After pulling the green crystal out of his forehead, Kairos contemplated for a moment before deciding to put it into the side of his head. He didn’t want to give up his mana vision, though it would definitely be a burden once he got too close to whatever that high concentration mana was.
And so, remembering how the green crystal worked, he put it far away from the swirling ball of mana in his head. He noticed that the mana he had seen became incredibly faint, to the point that if he stopped focusing, he would miss the mana.
However, when he turned to look at the large concentration of mana, it was still fairly bright, but bearable to look at.
As for the injuries in his head, they healed over rather quickly, just becoming reddened skin which gradually turned back to its natural color. Kairos was honestly a little surprised his regeneration had become this strong, but he definitely wasn’t complaining.
After that Kairos got out of the building.
Almost immediately, Nicole walked up to him.
“What’s wrong?”
Kairos shook his head.
“I don’t know. I’m just getting this weird calling, like something wants me to go somewhere.”
Pablo raised an eyebrow when he heard that.
“Isn’t that what the devil does? I’m pretty sure he calls out to you with fake promises and things like that.”
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
“Perhaps… for some reason though, it feels gentle. Am I going crazy or something?”
Nicole grabbed onto his hand.
“I believe you!”
Kairos shot Nicole a glance. He didn’t know if she understood what he was trying to do, but regardless she was helping his case so he remained silent. As for Chen, he furrowed his brows deeply.
“You said something or someone was calling out to you?”
Kairos shot him a glance and hesitatingly nodded.
“I guess so. Is this what schizophrenia is?”
Chen rubbed his chin in thought.
“Well, maybe we should go to it.”
Pablo frowned.
“But what if it’s some sort of devil calling for him?”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders, quickly speaking after Pablo had finished.
“It could totally just be me losing it too. Maybe there’s nothing even there.”
Chen let out a soft sigh.
“It’s not like we have any other destination. If it really is the devil calling out to him, then we will know not to follow wherever he is being called. And if we find out that it’s actually nothing, then we can just ignore it.”
Kairos gave a nod and spoke before Pablo.
“That sounds reasonable.”
Pablo hummed.
“But we have to be very careful. It could be something dangerous leading us to a trap.”
Kairos nodded.
“Alright then.”
Nicole looked down at the ground.
“I think it must be something good. As long as I’m with Kairos, everything feels like it will work out.”
Chen let out a sigh.
“Then let’s hope it works out. Lead the way man.”
Kairos gave a nod and began walking towards the large concentration of mana in the distance. As it would turn out, it was extremely far away. They had been walking for roughly an hour, yet they still hadn’t made it anywhere.
Pablo scratched the side of his head.
“I guess it really was nothing. There were no damn grocery stores here either it looks like…”
Chen sighed.
“Well, this path was as good as any.”
Kairos shook his head.
“No, no. I can definitely feel it now. It’s definitely getting closer. It was weak before, but now I can hear it very clearly. It shouldn’t be too far away now.”
Nicole clapped twice.
“Oh, really? Then let’s go!”
Before Chen or Pablo could protest, she excitedly began walking forwards. Kairos walked forth two, and in the end, the other two decided to follow along.
As they continued to walk at a pace normal people would consider running, Pablo was continuing to lose patience every second, as was Chen, though he seemed to be more in control. On top of that, they were getting to the outskirts of the city.
Eventually, Pablo let out a sigh.
“How about we look inside nearby buildings as we go? We can find food along the way.”
Chen nodded.
“That sounds good.”
Kairos shook his head before pointing up in the sky.
“It’s fine to do that, but look over there. I don’t know what it is, but something is there.”
That was actually a complete lie. Because the thing he was pointing at was the top of what looked like a giant blue crystal. Something he was quite familiar with.
A dungeon.
It was perfect, as it would get Chen the points that he would need to reach the peak of D rank. In fact, perhaps even Pablo could get to that rank as well, then the both of them could complete the third part of the promotion mission.
Nicole let out a small gasp.
“What is that thing?”
Pablo blinked a few times.
“That… is very large. I’m surprised you were able to make it out despite needing glasses.”
Kairos coughed.
“I’m far-sighted.”
Chen blinked a few times.
“Though it doesn’t seem to be food related.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“I figure it probably has a better chance of having something than any nearby building. If there really isn’t anything, then we can just leave.”
Chen sighed.
“I guess so.”
With that, the four of them got closer to the dungeon and went faster than usual. After a bit, they were able to make it. They saw a massive blue crystal in the center, and all around it were countless skeletons.
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched, as he completely forgot about that aspect of the dungeon. Seeing that probably would discourage them from going any closer. He also thought that perhaps he should let Nicole stay outside, but after a bit of contemplation, he remembered that Nicole’s inborn ability should help quite a bit in surviving.
Pablo immediately spoke up after seeing all the corpses.
“Fuck! This is definitely a trap! Look at how many people have died there.”
Chen shook his head.
“It does look like a trap. We really shouldn’t test it.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“Maybe there’s some sort of monster guarding a treasure. Let’s get a little closer to see if there’s anything around. If that many people died, then there must’ve been something worth dying for nearby.”
He slowly walked forwards, hoping to get the others to do the same. He remembered last time when he got within a certain radius of the dungeon, he was forced to go inside.
Nicole happily went with him, slowly stepping forward. As for Chen and Pablo, they didn’t seem to be budging any time soon.
Chen sucked in a cold breath.
“I don’t believe that doing this is worth the risk.”
Pablo nodded.
“I agree fully.”
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched when he heard that.
“But aren’t you guys basically the strongest? I doubt there’s anybody above the D rank, and if there are, there must be incredibly few.”
Chen clicked his tongue.
“It’s best not to underestimate other people. Especially when they are other people that are stronger.”
Kairos took a deep breath.
“But both of you said before that we have to take risks. Whether we just want to survive ourselves, or if we want to bring back food to the others.”
Nicole pouted.
“You did say that! Are you taking it back now?”
Pablo frowned.
“…But there’s a difference between taking risks and walking into a trap.”
Chen narrowed his eyes.
“If… if we only scope out the general area, then I’ll accept it. Otherwise, I’m not joining you in this endeavor.”
Kairos internally let out a relieved sigh and nodded.
“Of course. That was already the plan.”
He steadily got closer, along with the others.
Soon enough, he saw a notification appear before his eyes.
[Please enter the dungeon. You have no other choice, so please hurry up.]
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched. He felt that this was definitely a different message from what he first saw. It seemed that whatever this system was, it was tired of him trying to be cautious.
After a few moments, Kairos let out an exaggerated gasp.
“A dungeon! We… we need to get to the center now!”
Pablo began to panic.
“What? Why the hell would we do that?”
Kairos ran forth without waiting.
“We have no other choice! I can feel it!”
Chen narrowed his eyes before trying to back up, but found himself slamming into a wall.
“Damn!”
Pablo pulled his mace all the way back and threw it forth without abandon. Unfortunately, after a clear bang, it rebounded.
“Fuck…”
Chen rushed towards the center after seeing that, and Pablo hurried after. Pablo yelled out with indignation.
“I knew it was a god damn trap! We never should’ve come here!”
Chen shook his head.
“It’s too late to complain now!”
By the time Kairos was right next to the crystal, he could see a strange green mist coming down from the air. He pressed his hand onto the crystal before it reached him, and he saw that Nicole did the same thing as well.
His vision warped.
It was quite different from what he last remembered, as his entire vision was filled up with strong concentrations of mana, making him feel quite uncomfortable.
But eventually, that disappeared, and he found himself in a room. Looking around, he noticed the entire place seemed to be made out of mana, as it was flowing through every single part.
There was also a familiar holographic projection on one side of the room, with a corridor on the other side.
[You have entered the first floor of the dungeon. You know the drill.]
Kairos blinked a few times. He didn’t remember the system having that much sass before, but decided to ignore it. He didn’t even glance at the holographic projection before cracking his neck.
“Alright then. Let’s get back to it.”
He extended his future vision to two seconds just to see what kind of traps would be in the corridors. When he stepped forth, he felt his leg get cut off by a gale spell.
Kairos stopped himself and narrowed his eyes.
“…That’s inconvenient.”
While he could use his future vision to get through, he would probably have to keep it extended to two seconds for it to work. The problem with the gale spell was that it was rather hard to detect. Other than a somewhat light whistling sound, there was nothing else to indicate that they existed.
Kairos rubbed his chin.
He remembered how Nicole was able to sneak up on him. If it wasn’t for his future vision, she would’ve been able to kill him. As for the gale spell, while it was hard to detect, he probably wouldn’t die from it.
In other words, his awareness was somewhat lacking.
He decided he was going to try to make it through the corridor without relying too much on his future vision. After glaring down the corridor, he closed his eyes.
And took a step forward.