Chapter 43 - Treasure

When we finished opening the chest we went back to the place where we saw the two paths and this time, we took the path on the left.

We entered the left path and we immediately encountered two ice bears. Rory and Rai towards the two bears. I first helped Rai and went towards the next one when we're finished.

Afterwards, we went deeper inside the path and we encountered 6 more bears which helped me level up by 4 times making me turn into level 117. At the end of the path, we saw a wide space that was filled with trees. This made me curious because how can a tree grow inside a catacomb without a hint of sunlight inside.

I don't know what we will encounter inside this mini forest but we still moved forward. I hope that this place does not hold the other mini boss yet. I feel like we can't still confront it.

"Let's search inside the forest and find some monsters inside. Hopefully we can find another treasure chest inside." I said to the group.

They all agreed, and search inside the forest. We walked and suddenly we heard a howl of a wolf. Rory and Rai immediately went in front of me while I made my three shadow clones guard our back.

I then heard some loud footsteps in front of us, soon they showed themselves. It was a group of wolves that looked like the wolves from the first floor before. It was five wolves but I think we can handle them.

"Rory and Rai, take one wolf each while I'll take the rest of them. Nixie, I want you to support me." I said to them and dashed towards three wolves with my three shadow clones.

I made each of my shadow clones face one wolf. I was at the back using my Water Magic and attacking them with it. It was kind of hard controlling it but I was only stalling for time so that Rory and Rai can help me later on once they finished killing their own targets.

My shadow clones sustained some damaged but was healed immediately by me and Nixie. It took for about 5 minutes for Rory to finish his targets and Rai followed after a minute.

Ding!

Your Parallel Thinking skill leveled up!

Ding!

Your Thought Acceleration skill leveled up!

I was happy to hear that my skills leveling up but still focused on the fight. Last time when I was fighting the three wolves, I had my complete focus on controlling my shadow clones but this time I can control them completely while also attacking using my gauntlets and at the same time my magic skills. I called my other mind 'Dal'.

"Rory, Rai, and Nixie move back. Let me handle the rest." I said to them since I wanted to try how I can handle myself with three wolves attacking me.

The three moved back and just watched me. I again dashed towards the wolves while also making 10 water spears around me. I can't do this before but now I can. i also controlled my shadow clones to do the same. They each summoned 5 making me have 25 water spears. I then mixed some poison inside the water to make it deadlier. I then thrown it towards the wolves. They tried dodging it but was still hit by some of the spears.

While they were busy dodging the spears, me and shadow clones moved towards there back and used that opportunity to attack them using our gauntlets. The wolves were shocked by our attacks and tried to turn back to retaliate but we already moved back. I then made my shadow clones help me jump higher by making them throw me to the sky. I then used my Water Magic to make a big hand that looks like a dragon's hand. My shadow clones helped accumulate big amounts of water while also mixing some poison with it. I stopped them when I saw that the hand was 7 meters high and 5 meters wide.

When the wolves saw this, they had scared looks and tried to run away but was restrained by my shadow clones. My shadow clones used a rope made of water to make them stay put. I then used that opportunity to throw my attack on them which I called 'Poison Aqua Hand'. The wolves were submerged by a water full of poison which killed them and also left a claw mark on the ground. Afterwards, I slowly fell to the ground but was caught by my shadow clones using Water Magic. I then used my Consume skill on the corpses making me level up again by 1.

Afterwards, we continued exploring the dungeon. We then encountered another treasure chest after a couple of minutes. I then used one of my shadow clones as a decoy to open the chest. Thankfully, it has no traps inside.

I walked beside by shadow clone and looked inside it. I saw that the chest has a white gauntlet inside making me jump instantly. I was going to shout but remembered that I was inside a dungeon so I stopped myself. The gauntlets have a face of a wolf and a bear. It looked cool making me want to wear it already. I then appraised it.

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Bear and Wolf Gauntlets (Level 150):

+300 DEX

+20% Defense Penetration Chance

A successful Defense Penetration will give you 1.5 damage to your enemy.

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Since it has a level requirement, I kept it first inside my storage space with Rai's shield.

We then continued exploring the dungeon while I have a happy expression on my face. I wish we encounter more treasure chest.

We took hours of walking and fighting monsters but we still can't find the exit. I think we are lost but the good news is we leveled up to 121. This caused my Ring of Khione to have an upgrade while also upgrading my ice skills. Sadly, the bonus attributes didn't increase and I also didn't learn new skills.

Since we are walking and fighting for a couple of hours, I felt tired and wanted to rest for a while.

"Let's rest for an hour first and then we'll continue our exploration later." I said to them.

They all nodded while I make an ice chair to sit on. Rory stood at a side while practicing with his swords. Nixie was with Rory and helping him practice by making some ice dummies. I looked at Rai and I can see that he laid at the ground.

Since I'm not doing anything, this can be a perfect time to have a talk with Rai. I walked towards him and sat at the ground beside him. I didn't talk first since I still don't know what to say. He has his eyes closed and seems that he didn't notice me. I took a deep breath and started to speak.

"Rai, do you hate me?" I first asked.

Rai opened his eyes and was shocked to see that I was beside him. He instantly stood up and bowed to me.

"I'm sorry master!" He said loudly while repeatedly making a bow.

"It's ok and please sit down beside me." I said. He immediately did sit but was shaking beside me.

"So... do you hate me, Rai?" I asked again.

"I..." He can't say a thing making me confirm that he was having doubts.

"You can hate me if you want Rai but give me a second chance. I'm a person who was betrayed before so I can't easily trust others. I'm full of hatred and all I can think about is gaining strength to protect myself, and get revenge on the person who betrayed me." I said to him.

"Rai, I'm sorry for what I have done before. I still might do something the same in the future so if you want, I can release you from being my slave now." I continued.

He still didn't speak so I was going to stand up and leave but stopped suddenly when I heard Rai speak.

"I... forgive you master. I will again swear my loyalty to you." He knelt while saying those words.

I expected that he will still need more time before forgiving me. I smiled and touching his head.

"Thank you." I said to him and then left for him to rest.

I went back to my chair made of ice and sat on it with a smile on my face.