The X Guide-Chapter 31: About Dungeon Explorations (1)

There was no teasing that happened after that, not because the two were scared off by the threat, but because packs of wolves were coming in earnest.

Of course, the real reason the teasing did not continue was entirely because of Ayen’s words and not these monsters.

When Devion said they could clear A-class dungeons alone, much less together, he was not lying.

Lightning crackled as they spread to the surroundings, annihilating every wolf it passed. Devion did not even move a step from where he stood.

Followed by lightning, ice spears rained down, accurately striking the wolves. It did not take too long before the monsters realized they were no match; whimpers and howls dominated the battlefield.

They began trying to escape, even those who were injured, but how could they be allowed to? They came on their own; now they needed permission to leave!

None of them would be granted one, of course.

Soon, Ayen witnessed a monster massacre in real time. None of the wolves that arrived were spared.

Devion whistled at the sight. "They are weak but cost a lot."

"Come, help us harvest mana cores." Khal began to walk towards the pile of corpses. Ayen had to scrunch his nose at first at the smell of blood.

His eyes swept around, and everywhere were corpses of wolves, and their blood painted the ground red.

"Tell us if you’re about to vomit," Devion asked, not teasing or anything but with genuine concern.

Khal turned around slightly to look at Ayen, but after seeing he was fine, he began to sort the spoils again.

"I’m not that fragile," Ayen responded, not offended, but he wanted to say it. He observed what they were doing for a second and came forward.

"Let me help."

Devion smiled sheepishly and handed over a small purse. Ayen already knew what it was, without needing to ask. He still felt surprise, a bit. Since they were SS-class espers, acquiring a rare space artifact only made sense.

Since Ayen could not possibly slice the skin of an A-class monster, he was the one sorting the mana cores the two harvested from the bodies.

Khal and Devion put them on the ground as they carefully passed each corpse, and Ayen would pick them up to put in storage. Some wolves did not have mana cores, while the others had bigger ones.

"Ohh, jackpot!" Devion cheered. He stood up and raised the huge mana core in his hand. It was the size of his two fists. "Look, almost S-class." He grinned and presented them more clearly.

There was still blood dripping on them, but it could not conceal the radiance the mana core emitted.

"He must be manifesting to be S-class, poor guy," Devion said without the slightest hint of pity in his voice. "Look, you want it, Ayen?"

Ayen gave him the storage for Devion to put the core in himself.

"I won’t have use for it." Ayen refused. He admitted that seeing a rare mana core was surprising, but that was it.

"Eh?" Devion pursed his lips, as if disappointed, but suddenly his eyes lit up. "Right!" Devion seemed to have an epiphany, and his figure disappeared in front of Ayen, only to appear beside Khal.

"Remember that one seemingly useless artifact?" Devion started. Khal, who was freezing like a monster, looked up.

"Artifact?" His eyebrow shot up, glancing at Ayen, who was walking towards them, and then back at Devion. "You mean... that ring?"

"Yes, that ring." Devion nodded furiously.

Ayen heard their conversation but did not know what they were talking about.

"What about it?" Khal asked the same question Ayen had.

Devion rolled his eyes and sighed. Khal frowned at him.

"Just spill it."

Devion looked at Ayen for a bit and talked. "Ayen’s going to be reassigned soon. We don’t know where or how far."

Khal nodded, and so did Ayen.

"Ayen also won’t want us to meddle." Ayen stared intently at him, indicating a strong agreement. Devion faked a cough and continued. "All I’m saying is, we have to be prepared. We’ll give that artifact to Ayen and upgrade it with this."

Devion had yet to put the huge mana core inside the space artifact and raise it for the two to see.

Khal fell silent, seriously considering it.

"Wait," Ayen intervened. "What artifact, and I already refused to take that core." He pointed at it.

"It’s a hybrid artifact. It’s good at defense and offense, but it’s useless to us," Devion explained.

Since their defense and offense were stronger than what that artifact could give, it was deemed useless. And only if that was talking about them, SS-class Espers.

For lower-rank espers and especially a Guide like Ayen without combat power, it was already a supreme artifact. What was more, it did not have rank restrictions.

"I get what you mean. But," Khal trailed off in his words, hesitating. "Where did we store it again?"

"..."

Devion deflated like a balloon; his expression sank. "Where is it?"

Silence fell, and the two became lost in thought, as though now on a memory lane to remember where the ’seemingly useless ring’ was stored.

Ayen found this all comical, but he could not laugh at them when their intentions were about his safety.

"You can try to find it," Ayen chipped in, at least.

The two turned their gaze on him, expressions incomprehensible. Ayen could not understand why they already looked exhausted from thinking of trying to find it.

Devion finally sighed, face sour. "That’s the only way."

Khal’s left eye twitched. "Sure... I guess."

"Why?" Ayen curiously looked at them. Was it complicated to retrieve them? "If it’s too troublesome..."

"No," Khal interrupted Ayen. "It will only require a bit of an effort... probably a bit more."

"Or, days of effort," Devion cut in. His earlier enthusiasm was diminished. But it appeared he was not giving up on the idea either.

The harvesting of mana cores was done a few minutes later. The leader of the pack and the biggest wolf were frozen and also put in another space artifact.

The space artifacts could only hold different things, and the area was not large. Some mana cores had to be put in the bag instead.

The dungeon was not huge, and they easily reached where the boss was. Although it was called a boss, that was only a term for the strongest monster the dungeon had nurtured.

Espers cleared dungeons by killing these ’bosses,’ but that did not mean the dungeon gate would close. It only meant the dungeon would take time to create another ’boss,’ and thus, dungeon breaks would not occur.