A Playful Fox

"Salma, I think one of my maces fell from my hand on the way here. Can you please look for it?" Layla asked her sister.

"What? Why me?"

"Well, you can see better in the dark and stuff."

"But it doesn't make noise. A mace doesn't move, so it's going to be super hard to look for it.." Salma complained.

"Please?" Layla asked.

"Ugh, okay."

Salma got up and walked away towards the darkness, looking for an Iron Mace that wasn't there.

Layla wasn't worried about her little sister since the only monsters she could face were weak snakes that she could feel from hundreds of meters away.

Once Salma was far enough, Layla talked to Adam.

"So? Was it about your family?"

"Yeah..I'm sorry for worrying you. You don't have to feel sorry for me. Then again, you probably don't, as you said last time. I should just grow up, right? This is the world we live in now."

"No." Layla answered.

Adam raised his gaze towards her. He had a surprised expression.

"I do feel sorry for you. It must have been terrible. To face their death alone. To try to survive after seeing them dying. I think my parents already died. But, am only this unphased because, well, I haven't seen them. I'm sure facing their corpses, or any human corpses really would shake me to my core and scar me for life...."

As Layla talked, Adam's expression got softer and softer.

"I mean, dealing with death is never easy. Even those who lose their loved ones in a "normal way" like disease or old age still suffer a lot. Death is always sad. Especially when you see it, especially when you could have done something about it. I imagine living after something like that might be even harder. I heard what you said to grandma that day. About the time you brought your dagger to your neck. It really is a sad story."

Layla paused for a long time.

"I'm sure your reasons might have changed, but, did you follow us into the gate to help us? Or was it some kind of suicidal impulse?" Layla's voice had a hint of genuine curiosity.

Adam thought for a bit before answering.

"Am not sure. I just followed you. But I remember...I remember that was legs didn't want to move. It was like my whole body was against coming in here."

"Oh. If your body was against it, then you can still be saved I guess." Layla said with her eyes wide open.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know. It means that when you go to sleep, you want to wake up the next day." Layla said while raising her gaze towards the ceiling.

Adam looked at the ceiling too.

"I'm sure.... I mean, it's probably not my place to say anything about it. But, I'm sure that, even if you believe that you don't deserve to live, I still think you should. You could have died that day, but you didn't. Therefore....Um...I'm sure that...the reason why you survived that day... will show itself to you one day." Layla said.

Her face was red with embarrassment.

She stood up right after saying that and went looking for her sister.

"Is that so? Is that why...they pushed me down the cliff? It is just a dream, so ultimately, it is was I want to hear, right? I guess, it would be nice to think, that I survived for a reason." Adam muttered to himself while looking at the ceiling.

[ The One Who Pushes The Boulder is looking at you. ]

[ The Awakened One is looking at you. ]

[ A Certain Evil is looking at you with shiny eyes.]

[ The Calamity That Shall Swallow The Sun is faintly interested in your future actions.]

[ The Saviour is faintly interested in your future actions.]

Adam ignored the messages. He was deep in thought.

"The reason I survived..."

.....

Salma had gone to look for the mace that Layla supposedly had dropped, but she understood that that was a lie.

She didn't like being left out and especially not being lied to.

Still, Salma decided to listen to Layla and went for a walk.

'Oh! I guess I can do that.'

She ran towards the tunnel that leads to The Great Snake's Den.

Salma was thinking about going to the end of the tunnel. She thought that if the Great Snake was asleep, she could use her Explosion Skill to destroy all the eggs that were less than thirty meters away from her.

Once she arrived at the tunnel, she looked at it for a while.

She wasn't sure if it was a good decision.

[ The Fox That Blesses Men dares you to! ]

Once she received the message, Salma laughed silently.

"It's dangerous though! I might get hurt you know!" She whispered to no one in particular.

[The Fox That Blesses Men asks you if you are a coward.]

Salma, seeing the message, pouted and went into the tunnel.

She instinctively could tell that the Great Snake was asleep.

Its presence was tremendous and even its slightest movement would make a sound easily detectable by Salma.

She arrived at the end of the tunnel and looked at the Great Snake.

She then turned towards its eggs.

There were at least 300 of them.

But she could only use her Explosion Skill in a thirty-meter radius, which meant that only about thirty of them could be destroyed.

It was only 10% of the eggs, but it was a whopping 3000 Experience Points at once.

Just when she decided to go for it, she received a message.

[ The Fox That Blesses Men has used a substantial amount of Gold coins to issue you a challenge. Will you accept?]

She looked at the message and remembered that this fox had called her a coward before.

She nodded silently.

[You have accepted the challenge.]

[ The Fox That Messes With The Snake [F+]

The Fox That Blesses Men dares you to annoy the small snake. Show that foxes are superior to snakes by harassing the Great Snake. The more you harass the snake, the better!

Challenge Clearance Condition(s): Inflict damage upon the Great Snake+ Destroy a number of its eggs.

Reward: Depends greatly on your actions.

Time Limit: (None)

Penalty upon Failure: The Fox That Blesses Men will call you a coward from now on. ]

After reading the message, Salma looked at the Great Snake with a smile.

'Haha, does he really think am scared? I am not a coward alright?'

She aimed her Fire Arrow towards the Great Snake's head.

'It can't get out of here anyway, right? Well then, I'll use my Explosion Skill here and there. I'll use the rest of my Mana Points on the Fire Arrow.'

As she let go of her Fire Arrow, two bright lights appeared between a couple of eggs.

[The Fox That Blesses Men is laughing at the poor snake.]

She ran away right after that at full speed while chuckling.

The Great Snake, feeling something was wrong, opened its eyes.

Right when it opened its eyes, a Fire Arrow penetrated it.

An extremely loud roar could be heard.

Even Adam heard the Great Snake's roar. It made his skin crawl.

Layla knew something was wrong, she activated her Acceleration Skill and sprinted forward looking for her sister.

Even the Spider Queen extended its fangs and claws forward.

The roar reached the other side of the Dungeon.

It wasn't so much that such an attack hurt, it was just such a dishonor for a creature like The Great Snake to be touched by a weak sneak attack.

Layla ran as fast as she could.

Once she saw her sister, she held her hand and pulled her towards the entrance of the Dungeon.

"What the hell was that?" Layla asked.

"The snake. You should have seen its face. Sleeping so soundly. It was so funny." Salma laughed as she answered.

"Did you do something to it?" Layla asked in an irritated voice.

"Well... The fox god thing dared me to. There was a challenge and everything you know."

" That was very reckless. It can't go out, but still. I got scared for a bit. Anyway, what did you get?" Layla asked.

"Nothing for now. I guess I got eight snakes. But the rewards depend on how much I can annoy the snake. The fox says I can stop the challenge anytime, but the more I do the better!"

"I don't think you can do much more than this. It didn't roar this way when you attacked its eggs. Did you attack the snake?"

"Yup." Salma answered nonchalantly.

Layla laughed.

"What the hell? Don't answer in such a relaxed voice. That was dangerous. You should have called us."

"Yeah, well..."

"What the hell happened?" Adam asked.

He had just arrived.

As soon as he heard the monster's roar, he ran as fast as he could.

Salma explained what exactly happened.

Adam laughed out loud after hearing the story.

"That's a fun challenge!" He said.

[A Certain Evil is looking at you.]

"I know. Your challenge was much more important. You don't have to remind me every time." Adam said while looking at the ceiling.

[A Certain Evil wants you to participate in the challenge.]

After that, public messages were sent. Adam, Layla and Salma could read these.

[A Certain Evil wants incarnation Adam to join the challenge.]

[The Fox That Blesses Men says that three contestants would be better.]

[The Everlasting Winter is thinking about it.]

After that, Layla received a private message.

[The Everlasting Winter is looking at you.]

"Um. As long as there's no penalty for not succeeding, sure." Layla said out loud.

[The Fox That Blesses Men laughs loudly.]

[The Everlasting WInter says that this is fun.]

[A Certain Evil nods.]

Salma received a message,

[ The Fox That Blesses Men wants your challenge to be changed. Will you accept?]

The other two received a different message,

[ Three Beings have used a substantial amount of Gold coins to issue you a challenge. Will you accept?]

Adam, Layla and Salma nodded.

[You have accepted the challenge.]

[ Messing with a pitiful snake [E]

The Fox That Blesses Men, The Everlasting Winter and A Certain Evil want to see a great scene. Show them your strength and comradeship by annoying the pitiful snake as much as possible.

Challenge Clearance Condition(s): Injure The Great Snake and destroy a number of its eggs.

Reward(s): Depends greatly on your actions.

Perfect Clear: Slay the Great Snake and destroy its eggs.

Time Limit: (None)

Penalty upon Failure: (None) ]

"Yeeey! Now we're all playing!" Salma said while jumping up and down.

"This isn't a game. We're probably not going to do much you know. You're the only one who can fight from afar." Layla told Salma.

"After clearing the Dungeon, we can stay in it for 24 hours." Adam said.

"Do you mean we should start by beating the queen before thinking about the snake?" Layla asked.

"Yes. She must be weaker than The Great Snake. Plus, maybe after that, we'll somehow have a way to annoy the snake a bit more. Who knows? The gods don't give challenges randomly." Adam answered.

[The Fox That Blesses Men says that the hunt has begun.]

[The Fox That Blesses Men is excited.]

[The Everlasting Winter wants to see a great show.]

[A Certain Evil wonders what will happen.]

Layla turned to look at Adam.

"What will you do?" She asked him.

"Am not sure. Let's all get out of here first. The snake is extra. Once we get rid of the Spider Queen, we should be able to leave at any time as long as we're outside the Hidden Location."

"Yey! Let's do iiit!" Salma shouted.

They walked towards the place they fought the queen's guards.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Layla asked.

"Yeah, yeah. It was a weird dream, but nothing changed. We're all going to focus on making it out of here alive. Although, I don't know what comes after that." Adam said.

"You have to meet dad and mom after we get out of here!" Salma said as she pulled Adam's arm.

He looked at her innocent smile and put his hand on her head.

"I will. I hope I get to meet them." Adam smiled as he answered.

"We're going to pass by The Great Snake's Den. What should we do?" Layla asked.

"Nothing. We need to conserve our energy for the fight against the Spider Queen. The snake is an extra goal. With our current strength, it would be too much of a challenge. Although Salma is going to end up as the MVP."

Hearing that, Salma's eyes began shinning.

"Alright, let me deal with the Spider Queen. You can count on me. It'll be fast."

They kept walking until they arrived at the entrances of the two tunnels.