Volume 3 Chapter 15: The Rugar Ruins 1/4

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Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

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The dungeon Cain had stepped into was apparently called the Rugar Ruins.

The receptionist had explained that the dungeon hadn’t been completely mapped out yet, and that currently they were conducting an exploration of the fifteenth underground floor.

The entrance was covered with large stones, with a cobblestone path leading inside the ruins. Using [Light Ball], Cain continued inside.

Cain used [Search], but it felt as if something was interfering, and thus the furthest he could send his magical power was only a couple dozen meters in front of him.

“What the… Eh, I’ll just take it slow anyway…”

Having walked on for around five minutes, he reached a fork in the road, and, using the map Letia had given him, he headed towards some stairs heading down. There was also a note written with the map that monsters didn’t really appear on the ground floor.

It took him less than half an hour to find the stairs going down.

He hadn’t seen any monsters on the ground floor, nor met any other adventurers.

The first (underground) floor, unlike the cobblestoned ruins of the ground floor, seemed to be bare dirt and rocks, forming a passageway.

The road was about five meters in width, and stretched on, winding back and forth. Cain, using search, continued on forwards.

As Cain proceeded along the road relying on the map, he felt a monster ahead.

“My first monster… I wonder what it’ll be…”

As he carefully proceeded onwards, it turned out it was three goblins. They hadn’t noticed Cain yet, and were sitting in a circle at the end of the passageway.

“Goblins, huh… I’ll finish them off quickly.”

Cain ended the goblins in quick succession with [Air Bullet].

“Nothing’s going to be a match for me on this floor… I’ll go further then.”

Leaving behind the dead goblins, Cain proceeded onwards. As it had been explained to him that dungeons absorbed the corpses of monsters and made new ones out of them, Cain left them there.

Also, goblins’ magic stones were worth only a few copper coins, and considering the time and effort needed to retrieve them, going ahead was more profitable.

Using [Boost (Body Strengthening)], Cain ran through the dungeon. He occasionally passed monsters or adventurers. They tried to react to Cain, but he was running at tens of kilometers an hour on a path only a couple meters large, so he was gone before they could even point their swords at him.

The number of adventurers kept growing the lower the floor was, but after passing the eighth floor, Cain didn’t meet any adventurers any more.

Then, when he reached the tenth floor, there was a huge door in front of him, with adventurers taking a break next to it.

He had been told by Letia earlier that there was a gatekeeper on the tenth floor, which you had to defeat to pass through to the lower floors.

Some of the adventurers in front of the shut door were checking their weapons, while others were lying down and resting.

The adventurers who noticed Cain widened their eyes in surprise at seeing a child alone there. And a woman wearing a robe went up to Cain and asked him.

“Did you come here alone? It’s dangerous here, so go back. As a newbie who managed get to here, you really should, okay. This is the Gatekeeper’s room, and even a C-Rank party can only barely take the monster inside down.”

The woman in her twenties, most likely a magic user, tried to convince Cain to return back up, but Cain had no intention of going back any more.

“Thank you very much for your advice. But, it’ll be no problem, I’ll be fine. I’m quite confident in my strength.”

Cain flexed his still delicate arms, showing her his biceps. Although, his muscles didn’t rise up that much at all.

Adventurers were responsible for themselves. But, it seemed like the woman still felt protective towards the still young Cain.

“Airi! Stop looking out for the brat and come over here, the door should be opening soon!”

A swordsman who seemed like the leader of the party called out to the woman.

“Yeah… Seriously, don’t overdo it, okay?”

The magic user left those words behind, returning to her party.

Cain decided to wait for his turn a little further away.

After around ten minutes, the door, which had been closed shut, started opening on its own.

When it did so, the adventurers who had gotten ready said: ‘It’s our turn,’ and, taking a deep breath, they entered. The woman sent one last glance toward Cain as she too entered the room.

“I’ll have to wait for my turn, huh… I wonder how long it’ll take…”

Cain, now alone, sat down in front of the door, waiting for his turn.

And, half an hour later, the door opened again.

“I wonder what kind of monster it’ll be…”

Excited, Cain went through the doorway.

When he had entered, the door closed, once again on its own.

There was a large space inside, in the very centre of which there was a magic formation on the ground.

The magic formation began shining, and a five-meter-large monster appeared from it.

Its muscles couldn’t possibly stand out more, and it had the face of a cow complete with the two horns on its head.

The minotaur was pitch-black, and had a huge club as well.

Then, the minotaur let out a roar so loud that it shook the very ground itself, trying to intimidate Cain.

Cain, however, didn’t pay it any attention and just pulled out his sword.

“A minotaur… It’s preeeetty big though. Also, were they always that colour? It’s different to the ones in the forest… Well, this is a dungeon, so I guess it would differ from normal ones.”

Cain thought casually, putting magical power into his sword. Then, he closed the distance between them in an instant.

It may have been a gatekeeper, but there was nothing in that world that could match Cain and his Status.

He swung his sword only once, and the minotaur lost its head.

The minotaur was a B-Rank monster, so Cain decided to take it back with him to the adventurers’ guild. He quickly put the corpse away in his Item Box.

The sound of something moving came from behind where the minotaur had been, and what had been a rock wall had now opened up to show a path.

“So it was something like this… guess I’ll go on, then.”

Cain went through the room and entered the passageway, at the end of which he found the adventurer party from earlier.

All of them were injured, and the battered-looking magic user, Airi, was bandaging the other adventurers.

Seeing them like that, Cain ran up to them.

“Are you okay!?”

The adventurers looked up with painful expressions as Cain ran up to them.

“You… are unharmed!?”

Airi raised her voice in surprise.

“Yes, I said I was somewhat powerful, didn’t I? But still, this is…”

The other four were sitting weakly on the ground, their armour discoloured by blood.

“Yeah… a B-Rank minotaur was too tough for us C-Ranks after all. We somehow managed to beat it, but as I hardly had any magical power left, if I used any more, my consciousness would go ‘poof’, so I could only apply the minimal amount of healing to them…”

Airi gazed at her companions apologetically.

“I can use healing magic too. I still have plenty of magical power left as well, so I’ll heal them.”

“What… but even if you heal us, we don’t have anything to give in return…”

Giving the apologetic Airi a sideways glance, Cain cast healing magic.

[Area High Heal]

When Cain cast the magic, all the adventurers were enveloped in light.

When the light went out, none of them were injured any more.

“What the hell…”

The adventurers were really shocked. Making sure they weren’t injured any more, they exclaimed in happiness at having been healed.

But one of them was still as still as a statue.

“What, how…”

Airi was so shocked she could hardly speak.

Airi went up to Cain and asked him about his magic.

About [Area High Heal]. And how he hadn’t even chanted it.

Area High Heal was high-grade recovery magic. Even amongst adventurers, only the highest-ranked ones could use it. In the church, one had to be priest-class to use it.

And a young boy who hadn’t even grown up yet easily cast that high-grade recovery magic. Airi could comprehend how amazing that all was, as she herself could use recovery magic.

“Your wounds may be healed, but I can’t return the blood you lost. If you could…”

They all nodded at Cain’s words.

“Kiddo, thanks for helping us. What’s your name? We’re the C-Rank party [The Silverwolf’s Fang], and I’m the leader, Destra.”

“I’m Cain. Please just call me Cain!”

Loosening up a little at Cain’s smile, Destra held out his hand. Cain grabbed his large hand with both of his, and they shook hands.

The adventurers might have been healed with magic, but as they had lost a lot of blood, they decided to take a break before heading back up above ground.

“We can’t repay you right now, but we definitely will once we’re back in the town. See you later then. Take care.”

“– – Cain-kun, really, thank you. I couldn’t heal them all on my own. But still, that magic from earlier…”

Airi, who had been frozen in place until then, asked Cain with a hint of awe.

Cain smiled and put a finger to his lips.

“That’s a secret. I’m just good at magic. Bye then!”

Saying goodbye to the resting adventurers with a smile, Cain headed on to the stairway leading further down.

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TN: seems like I don’t have to physically go to school next week either, so guess what that means (daily releases yay)

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