Chapter 16 - Hi. (Patreon)

It was Kael’s first time visiting the 10th Floor, and he told Bella as much. Because of that, she asked him to follow her and walked ahead, leading the way through the surprisingly dense fog.

“Be careful of your surroundings. There might be traps around here.”

“The Imps, right?” Kael asked.

“Exactly. They aren’t particularly strong monsters, but they’re cunning. They like setting traps and launching surprise attacks.”

“When you explore these floors alone, how do you manage to stay alert all the time?”

Kael glanced around. He couldn’t see much more than a few meters ahead of him. There was no way he could notice a surprise attack coming.

At least, he certainly wouldn’t be able to notice one in time.

Bella, however, had incredibly sharp senses. She shook her head, her white hair swaying in the air, then took a deep breath. A moment later, she spoke.

“There’s a monster approaching from the left.”

Kael was surprised by Bella’s words and drew his sword.

He looked to the left and spotted a large silhouette through the fog. It clearly wasn’t an Imp, but rather a monster Kael knew very well because it had appeared in every game he used to play in his previous life.

An Orc.

A tall, fat, and threatening monster.

For some reason, however, Kael was completely calm. Bella noticed his composure and smiled. Then she asked, “Do you want to kill it? If you don’t feel confident handling it, I can kill it for you.”

Hearing Bella’s words, Kael gripped his sword and replied, “It’s fine. I can handle this.”

A second later, Kael disappeared.

Bella looked toward the Orc. The monster sensed their presence and grew irritated. It began moving violently and charging toward them, scattering the fog as it ran.

'Where is he?' Bella wondered.

She slowly drew the knife from its sheath, but before the monster could reach her, something came down from above…

Kael landed on the Orc, driving his sword into the top of its head. The Orc died instantly, and its body disappeared. All that remained was a magic stone.

Kael landed on his feet and rested his sword on his shoulder.

“I’ve done that plenty of times before. It’s fun.”

“Using your body weight like that is a good idea.”

Bella picked up the Orc’s magic stone and said, “Let’s keep moving. You want to reach Rivira, right? Let’s get there quickly.”

“Right.”

####

Exploring the 10th Floor was easier than Kael had expected. There were plenty of annoying monsters like Imps, but their supposed traps weren’t actually all that dangerous.

They were easy to avoid.

And once you avoided their traps and surprise attacks, they were easy to kill.

But things were especially easy because Bella was with him. She guided Kael until they reached the 11th Floor, and then they continued on to the 12th Floor.

“The fog is even denser here,” Kael remarked.

“Be careful. The monsters here are stronger. They’re the same kind as the ones on the previous floor, but they’re faster and smarter.”

“Smarter?”

“Yes. They can come up with more elaborate plans. But with me here, we shouldn’t have any major problems.”

Bella kept her eyes fixed ahead, but she was paying close attention to everything around her.

No monster could approach without her noticing.

Time passed.

Every step Kael took felt incredibly heavy. He had the feeling that something dangerous could happen at any moment.

And then it did.

“Monsters to the right and left,” Bella suddenly announced, drawing the knife from her waist and preparing for battle.

Kael had been holding his sword for quite some time, simply waiting for the first enemy to appear.

“It’s impressive how easily you can sense the presence of monsters,” Kael said with a smile.

“…”

Bella didn’t smile, though. She looked at Kael seriously and remained silent.

Kael realized he needed to take the situation seriously. He sighed and looked to the left, while Bella stared directly to the right.

“They’re probably Orcs. Be careful,” she said.

“A group of them?” Kael asked.

“I don’t know. It’s rare, but it can happen.”

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine,” Kael said.

Kael and Bella stood back-to-back, facing opposite directions. They remained in that position for two minutes.

Suddenly, the fog began to dissipate.

Kael was able to see the monsters Bella had mentioned.

But they weren’t targeting Kael. In fact, they had their backs turned toward him.

Three Orcs, standing together.

I read that Orcs don’t usually travel in groups, just like War Shadows. Strange, he thought, staring seriously at the three Orcs’ backs.

Kael glanced behind him and noticed three Orcs on the other side as well. It was as if the monsters were deliberately surrounding them. However, since the Orcs weren’t even looking at either of them, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“I’m going to attack now. Take care of your side,” Bella said before disappearing.

It wasn’t teleportation, just sheer speed.

It was the first time Kael had seen Bella use her full speed, and he felt his heart beat a little faster.

Within seconds, one of the Orcs lost a leg, and its neck was slashed, sending blood spraying through the air. Bella’s attacks killed it quickly.

'She fights using her speed. I like this fighting style.'

She was strong, but her speed and agility were undoubtedly her greatest weapons.

Kael smiled and turned toward his targets.

The noise had already caught their attention, and they were staring at Kael with bloodshot eyes.

However, as soon as they charged toward him, he smiled and disappeared, startling the Orcs slightly. They continued running forward, heading toward Bella.

“I won’t let you get close to her. You’re my targets,” Kael said, appearing directly behind one of them.

He drove his sword into the Orc’s back. The monster instinctively twisted its body, trying to strike Kael.

But Kael disappeared and teleported above the Orc beside it.

He appeared standing on the Orc’s shoulders, then calmly drove his sword into its head.

Everything happened within three seconds.

The Orc’s body turned into particles of light, and Kael teleported away before the two remaining Orcs could attack him.

One of them was already gravely wounded and wouldn’t last much longer.

“Hey!”

Kael suddenly appeared right in front of it, staring directly into the Orc’s eyes.