66. Cave of the Demon-Possessed Dwarf - (2)
66. Cave of the Demon-Possessed Dwarf - (2)
***
Thud-thud.
Thud-thud.
The horse raced swiftly across the ground.
—!!
Then, at the end of that burst of speed, the horse spread its beautiful white wings wide and began to fly through the sky.
As the horse took flight, it began soaring swiftly toward the location of the dwarf's cave marked on the world map.
Flap.
Flap.
The horse beat wings like those of a pure white angel as it flew in great arcs. From above, I idly let my gaze drift over the scenery below while fiddling with my Crescent-Moon Weight.
It had been a long time since I'd flown through the sky, after all.
Through the strands of her fluttering silver hair, Serin toyed with her Crescent-Moon Weight and occasionally spoke.
—I really don't need a party.
—Even if it's a party hunting ground, you don't necessarily have to party up, right?
—I'll go check it out first and then decide.
......
Following the horse as it descended slowly to the ground as if gliding, a massive cave entrance came into view amid the enormous vegetation.
—Ting.
For an instant, I felt like I'd passed through some kind of enormous curtain.
A slight resistance.
'I felt something.'
Just as a strange curiosity about it arose.
Holograms appeared one after another, announcing various things.
*
————
— You have entered 『Cave of the Demon-Possessed Dwarf』.
【Several system functions are restricted.】
- Party invites and acceptance are unavailable within the area. Entering the area with other party members applies a 30% Attack Power penalty.
(If a party is formed before entering, the maximum party size is limited to 3.)
- Requests for help are unavailable. Upon death, a 24-hour penalty is applied before re-entry to the area.
- Normal, area, world, and whisper chat are locked within the area.
- Logging out within the area is automatically treated as character death, applying a 24-hour entry ban and death penalty.
【Additional Benefits】
- When entering solo, a permanent 200% increase to Experience and item drop rate is applied.
- An additional 20% drop rate benefit is applied for entering an appropriate-stats hunting ground.
【Other】
- As the user is determined to be running a personal stream, the chat window will remain active.
————
*
I quickly read through the notification window.
'Isn't this obviously a solo hunting ground?'
That was my first thought.
If you partied up, you actually got an Attack Power penalty, whereas entering alone came with all sorts of benefits, from item drop rate to Experience.
"Viewers, isn't this really a solo hunting ground? Anyone can see from the notification window that it's not a party hunting ground."
[lolololol]
[holy shit she's really going in alone]
[am I the only one who thinks Rin's expression is cute? lololol]
[does she look like she's asking if this place is scary? why lololol]
[how is she level 65 and still giving off newbie vibes lolololol]
[the dwarf cave design itself was made as a solo hunting ground, but if you actually try it, they made it so fucking awful that nobody can do it]
[this is hard to explain, but if you actually try it, you'll feel it in your bones]
Thud-thud.
Thud-thud.
Once the horse finished its glide, folded its wings, and came to a complete stop on the ground, I dismounted and set my feet on the earth.
I stroked its mane once as a gesture of thanks for its hard work, and the horse gradually transformed into light and vanished. Then I slowly made my way toward the cave.
From the notification window just now, one thing after another had seemed unusual, but the viewers had been making such a fuss the whole way that I found myself looking forward to it even more.
I took a consumable out of my inventory and used it, and a glowing lantern appeared in my hand.
I'd used the item reflexively while looking at the dark cave, but this aspect was so similar to Black Ark that it was practically a carbon copy.
'...It's strangely similar.'
I hung the lantern at my waist and equipped it.
When entering a cave or any dark place, holding a lantern made combat far too inconvenient, so this was a habitual action born from experience.
Whirr!
As I did so, I spun my Crescent-Moon Weight in a full circle and smiled idly.
Step, step.
Moving lightly without making much noise, Serin soon entered the lightless dwarf's cave, as if being swallowed by the near-pitch-black darkness.
......
The cave commonly called the dwarf cave in chat. About five minutes after entering, I looked at the chat window and asked.
"Around when do the dwarves start showing up? It feels like quite a bit of time has passed, but they're not appearing at all."
Because I couldn't sense anything.
The cave was far quieter than I'd expected.
Since I'd heard the ganking was severe, I'd expected dwarves relentlessly attacking from the start, but no such situation had occurred.
[the dwarf bastards should be showing up soon]
[fr why aren't they appearing]
[they'll show up even if you don't go looking for them]
[lolol if it's your first time here, you just get hit once the moment you go "huh?" and that's how it starts]
[but if it's Rin, she'll probably react?]
[when's the last time anyone saw a dwarf cave solo run lololol]
[is there any jackpot item here?]
[a ring called Dwarf's Ring drops, and it's expensive]
[if you're hoping to get that, you'd be faster off looking for a ring in a real sandpit lololol]
[if it drops it's huge, but the drop rate is lottery-tier]
While checking the chat window full of information, I figured they'd show up before long.
Step.
Walking through the deep darkness relying only on the lantern at her waist, Serin found it fascinating.
Whether you'd call it incredibly realistic cave design, or just marvel at how well they'd implemented it with imagination.
"Even what I can see... there's nothing to tell you except that it's dark."
Literally, except for the light from the lantern at my waist, everything was wrapped in an eerily complete darkness.
......
Step.
I walked for another ten minutes or so, but during that time I wasn't attacked at all.
No, far from being attacked, I hadn't even encountered a single dwarf.
I was about to speak again, finding the walking tedious now.
Tap.
In that instant, I heard an extremely faint sound.
After that.
Serin suddenly stopped walking, slowly let her Crescent-Moon Weight hang downward, and let out a small laugh.
"Ha."
Then she let out a quiet exclamation of admiration.
"Wow..."
Serin's surroundings were still wrapped in pitch-black darkness, making it impossible to properly distinguish any objects.
Serin slowly looked around in a full circle.
At her sudden change in demeanor, the chat window scrolled rapidly.
[???]
[why'd she stop]
[?? what's so interesting]
[it's weird how the dwarves aren't showing up]
[has there ever been a time when the dwarves didn't show up like this?]
[maybe the dwarves knew their opponent was Rin and all ran away? lolololol]
[fr lolol]
[but this is seriously weird]
After checking the chat window, Serin slowly parted her lips.
"It seems the dwarves have finally come looking for me."
Demon-possessed dwarves, huh.
But what part of this looked demon-possessed?
As if mocking my thoughts from a few days ago, when I'd assumed monster patterns and such were all predictable. Through the impossibly thick darkness, I could sense the presence of at least dozens of creatures.
And on a scale that far exceeded anything you could call a gank.
The number was so abnormal that it even felt as though they'd sensed my presence and deliberately swelled their ranks.
Step.
Serin deliberately took one step forward.
As if the darkness receded.
In place of the deep darkness, dwarves with chillingly blood-red eyes rushed at Serin all at once.
Whoosh!
Swish!
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!
Spears, swords, axes, arrows, crossbows. A barrage of every kind of weapon.
There wasn't even any fixed weapon type.
The moment the dwarves revealed themselves from the darkness, Serin immediately deployed a skill without hesitation.
—Ghost Dance.
The tip of the Crescent-Moon Weight, which had hung low since she stopped, rapidly turned blood-red, and Serin burst into dazzling motion.
Swish-swish-swish-swish-swish!!
Red arcs seemed to embroider the air around Rin, countless blood-red lines appearing as chilling sounds rang out again and again.
Thud.
A dwarf collapsed to the ground without so much as a scream, even at the moment of death.
Monsters each had their own screams, but the dwarves targeting her now didn't even make a sound.
"..."
Serin confirmed that indifferently, and the moment she sensed an arrow aimed at her head, she twisted her neck.
Whoosh!
Screeeech!
Putting strength into the hand gripping the cord connected to the Crescent-Moon Weight, she spun once and continued Ghost Dance.
Once again, blood-red lines embroidered the space. The power wasn't as overwhelmingly destructive as what she'd shown in the Colosseum.
No, to be precise, she couldn't properly put power into the skill.
The cave was too cramped for the Crescent-Moon Weight to trace Ghost Dance's usual wide arcs, so the skill naturally lost power.
Swish-swish-swish-swish-swish-swish!
Continuing the Ghost Dance without stopping her movement, Serin lowered her head with a cold expression.
Whoosh!
An arrow shot swiftly past between strands of silver hair.
At the same time.
Swish!
A crossbow bolt shot toward her thigh, and she twisted sideways to dodge it.
But she couldn't completely avoid it. A subtle sensation brushed the upper part of her thigh.
"Heh..."
Serin let out another laugh and put great strength into the hand gripping the cord as she deployed another skill.
—Bloodstained Constellation.
As Serin's hand made an eerie motion, the Crescent-Moon Weight sweeping through the air scattered another strange blood-red trail.
The instant the blood-red energy along that trajectory seemed to burst outward, Serin pulled her body back one step.
Pop-pop-pop-pop-bang!
Thud.
Clang.
The six dwarves charging from the front went still as if they'd died on their feet, their weapons dropping to the ground.
As the sight of the dwarves with their upper bodies blown apart came into view in graphic detail, Serin's smile deepened further.
Flesh seared red by the aftermath of the skill.
It was an extremely grotesque and revolting sight, but Serin found it strangely new.
'After days of only doing the Arena, seeing something like this feels new again.'
In the Arena, even slightly gruesome scenes were automatically mosaicked, but monsters could be shown dying exactly as they did, without filtering.
Of course, depending on personal settings, you could adjust the gore for monsters too... but then a thought struck me.
'Ah.'
I was streaming right now.
[...holy shit]
[what the hell are your game settings?]
[no but I could see all the monster flesh and it seriously startled me lolololol]
[how is she reacting in that darkness]
[that's so fucking gross wtf]
[it's a setting they added to make it feel real, and some people mess with it wrong and actually throw up after killing mobs]
[no but this is her first time getting ambushed and she reacts?]
[I've never seen dwarves swarm like that]
[and she's smiling at that?]
[ah I was seriously in the middle of eating]
[my appetite just died ugh...]
Just because I was fine with it didn't mean the viewers were.
"Ah, first let me just deal with the ones that swarmed in...."
As she said that, Serin ducked her head with complete naturalness.
Swish!
An arrow passed between strands of silver hair.
"I'll change the settings right away."
As she spoke, her slender arm moved, and at its end, the Crescent-Moon Weight traced another blood-red trajectory.
Whoosh!
It pierced through a dwarf's head, and as she retrieved the Crescent-Moon Weight with practiced ease.
Spraaash.
A fountain of blood erupted from the head.
Seeing it, Serin immediately realized she'd messed up.
"Um... I'm sorry if anyone is eating right now."
It was a revolting spectacle that would kill even the heartiest appetite.