The Author's POV

Spurt—!

Squeezing my hand, blood spurted out, and my clothes became soaked in blood.

"Hmmm..."

I frowned when I saw this.

Thud.

With a low thud, a creature resembling a large overgrown bird dropped dead to the ground. Kicking it with my foot to flip it around, I looked for a core.

Yet again, there was no core.

"Seriously, what is up with my luck stat?"

Was it perhaps broken? I wasn't sure.

"Kow! Kow!"

Snapping me out of my daze, a series of high-pitched whistling or piping notes echoed through the air, as multiple shadows headed in my direction.

"...Still haven't learned your lesson?"

Grabbing a handful of red cards from my dimensional space, I channeled my mana into them and threw them in the air.

At the same time that happened, I raised my hand and pointed in the direction of where I threw the magic cards. It was at that moment that three rings dashed out from behind me and covered the magic cards from all sides.

In that split second that the rings enveloped the cards, the cards started to ignite, releasing a raging ball of fire. But it was then that something peculiar happened.

Right as the fire began to expand, the rings around them slowly started to turn red, and the fire which was quickly expanding came to an abrupt halt.

All of this happened in a split second of time, and the result was a compact energy sphere reminiscent of a sun that was slowly starting to get compressed together.

"It worked."

Clenching my fists, I focused my attention on the shadows heading in my direction and directed the rings toward their direction.

In one swift movement, the miniature sun appeared before the creatures and I softly murmured.

"Ignite."

Booom—!

A thunderous explosion that shook the surroundings echoed throughout the air. A bright light enveloped the sky, and the air trembled.

The explosion was quick. It lasted for a total of a couple of seconds as the sky soon returned to its normal color, allowing me to see the aftermath of the explosion. Despite the explosion being short, in that brief moment of time it exploded, I could feel just how terrifying the energy it released was.

"Good enough..."

From there, I was able to see multiple charred creatures weakly levitating in the air.

Even though they were not dead, they were still heavily injured. I was satisfied with this.

In the first place, magic cards only had the power of a <C> ranked, maybe even <B> ranked spell.

I was currently inside of a <A> ranked dungeon, clearly indicating that the creatures I had been fighting were of that level.

Had I not thrown a stack of magic cards, I would've never been able to deal that much damage.

"Looks like it worked."

That said.

After realizing my weakness in long-ranged attacks, I came up with a new attacking method that enabled me to deal with long-raged creatures.

The technique was simple.

Ignite as many magic cards as possible, and use 'Elemental discharge' from my defensive art ring of vindication to contain the energy inside a small space to then release it all in one go, creating a tremendous explosion.

I murmured as I stared at the creatures in the sky.

"It may not be fully ready yet, but I'm not too far off from developing this new technique."

I then glanced at Angelica who was standing next to me.

"Angelica, do me a favor and finish them."

"Okay."

Extending her hand, black threads started to form around Angelica. Swiping her hand to the right, the creatures in the air suddenly stopped moving and dropped dead to the ground.

"Good job."

Moving up the narrow rocky road, I placed my hand underneath my chin and mused over my current technique.

"Just what should I do to increase the power?"

Clearly, although powerful it lacked a lot. Especially since it was an expensive move, and the mana expenditure was also high.

"I should talk to Melissa about reducing the mana expenditure even further..."

Along the way, we would encounter monsters attacking us from out of nowhere. Thankfully, I had Angelica with me. She dealt with most of the monsters for me. Easily at that.

This was understandable though.

Since dungeons were small pocket dimensions of the demon world, it was finally with demonic energy. She was like a fish inside of a pond.

"Stop."

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I suddenly felt a hand grab me by the shoulder.

"Huh?"

I let out a surprised sound.

Angelica's cold voice echoed from behind me.

"Are you trying to die?"

"Die?"

Lowering my head, it was then that I realized that I was one step away from falling down the cliff.

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Thanks."

"I won't save you next time."

"...Sure."

Secretly, I shook my head.

You don't really have that choice.

I die, you die.

Taking a step back, I raised my head and stared up.

"We're almost there."

Near the top of the cliff.

"Let's not waste any time."

Without further ado, I gripped the hard and cold rock in front of me and got myself ready to climb up.

"Wait."

Yet again, I was stopped by Angelica. What was it again?

"Did something happen again?"

Angelica slightly nodded. Raising her hand, she pointed it down.

"Look over there."

"Down?"

Following the area she was pointing at, I was surprised to find a couple of figures in the distance.

My brows furrowed.

"...This is troublesome."

Since this was a dungeon owned by the black market, it was made public to anyone who could afford to use it.

It wasn't strange that there were other people apart from us.

"What should we do now?"

Angelica asked. Her right hand was raised, and black threads revolved around it. She was ready to kill.

Grabbing her hand, I lowered her hand.

"Not yet."

"Why?"

Angelica was clearly unsatisfied with my attitude. Not caring the least bit, I took out a white mask and put it on my face.

"First off, put your mask back on. The same goes for your hood."

I didn't really have to do this since I was already wearing a different mask, but Angelica was a demon, and thus she had to cover herself. She did cast a spell on herself to blur out her appearance from the distance, but that wasn't enough.

At least, I didn't think it was enough.

Fortunately, as this dungeon was under the black market's control, we didn't have to worry about her demonic energy arousing suspicion.

"...Okay."

With a wave of her hand, a white mask appeared on Angelica's face. The mask only covered the top half of her face, and the hood covered her horns and body.

I did the same.

Touching my face to make sure the mask was in place, I once again glanced at the figures in the distance. Turning to Angelica, I reminded.

"Keep your guard alert. If my guess isn't wrong, they might be directly working under the demon here."

Death's in dungeons weren't uncommon. The cause of death could either be from humans or monsters.

Therefore, if something happened to us, the black market wouldn't bring itself to investigate our deaths.

"If my assumption isn't wrong. The reason they are moving now is because they noticed that we're aiming for the top of the cliff where the demon is."

Had we not aimed to go for the top, they would've most likely stayed hidden.

"If we kill them now, we might alert the demon at the top."

This was the last thing we wanted since I wanted to catch it off-guard.

"I understand."

Coming to an understanding, Angelica lowered her hand and the demonic energy revolving around her stopped.

Glancing at the group of people beneath us, she asked.

"What should we do now?"

I answered after pondering for a bit.

"Let's continue going up. If they are really working for the demon, then..."

My eyes began to narrow.

No longer looking back, I placed my hand on the hard rock and started to climb up the cliff.

"We'll get rid of them."

***

At the same time.

In an even more luxurious-looking room than before, that had a slightly modern touch to it, a robust man with curly orange hair and a mustache that curled at its end, sat behind a large table.

The man was none other than the Vice-leader of Lost seekers, Sebastian Wolfburg. A major figure that overlooked the entire black market.

Sitting opposite Smallsnake, Sebastian had an amiable smile on his face, one that left a good impression on anyone that saw him for the first time.

Extending his hand, he passed a small teacup in Smallsnake's direction.

"What brings you here, Smallsnake? Haven't seen you in quite a while. There are lots of people requesting your services."

"Thank you for your offer, but I must kindly refuse."

Smallsnake calmly answered. Caution flashed across his eyes as he spoke.

Smallsnake wasn't one to be fooled by appearances. He knew that the man's outer demeanor was just a facade to hide his real thoughts.

This was the black market. Everyone here was wearing a mask, both outwardly and inwardly.

Taking a small sip of the tea in front of him, Smallsnake calmly placed the teacup down and answered.

"The reason why I'm here is simple."

He paused and smacked his lips.

[Poison detection: Null]

A small voice rang inside of his head, and his face relaxed a little.

Raising his hand, he threw a stack of papers on the table.

"It's because I would like to make a deal."

"A deal?"

Sebastian retained the smile on his face.

Extending his hand, he dragged the papers his way.

"Had it been anyone else, I would've probably dismissed the proposal, but since it's you, I'll have a look. I trust in your capabilities."

Licking his finger, Sebastian turned the pages.

For a brief moment of time, silence descended on the hall. In the meantime, Smallsnake calmly sipped on the tea in his hand.

From the corner of his eyes, he was keeping track of the Vice-Leader's facial expression. He was planning his next set of actions depending on the facial expression Sebastian would make.

It wasn't long before he started noticing changes.

Slowly but surely, the sound of pages being turned at a faster rate began to echo throughout the room. The Vice-Leader's face finally started to change.

"This..."

He murmured softly. Smallsnake could feel an audible sense of shock coming from Sebastian's voice, prompting him to make a small smile. One that marked his victory.

'Got him.'

Secretly, he unclenched his fists which were sweating uncontrollably.

He may not have shown it outwardly, however, he was secretly sweating buckets.

"Hey."

Feeling a small tug on the corner of his suit, Smallsnake turned his head.

"Hm? What is it, Ryan?"

"Stop smiling."

"...Eh?"

Smallsnake tilted his head. Clearly confused by Ryan's words.

"What are you talking about?"

Leaning his body closer, Ryan whispered.

"Smallsnake, stop smiling. You look just like Ren."

"..."

The hand that was holding the teacup froze. The slight smile on his face quickly wiped.

"Better."

Ryan leaned back in his chair with a satisfied look.

"You can't pull off that look. It makes you look creepy."

"...Ah."

Opening and closing his mouth, Smallsnake couldn't find the right words to say. Did he really smile like Ren?

'Oh, god, it looks like I've been influenced too much by him...'

His head started to ache.

Unfortunately for him, with a loud sound, the Vice-Leader smacked the stack of papers on the table.

"Smallsnake."

His voice deepened. So much so that the room started to shake a bit.

With a solemn look, a far cry from his amiable one moments before, the Vice-Leader's eyes locked onto Smallsnake.

"...Tell me more about this deal. I'm interested."