?My eyes were stung by a faint light hitting my face, faint but intense enough to disturb , even if only just barely.
I slowly opened my eyes as a blurry light replaced the darkness behind my eyelids, and the first thing I saw was... a green sky.
I stared at this... green sky for a while with my barely recovered sight. Strangely enough, there was no sun. I didn't know where this green light was coming from.
The question of where am I echoed in my mind. As I forced myself to sit up, I realized that I couldn't put enough strength in my arms, and I realized that there was a small pain that was spreading throughout my body.
However, this pain was not sothing that would bother excessively. So I ignored it. Finally, I managed to sit up and looked around.
I was in the middle of a truly vast plain, covered in lush green grass. Different trees, a waterfall I could see in the distance followed by a river, and beyond that a few mountain ranges that seed to reach into the sky were the first things that caught my eye.
In the sky that didn't have a sun, most everything was greenish because of the strange green light that had replaced it. It made the already strange situation even stranger, but it was nothing I couldn't get used to.
Besides... there was sothing else in front of that was more important and much more noticeable. And that was sothing that did not belong to this environnt, sothing special to .
I felt really stupid for a mont as I stared at the system notification just sitting there. But when I focused on the word 'dungeon'... my mories slowly began to flood back into my mind.
That masked demon, Revon... The dark street, the dead people...
Ah, Lucia and Sue!
I turned around with a quick movent. I clearly rembered touching them before I used the disk, so they must have been dragged here with .
And so they had.
Sue was on the floor not far from , with her eyes closed. She didn't seem to be awake yet. Lucia was a little further away from her. Her body couldn't be seen much because it was in so tall grass, but I could tell it was her from her outfit.
The mont I saw the two of them, I felt a sense of relief. If they hadn't co with ... they had no chance of surviving in the hands of that demon. Not even , how could they?
But I had succeeded. I had managed to save our lives... at least for a little while.
Rembering the notification I saw before I passed out and was dragged into the dungeon, all I could do was bow my head, squint my eyes, and start brooding.
We're in a B grade dungeon... is it possible to clear it on our own? My general power is C grade, I don't know how strong Lucia is, but I'm guessing she must be at D grade. And Sue is... just an ordinary human.
Did I cause us to jump into a different version of death while running away from it in the first place...?
No, I shouldn't think like that. We wouldn't have survived if we'd stayed in there. I'm sure of it. The fact that my ring was vibrating to the point of cracking and I couldn't think straight at that mont easily explains it.
I paused for a mont, thinking about my strange state of mind in that dark street.
Now that I can think more clearly... Lucia was right. That dark street, that demon nad Revon... he was definitely preventing from thinking straight and playing with my emotions. Now, freed from his influence, I feel much more refreshed.
I took a deep breath and looked around again.
This is a Recta-type dungeon, which ans it's a standard dungeon. Which also ans that it's quite possible that there are creatures around.
But... I can't see a single creature in this plain where we are literally in the middle of it and doing nothing. Not even in the distance. I can't see or feel any threat to our lives, and my ring is not reacting to anything.
I expected a B grade dungeon to be full of deadly things, and now... this strange but peaceful world is the opposite of what I imagined.
Frowning and squinting, I slowly stood up, then made a ntal note of one thing.
No matter what I see, no matter how I feel, this is a B grade dungeon. I must act accordingly. Even if we don't encounter anything deadly now, there's no guarantee that we won't in the future.
So, the first thing I did was to walk toward Sue, and when I was in front of her, I leaned down.
"Hey, Sue. Wake up."
I shook her a few tis as I said this. Imdiately afterward, her eyes slowly opened. Her dark blue eyes focused first on my face and then on the sunless green sky behind .
A puzzled expression appeared on her face. But then it turned to sothing in front of her that I couldn't see. And then... her expression beca that of soone who had no idea what it was.
"Dungeon? Party...?"
"Uh, well... I had to drag us into a dungeon to escape that... demon. That's the situation in a nutshell. I'll tell you the details later, but first, we need to wake Lucia up and find a safe place."
Sue stiffened for a mont as if she was just rembering what had just happened. The color drained from her face and she looked at with fear in her eyes.
I spoke again quickly.
"Don't be afraid, at least for now. We're not on that street anymore, we have other problems and that's why we have to move fast. Like I said, I'll give you a more detailed explanation once we're in a safe place, okay?"
Sue nodded slightly, but the expression on her face did not disappear. The brutality she had seen, the fear of death she had experienced was really too much for soone as... ordinary as her. But she was still listening, and that was enough for now.
"O- okay."
I smiled slightly, helped her to her feet, and then pointed to Lucia. Together, we made our way through the grass, which was almost up to our knees, and reached Lucia's side.
But... the mont I did, my eyes widened. Sue froze beside .
I could only see part of her body because the grass hid most of it, but when I got to her and looked at her again, it was different.
Lucia was not unconscious. None of her limbs were moving, but her face, her breathing, and the palms pressed to her chest were on the verge of unconsciousness. The place she covered with her hands was red, the blood that watered her clothes was also slowly watering the soil beneath her. The wrinkles on her face, the trembling of her fingers, and her expression showed the pain she was suffering.
I rembered the warmth I had felt just before the disk took us into the dungeon, the warmth that spread over . The person in front of at that mont was... Lucia. So... one of those spider-like limbs that ca out of the back of the demon nad Revon had actually reached Lucia.
My eyes drifted down to my chest, to my clothes. When I saw the blood stains on , without thinking any further, I quickly bent down and put my hand on Lucia.
I quickly activated the Guardian Radiance. But I focused it on Lucia, not on . Lucia's expression seed to relax for a mont as a yellow glow slowly enveloped her body. But it wasn't enough.
Sue quickly crouched down beside . A thin cardigan appeared in front of her as she broke a dinsional button she pulled out of her pocket. Then she tore it off, gathered it up, and looked at .
Without waiting for her to say anything, I understood what she ant. I took out one of the disinfectants that I always kept in my dinsional inventory just in case and gave it to Sue. Then I put my full focus on Lucia.
I slowly transferred my mana to her body, trying to understand how severe her wound was. I slowly closed my eyes as Sue pressed the disinfectant-soaked part of her cardigan over Lucia's wound.
What I saw... while not heartwarming, was not despairing. The attack had missed her heart. Moreover... Lucia's wound was already beginning to close. It must have been slowly healing even before I used the Guardian Radiance. Even now, it was healing steadily, her body trying to close the wound in an abnormal way. Maybe it was one of her skills, maybe it was sothing else, but I didn't care.
I continued to support her with my mana, and Sue did her best to stop the bleeding, discarding the soiled pieces of her cardigan and reapplying disinfectant, pressing it against the wound again, and so on. Lucia's expression got better with each passing minute, thanks to the Guardian Radiance and that abnormal healing she had.
The minutes chased each other. Lucia's wound continued to close and heal. Finally, after about fifteen minutes... Lucia's eyes stopped flickering. Her expression was more relaxed than ever.
At first, I was scared... but then I realized she was still breathing and looked at Sue.
Sue pulled back the piece of cloth she had pressed tightly and we looked at the wound.
The bleeding had stopped. What was left of the wound was a scar that still showed signs of not yet fully healed, but looked good for soone who had just received it. In short, Lucia was still alive.
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