Chapter 73 - Crouching Tiger (1)
INSIDE THE DUNGEON, AFTER A FEW HOURS...
The forest, in its entirety, had been burned down to the ground by Arnold and his summons. Most of the monsters living there were either killed by the ferocious flames or his summons, but still he couldn't find a monster that could be graded as 'boss of the dungeon'. Arnold had scattered his summons throughout the dungeon once again to look for the remaining monsters that they might've missed, although Arnold hatred to admit it but they were roaming around the dungeon aimlessly. It was his first time in such a dungeon, and even though he had read a lot about these dungeons, he wasn't certain that there was a way to find the exit portal without killing the boss first.
He knew that human technology wouldn't work inside the dungeon, but since his automatons were functioning like usual so he thought that maybe they could still use their connection with the outside world and find more about this dungeon. His automatons tried again and again but it was useless.
'There has to be some way to get out of here...' Arnold was getting desperate to clear this dungeon. He opened his missions tab to check whether the task about clearing dungeons was completed or not.
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• UNBEATABLE :
[ INTRODUCTION ] : Your current powers won't be enough to face the trials of the immortal one.
[ TASK ] : Clear at least 10 A ranked dungeons, 15 B ranked dungeons and 20 C ranked dungeons. (You have to clear the B and C ranked dungeons on your own. Using your summons is allowed, but no one else should interfere in your battle. The same restrictions are applied on the A ranked dungeons but they can be waived under special circumstances).
[ PROGRESS ] :
1/10 A ranked dungeons cleared.
12/15 B ranked dungeons cleared.
20/20 C ranked dungeons cleared.
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'The counter hasn't gone up, It's still showing only one rank A dungeon has been cleared by me. That means there's at least one monster inside this dungeon... but where is it hiding?' Arnold kept moving in hopes of finding and killing the monster, so he could finally return to his world. 'I don't even know anything about the time limit to clear the dungeon... it's already getting dark here...'
"Yo System-sama, think you could give me some help?" He said it out loud even though he knew that the system would respond to him if he just thought about it.
Maybe he did it to cope with the loneliness he had been feeling ever since he came to Brazil, but it made him feel a little closer to the system. He knew it was weird and at times he thought that he was going mad talking to 'himself' like that but he knew that the system was real as not only it had helped him whenever he needed it, but it had also saved his life a couple of times now, like when he was fighting with Bad-Breath.
The system, or the System-sama as Arnold used to call it, was initially tight lipped about the incident that took place on that fateful night, but 4 months after coming to Rio, the system finally responded to his call and just told him one thing when Arnold asked about what had happened that night...
"It was a favour from the immortal one."
Arnold tried asking the system what he meant? And who was the immortal one? But he never got an answer, which he had expected to happen. Arnold knew that nothing good will come off it if he kept pestering the system so he let go off the matter... for now.
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Not every enemy you see can be killed... but it doesn't mean, it can't be defeated.
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"There you go with your motivational crap... if that was true then why do you keep giving me quests for killing people that I barely know?" Arnold snapped back with a smug look on his face.
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For character development.
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"Character... development..." Corner of Arnold's mouth twitched when he read those lines, "This isn't a novel or an anime that I'd need you to build my character!"
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That's what you think. Take rest and don't overexert yourself.
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"Rest in a burnt forest, is this for character development too?"
The system didn't reply.
Arnold got up from the trunk of a burnt tree that he was laying on and recalled his summons and watched the most beautiful sunset he had ever seen.
"When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, as my soul expands in the worship of the creator." Arnold mumbled the phrase, his teacher, Nicholas once told him while they were training to increase Arnold's resistance to psychic attacks. "Gifted people often have weird imaginations..." (Author's note : The quote about isn't written by me. It is one of the famous quotes of Mahatma Gandhi that my dad often tells me wherever we are stargazing together, he's a space freak just like me lol.)
After the sun went down he expected the jungle to go dark, but instead two luminous blue full moons took over the sky and lighted up the surface. Arnold couldn't believe his eyes, the beauty of this place was astounding. He quickly took out his phone and tried to click pictures of the beautiful scenery in front of his eyes and send them to Nicole as he had been feeling a little distant from her, only to realise that the phone wasn't working, just like his other gadgets. But he didn't gave up, and summoned Talos out.
"Could you use your sensors and take couple of pictures of the night sky, for me?" Arnold ordered the automaton, oblivious to the fact that someone was watching his every move.
This man was Rion Tameron: A Male Mercenary who swore loyalty to the white wolves guild after they saved him on a dungeon trip. Rion was short, had golden hair and dark white eyes, a special mutation which made it possible for him to know the weakness of his opponents, and carried twin machine pistols, just like Arnold. He was the seventh person who had entered the dungeon with his guildmates but unlike them, he didn't wore a white armour, instead he was covered with a special clothes that had abnormal camouflaging properties, that even covered his smell.
"Enjoy the peace while it lasts... there's no way you'll be able to defeat 'it' and get out of this dungeon..."