Chapter 54

Noah and Seth made their way down the stairs.

Seth kept behind him, wondering if he was going to be dragged to a quest again. In the past week, he had done all sorts of quests.

From finding cats to dealing with a thief to hunting monsters back in the forests. It had helped with him gaining points in the Guild and with Noah taking him along, his reputation had also improved.

Though, it came with its fair share of jealousy that Seth was more than happy to ignore.

“Are we going on a quest again?” Seth asked as they reached the ground floor. He didn't wish to be dragged to another quest without getting an answer from Noah.

“No, we are not,” he said, looking back at him with a smile. “I think you have done enough quests in the past week. I have seen enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“You will know. Follow me for now.”

He turned around and started walking towards the door. A few adventurers were going in and out of it and Seth felt more than a few gazes on them. They weren't as much as before since people had gotten used to Noah.

“Seth,” a voice cried out to him.

Turning back, he saw Rebecca hurrying up to him. It seemed like she had been keeping an eye on him when he had climbed down from the stairs and followed him out.

“Your friend?” Noah stopped in his tracks.

“She's Rebecca. I told you about her before.”

“Oh,” he said, nodding his head as she stood in front of them. Giving her a good look, he flashed a wide smile. “I don't think we have talked before. I'm Noah. Seth told me about you before.”

He pushed his hand forward and she slowly shook it, looking a bit wary of him.

“I’m Rebecca Heller, a Rank 3 Barrier Mage,” she said, trying to appear more confident than usual. Her skills had improved a lot since ranking up after the battle with The Banished. “Can I know what's going on here? I thought we were going to leave for BlackStone Academy.”

“For now, I have something to show to Seth. I am afraid he needs to come with me for now.”

“Where are you going?”

Rebecca asked, looking at Seth. Her eyes were narrowed as if asking what was going on. In response, he could only shrug and keep silent.

“Why don't you come with us and I will show you? The more, the merrier.”

Noah asked expectantly. Rebecca and Seth exchanged a look, but she nodded in the end.

“Okay.”

They started walking together and Seth noticed they were moving towards the gates.

Specifically towards the area where carriages would be standing. Since Sacria City was an adventurers hub, there were a lot of them going in and out. More often than not, they would take carriages to reach their location swiftly.

“I heard you know about Seth's situation. You know about him not being from this world and everything. He must trust you a lot to reveal such sensitive information.”

“I know the gist of it,” she said and waited for Noah to continue the conversation, but he stayed silent.

Rebecca gave another look to Seth who shook his head. Noah was acting suspicious, completely different to his usual talkative self.

A heavy silence descended as they walked. Soon, carriages came into view and Noah quickly paid some coin to one of the drivers who promptly told them to get inside.

Seth didn't know where they were going, but it seemed to be well planned by him.

“I know you have a lot of questions in your mind. I would answer each of them once we reach,” Noah said, sitting in front of them and giving each of them a strange smile. “You must be wondering why I have been wasting time in the City, aren't you?”

“Yes, it's been over a week. I don't think you need to do all these minor quest. I doubt you are in need of money,” Seth replied.

Noah laughed, “Yeah, I'm not. I just took whatever quest I found interesting. Also, there's a reason why I brought you along with me.”

“What is that?”

“You will see soon.”

Rebecca and Seth exchanged a confused look among them. Noah didn't spoke more and Seth looked through the small window in the carriage to know where they were heading towards.

They seemed to be on the road that led to the forest. It wasn't the forest close to the City where the bandits had hidden, but one on the far left.

As the carriage went on, he realised where they might be heading.

Isn't this the road that leads to—

“We are here.”

Noah's voice broke his thoughts as the carriage slowly came to a halt. He jumped outside and pointed out a pathway between the trees.

Seth hadn't been here in a while, but he knew the place well.

Looking at Noah who walked in front, he asked, “Are we going to the Tunnels of Grithza?”

“Yeah, are we going to head down in the dungeon?” Rebecca also asked.

“Yes,” Noah said, nodding his head. “You would get all your answers here.”

Seth kept his thoughts to himself as he walked. He had a lot of questions in his head, but he knew Noah would reveal them on his own. He simply kept a lookout for any monsters, but there were none.

He saw fresh footprints of people who had walked in before and assumed that adventurers must have gone in the morning.

After all, there were a lot of people in the Guild who wouldn't even glance at the quests that won't require them to go down the dungeons.

To a lot of people, exploring the dungeon whole and defeating the King Centry was the sole focus and a dream.

“Are we going to go deeper into the dungeon?” Rebecca looked up at Noah as she skipped on a trunk that laid in the middle of the road. “You aren't going to take on the King Centry, right? I heard clearing dungeons give out extraordinary titles and skills.”

“It does. The System is pretty generous on dungeon crawlers. I have like seven titles from clearing different dungeons and all of them give a pretty sweet boost. I even know someone who found a relic grade weapon in a dungeon.”

“Are relics strong?”

Seth asked, being a bit clueless on relics. To his knowledge, relic weapons simply had historical significance, similar to a weapon used by a king in his world. He doubted the durability of such a weapon would last a long time.

“It depends. Relics are far more precious for their value,” Noah explained. “If it belongs to a noble or someone important, kingdoms would pay a ton for it. My friend tried to sell it to a royal family, but got killed by them since he wanted more money. He was a greedy bastard, so he probably knew he would die like this.”

He shrugged and Seth again realised that Noah talked about death casually like he was talking about a hobby.

They walked further and saw the entrance soon. There weren't any adventurers around and the dungeon was anyway big enough to accommodate a lot of them.

Walking down the stairs, memories flashed in his mind.

The Tunnels of Grithza hadn't been a pleasant experience for him. He would still wake up sometimes with nightmares about running away from the Lizard Chieftain and the Abyssal Horror. Back then, every day was as if he had been sent to hell for some sin he hadn't been aware of.

That's past me. I'm stronger now and Noah is here too.

He repeated those words in his mind, trying to not fall too deep into his memories.

“Seth, are you okay?” Rebecca asked, her worried voice taking his attention.

“Yes.”

“You look a little pale.”

“It's nothing.”

He shook his head, trying to assure her with a smile. Rebecca looked unsatisfied by his answer, but before she could say anything, Noah's voice called them from up ahead.

“I told you two that I would talk about everything once we come here, right?” He asked and both of them nodded. The stairs ended then and a large chamber opened up with large boulders and rocky surfaces. “It’s more like I need to show you something. You will understand much better then.”

Noah took a left without even looking around the chamber. It led to some sort of a tunnel. Seth and Rebecca followed him, not catching any sight of other adventurers.

“What do you have to show?”

Seth asked and instead of answering, Noah looked back with a smirk.

“How much do you know about the Abyss, Seth?” He questioned back.

Seth took a second longer to reply, “It's another dimension, completely different than this world with terrifying creatures like the Abyssal Horror and The Abyssal One. At first, I thought it was like hell, but it seems to be completely different.”

“Actually, you're not wrong on that. Though, Abyss isn't hell, it is really like it,” he said, laughing and taking another turn. “Strange, dark, corrupt and it has a strange effect on people.”

“What sort of an effect?”

Rebecca quipped in the conversation and Noah stopped as another chamber opened up in front of them.

Seth looked around it, finding it unfamiliar. He hadn't been here before, but he assumed it was one of the biggest chambers in the dungeon. No monsters could be seen and the whole room gave a strange feeling to him, especially with Noah acting strange.

There was another exit on the other side and Seth stared at it.

“They start to change, act differently, more aggressive, but it's not just that,” he said, staring back at him, dead in the eyes. “It doesn't only affect the person, but also the nature around it.”

Something shifted in the surroundings as Noah spoke. Seth felt a tremor threw him off as he was unbalanced.

“What is going on?” he asked, but Noah didn't say anything.

The tremors increased as he felt something get closer to them. The ground rumbled as Rebecca instinctively prepared to cast a barrier around them.

Something crawled towards them from the other side and soon, Seth saw dozens of legs appearing in the light, supporting a giant centipede.

Giant Centry - Level 38

A monster he hadn't imagined seeing appeared. He didn't know what a Giant Centry was doing so close to the entrance, but soon, the trembling increased as more and more Centries appeared in the chamber.

Their large exoskeletons shone from the faint light coming from gaps in the walls and their large eyes stared down at them, most specifically on Seth.

He counted over a dozen of them, all looking down at him and unmoving.

“Noah, what are the Giant Centries doing here?” Rebecca asked, casting a barrier around them. Though, she knew it wouldn't work.

If it hadn't been for Noah, she would have already started running.

The Archmage Knight looked unaffected by the emergence of the Giant Centries as he simply smiled.

“When the Abyss corrupts the mind, nature always seeks to destroy it, to protect itself from the one corrupted by the Abyss.”

As Noah spoke, another tremble happened, one with a higher intensity. This time, Seth lost his footing and looked at the ground. Something moved underground and it was coming to the surface.

A fissure opened up as Seth saw mandibles popping out of it before the monster revealed itself completely. Dwarfing the several Giant Centries, it stood proud, flashing its golden exoskeleton and with dozens of eyes, it bore down on Seth.

King Centry - ???

Feeling like he had walked up to his grave, Seth frowned.

What the fuck is this situation?