Chapter 8
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Once we left the exclusion zone, Resh lead the way down the large stone road; as I had caught a glimpse of from the Dungeon’s entrance, there were a lot of people with stalls selling all kinds of merchandise lining the extra wide street.

When Resh turned and saw me staring around in fascination, she smiled and looked away; but she reached back and grabbed me by the hand, seemingly wanting me to hurry up, and not to wander off. Well--I had stopped moving, so as to look around.

I wanted to keep looking around, but feeling the small, warm hand encompassing me…I found that I couldn’t resist, and just followed along behind her.

Resh kept walking, pulling me along and ignoring my inquisitive gazes at the surroundings--but there was a strange bounce to her step, almost like she was happy for some reason.

We had gone around many corners, and into many different streets; luckily, because of my experience exploring the labyrinthine dungeon passageways, I had an incredibly good sense of direction--but Resh did stop me when I tried on instinct to mark the corners we turned.

After a few minutes of walking, we arrived wherever Resh was aiming for--which was a two-story stone building. She walked around to the front of the building and opened a wooden door, entering it and pulling me along behind her.

The room was fairly dark, when compared to the outside, though some sunlight came in through grimy windows. There were many people sitting around wooden tables, drinking an unknown liquid out of metallic cups--the odd smell which emerged made my nose itch.

I stood behind Resh, and observed the people talking loudly and moving a lot; the activity and noise must had subconsciously reminded me of the Monster nests, I tensed and lowered my center of gravity, my hand going to the claw sheathed on my right thigh.

Resh obviously noticed my tension, she stopped walking towards the wooden counter which took up one of the nearby walls. Maybe she had noticed that I had stopped moving, or maybe she sensed the change in my atmosphere.

Of course, she couldn’t have known that this was my first time in a place like this.

She spun around and took one look at me--before rushing over surprisingly quickly, placing a hand on my shoulder and looking into my eyes, “What’s wrong?”

This drew me back, allowing me to relax a lot, “How did you know there was something wrong?” I asked her as I looked at Resh, whose worried face was only a few centimeters in front of me--her beautiful eyes staring into mine.

“You tensed up…then I suddenly felt an incredibly powerful killing intent start spreading from you--it chilled me from the top of my head all the way down to my toes…like I had been dunked into a pool of ice.” Resh shivered a little as she spoke, I could feel sweat on her palm, her hand tightened around mine.

Now that she pointed it out, I realized that I had accidentally emitted killing intent, I quickly withdrew it and relaxed.

I found it very strange that she could get so close to me while I was in a combat stance--maybe she didn’t have any ill intent and my subconscious sensed it, but she managed to get very close to me while I was completely defensive--I would even kill the little bugs that came near me when I was in the cave.

“Thanks…it was an instinctive reaction because it reminded me of when I snuck into the lairs of the giant rats, either to wipe them out…or for food.” I smiled at her.

Resh tilted her head, and unfortunately she still had her hood up, so I couldn’t see the way her hair covered her ear, and eye, which I found cute the first time I saw it.

She looked a little disturbed, and rather confused, “Why would you hunt in a giant rat’s lair for food?”

“Well, I was trapped in that cave--I had to eat what I killed, or else I would have starved to dead.” I remembered the hunger which would hit me when I used too much power--and subconsciously put a hand to my stomach.

“You were trapped in the dungeon? How? No, answer that later.” Resh looked shocked, her eyes widened; she released my shoulders, which she was holding with her free hand--then she pulled me over to the staircase in a corner, one which seemed to lead up to the second floor.

She lead me up the stairs and then a short distance along the corridor and took a metal key from her pocket, to open the second door on the left. When she opened it, I looked over her shoulder and saw a large room with a single person bed, and a double bed.

“This is where Lyus, Jess and I stayed; they shared the larger bed…For a priestess, Jess wasn’t innocent or chaste!” Resh spoke with a quiet giggle-she then walked over to the single person bed and placed her backpack.

She grabbed my bag, which I had taken off, and then placed it on the large double bed.

“Wait in here, I will go downstairs and get some food and drinks,” She gestured for me to enter the room, since I hadn’t walked in without her permission. Following her words, I walked into the room and sat against the wall…It was a habit, since there hadn’t been any beds or chairs in the cavern.

For some reason, she sighed as she walked past me and out the door.

I could still hear all of the people’s movements and talking downstairs, but since they weren’t all in the same room as me, I could relax; there wasn’t really anything for me to do, so I just zoned out…I was very used to waiting for a long time as I observed an target’s habits.

Since my mind was quiet, only my subconscious was active and on the lookout for potential enemies, I didn’t notice the passing of time--until the door knob turned, and I jumped up and got into a defensive position…I had even unsheathed my crystal claw and was holding it out towards the now open door.

Resh stood in the doorway, she was holding a wooden tray which held two bowls of soup…they smelt really nice.

“Woah, relax.” She spoke quietly as she saw my reaction--she carefully placed the tray onto the bed near the door, and slowly approached me with her hands out, demonstrating that she had no weapons; of course, by this point my conscious mind had taken control again, so I stood up with embarrassment--Resh also relaxed when she saw this.

With a smile, she gestured for me to sit on the large double bed; when I did, she grabbed one of the bowls of food and gave it to me, along with a spoon--then sat down next to me on the soft bed. She started eating, and I joined in; finding out that I had an instinctive knowledge of using a spoon, I was a little surprised…I was very curious about the extents of my knowledge.

The food tasted incredible…It was, literally, the best thing I had ever eaten.

I got absorbed into eating the food, and finally looked up when I finished--I saw Resh staring at me with astonishment, for some reason.

“What’s strange?”

“It’s like you have never eaten soup before.” She said, her eyes narrowed, she looked like she was studying me.

“Uhh, well…I actually haven’t. Since I can remember, I was trapped in a cave labyrinth, having to eat raw Monster meat and drink their blood to stay hydrated. The giant rats had the best meat, and the giant centipedes had the best tasting blood…though the poison wasn’t nice.” I have no idea why I told her all of that, it just slipped out.

Resh looked shocked, and her eyes were wide open, so was her mouth. She had dropped the spoon which she had been holding in one hand, “You’re joking, right?” Her eyes fixated on mine, she seemed to be trying to read if I was lying or not.

“I’m not joking. I lost all my memories, and have no idea how I got there; maybe it’s because I am apparently a Fallen Apostle, and whoever I was an Apostle of decided to erase them.” I told her my theory.

“Wow, really?” She had tears in her eyes, and pity was written all over her beautiful face.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Her stare, and close proximity made me a little nervous--but I enjoyed the warmth coming from her, as well as her scent; which was a mixture of the food she had eaten, and some kind of perfume.

She kept peering at me for a few more seconds, before smiling and wiping the tears from her eyes, “No reason.”

She schooled her expression, “Well, I shall explain some more information to you. In case you were curious, I am a High-Grade C ranked Hunter. I am also an Elven Mage, who specializes in nature Magic--Binding Magic in particular!” She spoke proudly.

“You don’t know what this means though, do you?” She giggled a little as she asked, it was obvious from my slightly dazed expression--well, I think it would be, because I was feeling a little dazed.

“Well, I shall explain to you. First off, Humanity, and the other sentient species decided to train people to become much more powerful and to fight Monsters. They are called Hunters, and they are graded in a manner similar to that of Monsters--like I explained inside Beleran Dungeon.  However, when below S-Ranked, people have to work in groups to kill Monsters of each grade, usually in a group of three or four--one of which has to be able to heal, and another needs to be a vanguard and keep the Monster’s attention.” Resh explained.

“I wonder what I would be graded as?” I spoke the question out loud, even though I was mainly asking myself--it was a fascinating question; I had killed a lot of Monsters, even though I am unsure of what they would be ranked either.

“What’s the strongest thing that you have killed?” Resh asked with curiousity twinkling deeply in her eyes.

“Strongest? Hmm, well at least in swarms, the giant centipedes would be the most annoying. But if you go with singularly powerful Monsters, it would be those green slimes,” As I spoke, I looked back at my time in the dungeon--the fun times of hunting and increasing my strength, and the not so fun days of pain and hunger…and the two times I died.

“Giant centipedes? How giant?”

“Around twice as tall as I am, and probably ten or so times as long, with a fairly powerful poison. They have pitch-black scales which are joined by a white substance that seems like a mixture of flesh and muscles, though it glittered like the crystals.”

Resh gasped as she heard my description, she looked like she couldn’t believe what I said, but then she looked back into my eyes.

“Normally, I wouldn’t believe someone if they said what you just did. But judging what I have seen of your power, and what I can sense of your aura…as well as the incredibly accurate description of a Monster which is no longer in Human books, only Elves have the ancient tomes which speak of these creatures--they sound like the Mid-Grade Cataclysm Death Worms.”

“That’s a cool name, and they were incredibly annoying--it took me quite a while before I could slaughter them by the nest full. There is something I wish to ask about, later, which may be related.”

“Hmm? Well, I do want to finish this line of questioning first, if that’s okay with you?” Resh looked at me, and when I nodded she continued, “So, can you tell me more about the ‘green slimes’ that you mentioned?”

“Their body is comprised of a green gooey liquid, but they also had a core which was mostly the same colour, except for symbols covering them which were a very slightly lighter green colour…making the cores almost invisible, so I had to squish the whole body to get the core and kill the monster.” As I spoke, I got up and walked over to the other bed and grabbed a core from my bag--quickly walking back and sitting down, I handed the core over to Resh.

“Hmm? This looks very familiar, give me a second…” Resh studied the core, holding it up near her eyes, starting to trace one of the symbols with her fingers.

Mostly ignoring her, I dug through the bag which Lyus had used to try and steal my loot--and replaced my rat skin bag. I liked the way that the crystal dust caused my fingers to tingle, and it distracted me.

“It can’t be!” Resh let out a shout, before gasping, jumping so hard that she almost through the core across the room…barely managing to stop her reaction in time--she jumped up and grabbed my shoulders, pulling me close, she stared at me in shock.

Her reaction surprised me, I thought that it was fairly funny…and quite cute, with her wide-open eyes and disordered breathing, “What? So, what is the slime?”

“If I am correct, then only one of these cores have ever been found and recovered--it took four Apostles to kill the Monster. Apparently, the event was known as the Fall of Albion: the Monster wiped out an entire capital city, of what is now a long-lost empire, in a few hours.” Resh was still staring intently into my eyes.

“Ahh, well you probably won’t believe that I had to kill hundreds of them,” As I spoke, I took the cores out of the bag and placed them onto the bed, causing the poor girl to gasp and collapse against me.

I quickly reached out and held her up, she seemed to have been so shocked that her muscles had given out. She was still conscious, but trembled, and couldn’t seem to be able to move--I carried her over to the single bed and carefully laid her down, and then covered her with the blanket. For some reason, when she looked up at me, she raised an eyebrow for a second…before closing her eyes, seeming to go to sleep.

Smiling at her quickly, I picked up the core that she had dropped when her hand unclenched, and I placed them back into my bag. Walking over to the double bed, I placed my bag on the floor and laid down, wrapping my new robe around myself; it was much more comfortable than the cold stone floor--I was actually warm.

Closing my eyes, I relaxed.

I hadn’t needed to sleep for a long time, and today I hadn’t used enough power to be tired, but there also wasn’t anything for me to do until Resh woke up. The sun was going down, and it was getting dark.

Ignoring the noises downstairs, I drew my claw from its sheathe, and placed it under the pillow--keeping one hand wrapped around the base.

I just stopped thinking, and zoned out--it was surprisingly easy when I didn’t have much as the way in memories, there was nothing to dwell on…and nothing to make up. I had practiced this for a very long time while in the labyrinth, since I had nothing to do, and if I didn’t do this…I probably would have gone mad.

My mind came back to the surface as I detected a change in my surroundings, the sunlight ‘woke’ me, breaking me out of my state of nothing. I didn’t feel time passing, my mind zoning out. With a quiet groan, I managed to force my eyes open, and sit up--though I didn’t want to, because the bed was incredibly comfortable.

Resh moved on her bed, muttering something; which caused me to react instinctively and jumped to my feet, my claw raised in a defensive position--Resh apparently noticed my movement and jumped up as well, with Magic circles orbiting her hand in an instant.

Both of us were a little too twitching, apparently.

With a sigh, I sat down again and looked at her.

She looked at me with a slight smile as she stopped channeling, and stored the Mana.

Then she looked looked at the claw in my hand, walked over and ran the tip of her index finger over the blunt, curved top of the claw.

I was sitting on the bed, and Resh was standing in front of me, and playing with my claw…Unfortunately it wasn’t a euphemism, but just what was happening. Hmm, my mind was going strange directions early in the morning.

“It’s a claw which I got off a giant rat…A real giant rat, which was at least twice as long as I am tall, and its height was at least up to my shoulder, without the massive crystals emerging from its shoulders--each of their claws were this long, and as I mentioned, it had huge crystal blades emerging from its shoulder blades. It took quite a while before I was able to kill more than one at a time--it was the first proper enemy I fought.”

Resh sighed, it was almost like she had given up, “Low-Grade Cataclysm Rat Lords. So, to answer the question you asked before I passed out last night, you would probably be an Demispirit-Grade SS, or Low-Grade Demigod. Even for an Apostle, you are more powerful than most beings that I have heard of, well short of Land-Gods--which are the most powerful beings that can exist without having to leave this world. Land-Gods are powerful beings which live for thousands of years, and are usually the children of beings from Zone One or Two,” Resh grinned and sat next to me on the bed, after a quick pause and blush, she lent her body against my shoulder, she seemed to be trembling a little.

“Zone One?”

Resh sighed, “Sorry, I forgot that you don’t know much. This world is divided into eleven Zones, the lower the number--the more powerful the Monsters and people there are. Oh, I also forgot to mention that the more powerful someone is, their longer their lifespan is; they also require less food, water, and sleep…their bodies are also much tougher.”

“Since you are High-Grade C ranked, how long is your lifespan?” I was curious, since it may help me guess how long I would live.

“Well, normal High-Grade C ranked beings would live for anywhere between six and seven hundred years, but I am also an Elf--we have an almost infinite lifespan. It’s rude to ask a girl about her potential remaining lifespan…or her age” Resh stuck out her small tongue and patted me on the cheek.

“Sorry, sorry. What about a Low-Grade Demigod?”

“Well according to the rumours, Demigod beings--every species at or above Cataclysm rank beings have infinite lifespans, but so do Apostles, or Fallen Apostles…as long as their Watcher, or other Apostles, don’t kill them.” Resh spoke with a smile.

It made me happy to hear that I didn’t have to worry about getting old, living for quite a while…as long as no one deliberately killed me.

“Do you have anything you need to do? I don’t have anything in mind, other than trying to find out my past, why I am here…and track down a strange inhuman girl; so, how would you feel about leading me around?” I looked at Resh, who was still leaning against me and looking up at me--I was worried that she had something else to do, and I found that the thought of splitting up from her made me feel worried…and sadness.

“Well, I don’t really have anything, so leave it to me, I won’t disappoint!” Resh grinned at me, but something flashed through her eyes for a second, before her expression went back to normal.

She jumped to her feet and grabbed my hand, pulling me up as well; grabbing her bag, and I grabbed mine, and she lead my out of the room. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, she separated from me and walked over to the woman at the counter, I walked over and waited by the door.

“Hey man, what are you doing?” A big guy approached me, grabbing me by the collar of my robe with one hand, looking like he was going to punch me with his free hand.

I heard Resh mutter, “Oh crap!” from where she was standing at the counter, I felt myself beginning to smile as I looked at the man.

“Why are you grinning at me like that? I will let you off easy, if you let me sleep with that hot Elf who you shared a room with last night,” The man tried to sound dangerous, but he didn’t worry me.

“Let her sleep with you? Uhh, I can’t make her do anything that she doesn’t want to do, just ask her yourself.” I heard Resh start laughing at the counter, the girl who worked there as well, giggling quietly.

The man looked confused for a second, then he swung his fist at me, directly hitting my face. I didn’t dodge, or even try to defend--he would need to hit me with the same strength at least at the level of a rat to force me to defend myself, or with the strength of a centipede to force me to activate my light.

He yelped when his hand made a crunching noise when it hit me, I didn’t need to do anything--he had hurt himself.

I ignored him and waited for Resh to be finished, the man had ambled off somewhere while clutching his broken hand.

“So, what’s happening here?” Resh had finished giggling and walked over from the counter.

“He said he wanted to sleep with you--then decided to hurt himself, by punching me and breaking his hand.”

Resh sighed and grabbed my hand, leading me out the door.

Having a feeling that it may be bad to ask, though I was incredibly curious--since I had no memories but only knowledge and instinct…the knowledge would only appear as actions and reactions more than anything else--so I chose to ask Resh the question, “What did he mean ‘sleep with you’?”

Resh blushed a deep crimson.

“You really don’t know? You’re not trying to embarrass me are you?” She looked at me with suspicion.

“I really don’t know, as I said before, I lost my memory. I have no memory before I was in the cave,” I wasn’t being completely honest, since I did remember the fall, but I didn’t want to reveal my resurrection until necessary.

“I see, well…don’t worry about that for now.” Resh managed to compose her face again, though it took quite a while. She giggled and then, still gripping my hand, lead me down the street and back to the main road.

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