Solo Dungeon Runner-Chapter 38: [ Progression Through The Dungeon ]

The dungeon was a labyrinth, most paths they took ending in a crossroad that went either left or right.

He was almost fully healed, the potion's slow effect was truly remarkable. Everything, from his headache to what must've been broken bones was essentially as good as new.

Fae walked meters ahead of Alexander, leading the way ahead. Zombies sporadically appeared on their paths, easy to deal with.

Despite how damaged her sickles were from the repeated strikes on the stone enemies, she easily struck them down in one hit.

They were most likely disruptors, he thought.

The dungeon by its maze-like nature took a fair bit of time to cover, rest was eventually necessary which meant a low-level zombie would be a problem if they both fell asleep.

Thanks to the potion, he felt fine to continue, but doubt fluttered as he watched Fae strike another zombie down.

"Do you need to sleep or rest soon?" he asked.

She turned around, facing him.

It felt like a stupid question.

She had never requested any rest, he wasn't completely sure she had slept through the night at his place.

"You do rest, right?" he asked.

She nodded.

"But you don't need to, right now?"

She shook her head.

He nodded as well, as she turned once more to clear the path before them.

Undead humans weren't the only threat. Different types of zombies began to appear the deeper they went.

Undead dogs, birds or monstrosities he couldn't even name.

Things that crawled, on the ceiling or on the floor, with too many hands and legs.

They had been walking for several hours, dealing with a lot of them.

Every time they arrived at a crossroads he destroyed the torch on the side they chose, making sure he wouldn't cross the same path twice.

They found a boss room in about two hours, after leaving the archmonster, yet walked away.

It was easy to tell apart, the first set of doors they encountered with carved designs going around its stone frame.

He was expected to die in the dungeon, and so the solution was simple.

He needed to extract every drop of exp from this place.

They had seen the [ Level Up! ] pop-up twice, raising their levels to 14.

He gained no new skills or effects, most likely only gaining ghost stats, causing him to sigh each time he opened his profile.

As they progressed, Fae kept glancing back—as if needing to confirm he was still there. That he hadn't vanished.

She could hear his steps, but it wasn't enough.

He'd nearly forgotten—she liked hearing his voice. So he spoke again, breaking the silence between footsteps.

"There should be more archmonsters before the boss. We just got lucky and found the path to the boss. We'll hunt the other ones down, then we'll take care of the boss."

She slowed down, walking beside him while looking at him as they kept walking through the torch-lit environment.

"We'll gain as many levels as we can, then we'll take care of the boss."

His voice became slightly somber.

"This isn't an E-tier dungeon, so the boss is likely much harder than the archmonsters..."

He patted her head. "But I think we can do it."

She didn't smile with her face—it wouldn't matter much since it was hidden behind a mask. Through her gaze however, he could feel she did.

"Completing the Dungeon is the secondary objective. Our real goal is figuring out what your mask does."

Fae stepped ahead, dealing with an approaching undead before quickly getting back next to Alexander.

"If what Titan said is true, then we still haven't figured out what it truly does. It alleviates your condition, but apparently you still haven't activated it."

She remained a silent listener, taking in every word he volunteered her way.

"Do you feel a sort of 'switch' that allows you to activate some sort of effect?" he asked.

She shook her head.

He grabbed his chin, his gaze going to the floor as he processed everything he knew.

They turned into another corridor, Fae quickly getting rid of the associated torch, both of them then coming to a full stop.

The corridor was different.

Statues.

On each side were statues, resembling the ones they had seen when they first entered.

These were different, the previous ones had human skulls with animal-like features while these had animal skulls with human-like bodies.

It was the opposite, some of them with bird-like skulls while others had snake ones.

He glanced at Fae, but she already knew what to do.

Alexander raised his hand. [ Witness of All Paths ].

It felt like the temperature dropped, as if the pathway before them was darker ever-so-slightly.

[ Reach Beyond ]

In the ground on his left a rift split the tiled stone letting out a tendril that belonged to a creature Alexander didn't even know the name of.

It reached out, thicker than it was the first time he used the spell. It recoiled on itself, before slamming into the first statue on his left.

Its speed was considerable, making a distinct whistling sound as it smashed into the statue.

The statue collapsed easily, chunks of stone crumbling from the structure and falling onto the tiled floor.

Unlike the previous time, where they were at the end of the corridor, they were at its entry.

Instead of torches extinguishing from the end of it, where the biggest statue resided, this time they started right before them.

"The archmonster is going to be the last one to move," said Alexander.

Fae nodded, readying her now dull weapons.

The statue that opposed the one Alexander smashed to pieces started moving, its neck moving left and right in a cracking sound as it took life.

Fae dashed in. Her flowery form didn't hold back her strikes, one spin more than enough to dig through its torso.

The statue fell to the ground, raising a dust cloud.

Dungeon cores appeared from the debris of both statues, Alexander kneeling to grab both of them.

He looked up at Fae, his eyes staring into her through her mask.

He silently cast [ The Gift ].

Her body tensed as if listening to something only she could hear.

He couldn't see her eyes but could feel it working.

Her movements would be sharper, her strikes cleaner, her reactions faster.

"Take care of the small statues, I'll take care of the one at the end," he said, his eyes fixed on the tall structure towering above the others at the back.