Lucien turned toward the sound and saw the little guy grinning from ear to ear. His large eyes were full of satisfaction, and in his hand was the mana ring Lucien had given him earlier.
"Squeak... Squeak..."
It seed the little guy understood Lucien’s words. He nodded vigorously and held up the mana ring like a trophy.
Then, as if afraid Lucien might ask for it back, he suddenly clutched it to his chest and looked up at Lucien warily.
"Okay, like I said, you can keep all the Infernium and coins."
Lucien rolled his eyes at the little guy’s suspicious look.
Previously, he’d thought that even after sending the little guy into the beast space, he might fall into a coma and take a long ti to recover.
But surprisingly, he’d managed to recover in just over an hour.
So, in a good mood, Lucien decided to let his beast companion keep all the Infernium ore and the remaining gold coins scattered around the ground. After all, he did save his life.
’But where the heck are the other Glimrgnaws?’
His status panel still showed about twenty rodents under his control. But here, he couldn’t see a single tail in sight.
When the fight was at its peak, they seed to have run away.
So much for control and surrender, they didn’t seem all that affected at all.
If not for their uncanny greed, he doubted whether he could use them against the Earth Dragon like before.
’Forget it. Let’s leave this tunnel and return to the forest above.’
Lucien decided to let it go and instructed the system to release the Glimrgnaws listed under the List of Allegiance.
There was no point in keeping them now.
"Let’s go. It’s ti to head outside."
After wrapping everything up, Lucien slowly stood and gave an order to the little guy. Since he was still inside the tunnel, he had no idea what might be happening outside.
He was supposed to be taking a test, yet here he was, wandering around like a lost soul.
Just as Lucien turned around to head back the way he’d co, he suddenly felt the little guy tugging at his pants.
"Hmm? What now?" he asked, his face puzzled.
"Squeak... Squeak..."
The little guy, seeing Lucien looking at him, hurriedly pointed in the opposite direction with its tiny hand, clearly intending for him to go that way.
"Oh? You want us to go there? But... why?"
Lucien glanced at the dark tunnel stretching into the distance. He felt there was no point in venturing into a place where danger could lurk around every corner.
However, the little guy was adamant. He refused to let Lucien turn around, persistently pointing in that sa direction again and again. It seed as though he knew sothing.
"Alright... we’ll go that way. But we’re turning back if anything happens."
Seeing the anxious look on the little guy’s face, Lucien finally decided to follow his companion’s wishes, earning an eager nod in return.
Then, he signaled for the little guy to climb onto his shoulder and slowly began walking forward, deeper into the darkness of the black tunnel.
...
...
"Are you sure it’s this way? Why do I feel like we’re going nowhere?"
In the dark tunnel with no end in sight, Lucien couldn’t help but express his doubt while slowly walking along the narrow path.
It had already been over half an hour since he’d left his original spot and ventured deeper, but aside from darkness, he saw nothing.
He was already having second thoughts about staying here. He still had other important things to do, after all.
"Grrrr... Squeak..."
Just as Lucien was thinking that, the little guy on his shoulder suddenly growled and jumped down.
Then, it darted rapidly toward one side of the tunnel without even waiting for him.
"Hey, where are you going?"
Seeing his strange behavior, Lucien imdiately ran after him in the direction where he had disappeared.
Fortunately, the little guy didn’t run far, and Lucien managed to catch up to him quickly.
However, as soon as he arrived at the spot where the little guy had gone, he saw sothing that made his jaw drop.
It was a massive crack in the ground, seemingly endless, and looked like a portal just like the one he entered before.
Only, it was enormous, stretching from the depths of the underground tunnel all the way up to the surface.
"What... what the hell is this?"
Just by looking at it, Lucien felt a chill run down his spine; it seed extrely dangerous.
"Squeak..."
"Hey, don’t.... little guy, STOP!"
However, to Lucien’s astonishnt, the little guy didn’t stop at the sight of the massive rift at all.
Instead, with eyes gleaming with extre greed, it suddenly jumped straight into the fissure and vanished without a trace.
"Fuck!"
Lucien cursed as soon as he saw the little guy disappearing right into the rift.
"Damn! What happened to him? Did he sense sothing?"
Lucien wasn’t stupid. He had already noticed the oddness of the Glimrgnaws the mont he saw them in this tunnel.
One thing that was particularly strange about them was the extre greed that knew no bounds.
It even exceeded their survival instinct. Otherwise, there was no way a large number of E-rank monsters would enter D-rank lairs without fear.
Not to ntion the tag, "Touched by the Seed of Greed," which Lucien finally saw on the status panel of the Little Guy.
’That guy Glen was also talking about the Sin Seed... and the warning from Liora...’
The points were getting connected seamlessly, and Lucien had already guessed sothing from all the clues.
’Did little guy sense sothing inside?’
This novice dungeon was a closed one, and there was no way any monster could get out on its own.
Hence, to be touched by any kind of Seed of Greed or whatever, it had to be there in the first place.
"It seems he was trying to take to this place from the beginning."
Lucien understood and slowly approached the shimring rift.
Whatever the case was—whatever reason the little guy had for leading him here—he didn’t know much. But he knew one thing: he had to enter this rift, if only to save that little guy.
After all, that creature was completely consud by Greed.
Fortunately, Lucien could still sense through the Soul Link that he was alive.
"Let’s go inside. Maybe the real test of this dungeon was waiting in there all along," Lucien finally mumbled, then stepped into the rift, vanishing in an instant.
Only, just before he disappeared, his right hand unconsciously brushed the cube hanging at his waist.
It was the sa container Glen had once used to seal his mana, and Lucien had a feeling it would co in handy once again.
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