Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Not a Reward, but Punishment?
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The Gargoyle Cave in the mid-layers of the Fresia Mountains.
In the game, it was a dungeon smack in the middle of medium difficulty, an odd place where the only monsters that appeared were gargoyles.
With nowhere good to dodge inside the cave and a ton of monsters, getting surrounded made it a real nightmare, but handle it right and the high monster density turned it into smooth farming territory.
Normally, this place should have been echoing nonstop with the sounds of gargoyle footsteps, wingbeats, and that gravelly growling scrape against the rocks.
But...
"Why is it so quiet in here?"
Ravi spoke up less than a minute after we'd entered the cave.
Thanks to her Bunny tribe traits, her ears were sharp enough to pick up sounds even Nana or Elfin couldn't hear, but even she wasn't catching anything right now.
And wouldn't you know it—Ravi and I had recently cleared a dungeon together that felt just like this, with almost no sense of monster movement.
We locked eyes at the exact same moment, shared a knowing glance, and quietly shifted into combat stance.
"What the heck? Why are you two suddenly like this? Did you sense something? I don't feel a thing."
Elfin, an elf with keen ears herself even if not quite Bunny-level, looked flustered as we geared up for a fight out of nowhere.
"Elfin, remember when Alvis and I ran into that weird stuff at the goblin camp? The vibe in there was exactly like this. A spot that should be crawling with monsters, but nothing's there—just dead silence... It keeps taking me back. No telling what might go down, so you should get ready to fight too."
"That goblin camp with the curse ritual? Didn't Alvis take out that creepy dark spirit thing? If anything, doesn't that make a situation like this better? Beats scrapping with a gargoyle swarm in this tight space—whatever he did before, he could just zap the dark spirit again."
"No, that won't fly. Can't pull it off just anytime."
If the same thing happened again, things would be different this time around.
Back then, the Eye that Pierces Truth nuked the dark spirit the moment it entered my vision, but right now I'd burned through all three daily uses.
That second activation had given zilch for info and left me hurting bad.
I still had no clue just how strong that dark spirit knockoff was, so if it popped up again, running would be the only play. But last time's memory told me trying to bolt might just trigger backlash damage...
'Damn, feels like we've hit a gargoyle bug.'
Finding the hidden Gargoyle Cave had been a win, but I was kicking myself now for blowing abilities so carelessly.
Regrets for later, though. First things first—break through this cave.
A bit deeper in, we rounded a corner and spotted statues of all shapes and sizes standing stock-still.
"Gasp..."
"G-Gargoyles!"
Ravi and Elfin jumped into fighting stances in a flash but lowered their weapons just as quick.
"They're not alive. Still in statue form."
I muttered as I eyed the motionless gargoyle statues.
Gargoyles needed an infusion of dark magic to break free from statue state and turn into living monsters, but these were just pre-awakening hunks of stone.
A grin split my face ear to ear.
"Heaven's on our side! Guys, smash 'em all!"
"Huh?"
"Is that safe? What if they wake up suddenly? Isn't that risky?"
"Leaving them intact is way riskier! Trust me and hustle!"
This was one of those rare special gimmicks that popped up sometimes in the Gargoyle Cave.
Normally you'd have to tangle with hundreds of the things, but in statue state like this, they just ate every hit without fighting back or even budging.
Sure, they were way tougher, and no loot drops since they weren't "alive" yet, but you got 100% safe experience points on par with killing live ones. Total honey pot.
The key was to wipe out as many as possible before they activated.
To handle dark spirit crap without relying on my eye power, I needed to grow stronger myself—and Ravi and Elfin, who'd be riding with me from here on, needed it even more.
In short, this was the ultimate level-up event for all three of us.
I raised my voice, stressing how risky it was to leave them, and without knowing the full story, Ravi and Elfin got to work demolishing the statues to cut the danger.
Ravi hammered away with her Bunny tribe martial prowess and kicks, while Elfin summoned vines from underground along with hardened earth and rocks to smash them.
The statues proved even tougher than live gargoyles, so they busted what they could before starting to flag, panting hard.
"Ugh... m-my arms hurt... legs too..."
"Huff... huff... Hey, Alvis. Do we seriously have to trash every last one? Still a ton left! I'm wiped—no juice for more!"
"You two tapped out? Fine, I'll handle the rest."
"Ha? We could barely dent 'em, and you're gonna solo the leftovers? Getting cocky just 'cause you found one hidden spot—"
"Watch."
Those two had already demolished well over a hundred gargoyle statues.
My Eye that Pierces Truth was on cooldown, so no precise read on their status, but they'd leveled up big time for sure.
Time for me to clean up.
I grabbed the battered iron sword from my belt, thrust my arm forward, and focused my mind. A swirl of white light soon cloaked the blade.
"L-Light...?"
"That's not aura! What the...?"
Oh yeah—I hadn't shown this to Ravi yet, had I?
The only time I'd used it around her was suppressing those merchant-disguised bandits, and she'd been hunkered in the cart then.
"Wasn't planning to just twiddle my thumbs riding your coattails."
I swung the Light Saber toward the statues, and they shattered into nothing like their defense rating was a joke.
Statues or not, these were proto-gargoyles at their core.
In the game, lifeless statue gargoyles shared the same attributes as the live ones—which meant dark creatures.
And dark creatures were deathly weak to light techniques stronger than themselves.
Shhkk—!
The last gargoyle statue in the cave crumbled to ash, but unlike the goblin camp fiasco, no cursed ritual or mystery monster reared its head.
As the hundreds inside got sliced like soft tofu and vanished, Ravi's bunny ears shot straight up, her eyes going wide.
"Alvis... what the hell?! You were hiding power like that? No sign of it back at the academy..."
Elfin gawked even harder, jabbing a finger at the glowing sword in my hand.
"Th-that light... don't tell me... the Goddess's light, only for holy warriors? You're a holy warrior?!"
"Come on, does that track? It's just a skill. Nothing to do with the Goddess."
"But what you just swung wasn't mana-forged aura—it was pure light! Never heard of anyone but a chosen holy warrior or saintess wielding that..."
"Who said light's exclusive to holy warriors and saintesses? Then every necromancer cultist or witch is an apostle of the Death King? World's got outliers like me. Should've left Arborness and seen the wider world sooner."
"What?!"
I pressed a finger to my lips as Elfin started to bristle and rise, easing her back down before turning to them both.
"But keep what you saw today under wraps. Not a word anywhere else."
"Huh? Why?! If word got out you can counter dark creatures, it'd give people hope—"
"Exactly the problem. I'm no chosen holy warrior, so imagine that rumor spreading now."
"... The Empire..."
Ravi and Elfin's faces turned dead serious as it clicked.
"They're already yapping that Brayden's no holy warrior. Throw in rumors about me wielding light? Empire'd peg me as some title-stealing punk and move to erase me. Sure, I pissed you off plenty at the academy, but you don't want me assassinated... right?"
"Aha~ So you're saying I've got my shot at payback for the skirt and panties stunt?"
"... Elfin."
Ravi shot her a look.
Elfin tsked, turning her head aside with a sour pout.
"Just messing around. Can't forgive the jerk for that, but no way I want him assassinated. Fine, got it. Mouth shut."
"Knew I could count on you two. Hug for thanks?"
"No way." "Nope."
Thankfully, no dark spirit BS like last time—this dungeon cleared smooth and easy.
The "some" secrets part bugged me a bit, but I'd check it out after cooldown when the date rolled over...
"Alright, let's split the clear rewards? Should be a chest or something at the deepest end. Grab what you need and we head out—"
...
Why the hell hand out punishment instead of a reward for clearing the damn dungeon?