"Apprentice?"

"Yes, apprentice", Aryl nodded her head while still keeping that smile of hers. "You told me that you wanted to be stronger, correct?"

"I did..."

"Then great! I'll help you get stronger if you become my apprentice"

Despite the amazing offer of receiving direct tutelage under such a powerful Adventurer, however, I couldn't help but to be suspicious of her intentions.

'What's with the sudden change in her attitude?'

After all, she was just scolding me for having had the guts to pursue killing Cultist mere seconds ago.

Thus, I had to make sure of her motive.

"It's a great offer and all but... why me?"

"It's because you asked for my help"

"But... you was just discouraging me from hunting Cultists seconds ago..."

Aryl's smile stiffened before she heaved out a long sigh. "Fine... you got me. Do you really want to know the reason why I want to take you as an apprentice?"

I nodded.

Sighing yet again, Aryl reached into empty space and took out another red book and ripped a page off it.

"Come here, you'll understand when you look at this"

I slowly walked to Aryl's side with shaky steps. My heart was beating wildly in nervousness. After all, I was going to take a look at the book that was rumored to contain every dirty secrets of every nobles there were.

However, I couldn't help but to widen my eyes in shock and rage upon—

"ERALS!"

—Seeing a picture of Erals on the page.

Instantly, I jumped back a couple of meters, took out my crossbow from my back, and aimed it at Aryl.

"Y- You! Did the <Darkest night> send you?"

Aryl clicked her tongue in annoyance at my words. "Tch! Don't overreact. Read the page carefully"

She then threw the page to the ground.

Still having my crossbow aimed at her, I slowly picked the page up and scanned through it.

After a while, I lowered my crossbow and bowed to her apologetically. "S- Sorry..."

'Wh- Why did I even do that?'

I was too enraged and... scared upon seeing the picture of Erals that I didn't even bother to read the rest of the page, which contained all of the information about him and... the fact that Aryl would get awarded several Platinums if she managed to kill Erals.

"S- So", I stuttered as I looked at Aryl with guilt. "You're hunting Erals?"

"Correct", Aryl nodded her head, not really minding my earlier actions. "The information in the book says that he had... killed your family, so I figured that you'd be willing to help me, especially when you had just told me that you wanted to hunt Cultists"

"Y- You're right, I do want to kill him..."

"That's what I thought", Aryl said as she confidently walked towards me and pulverized the page with her Lightning magic.

Now standing right before me, she stared straight into my eyes with those molten-red eyes of her as she repeated her earlier question.

"Now let me ask you again. Do you want to be my apprentice?"

Falling into thought for a while, I finally gave her my answer.

"I—
...

—regret having ever accepted to be your apprentice"

"Really?", Aryl squinted her eyes at me.

"Yes!", I glared at her. "What kind of apprentice does this?"

"Does what?"

"You know what I mean!", I pouted. "You're a bad master! Who even uses their apprentice to do something like this!?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, my dear Araceli", Aryl waved her hand dismissively, feigning ignorance to the torture she was putting me through.

'Why do I have to do this outside in the middle of summer!?'

After all, even if Phoenixes are resistant to fire, it isn't as if we can't feel heat!

Ever since I've become Aryl's apprentice, which was 2 days ago, I have been annoyed countless of times to do menial tasks for her, a person who was at least 2 years younger than me.

I was so irritated that I sometimes wondered if she was the reincarnation of my father.

'Wait, that's impossible. The Gods wouldn't let my father reincarnate as someone as pretty as her'

And with that silly thought, I tightened my grip on my shovel and continued digging the ground.

Not even 30 seconds had passed though, and I had to stop digging to wipe the sweat off my forehead.

With ragged breaths, I glared at Aryl. "Haaah... Haaaah.... Are you sure that there's a dungeon here?"

"I'm certain!"

An instant answer! One that seemed infinitely reliable and trustworthy.

However, I knew better than to trust her words blindly, especially when I could see her smirking at me like that.

HOWEVER, I couldn't really stop digging since I was now her apprentice. And it wouldn't be good if I disobeyed my 'master' on only my second day.

"I swear to Goddess Lumaria that I'll make you pay if it turns out that I did all of this for nothing"

In response, Aryl merely flashed me a smile as she continued lying on a... foldable sunbed while sipping a cold glass of lemonade.

"At least give me some water god dammit...", I muttered under my breath.
...

Day turns into noon, and noon bleeds into night.

I had been digging the ground for 16 hours straight, and I was completely exhausted despite my <D-> ranked stamina.

As such, I threw my shovel away and plopped to the ground to rest.

It was then that I heard the clunking of Aryl's armors as she got up from her sunbed and walked towards me.

Before long, she reached me. She then crouched down and spoke.

"Why aren't you digging?"

Being completely out of breath, I could barely form a sentence. "I... tired..."

"So... you're completely exhausted?"

I weakly nodded my head, wanting her to give me a damn break already!

Grinning, Aryl turned her gaze towards the hole I had been digging up for the whole day and chanted.

<[Lighting spear]>

Bzzzzzt—! BOOM—!

A molten-red spear of lightning appeared right before her, stabbing into the hole.

"Tch, not enough, huh?"

<[Lighting spear]>

BOOM—!

<[Lighting spear]>

BOOM—!

<[Lighting spear]>

BOOM—!

Despite my exhaustion, I still managed to drag myself off from the ground to see what the fuck she was doing.

'S- So this is where the 'Lightning' part in her title came from...', I thought as I stared in admiration at—

<[Lighting spear]>

BOOM—!

—Another [Lighting spear] falling to the ground.

Looking into the hole where Aryl casted her [Lightning spear] at, I couldn't help but to be surprised when I saw that there was really an entrance to a dungeon in the form of a blue fissure underneath the ground.

However, my surprise soon turned into annoyance and frustration. "Why... I... had to... dig if... you... do this?"

Aryl frowned as she tried to make sense of my words.

After a while, she spoke up again. "You mean why did I make you dig the hole if I could have just done it myself much faster like this?"

"Y- Yes..."

Hearing my answer, Aryl laughed. "Pffft! Hahahaha! Remember what I told you before?"

"Th- That... the training... will... be.... hard...?"

"Correct!", Aryl grinned. "So don't blame me for what's going to happen next"

"What—"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Aryl dug the ground directly below me up with a shovel. She then kicked the ground along with the shovel into the entrance of the dungeon.

"FUCK YOUUUUUUUU—"

Vuam—!
...

"Urrrghhhh!", I groaned as I slowly got up from the ground.

As soon as I entered the dungeon, I fell unconscious right on the spot due to all the exhaustion I've accumulated digging the hole and strain I've endured while travelling through dimensions.

'Who knows how many hours it had been since  I got here...'

Through blurry eyes that haven't gotten used to the sudden brightness yet, I could see a vague figure in front of me.

"Aryl?"

After all, even with my blurry vision, I could still make out that familiar piercing red eyes of her.

However, something was strange. Aryl didn't have big wings, and her figure sure didn't resemble a winged lizard that somehow had a slightly purple body color.

It took a few more seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light. And when it did, I couldn't help but to scream at the creature in front of me.

"KYAHHHHHHHH!"

It was a <Sound Wyvern>, <D> ranked monster.

Similarly startled, it started shrieking.

KRIEEEEEK—!

Unlike like my scream, however, the Wyvern's roar was so loud that—

'MY EARDRUMS! THEY'RE GOING TO BURST!'

—I could practically feel my ears bleeding.

It seemed that [SS - Absolute distance] didn't work against sound, which made sense since I wouldn't have been able to hear anyone talk if that was the case.

However, I soon shook such thoughts off my mind.

'This is no time to think about it!'

As such, I hurriedly reached for my crossbow that was always strapped the my bac—

"What?", I let out a confused sound as my hand only grasped empty air instead of the crossbow.

That was when I remembered that I had took the crossbow off my back before since I couldn't bear digging with an extra weight on my back.

'A- Aryl... did she know this would happen?'

However, I couldn't linger on such thoughts for long, as I felt increasingly dizzy as the second passed.

Frantically scanning around the area, I sighed in relief as I spotted and rushed towards the shovel that Aryl threw in the dungeon with me at the last second.

KRIEEEEEEEEKEEK—!

The Wyvern's scream only got louder as it saw me acquiring a 'weapon'.

Gripping the shovel hard, I rushed towards the Sound Wyvern and struck its throat.

BAM—!

Although the shovel didn't cut through the Wyvern's skin, it still managed to temporarily stop the Wyvern from roaring on the top of its lungs.

<[Fireball]>

A fire ball manifested itself in front of me as soon as I finished my chant. Glaring at the Wyvern, I shot the ball of fire towards its head.

BOOM—!

Being wounded by my [Fireball], the Wyvern quickly turned around and ran away.

I decided to not give chase to it. Mainly because of the fact that—

"I'm tired..."

—I haven't really managed to recover that much energy during that short nap of mine.

I then took the time to take in my surroundings. After literally a second of looking around, I sighed in frustration.

"A forest that's perpetually stuck at dusk... how unexpected...", I muttered sarcastically. "...Why do I feel like every dungeons are either caves or forests?"

Only the Gods would know the answer to the silly question of mine. As such, I didn't waste any more energy trying to solve it.

My first priority now was to find shelter. However, I doubt I'd be able to find one in a forest like this. Furthermore—

"If <Sound Wyverns> are here, then there's a high chance that <Echoing Doves> are here too..."

—I was most likely going to encounter a very dangerous combination of monsters.

Echoing doves were <F> ranked monsters. Normally, someone at <D-> rank like me wouldn't have any problem dealing with them. However, what was alarming was their annoying behavior.

As soon as a Dove spots a potential enemy, it will latch onto them while releasing loud sounds that attracts Sound Wyverns.

As such, I had to kill the Doves before they could stick onto me if I ever encounter one.

Not being able to find a shelter, I was torn between two choices: Face the dungeon boss, which would most likely be a <Great Sound Wyvern>, or find the Exit.

I was more leaning towards the option of finding an Exit, as I doubt I could do any meaningful damage to the Boss monster.

'At least not with my <D-> ranked power and the fucking shovel Aryl left me!'

As such, I limped deeper into the forest with the shovel as a makeshift cane, trying to find the Exit in this <D> ranked dungeon.

As I took a step forwards though, I saw a shadowy figure approaching me with great speed from the corner of my eyes.

Before I could even react, the figure had already latched itself firmly onto the invisible barrier created by [SS - Absolute distance].

"A DOVE!?", I widened my eyes in surprise as I realized that the figure was an Echoing Dove.

KRIEEEE—

Before it could let out its loud scream and make every Sound Wyverns in the dungeon rush towards my location, I quickly grabbed it by its neck and smashed it to the ground—

SPLASH—!

—Turning it into red paste.

Some might call me a hypocrite for thinking this, but I really didn't feel anything while killing the monster.

'It seems that my disgust towards killing only manifest itself when it comes to beings with intelligence...'

Pausing my thoughts there, I wiped my bloodied hand on the ground and continued limping forwards with my shovel as support.

'It's going to be a long walk...'
...

It had been 4 days from my perspective ever since I was forced into the dungeon.

'And maybe around 4 hours in the real world...', I frowned as I thought of Aryl, who must have been sleeping comfortably in an inn by now.

Despite such large amount of time having passed, however, my energy level was still low. After all, I had to stay alert at all times in case a Dove spotted me.

"Speaking of Doves...", I muttered in annoyance as I could see 3 Doves throwing themselves at me at high speed from the corner of my eyes.

Sighing, I turned my body around and—

BAM—!

—Swung my shovel, turning all 3 of them into red mist.

Stabbing my bloodied shovel into the ground, I encouraged myself with ragged breaths. "Haaah... Haaaaah... Come on, Araceli, just a bit more and you'll get out of here!"

After all, I knew for a fact that I was moving in the direction of the Exit.

How did I know this? Well, a day ago, I actually found the Boss room. And as I had expected, the Boss was a <C+> ranked Great Sound Wyvern.

Despite me not being able to fight the Boss, however, finding it was still extremely beneficial since Exits were always at the side opposite to the Boss room.

Pausing my thoughts there, I picked my shovel up again and walked towards the direction of the Exit.
...

After another full day of walking and killing Echoing Doves, I could finally see a familiar blue fissure.

"Th- That's—", I stuttered with shinning eyes as tears of happiness fell down my cheeks. "—THE EXIT!"

Absolutely overjoyed, I threw the shovel to the side and frantically ran towards it.

When I was only half-way there, however, I suddenly froze on the spot as I noticed more than a dozen pairs of piercing red eyes watching me from behind the dark shade of the trees.

Before long, I could see a big reptilian head poking out from the shade.

"A Sound Wyvern?", I widened my eyes in surprise.

But it wasn't just any Sound Wyvern. Judging by the burn it had on its head, I was sure that it was the Wyvern I met when I first got here.

Although I wasn't an expert at deciphering Wyvern's expressions, I was sure that it was smirking at me, evident by the fact that it causally moved towards me while its friends also left the trees' shades to approach me.

Shaking in fear at the sigh of more than a dozen Sound Wyverns closing up on me, I forcefully calmed my pounding heart down and bolted towards the Exit.

KRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK—!

A Wyvern roared at the sight of me trying to escape from them.

Similarly, all the other Wyverns also simultaneously roared.

KRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—!

The blaring roars of the Wyverns ruptured my eardrums instantly. And somehow, I couldn't keep my balance and feel to the ground with a thud that was quickly drowned out by the deafening scream of the Wyverns.

I let out an agonizing scream as the sensation of my eardrums bursting finally hit me.

Despite the pain, however, I couldn't help but to laugh in relief. "Hehahaha! I can't hear anything now!"

I was free from the torturous sound of the roaring Wyverns.

Still, it did nothing to fix my messed up sense of balance. As such, I gritted my teeth through the pain and slowly crawled towards the Exit.

As I was nearing the Exit though, I could feel something strange.

"Wh- What? My heart...? AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It hurts! It hurts so bad!

My heart felt almost as if it was going to burst into small chunks of flesh at any moment.

That was when I realized that this was the Wyverns' doing. They were deliberately releasing high frequency screams specifically targeted at my heart so that it would burst from the vibration.

And the worst part was... I could do nothing to stop them.

'N- No! This can't be!'

I was so close.

'J- Just a bit more!'

The fissure was right before my eyes.

'COME ON!'

I was just one step away from escaping this hell.

However, seconds passed by and I still haven't made that much progress.

It was then that the pain in my heart worsened.

'NO! I WILL DIE IF THIS KEEPS UP'

I flailed my arms around frantically, trying to grab onto something to propel me forwards.

'MOM! DAD! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!'

When that didn't work, I desperately pleaded with the Wyverns.

"PLEASE LET ME GO! I'M SORRY!"

However, their sound-based attacks were so loud that they couldn't hear what I was saying. And even if they could hear and understand my pleas, I doubt they would show mercy for me.

'I don't want to die'

My vision was slowly darkening.

'Please... I don't want to die... not before I can take revenge for my family...'

I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to d—

As soon as the translucent black screen appeared, the sharp pain in my heart instantly stopped.

Judging by the fact that even now, the ground below me was vibrating, I was sure that the Wyverns were still assaulting me with their piercing screams. However, I could feel that their sound... somehow couldn't reach me anymore.

I didn't linger on that thought for long, as I realized that this was my chance to leave!

Thus, I crawled to the blue fissure, reached my hand out and—

Vuam—!

...

"Haaah... Haaaaaah... D- Did I make it?"

As soon as I got out of the dungeon and escaped the Wyverns' attacks, my innate increased healing factor as a Phoenix activated, instantly healing my eardrums.

Thus, I could hear the sound of the crickets singing in the dead of the night... and the surprised sound of Aryl, who was looking at me with shock.

"Wh- What!? You got out of that?"

However, I couldn't register her words as I was already rushing towards her. After all, she was the one whose existence assured me that I really had gotten out of that hellish place.

As soon as I reached Aryl, I tried to hug her tight. Of course, my body was stopped when it was mere inches away from her. However, that didn't stop me from wrapping my hand around her back and burying my face into the air right before her chest to cry like a child.

"Wahhhh! A- Aryl! It's scaryy! I- I don't want to die! P- Please!"

Really not knowing what to do, Aryl awkwardly patted the air above my head.

"Uh... there there, everything will be alright?"

It was then that I realized what I was doing. However, before I could even flush red in embarrassment, I remembered who got me into that frightening situation in the first place.

"YOU!", I broke my 'hug' with Aryl and glared at her. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT? DID YOU WANT TO KILL ME OR SOMETHING!?"

"N- No! Why would I want to kill my apprentice? It was just part of the training, remember?", Aryl stuttered nervously.

"BY THROWING ME INTO AN UNEXPLORED <D> RANKED DUNGEON WITH ONLY A MERE SHOVEL WHILE I WAS COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED?"

"A- Actually yes. That was indeed your training"

"Really?", I raised my voice as I glared at her in suspicion. "And how exactly did I improv—"

<[Splice]>

Before I could even finish my sentence, Aryl suddenly drew her dagger from her waist, teleported behind me and swung it at my neck.

<The first movement of [V - World splitter]: Shredding slash>

Having been forced to deal with Echoing Doves for several days on end inside the dungeon, I raised my arms in a defensive position by instinct.

Clunk—!

Of course, Aryl's dagger bounced off the barrier made by [SS - Absolute distance]. However, I still couldn't help but to widen my eyes in surprise at the mere prospect of me being able to see her attack.

"Th- This... my reaction speed! It has increased!"

After all, if it was me from a few days ago, I wouldn't have been able to react to Aryl at all!

"That's right! Hahahaha!", Aryl laughed somewhat nervously as she put her dagger back to where it was before with shaky hands. "It seemed that my training is really effective!"

I looked at Aryl in gratitude. Although I was still absolutely livid at her for throwing me inside the dungeon without any warning, I still had to admit that her so-called 'training' was really effective.

As such, much as I didn't want to do this, I still had to thank her.

"Thanks... your training, it... worked..."

"Of course it did! You can't get stronger without a bit of danger", Aryl said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I wouldn't call it 'a bit' ", I continued to glare at her.

"You're lucky that I didn't make you go through the torturous training that I had to personally go through"

I gulped a mouthful of saliva at her words.

"E- Even more torturous than this...?"

"Yes. But don't worry, I'm not heartless enough to make someone else go through the hell I experienced...", her eyes turned distant and sad as she uttered these words.

Although I didn't know what she was thinking about, I was sure that she lost something important to whatever training she had to go through. As such, I couldn't help but to quench a little bit of my anger and look at her sympathetically.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Aryl woke up from her reminiscence and spoke up again.

"Is it safe to assume that you recognize me as your master now?"

"Yes..."

"Great! Then can I call you 'Celi' from now on?"

"Wh- What?", I blushed in embarrassment. "S- So sudden? B- But we just met 2 da—"

"Don't get anything wrong", Aryl immediately shot down my weird idea. "Calling you 'Araceli' is a hassle. Literally, there's 4 whole vowels in it! My jaw hurts by just the mere prospect of thinking about your name"

Hearing her words, I hid my face in my hands with a muffled squeal, embarrassed that I was the only one thinking such weird things.

"So... I take that I can call you 'Celi' now?"

"Yes...", I meekly nodded my head. "...You can"

"Alright then!", Aryl smiled as she wrapped her arm around the barrier covering my neck. "You must be starving, Celi. Let's get you something to eat!"
...

It took a while, but we finally got back to Ascurt town.

As we were nearing the entrance of the town though, several town guards suddenly abandoned their posts to rush towards us.

"ARYL!", a guard shouted as soon as he reached us. "YOU HAVE TO RUN! NOW!"

Seeing that the guard was gasping for breath as he struggle to speak, Aryl patted his back. "Take it easy, Jake. Breathe first"

Hearing Aryl's words, Jake - the guard, stopped to catch his breath.

After a while Aryl spoke up again. "Why exactly do I have to run?"

"The viscount's furious that you killed his son!"

"Mhmm... and why do I have to be afraid of a mere viscount again?"

"L- Look, Aryl, I know that you're strong but you're nothing compared to viscount Tyeranz's army!"

Aryl's expressions hardened at this. "Army? What's going on?"

Jake answered with an even more serious tone than before. "He's planning to besiege this town to catch you! Aryl, I and all the townfolks are grateful for your help from before so we'll hold him off for a few days at the very least. Use that time to escape!"

His voice then trembled in sadness and anxiety. "I- I just hope that he won't be crazy enough to a- also murder the women and the children"

At his words, Aryl fell into thoughts for a bit before nodding as if she had just came up with a great plan.

She then walked up to the guard and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry too much. That bastard Uqas Tyeranz will regret messing with me soon"

"What do you mean?"

Grinning, Aryl answered.

"Nobody expects the Lyra Inquisition!"