Chapter 49: The White Rift

After circling the first floor, the adventurers and supporters still hadn't seen a single monster. It struck the adventurer as odd.

"Did someone already take care of all the goblins?"

The Dungeon was only just starting to become "lively," and he was sure that normally no one would bother coming to the first floor. Goblins were low-tier monsters, and most adventurers who had moved past the beginner stage wouldn't waste their time here. That was what he thought too, but to his surprise, someone had already cleared out the floor.

Did that mean they had to go back to the second floor?

The adventurer frowned at the thought. It was still early, and heading back now would mean he wouldn't even make a single Valis today. But the second floor? That place was practically a monster party. Unlike the first floor, it wasn't just goblins. There were things like Killer Ants and Frog Shooters—monsters no Level 1 adventurer wanted to mess with. Getting surrounded by that kind of horde would be a death sentence.

Still, the fact remained: there wasn't a single monster on the first floor.

Frustrated, the man ran a hand through his hair. He didn't want to waste an entire day and leave without earning even one Valis. If he couldn't make any money, he might not get to taste divine wine this month.

He glanced at the supporter beside him, and his irritation eased just a bit. Not because he was happy to see the Pallum, but because he realized—if the second floor turned out to be dangerous, the supporter might come in handy.

"Hey, we're heading to the second floor."

Liliruca, the supporter, didn't say a word and simply followed behind him.

Once the two had left, Bell stepped out from the shadows, frowning.

'Looks like the Monster Parade is happening on more than just the first floor. Is this because of me?'

There were too many questions swirling in his head, but deep down, Bell felt that this "commotion" probably had something to do with him. Otherwise, why would the first floor, where he was, suddenly spawn so many monsters? Maybe that incident caused the Dungeon's internal mechanisms to ripple out to other floors too?

That could be the reason.

'Is this luck too? Seems like this luck is only working for me. The other adventurers might be suffering because of it.'

Not that Bell felt guilty about it.

Guilt? Why should he feel guilty? It wasn't like he was the one controlling the Dungeon. If he had done it intentionally, sure—but maybe the Dungeon was just rewarding him for his good fortune. If others got caught in the chaos, that was just bad luck on their part.

Of course, this suffering mainly applied to weaker adventurers. For those with real strength, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

For adventurers, Drop Items were rare rewards, and most of their earnings still came from Magic Stones. A surge in monsters meant more Magic Stones—but only the strong could capitalize on that. The weaker ones were probably struggling just to make it out alive.

Bell shook his head slightly and simply sat down to rest. He wasn't in a rush to figure out why his endurance had increased.

'The Dungeon must have responded to my expectations. With high Luck, it triggered a Monster Parade throughout the entire place. I never thought my luck could even influence the Dungeon itself.'

The last time he returned to the Guild, Miss Eina had brought up a similar topic—and had even issued a warning.

'I guess I'll need to keep a lower profile from now on. If this kind of phenomenon keeps happening, the Guild will definitely launch a deeper investigation. Once that happens, my secret might be exposed.'

'Now's not the time.'

Even though he knew it would come out eventually, he wanted to keep it hidden as long as possible.

Bell hoped to grow as much as he could during this relatively peaceful period. Maybe if he reached at least Level 5, he'd be able to live a bit more comfortably in this city.

'I need to be careful—not just for myself, but to avoid causing trouble for Goddess-sama too.'

That was Bell's current rule of conduct: don't bring trouble to himself or to Goddess-sama. Being too exceptional always attracted the attention of other gods. That's why staying inconspicuous was necessary.

Bell sat for quite a while, and once both his magic and stamina were nearly fully recovered, a goblin finally spawned naturally on the first floor.

Unlike before, where dozens had appeared at once, this time only a single goblin stood in front of him.

Listening closely to his surroundings, he heard something land in the distance. It seemed that this time, the monsters hadn't spawned at a single point but were instead scattered across the floor. Still, that wasn't unusual. After all, goblins didn't appear in large numbers on the first floor to begin with, so it was normal for them to be spread out.

Bell gave the goblin time to prepare. When it stood up with a short sword in hand, he drew Kuji Kanesada from his four-dimensional space.

"Alright, let me see it."

This time, Bell didn't rush. Speed-oriented fighting focused too much on results and missed the finer details. What he wanted now was to observe subtle changes.

The goblin hunched over and charged forward, shrieking wildly.

Eight days ago, Bell would have dodged first and looked for an opening. But now, there was no need. He stepped forward, and a flash of silver erupted from his blade.

"Splurt!"

"Thud!"

With one clean stroke, he sliced off the goblin's weapon-wielding hand. Green blood sprayed into the air—and in that moment, Bell noticed something.

There was a white slit on the goblin's body. Against its green skin, the white stood out starkly. Bell narrowed his eyes and slashed again.

The slit was on its chest. With one arm gone, the goblin had no way to defend itself. Bell cut across horizontally, slicing directly through the white gap. Instantly, the goblin disintegrated into black ash.

'Dead?'

'I didn't cut that deep. There's no way such a shallow wound could have killed it… but it turned to ash. That white gap—was it the monster's lifeline? Something like what the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception would reveal?'

But the whole thing still felt strange. Even if he could see it… why had it only appeared just now, on that goblin?