The more salamanders Nico cut down, the quieter the hall grew. A few of them managed to scratch him, but he remained resilient, fighting them off until they eventually died out.
He landed one more critical strike right across the last stalagmite salamander's neck and began catching his breath.
Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he glanced around him and saw that the others were cleaning up the last of them.
"Nico, are you alright?!" Oscar shouted as he ran towards him. "Oh no, you're pretty banged up! Alice, Harold!"
"Dude, cool it, I'm fine," Nico assured with a soft smile.
Harold quickly joined them and began healing Nico. His wounds closed, but the bruises remained. He rolled down his left sleeve and looked at his health points.
It was orange, until it turned green when Harold managed boost it.
"Thank you..." Nico said, his voice low, almost quiet and in disbelief.
Harold smiled. "Don't mention it. We're a team, aren't we? Besides, you're the most injured here. The rest of us are fine."
Jasper ended up joining the group and looked at Nico. She simply nodded at him and walked away, making him smile.
The others then joined in. Ray extended his arms and embraced Nico, lifting him off the ground and spinning him around.
"Nico, you son of a bitch!" he exclaimed and snuck in laughter between his speech. "You're more than a loudmouth, huh?!"
"Hey, what was that spell?" Alice inquired.
"It wasn't a spell," Nico shook his head. "It's a mechanic within the game. I was testing it out to see if I could exploit it. Turns out, I can."
"Think you can teach Gary how to use his sword like that?" Vanessa smirked and bumped Gary's hips, making him stumble to the side.
"Hey, I don't need him to teach me anything. But... I'll admit it, you aren't so useless afterall..." Gary scratched the back of his head.
"Wow. I think this is the first time I'm actually sensing sincerity from him," Alice whispered to the others.
"Good for you, Nico," Oscar said, showing his small fang as he nudged Nico and smiled at him.
「Level Up!
+3 system points earned!」
「Level Up!
+3 system points earned!」
[Bonus: +2 Strength]
'Oh? I levelled up twice?'
「PLAYER STATUS – [V777 (Vortex_7)]」
◆ Level: 4
◆ Race: Phoenix
◆ Class: [Locked] (Lvl. 30 Required)
◆ HP: 115 / 115
◆ MP: 165 / 165
◆ Aestrol Coins: æ0.00
— ATTRIBUTES —
◆ Strength (STR): 11 (+2) ⟩⟩ 15
◆ Endurance (END): 11 (+2) ⟩⟩ 13
◆ Dexterity (DEX): 11 (+2) ⟩⟩ 13
◆ Luck (LUK): ★☆☆☆☆ [Fate Hates You]
— RANKINGS —
◆ Overall Value: 1,600th Place
◆ Location: Pyrros
◆ Allies: None
— ABILITIES —
None Unlocked
— INVENTORY —
9 / 30 Used
Nico smiled to himself. 'Still weak... But, I can only go up from here on out.'
"Good job, team! Nobody died! That means we've already gotten past the average death counter for first-time raiders," Raymond announced as he cracked his knuckles.
"What's the average percentage?" Nico asked.
"About 60% of players die on their very first dungeon raid," Alice commented.
"Does it have anything to do with their luck rating?"
"It shouldn't, because normally, players start with two stars, which is enough to get you through a level 10 dungeon on its own."
Nico nodded. "Cool. So, what happens from here onwards?" Nico inquired, trying to change the subject as soon as possible.
[Congress of Salamanders slain: 1 /3]
Everyone watched as the system screen unfolded right above them, displaying the message. Additionally, one tunnel began glowing, meaning that's their next location.
[Stalagmite Salamanders slain: 9]
[9 × æ2,000 = æ18,000]
[Finder's Fee: –æ5,000]
[Guild Centre Loan: -æ2,400 + 15% loan rate = æ2,760]
[Thank you for paying off your loan! Be sure to visit South Pyrros Guild Centre for a free energy drink!]
[Aestrol Coins: æ10,240]
Nico sighed. 'This finder's fee is straight up bullshit in my opinion. Guess I'll chalk it up to me being unlucky for the day.'
"Well, it seems like we're all a little tired from this first round. I say we take a quick one-hour break before we continue," Raymond suggested.
"Nico, tell me, how'd you actually kill those stalagmite salamanders?" Oscar asked curiously, his smile stretching his lips and his cheeks.
Nico chuckled awkwardly as he pulled out his basic knife. "Yeah, I'm not telling you that."
"Aw, come on~"
Nico then grabbed the salamanders that hadn't despawned and began skinning them, carefully sliding his glass-durability knife beneath the scales, plucking those that refused to budge.
Oscar and Harold watched him closely, not even wanting to ask questions until he was done with the first.
Once it was fully skinned, Nico began filleting the corpse, removing the venom sack in its mouth before chopping up the rest of the meat.
He glanced at the two and noticed them watching. He smiled softly and continued working.
"Did you know that this sack of venom is worth æ3,000 coins? I just checked the market. Also, a single scale is worth æ10 coins, and I'm counting well over a hundred, so that's an extra æ9k for all the salamanders I slew.
"Their meat is also precious. A leg sells for æ500 while the head sells for a thousand."
"What are you gonna do with all that money?" Oscar wondered.
"Buy myself better gear. Believe it or not, but my stuff is actually pretty shit."
"I was wondering why they weren't falling after the first hit. It's your weapon," Harold commented.
"The weapons are only half the problem. I'm also relatively weak. I'm only currently at level 4," Nico laughed softly.
"Dude, really? I just got to level 6..."
"Perhaps growth varies. We were here longer than Nico afterall, Oscar."
"Yeah, but... I guess nerds really are badass."
Nico, Oscar and Harold laughed while Vanessa watched Nico from a distance. 'What are you planning exactly, Nico?'
Some time later, some of the group members had fallen asleep in separate tunnels. Nico, however, stayed awake and spoke to Jasper.
He noticed that her hands were covered in scabs and bruises, making him tilt his head as he reached into his inventory.
He pulled out a healing potion and placed it next to her. Jasper glanced at the bottle of green liquid and scowled.
"I didn't—"
"If you get attacked in the next hunt because you're injured, you'll die full of regrets. Plus, you'd be slowing some of us down," Nico commented.
Jasper laughed softly. "I'm not gonna pay you back."
"Did I say you had to? Is this the thanks you guys in Birmingham give to people who help?"
"I'm not from Birmingham, dickhead. I'm from Nottingham."
Nico whistled. "What was it like growing up with Robin Hood?"
"Fuck off," Jasper playfully shoved Nico, making him chuckle.
They sat in silence for a while before Jasper sighed and looked in the corner of her eye. She crawled towards Nico and pushed him against the wall, positioning herself directly in front of him.
Nico glanced around him and noticed Vanessa and Gary kissing. 'What the...?'
"Don't think anything of what I'm doing. I just don't want those two to hear what I'm about to say to you," Jasper whispered, her minty fresh breath grazing Nico's nose.
Something about the way she said that confirmed his suspicions about Vanessa and only further solidified everything he had put together about Raymond's crew.
Nico pulled out his knife. Jasper noticed and almost attacked, only stopping when she noticed Nico tapping the wall behind him with said knife.
He put it back into his inventory. "Could you get off me?"
Jasper nodded and did as she was told. "Sorry. I thought..."
"It's alright."
Jasper looked at Nico and saw that he was looking at Oscar and Harold, who were starting to wake up.
Her eyes then landed on Vanessa, who was smiling at Jasper while Gary kissed her neck. That entire exchange told her two things:
Number 1, Vanessa could somehow hear them. Even if they whispered, she would hear them. Hence why Nico shut her down.
Saying anything could jeopardise any plan that he had been formulating up to this point. Plus, Alice and Raymond were also on both ends of the wall, meaning they could probably hear them as well.
Number 2, Oscar and Harold are oblivious to the plan being concocted by Vanessa and her crew.
Meaning they would become a casualty if they were suddenly roped into this.
'It's up to both Nico and I to put a stop to these people.'
"And for the record, I want nothing to do with whatever you're cooking. I can't even defend myself against these weak monsters. How am I going to fight them?" Nico whispered, making Jasper raise an eyebrow.
"What?"
Nico stood up and walked out of the tunnel, leaving Jasper in a state of perplexity.
'Lovely, innit?'