Chapter 173 - Vol. 3 - Chapter 38

***

After his fight with the Giant Bear,  he went to a "Safe" location to begin cleaning up his wounds and use some healing potions to accelerate his recovery speed. Watching the lush forested area of Gravelmark Mountain, he couldn't help but remark to himself, being later agreed on by Haycien who could feel the presence of stronger monsters around.

{That Peryton is troublesome. I can feel his presence. Lad, you should keep moving, don't be a sitting target. If you are worrying about your health, don't be, you'll regenerate passively thanks to the Red Energy.}

'Just a bit more, I got to index all the new items I've received from my hunt with the wild monsters.'

In this manner, while he was waiting for his health to recover and some of his stamina, he started doing inventory of the items he gained from his hunts, where various items from Normal to Rare rated gear and crafting materials started filling up his inventory.

'Let's check on the limit, so I don't have to drop various gear items.'

Thinking that, while being on the Inventory Bag interface, he went to <Settings> and with a simple list of options, he opened the one he was looking for.

[Inventory Weight Limit: 48/150]

'Mhm, we are good. Far away from reaching the limit.'

{You've done your accounting job?}

'... Aye, I'll take off right now.'

Then as he jumped off the large tree he was using to hide his presence, he heard a large roar of a beast coming from the sky, which made him turn his attention to the sky as he was dropping down.

[Peryton - LV. 175]

'Not good.'

{RUN! That monster has a great sense of smell.}

With Haycien's shout, when Mathias's landed on the ground, he immediately burst into action, activating <Raven's Movement's> which boosted his movement speed, and leaving the zone he fought the bear, a large monster with the shape of a giant eagle combined with a demonic-looking Stagg, having dark green feathers while the stagg's body part had blue-black fur.

*ROAR*

The large monster slammed it's hoof on the ground, creating a large blast that took down the tree Mathias was standing, and turning its head at the direction the crimson-haired man sprinted off, it extended the large wings of an eagle, starting to push off from the ground, moving toward his prey location.

'Old Hay, you've heard that?'

<Yeah, RUN! I doubt we can't take it down right now. You are still weaker than those monsters.>

'You think I am looking forward to facing that monster? Fuck no.'

Keeping his path toward the western side of the Gravelmark Mountains that were filled with monsters with levels ranging from 70-120, while with a lurking thought that the Peryton was after him, he slowly settled down to listen to his surroundings.

'I think it abandoned the idea of hunting me.'

<Or we entered the territory of its rival and because of that it dropped chasing us.>

'Another monster? Old Hay, you really slacked this place a lot. You've left so many monsters around.'

<None of my business. When I was fighting the Hegemon War, Gravemark was a quiet place, with only the flora. If I am not mistaken this mountain used to be a home ground for the Draconians.>

'You mean, there are also draconians on this mountain?'

{Yea, but they should be at the summit if they still are in the vicinity of Gravelmark.}

'Let's not disturb them. Better to mind our business and fight the weaklings.'

Watching the various monsters he considered "weaklings" made him think he arrived in the right place since all of those monsters with levels ranging from 70-120 created a perfect hunting ground for him.

The space of the hunting ground was large enough to accommodate more players, and yet? Probably a handful of players knew about this hunting ground, only the top players such as Cain and his guild members, Mathias, and others he still had to encounter who failed the Goblins Instance, Elder Morlk told him about.

Fighting the various monsters from Blood Hawks, to Giant Bears, Wolves and other creatures of the wild, he finally saw his target after spending almost two days inside Satisfy, in survival mode.

It was the Cave mentioned by Elder Morlk when he delivered the gear promised to the Kobolds in exchange for the Jewel Stones handed over by them.

"Finally, we got to our place." called out Mathias, who walked slowly toward a mountainous side of Gravelmark, where trees were cleared out.

{You sure?}

"It fits the description of Morlk. 'In the Western side of Gravelmark Mountain, where the mountain terrain seems rocky and cleared of trees, while a small stream of water flows not too far from those rocky part, going underground.'."

"You tell me, does it fit? Look at the water stream moving underground."

{I guess. Sure, you found your mark, but shouldn't there be people struggling with the monsters inside?}

Haycien's question made sense, placing a fragment of doubt in his mind, but as he was walking closer to the rocky side, arriving in a place well hidden from the view of the people, as if he climbed down a valley, and not far in the distance he noticed a group of people who stood close to a spot, an opening to an underground cave going with a vertical descent.

'Found it. Now let the fun begin.'

Opening his inventory, he started changing into his Victorian Set, downing the entire 'heirloom' which made him look exactly like an Aristocrat of the 18-19th century.

Approaching closer to the ground of players, he could eavesdrop a bit on their conversation, and they sounded to have died already once without even a chance of fighting back.

"What do we do now guys? We can't die one more time, or we'll be timelined for 24 hours." said a woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing leather armor that was displaying a curvaceous body.

A body placed in the spotlight by the revealing dark leather trousers being the piece of resistance in the entire set, showing off her backside as if they were precious jewels.

{Ohoo, you know, little Mathias. The girls from your world are all beauties. Look at that body.}

'Heh? Sure, she is sexy, I can't deny that ... But it's the case only in here. Once you meet them, your face will drop because some of those girls can create illusions on their avatar to not look like their real counterpart.'

{Really? That's something new I guess. Nevertheless, I wouldn't mind giving her a run for my money.}

'Stop being a white knight, old man.'

{Okay, okay, just having some fun here. Besides, have you made some changes to your avatar like that girl?}

'No need, I don't feel insecure about anything. Besides, it was you who messed up with my appearance, turning my black hair into crimson, also adding some more touches to my skin and appearance, as if I never left my home to touch grass entire year.'

'I used to have a bit of a tan, now I am milky white, like some Irish red-head. There are only my freckles that are missing from the whole package.'

Entertaining the conversation in his head, while continuing to advance toward the party of 5 players, he started observing small details on their equipment, body postures, and in general their tone. Some surprise appeared on his face when seeing the players having levels ranging from 70-73, with the highest from the bunch being the brown-haired beauty, Sera, who was level 73.

'High-rankers for sure.'

{The kids with no life?}

'Aye, but now … I also feel weird when you call them like this… I will probably reach higher than them after this dungeon.'

{It was you who came up with this analogy.}

'Don't use it.'

.

"Bernard, you old man, stop doing crazy stunts by pulling more than we can actually deal with. STOP DOING THAT WE ARE LOSING TIME BECAUSE OF YOU!" shouted a guy in his 20s, with level 72, called Jose, who from his gear, gave the impression he was a Rogue, a DPS'er.

"That's right, old man, it's because of guys like you who think of themselves as professional players that we three, the good players suffer. Right, Sera?" mentioned another guy in his 20s, with level 72, called Loop, who was holding a halberd in his hands.

The young woman didn't say anything, but soon, things descended into a bit of chaotic bickering, since the one called Bernard, a middle-aged man with a full, black beard and short hair, holding a shield and one-handed sword, couldn't resist saying.

"You … can you drop the cheap excuses that I am pulling too much? That I don't use my Taunts, Stuns, Slow's, Knockbacks correctly? It's starting to get annoying."

"Now, now, Berny, no need to lash out at the kids." said a blonde guy, in his early 30s, wearing the robes of a priest of Rebecca Church, trying to be the voice of reason in the group, but then, those 2 DPS'ers also had something to add for the priest of the group Eric.

"Also, you Eric. I don't know what your problem is. You only focus your healing on Bernard, while ignoring the ones doing the hard work. This is why we always get wiped by the goblins."

The 4 guys started increasing the heat of their bickering until the young woman couldn't help but raise her voice.

"ENOUGH!! ALL OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AT THIS MOMENT!"

"..."

"It was me who was carrying this group, not you Jose, not you Loop. Eric just did as I tell him to do, keeping alive the Tank, Bernard. If you two don't like it, you can leave the group for all I care."

Mathias who eavesdropped on their conversation finally put an end to his observations, where he understood that this group wasn't in synchrony because of strong-headed players who believed they were greater than they actually were.

Sera stopped berating her party when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her, and as she and the rest of the group turned their heads, they noticed Mathias moving casually to the entrance of the Dungeon.

Confusion settled in swiftly for the young woman, who couldn't understand how Mathias could get here by himself, in this place filled with monstrous beings that could kill her and take out most of the parties of players trying to adventure deeper in Gravelmark Mountain.

"Don't mind me. You continue with your quarreling." remarked Mathias calmly while looking at Sera and the rest of the players, as he moved closer to the entrance of the Dungeon.

"What the fuck? What is a low-level mage doing in this part of the Gravelmark without his party? Hey, dude, can you scram from this area? This is our team's hunting ground." called out Jose, still having that hostile feeling in himself after quarreling with Bernard and Eric.

The same approach had Loop who was hostile to Mathias for entering their haunting ground, with the only exception being Sera, Bernard, and Eric, who were instead curious about Mathias, someone who appeared with [???] could get here.

'Should I invite him to my team and add more firepower against the Goblins? A mage should be a good acquisition and will help a lot in protecting Eric and Bernard from behind while me, Jose, and Loop are doing the melee combat.'

She was planning to invite him into her team, but the two guys who antagonized Mathias weren't of the same mindset, beginning to mock the crimson-haired man, along with his attire.

"My dude, where have you popped out? This isn't an old history fashion show to come dressed as some European Noble. Loop, how much do you say his cheap cosplay is worth."

"Cheap as fuck. Maybe 10$, compared to our gear that is just scraps of cloth fabrics."

Yet, Mathias ignored them, continuing with his calm stroll to the cave's entrance, and with the notification appearing in his eyes.

「You are about to enter the Goblins War Base Instance. Once the player enters the dungeon they aren't allowed to back away!」

Sensing a certain look in a pair of eyes, he turned his eyes at Sera, who was contemplating if she should stop Mathias to invite him, but thinking about how her team was already barely standing from the clash of heads of those guys, she only sighed, and choose to keep it to herself.

Seeing her sigh, he had a short thought, which was responded to by Haycien who mentioned.

{Look at her beautiful eyes, she is already hooked by the Saharan bloodline. She wants to be yours.}

'Yea sure, can you stop acting like a perverted old man? You are the first human Emperor, show some dignity when speaking.'

{Boy, you really should learn to relax.}

Sera could only see Mathias shake his head, thinking it was because of her group's comments, but in fact, it was targeting an old man inside his brain. Afterward, he stepped inside the Cave which was positioned in such a way that it was dug on the floor, camouflaged in a primitive manner.

.

「[You've entered the Instance Dungeon. The Exit of the Cave has been closed]」

.

Jose and Loop just scoffed, only the two found it amusing how arrogantly Mathias acted, by ignoring their group.

"That bastard will surely return in one minute after getting to the zone we stopped. Then he will beg us to join the party."

.

Mathias who entered the dark cave could see that the tunnels weren't natural, as if someone carved them, and while moving onward, exploring this dark cave, he noticed the damage done to the walls where various unnatural crevices could be seen.

'This doesn't look normal. It reminds me of the time I went to Turda Salt Mine and some of the chambers were blasted with Dynamite…'

{Dyna .. what??}

'Like a Fireball explosion, old Hay. It's a technique used to mine in my world, using Dynamite and controlled explosions. But those walls were blasted without using a controlled method.'

Moving past the debris of rocks, he could notice the way being cleared out, probably the handiwork of the group of players.

He kept on walking on a clearly cleared path until after about one kilometer when suddenly five Goblins jumped from the ceiling of the gallery tunnel to kill him in ambush.

[Goblin - LV. 90] [20.500/20.500]

{Carefull.}

'I got this.'