'also.'
I looked with delight at the rock raccoon that had died miserably, unable to even show a single proper pattern. The rock fragments that had once been its head were now covered in ice and rolling around on the ground.
It was definitely the right choice to leave the finishing touches on the rock raccoon to the Knight Commanders, as they were much faster, safer, and more expeditious than I could have done on my own.
If it were me, I would have had to roll over and hit him for a long time.
"It was nothing special except its size. It was slow, just like you said, so it was easy to catch."
Lize said as she walked towards me. The ice covering her silver armor began to melt away. When she took off her helmet, blue hair was revealed.
"That's definitely true. If I had gone at it alone, I could have caught it easily."
Erika also took off her helmet. The round ponytail at the back of her head stood out even more. With a click, the sound of Erika putting her Japanese sword back into its scabbard was heard.
"Is this the end, rookie?"
"That's right. How can you survive in that state?"
"… … I once fought a monster that could regenerate its body even if it was torn apart. I was wondering if it might work."
"That's not just a simple piece of shit, is it?"
I pointed to the corpse of the rock raccoon. The head was frozen and shattered, and below it was melted and charred by flames. The rest of the body was horribly broken.
It was absolutely not at a level that could be expressed in just one word.
"That's true."
Iris laughed lightly. It seemed like it was meant to be a joke from the beginning.
'I have a rough idea of what you're saying.'
The monster that was just mentioned, the one that can regenerate even if its body is torn to pieces, was referring to one of the mid-game bosses.
This boss can arbitrarily dismember and reassemble his body, but because of this, boss fights often drag on and turn into a game of tag, so he doesn't get very good reviews.
Well, it's not like it's a rock civet level, though.
A few years ago, Iris fought it and retreated without a conclusion, so when you show her evidence of defeating it, she is very happy and praises the protagonist.
"Mr. Newbie. Now it's your turn. Do you know what to do?"
Erica glanced back. Where her eyes landed was a green glowing rune stone.
The stone that provided the rune would disappear and then reappear somewhere, the location and timing being completely random. It could take a few days, or it could take decades for it to reappear.
It was a fact that could be confirmed in the writings of a scholar who had devoted his life to studying the regularity of those random appearances and then failed and cried out in despair. It was also one of the few gag scenes in B4.
I approached the stone monument from which a soft green light was leaking out. I saw an incomprehensible ancient script carved into the stone. I felt three pairs of hot gazes behind me.
"It starts."
I put my hand on it. The green light swirling inside the tombstone began to transfer to me. It felt like a strong wind was blowing through my blood vessels inside my body.
I closed my eyes and chose a spot for the rune tattoo. It could be anywhere on my body, but the best place to get it was the back of my hand.
As I focused my mind as if I was touching the UI in the game, the wind that had been rushing through my entire body soon gathered on the back of my left hand. My hand trembled on its own for a moment, and then a hot heat rose up in me.
The heat soon subsided. I opened my eyes and examined the back of my hand. I saw a tattoo of a peculiar shape. It was a tattoo that meant a vitality-boosting rune.
'I don't really feel it.'
It could be because your stamina isn't decreasing right now, and unless you roll 4-5 times in a row, there's no way to consume stamina.
'There were also guys who chose female characters and tattooed this on their lower abdomen.'
The original meaning was not harsh at all, but looking at this reminded me of people who used it for strange purposes. For example, tattooing a uterus on a female character.
A typical example was users who deliberately chose a female character, customized her to be sexy, then dressed her in tight clothes and combined runes to create a vagina that resembled a heart.
'Anyway, they're geniuses.'
Such users would create heart or uterus shapes in combinations that no one else would have thought of. Or they would even change the shape of the tattoo itself through modding.
While I was thinking about these useless thoughts, the rune transfer was complete. The green light completely permeated my body. The stone tablet that had passed the rune to me lost its light and turned into a pile of ordinary stones, crumbling.
Now it will appear again in a dungeon somewhere in the world.
Of course, this is just the setting. There has never been a case where a player would obtain the same rune again in the same round, even though the rune reappeared.
This is merely a device to add more plausibility to why the player can acquire all the runes.
"Are you done, rookie?"
"Here, rune tattoo. I've definitely absorbed it."
"What is the effect of the rune?"
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'...huh?'
Iris' question made my mind freeze for a moment. Thinking about it, how do you check the rune effect?
In the game, you can just press Esc and open the character status window to check it there, but right now, there is no status window or stats window. There was no way to check the rune's effect right away.
I have memorized the effect of the Vitality Boost Rune itself. It is an effect that increases the character's natural stamina recovery rate by a certain amount. However, there was no way to directly check it, whether through text or anything else.
"...."
"...?"
Iris looked at me blankly, as if asking why I was doing that.
"Isn't something popping up in your head? That's the effect of the rune."
'Oh, so that's what it was.'
Here, it seems that when you acquire a rune, information about it comes to mind right away. Since I already knew about the Vitality Boost rune, nothing comes to mind.
There was no need to worry about whether the Knight Commander knew about the concept of stamina, since he had already checked the names of all the stats in the ability check orbs.
"Uh… … It says that stamina natural recovery speed increases?"
"That's a pretty useful effect. You're quite lucky. Congratulations, rookie."
As I expected, Iris understood the meaning right away. It was an effect that I didn't need, but it wasn't a bad effect to have anyway.
"With this, we've achieved our goal of entering the dungeon. Now all that's left is to leave… … ."
Erica looked around.
"I don't see any passage leading outside. I guess I'll have to go back the way I came."
Lize frowned at the thought of having to go back the way she came. It had been nearly an hour and a half since she had walked down there. It was only natural for her to react that way if she had to walk back up.
It's okay. After all, once you get the rune, one side of the wall will collapse.
"But it doesn't matter, except that it will take quite some time since there won't be any monsters."
Kururung, before Iris could finish speaking, the wall right behind where the rune was collapsed, revealing a path.
"… … I guess I won't lose."
"It seems that the structure was such that when you acquire a rune, part of the wall collapses. I will record this in the report later."
"Okay, rookie. Is there anything else you need to do here?"
I shook my head from side to side. Once I acquired the rune, I would never have to come back here again. There were no other items, and there was nothing left to gain.
Even if it comes, it won't come. You fucking rock cunt.
"Okay, everyone, get ready to go out."
The way out was quick. Erica and Iris were brainstorming about how the dungeon was structured, and Lize, as always, was clinging to me and chattering.
Outside, darkness had fallen, making it impossible to see even an inch ahead. It felt like hours had passed.
Considering that the dungeons for acquiring runes usually take around 20 minutes at most to clear, this really took a really long time. On top of that, most of that time was spent performing the rock raccoon gimmick.
Even if we take into account the fact that the scale has been transformed to be more realistic than in the game, Iris and Erica also said that the dungeons were quite large, so it was true that it took a long time.
'With this, all the rune slots are unlocked.'
Now, you can go to another dungeon and get a rune that will allow you to ignore the battle fatigue debuff, and then continue the main story while gradually leveling up.
'... ... Wait a minute. But how far is it to that place?'
As I was thinking about the location of the next dungeon, I stopped thinking for a moment at an unexpected fact.
Even in the game, the city with the Silver Dawn Knights and the dungeon with the rune that allows you to ignore the battle fatigue debuff are quite far apart.
Especially now that everything has been scaled up to the actual scale, it's obvious what the distance between the two will be.
The answer is obvious when you think about how long it took to ride to the boss field of the headless cavalrymen, who could have easily been reached in a few minutes on horseback.
'....'
Even at the very least, it would probably take three weeks.
"What are you doing, rookie? We're leaving now."
"Oh, I have something to think about. Sorry. I'll be right over."
Iris, who had already retrieved the jewels around the horse and was riding on the horse, urged me on. Lize and Erica were also waiting for me. I gave a brief apology and rode on the horse.
"It's late at night, so let's hurry back."
Iris rode her horse and galloped away. Erica followed close behind. Rize and I followed a little further behind.
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"Just a minute. I have something to say."
"...?"
How far had we run? Lize, who was riding right next to me, spoke to me in a serious voice.
"What is it?"
"I noticed that you, a newbie, seem to be having some troubles. I wanted to ask you what's going on."
"Wait, was it that obvious?"
"It's an expression that you can't help but notice?"
"...."
Well, it was something I was thinking about quite seriously. I knew the terrain and general location of the area, but I couldn't just rely on that and set off.
It wasn't just a few days, it was a distance of almost three weeks. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find it properly.
"I don't know what else you're thinking, but there's nothing good you can do if you worry about it alone. I know you worry about us, but we worry about you just as much. It might be better if we all worry about it together rather than you struggling alone."
"… …Why are you talking so seriously?"
"I know how to read the mood, don't I?"
Lize chuckled.
It would have been the perfect consolation if he hadn't immediately teased me by saying, "They say most men's problems can be solved by touching a woman's breasts. What do you think? Are you interested?"
'Well, there's no reason for me to worry about it alone.'
Now it's time to reveal that my stats have been increasing, and it's also time to start revealing information that will be helpful to the Knights of the Silver Dawn.
It was time to take out the omnipotent shield once again.