[Queen of Valor Mission: Part 1 Completed]
[Reward: 150 EXP, 3 Random Stat Points]
[Receive: +1 Strength, +2 Endurance]
[Queen of Valor Quest: Part 2. Available for Acceptance]
"Of course I accept!"
[Queen of Valor Mission: Part 2]
[Description: The Heroic Queen has witnessed your entire journey and is very fond of your bravery and sincere personality, so she has decided to grant you the next part of this quest]
[Completion conditions]
+Kill 30 random monsters (0/50)
+Reach level 10 (6/10)
+Use 10 different weapons to destroy enemies (2/10)
[Reward: 500 EXP, 8 Random Stat Points, 1 A-Grade Weapon]
"Oh, it's a pure combat type of quest. It's not that difficult so I guess I'll try to do it while in a place with a lot of monsters like a dungeon."
"But now go rest, today we fought a lot and got tortured by the dark version of the baby. It really is strange…"
Ruminas brought the little spirit back to the large, ruined room where she had fought the two golden golems earlier. She carefully placed the little spirit down and built a bonfire.
In the middle of the ruined room, the campfire flickered, giving off a bit of warmth in the cold space of the dungeon. Ruminas sat with his back against a broken piece of wall, slowly chewing on a piece of dry food that he no longer bothered to appreciate the taste of.
The little spirit lay neatly on a piece of cloth Ruminas had laid down, curled up like a small sleeping creature. Looking at it now, it was hard to believe that this was the one who had caused her trouble not long ago.
Ruminas stretched a bit, feeling that her body was still a bit sore but at least it wasn't unbearable. The new quest sounded simple, just killing monsters and trying out different weapons.
"It might take a while, but it's worth it."
She muttered, then let herself slip deeper into sleep.
…
Ruminas didn't know how much time had passed, but when she opened her eyes, she immediately felt that something was wrong. The campfire was still burning, indicating that she hadn't slept for too long. But the surrounding atmosphere had a strange silence.
Ruminas sat up and rubbed her eyes to see things in front of her more clearly and she saw… the little spirit flying in front of her, looking at her with a worried expression.
"You're awake?" Ruminas said as she stretched.
The little spirit immediately backed away but then slowly moved closer, it clasped its hands together as if it was troubled about something.
"What is it?" Ruminas asked.
The little spirit of course did not reply but only bowed to her.
"You want to apologize?"
The little elf nodded.
"Do you still know what happened?" Ruminas asked again.
The little spirit nodded again.
"So that's you too?"
The little elf nodded and then shook his head.
Ruminas pondered for a moment and then said, "Is it your other half?"
The little spirit nodded vigorously.
"I see…"
Ruminas didn't ask anything further, she just took a box of food and started to enjoy it. The little spirit was still beside her, it seemed like it was still worried about something.
Ruminas smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm not calculating, but if I meet that version again next time, I'll have to hit it a few times in retaliation."
The little spirit immediately showed confidence, pointing at himself as if to say he would also help.
"You hate it too?"
The little spirit paused for a moment and then shook his head.
"Looks like the relationship isn't too bad, huh?"
The little elf nodded with a slight smile.
"Tell me your story someday, okay?" Ruminas asked.
The little spirit paused for a moment, then nodded slightly.
Ruminas didn't say anything more and just focused on eating. If you want to improve your relationship, you can't rush it, you can only take it step by step.
After finishing eating, it was time for Ruminas to decide what she should do next. She had been in this dungeon for quite a while now, but she hadn't found her target yet, so she didn't really want to go back, and she didn't have the confidence to fight the final boss.
"That's so awkward…"
"Maybe I should do the queen's quest first. Killing monsters will help me level up and complete the quest. It's convenient for both sides. And I believe there are more monsters here than 30."
"Let's go!" Ruminas said to himself.
After that, it was her journey as she went through the areas in this dungeon one by one, now except for the main boss, she was almost not afraid of any of them anymore, unless there were too many of them.
When she reached a room, Ruminas encountered a swarm of giant bugs, about a dozen of them. Without a word, she picked up her axe and charged into battle.
The battle was intense and long because these bugs could fly and shoot out paralyzing fluids, so Ruminas had to both fight and dodge.
However, her combat experience was no longer as immature as before, so despite the difficulties, she still overcame them, although there were a few times when she almost died without the support of the little spirit.
[Receive: 400 EXP, 10 beetles]
Just fighting this swarm of bugs took up most of Ruminas's day and her body was sore so she spent the rest of the day resting to get through the day and let her skills recover.
"There really are no easy battles in this depths…" Ruminas sighed softly.
The next day, Ruminas encountered another group of undead monsters, but the difference was that each one had a very large body.
"This time, I'm going to be tired too…" Ruminas let out a sigh and charged into battle with them.
This battle was even longer and more fierce than before as these zombies had very strong muscular strength, and their flesh also had the ability to corrode.
Even though Ruminas swung the axe with great force, it took several swings to penetrate their skin, making it much more difficult to kill a giant undead.
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
"Snake Illusion!"
Ruminas used everything she had for the fight and she finally defeated all six undead after two days of fighting, but she also had quite a few wounds on her body, even the little spirits couldn't recover as fast as she was injured.
[Received: 600 EXP, 30 rotten flesh]
"Fighting these guys is tiring, but their experience is beyond words."
[Enough EXP to level up]
[Level Up Reward: 5 Optional Stat Points]
"Level up again… put all your energy into endurance. Need to be able to handle longer battles."
Ruminas was about to stand up to return to the ruined room to rest, but the little spirit suddenly pulled her back, pointed at her, and made a gesture of holding her nose.
"Hmm?"
Ruminas tried to raise her arm to smell it and almost threw up.
"It stinks… will fighting with these guys still leave a smell? No, I have to take a shower right away!"
So Ruminas changed her target again, she found her way back to the lake she had fallen into earlier to take a bath.
Ruminas took off all her clothes and threw them aside and went down to the lake, she leaned her head against a rock and enjoyed this pleasant feeling.
"This is truly paradise…" Ruminas felt as if all of her fatigue had almost completely disappeared.
She looked over at the little elf and was surprised to see its face red, covering its eyes with both hands.
She looked down at her body again.
"Are you shy?" Ruminas tried to ask.
The little spirit immediately shook its head but its blushing reaction gave it away, Ruminas only found this strange and a bit adorable.
After bathing, she used a towel to wrap herself and washed the outfit. When she was done, she made a campfire nearby to warm herself.
"It feels just like when I first fell down here…" She said to herself.
Ruminas sat by the fire, her wet hair dripping down her shoulders as she wrapped a makeshift towel around herself. She held her hands out to the fire, enjoying the warmth, the fatigue from the battle slowly fading away.
The little spirit still hovered not far away, occasionally glancing at Ruminas then immediately turning away, its face still slightly red.
"Look, what are you shy about?" Ruminas laughed, drawing a few circles on the ground with his hand. "You're not human, so why would you care about such things?"
The little elf hurriedly waved his hand, as if wanting to refute something, but then turned away, clearly not wanting to continue this topic.
Ruminas didn't tease her any further, she stretched and checked her body. Even though she had been in the water for quite a while, the wounds from the previous battle were still sore.
The space was strangely peaceful. If it weren't for the fact that he was in a dangerous dungeon, Ruminas might even think this was a perfect vacation spot.
"This really wasn't a bad experience…" She said.
After making sure his clothes were dry, Ruminas put them back on and put out the fire.
"Let's go, we can't stay here forever."
The little spirit nodded and followed beside Ruminas.