Click.

When Raven pushed a stone embedded in the walls, the candles in the stone chamber lit up at once, and the hall became brighter.

Oh, how did you know about this again?

Books are a treasure trove of knowledge.

Yeah, you can read anything in a book.

Let's see, ah! Here it is.

Raven pushed a brick, and a book fell down from the ceiling with the clicking sound of a mechanism.

'Necronomicon'.

A grimoire of black magic, and an item that was sold at a fairly high price in stores.

Damn it.

It's something I discovered with my own abilities, so I'll take it as agreed.

That's fine. We wouldn't be able to take it out without distortion magic, anyway.

Hahaha

Raven laughed awkwardly.

She probably knew all about it from the map she'd memorized.

The 'Necronomicon' was considered an item, and could be taken outside even without distortion magic.

Would you mind putting this in my backpack?

Yes, Mistress Raven.

My stomach hurt with envy, but all I could do was watch while the wizard swallowed the loot all by herself.

Huh, I'd thought to collect it myself later

Why the hell did she know about this, when she didn't even know what was hidden under the statue?

Then shall we go?

As we walked along the straight passage for about 10m, we came across a two-way fork under a huge statue of a devil.

Miss Raven?

It doesn't matter which one we choose. We're going to hunt all the monsters anyway, right?

We went around the '' shape of the 'demonic shrine' and methodically hunted down the monsters.

Gargoyle statue, deathfiend, chimeric wolf, and bone knight.

Not only did the corpse golem drop an essence, but we even got the longing type, so we're pretty lucky.

Yes, this rain of good fortune wasn't like my usual experience.

Hate, sorrow, longing.

A 'bone knight', a level seven monster, can have one of these three attributes at random. And we got the easiest and the most rewarding type.

The longing type only has the ability to 'drain life', which restores its own life when it hits. And I can simply negate it with my 'cancel regeneration' magic.

Raven bragged proudly, but in fact, with or without her, the longing type would've been the easiest.

The sadness type, which emitted a mist that caused delirium, had a very annoying ability even in the game.

Well, it wasn't in the same league as the hatred type, though.

The dwarf said thoughtfully.

If we're talking about luck, I've heard that the hatred type is the weakest, right?

Fuck you.

Knights of hatred use 'soul slash'.

A crazy skill that does no damage, but has an atrocious probability of dropping your level.

[Companion A suffers serious damage to his soul and his level drops.]

Once it crits, this message appears in the battle log regardless of HP, defence, or magic resistance.

And when this message appears, it's better to give up and start nurturing a new character.

That's a lot easier than recovering the lost experience by speedrunning portals.

It's really scary to have your soul's rank go down.

At Raven's explanation on my behalf, the dwarf shuddered and breathed a sigh of relief.

However, this wizard girl did not miss the opportunity to show off her knowledge and continued to explain.

Ah, if you have as many essences as your soul allows, one would be lost at random. Perhaps this is something that other adventurers might not know.

As expected of a wizard, she was bang on.

However, if I could add one more piece of information as an old pro

'Soul slash' crits more easily the lower your level.

And now I was only level two.

Even with my bad luck, I was really lucky I didn't meet the knight of hatred

Essence.

Fuck, is my luck finally turning?

Another essence dropped at my hands.

It belonged to none other than the seventh-grade monster, the bone knight.

What is this?

Even the corpse golem dropped an essence

Was this the so-called 'bountiful fortune'?

It is as if God is watching over you. Ha ha ha ha!

I know what you mean. Maybe the guardian would drop an essence too?

Each of them gave meaningless congratulations and looked at us.

Me and Ainar.

It meant one of us would have to eat this.

After thinking for a while, I came up with an answer.

Ainar, take this for yourself.

Is, is that alright?

It would've been a lie to say I wasn't tempted.

In fact, now only the guardian was left, and no one could be sure whether another essence would drop or not.

But

You said you wanted to be strong, didn't you? So take this.

From a player's point of view, it was more reasonable for Ainar to take it rather than me.

'Drain life' was a good fit for swordsmen, and I was in a position where I'd have to give up my weapon someday.

And above all, Ainar was reliable.

Judging by her honest personality, she wouldn't leave me to fend for myself and instead stay by my side.

So, rather than being impatient, it'd be more efficient to make Ainar stronger, and then use that strength to get an essence that fit me better.

Oh, thank you! Bjorn! You're the best! I'll definitely repay this favour!

With my permission, Ainar took the essence with excitement.

The change was dramatic and immediate.

W-, what the! Why did you all suddenly grow so large!

You're the one who turned small, Ainar.

What?! Really?!

Ainar's height, which was around 2m, decreased sharply.

In an instant, she came down to around the late 170s.

This is the basic effect of the essence of the bone knight. In return for a significant increase in bone density, your height decreases.

Raven, who liked to explain things, recited the information known by this world's standards.

If instead of terms like (high), (middle), (low), etc., you expressed it in terms of hard numbers:

[Bone Knight]

(P) Antiseptic All wound aggravating effects (poison, bleeding, decay, etc.) are halved.

(A) Drain Life Temporary significant increase in regeneration when you strike another.

Don't worry. You wouldn't have lost muscle strength just because you got shorter

I, I'm ruined! Nobody will see me as a warrior anymore! Everyone already looked at me funny because I'm a woman!

Did people really make fun of her because she was a woman?

Or was it a complex all in her head?

By the way you look really pretty.

Raven, watching Ainar scream, murmured with interest.

Is it because the skull structure shrunk? Maybe this could be sold to nobles as cosmetics

That, that means I'm not a warrior anymore?!!

I didn't know it was going to be this bad, so I hurriedly cut in trying to fix it somehow.

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No, no. Ainar, everyone already knows that you're a great warrior!

To be honest, except for the tattoos on her upper body, she now almost looked like a tall human woman

What's wrong with getting just a little bit shorter!

Do you call this a little bit?!!

But you're much stronger now! Isn't that good enough?

I was the only one trying to console her.

The rest were pure sociopaths, busy chattering with each other, ignoring their colleague's misfortune.

Ha ha ha! What a strange essence. If a dwarf like me eats it, he'll become invisible!

Hmm, that's a fun idea. Whether the height reduction effect is proportional or absolute, I need to look for examples after I go back.

I'm ruined!!

Ha ha ha! Is it because you're a barbarian? Even if you're short, your voice is still very loud!

Ainar, if it's okay with you, can I examine you once we get back to the city?

I'm ruined!

All of you, please stop and be quiet.

My ears are ringing, and my head hurts

Deathfiend!

Thanks to the monster that ran in from afar attracted by all the noise, the commotion somehow barely subsided.

However, perhaps because they were curious about Ainar's transformation after absorbing the essence, everyone took a step back and expressed their intention to watch.

Behel-ra

Ainar swung her greatsword with a shout that was completely devoid of spirit.

And

Snikt!

No, I didn't hear it wrong.

Her greatsword made a slashing sound rather than a blunt impact, for the first time.

Was this what cutting force +12 looked like?

Ainar, aim at the head!

Uh, uh got it!

Surprised by her own change, Ainar leapt up high and chopped her greatsword straight down.

And then

Snikt!

The deathfiend, which used to need dozens of hits with the two of us, died in a single blow.

That one shot cleaved through the hard skull and reached the brain inside.

Look! You've gotten much stronger!

Then, am I still a warrior?

Does that make sense?

Ainar, second daughter of Penelin! Now you are not just a warrior! You're a stronger warrior!!

Behel-raaaah!!

Thank God, she finally cheered up.

Her balance was off because she'd lost weight, but she'd become much stronger once she got used to it.

Aren't they a really good couple?

I know, right?

I ignored the useless chatter between the wizard and the dwarf, and proceeded forward.

Because I'd realized once again that the only way to shut them up was by fighting monsters.

Come on! Bjorn! If you eat one, you can also become a stronger warrior like me!

Regaining her motivation, Ainar really kept fighting with all her heart and soul.

Thud! Kthunk! Snikt!

Unfortunately, even after hunting all the monsters in the shrine, no more essences dropped.

But I didn't give up hope.

Because the best part of the rift, the guardian, was still left.

We'd been lucky enough so far, so couldn't that luck last for one last round?

Just when that thought crossed my mind

I've had a lot of fun with you guys, but now it's almost over.

The dwarf boldly raised a flag.

Raven followed.

It's a bit sad. This is my first time in the labyrinth, but I think I can understand why my seniors go on adventures.

In that instant, it felt as if I'd been dumped in a frozen river.

Come to think of it, when had I ever been this lucky in my whole life?

Even if I combed over my entire lifetime, I couldn't find a single instance.

Something would always happen to spoil things at the end.

The screws in my head, which had been loosened to the limit, tightened at once, as an unknown premonition loomed over me.

Then I'll go in.

What's the problem?

If the worst were to happen now, what would it be?

Infighting?

That didn't seem correct.

The loot distribution had already been agreed, so even if an internal conflict were to happen, it'd only happen after the guardian died.

Screech.

As the dwarf opened the door to the stone chamber, I observed our surroundings.

With an iron certainty that something was going to happen.

I paid close attention to every little detail my eyes could reach.

Simultaneously, I went over all the in-game information about the 'Blood Citadel' in my head.

So, I was able to find it.

Door! Close the door!

What do you mean

Damn it, it's too late.

Rrrrrrruummbllllle!

At the same time as the door opened

The floor began to shake violently.

And then, at the very centre of the spacious stone chamber, a shape than had been hiding in the dark stood up, and took off its hood to reveal a wretched face.

Only Raven, the wizard, realized the how serious was the predicament we were in.

No, that's absurd

The guardian of the rift had changed.

Instead of the 'death knight' that should've been waiting for us here

The lord of the Blood Citadel wakes up from his deep slumber.

A 'boss' monster without any retinue.

Nevertheless, it was a monster with a level five difficulty.

A true 'hybrid' monster, proficient in black magic as well as melee combat.

A monster we would've only had a faint chance to meet even if we were on the sixth floor.

Vampire

A so-called 'high variant', not an ordinary vampire.

Simply put, he was a named monster with intelligence, a name, and a history.

I even knew his name.

I haven't seen any of the living in a long time.

Vampire Duke Cambormere.

Where are you guys from?

On behalf of the frozen crowd, I opened my mouth.

Let's run.

Fuck, why are you doing this to me?

In the game, even if I sang, come out, come out every time, you never showed up!