Panting heavily, Lloyd felt the increasing desire to drop to the ground and rest of hours, yet he knew that doing so would be a mistake since he had no way of knowing that all the monsters had died or that no more monsters would be coming.
To make the situation worse, Lloyd had an inkling that the night would be much worse than the day, yet after going through the ordeal of killing hundreds of rabbits due to his instincts, he could not help but feel like he might be wrong.
'Behind you.' A voice entered his ears as every hair on his body stood up.
Without skipping a beat, Lloyd barely summoned his blade in ti for him to spin on his heel and flick his wrist to slice an incoming arrow in two.
'Good thing I got my parents to buy a new katana.' Lloyd couldn't help but think as his eyes flickered with a Void Walker's signature violet.
"State your na and class." A feminine voice entered Lloyds' ears, and despite Lloyd being certain that there were no tracks of humans entering before he had entered, he could not help but second guess his ears.
"Who's there?" Lloyd asked with a voice laced with killing intent, yet despite this, the woman's voice did not falter as she replied-
"You are in no position to be asking the questions, boy..." The woman growled while releasing her own killing intent, yet just like her, the killing intent had no effect on Lloyd.
"My na is..." Lloyd paused, thinking of what na to use, yet since he didn't have his mask on, he knew he shouldn't use Null.
"Lloyd. My na is Lloyd." Lloyd told the truth.
*BOOM*
A figure clad in black dropped from the top of one of the hills Lloyd was looking at, and despite the fact that normal humans at Lloyd's level would have had difficulty seeing the figure from so far away, Lloyd didn't have much difficulty.
All he had to do was squint a little, yet even a bat would have been capable of seeing the dust cloud she kicked up the mont she touched the ground.
"Class?" Her voice bood from behind the dust cloud as her footsteps echoed through the burning forest.
"You expect to tell you?" Lloyd sneered.
"You're not even a first commandnt. Yet, you're pretty strong, but that's it."
"You stand no chance." She spoke with a powerful and dominant voice that almost made Lloyd kneel...
"C'mon Hi... Let the kid relax."
Yet just when the pressure would have gotten to him, another voice entered his ears, causing him to look up and see two figures leaving the dust cloud, both of them wearing ankle-length trench coats.
While one of them was a slightly skinny man with short straight black hair who wore glasses over his sowhat pale skin, the other was a 6ft 5 woman with grey hair.
She had light bronze skin, only further amplified by her perfect feminine yet muscular physique that could not be hidden behind her trench coat.
Her eyes were like a pair of Topazes, shining behind the hood she wore that hid most of her face behind a shadow that Lloyd had no problem seeing through.
However, what caught Lloyd's attention was not the color of her eyes, but her pupils.
'Slit slash serpent-like pupils, fangs... She must be a beastkin... Holy crap, I haven't seen a beastkin before. What should I say! What should I do? Is she a feline? Ooh! Maybe she's a furred beastkin, or maybe even a rabbit! Holy sh*t, I can't believe I'm eting with a beastkin!' Lloyd inwardly fangirled while looking at the woman before him.
Looking up, he could not help but see that there was a small bulge in her hood, making Lloyd's eyes widen in delight while a smile he could not control spread across his face.
"Ew... You can do whatever you want with him now. I don't care anymore." The man with straight black hair and spectacles made a slightly disgusted expression while waving his hand at Lloyd as if he was trying to wave him away.
"Really?" Hi's eyes brightened slightly to the point where Lloyd was certain he could see a sparkle in her eyes, yet that could have been his imagination.
"Wait, wait!" Lloyd scread out while standing up and bowing to both of them, making them each take a step back with raised brows.
They both knew that Lloyd was way too weak to do anything to hurt them, but for so reason, they felt as if being near him was dangerous.
'Maybe he has a pseudo-mythic class? No... Pseudo-mythics are usually a lot stronger unless they are using supressants. Maybe he's from a big family?' The woman questioned before turning towards her human companion.
As if he knew exactly what she was thinking, he narrowed his eyes at Lloyd as if he was trying to decipher his family background, yet even after a few monts of looking with one of his optical abilities, he could not see anything, causing him to quickly shake his head at his companion.
Their suspicions only rose when they saw the genuine smile on Lloyd's face as he got out of the bow, but the words that ca out of his mouth afterward only served to confuse them.
"Sorry, I got a little excited since it's the first ti I've ever seen a beastkin..." Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck before his eyes widened in horror, and he bowed again.
"Oh, sorry. You don't mind being called a beastkin, right? I can't really tell what race you're from because of your hood and trenchcoat." Lloyd apologized, yet even though Hi was still on guard and suspicious of Lloyd, the man beside her chuckled, making her raise a brow.
"Where are you from, child?" The man asked with a welcoming smile.
Looking up, Lloyd looked the man up and down before widening his eyes.
The man might have seed skinny and slightly fragile, but his presence alone was sothing else.
'Human?' Lloyd asked himself as another his smile widened.
"My na is Lloyd Elrod," Lloyd replied despite feeling slightly stiff. He didn't know if he should stretch out his hand for a handshake or if he should bow again. Yet if he bowed again, it might seem excessive and maybe even rude, while shaking the hand of soone so much stronger than he might also have the sa effect.
Of course, he could always salute the man, but what kind of mana salutes at their first eting? A soldier would... But he wasn't a soldier...
Before Lloyd could start panicking further in the presence of a beastkin, the man placed his hand on Lloyd's soldier and gave the brightest smile he could.
"Stop panicking, we won't do anything to you." The man laughed before taking a step back and stretching his hand out.
"My na is Roderick Porter. I am a part of the Human Frontier for the Human Army. May I ask you how you got here?" The man asked.
Stretching his hand out, Lloyd shook the man's hand and scratched the back of his neck.
"Well, I went through a spacial tear." Lloyd replied.
"Why would the army let soone who had not reached the first commandnt go through?" Roderick questioned.
"Army? Well, they weren't there..." Lloyd answered with guilt written all over his face, knowing fully well that him telling them his real na would be his downfall. On the other hand, there was a good chance that they would have found out he lied about his na in the first place, so who knows if his decision was the right one.
"They would never abandon their base. I made sure there would be at least 4 people outside at all tis." The man narrowed his eyes while releasing a little bit of killing intent, yet before he could go further-
"He's not lying..." Hi crossed her arms, a little perplexed at her own assumption.
"I'm the lie detector, Hi." Roderick frowned.
"Well you should have used your skill..."
"We both know that you are more than aware that it had a cooldown." He replied deadpan.
"Then trust ." She let out a wry smile.
"Wait, guys... Unless these guards were floating the entire ti, there was no trace of anyone having entered the dungeon before ." Lloyd interrupted.
"Oh no..." Hi muttered.
"Interplanetary dungeon..." Roderick's expression switched to one of dread as he closed his eyes to think of all the possibilities.
"I thought that could only happen in permanent dungeons." Lloyd comnted, but the man quickly cut him off.
"Yes, well, it can happen in temporary dungeons too. If we beat the temporary dungeon, we get a few permanent portals to other planets... If we don't, though..." The man grimaced at the thought.
"A dungeon break?" Lloyd muttered.
"Worse. A large portion of the planets is corrupted by the environnt within the dungeon itself, making a permanent dungeon of sorts on the outside. That's how we get monster planets." The man replied, making it all click in Lloyd's head, except for one thing that was beginning to bug him.
"How could a single mid-stage first commandnt dungeon cause so much chaos?" Lloyd asked.
"That's only during the day. During the night, the dungeon becos a Topaz-level dungeon.
Looking back, Lloyd quickly recalled the ranking system past the first commandnt.
For most species, the second commandnt was split into seals and was considered the affinity awakening commandnt.
Every seal was represented by a different gem, and every gem represented an advancent in one's affinity. This is also the reason why those with common classes found it difficult to move past the second commandnt, yet at the sa ti, people like Jack, who have specialized cultivation techniques, could find easier ways to advance without relying on an affinity to do so.
Every seal is considered to be worlds above the one before it, making the disparity in strength between the Topaz and half step much larger than the initial first commandnt and half step second commandnt.
"So, point us toward the portal you ca out of. We must warn the Adventurer's Association and the army to ensure they take precautions. We also need several teams to co inside and help us clear the dungeon." Roderick asked before his voice beca quieter and quieter until it finally beca a whisper as if he was muttering his plans to only himself.
"Well, if you follow the trail of destruction-" Lloyd pointed, yet before he could even finish his sentence, he watched as Roderick blasted past him, shooting across the burning forest and towards the portal.
"I'm Hi Re, by the way. Nice eting you." The woman smiled warmly at Lloyd, causing a tingly feeling to go down his spine while his breathing seed to increase despite the fact that his chest wasn't moving in the least.
"And to answer your previous question, I'm a feline beastkin." She comnted while wagging her long black tail at Lloyd from under her coat before walking past Lloyd and shooting behind Roderick.
While Lloyd's excitent only increased alongside his breathing rate, he was clear-minded enough to follow by using [Shadow Movent], and since the sun was already setting, there were plenty of shadows to conserve his mana and to increase his speed within his shadow several folds.
When he finally left his shadow, he felt a little perplexed by how the two were simply standing completely frozen in place, yet when he finally looked around for a mont, he could not help but take another glance at what was before them.
"What happened to the spacial tear?" Lloyd tilted his head while looking at the tear, but he had used his space affinity ability enough to know that there was sothing horribly wrong, yet instead of having to figure it out himself, Hi was there to tell him the bad news herself.
"The portal to the outside...
It's broken."
[Thank you, Thevoidfox, for your generous gift]
[Official Artwork of Roderick in the comnts]
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