a risk like that? Well... With your circumstance, perhaps so. But..."

"...yes, I'm going to take the risk," Shinto firmly responded. "Of course, you're going to be a part of this, right?"

"Hah... I guess that's very like you," Hikari chuckled. "Well, if you're really keen on this, then... As your temporary carry, I'll help!"

"Aha thanks, Hikari," Shinto smiled.

"But... You know I can't stay with your group for that long, right?" Hikari sighed. "If your initial goal of staying away from the rankers was so that you won't be bothered, me being here might very well be a hinder to you. Despite that, you're still going to risk having other rankers finding you and bombarding you with questions?" she continued. "Then there's the other problem. If I stick around for much longer than intended, the rest of your group might find it suspicious. After literally you just said that you're not Shinto."

Shinto closed his eyes. "Your points might be true... But, that's for future me to handle I guess. For now, I don't mind having you around."

"Hehe~ Just like old times huh? The old questing party!" Hikari smiled. "Well... if you ignore that three other players are missing of course."

"Yeah... For that, I'm not really ready," Shinto sighed.

"Well there's that," Hikari nodded her head. "In any case... A thought just came to mind and..." As she was about to continue on with her whisper, a loud roar soon rang through the catacombs.

"OI! THE HELL?! YOU ALL LEFT ME ALONE?!" Along with the loud roar, rushing footsteps soon followed.

"Eeep!" Frey slightly jumped back from the sudden roar. "E-Ethaniel?" Turning to the direction of the sound, she noted that it was a blonde-haired man whose sword was tightly held in hand, as if ready to strike at the foes in front. "I-Is he going to kill us?!"

"It looks like Reru is too?" From the side of Ethaniel, Reru was rushing towards the group as well. "...will they actually kill us?"

"Meh, just leave them be," Rustly listlessly stated. "Oh, we're at an intersection, okay we're turning left now."

"Yikes... Rustly doesn't have a care in the world..." Erith muttered out.

"What's up with him?" Yer questioned.

"Oh, you're so going to get it!" With his sword in hand, Ethaniel leapt forward as he swung it over towards the slime upfront. However, Ethaniel's blade suddenly stopped as he then moved one of his hands over to the slime, soon grabbing hold of Rustly. "The hell! Why did you leave me alone?!"

"...I didn't leave you alone," Rustly stated. "You had Reru for company."

"I don't care about that guy!" As he shouted out, Ethaniel angrily turned towards the rest of the group. "Ugh... Seriously... You guys..."

"Eh... Not my problem you fought," Rustly sighed. "Also... Could you put me down now? I don't want to waste time. I want to finally go back to the den..."

"Is that all you care about?" Ethaniel frowned in annoyance.

"Yes."

"Rustly!!" Ethaniel angrily shook Rustly. However, the latter was unfazed.

"You done yet?" Rustly listlessly stated.

"...?" Ethaniel raised his brow in confusion at Rustly's sudden uncaring demeanour. In the next moment, he soon let go of the slime. "Tch... What's up with you?"

"Alright, taking the left side now!" Rustly continued on as he began to make his way towards the left hall. "If you don't want to be left behind again, let's pick up the slack."

"Ugh..." Ethaniel frowned as he turned towards the rest of the group. "What's up now?"

"I don't know," Raina shrugged. "Let's just, discuss this later. Probably when we reach the den?"

"Seems like Rustly realllyyy wants to go back, huh?" Frey uttered out. "I guess we shouldn't be wasting time..."

"Let's continue on," Shinto sighed as the rest of the group followed along the path.

"Huh? Hey!" Ethaniel cried out. "What's up with all this??"

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