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“Argh!”

Julius was frustrated. Not one of his attacks could break through my stance. I spinned my spear around to push him back.

“So weak. I could easily snap you in half.”

I kept his attention on me. I casually walked near the wall of the cave and thrust my hand in it. At first it seemed that my hand was sucked into the wall.

“Were you just trying maybe to distract me? Sorry, but you’re still wet behind your ears. You’re not ready to sneak up on me.”

I pulled my hand out alongside a body. Another zombified person. This one was female. I throw her at Julius to make him lose his momentum.

“Guah!!”

“No way… Leona… you’re like that too? But… Izuna… how did you know?”

“I said it before, but you’re all too weak. I might as well be fighting babies.”

I didn’t give a clear answer. I can’t just casually say ‘the only way you can sneak up on me is with the level 85 skill [One with the shadows]. This girl was barely using the lvl 20 skill [Shadow mimicry]. The 2 skills are worlds apart.

While I was displaying a smug grin, from the darkness an arrow was fired at Iris. But just before it hit her forehead I caught it.

“Who told you that you can attack her? You might as well come out. I know you’re there too.”

As if actually understanding my words, the 3rd person appeared from the shadows. It was an archer fellow with spikey hair.

“Edgar, no…”

“Are these all of your friends?”

“Y… yes…”

“Good. Listen up you bunch. I’ll give you a fair shot so I’ll handicap myself.”

I planted my spear in the ground and took a step forward.

“I won’t move from this spot. I won’t use a weapon. Heck. I won’t even use my arms or legs. Yet, you guys will still fall. Now come at me and receive my judgement.”

“Guooaaa!!!”

They let out some form of battle cry and they all charged at me. Good. You’re dumb enough to take the bait. As soon as they got near me… the ground cracked. A giant hole appeared and they all fell into it. When I planted my spear in the ground I activated the spell [Pitfall]. It was a level 5 spell. In other words, a small beginner spell. It’s a default ability, but you rarely use it endgame. However… physics and logic actually apply in this world.

“I told you. You will fall before me.”

I broke a large stalactite and covered the hole with it, but leaving enough gap for air to flow. I doubt they’ll be able to move this thing.

“Alright, Iris. That settles this for now. Let’s hurry up and find that sword so we can save your friends.”

“Eh!?”

“Come on. Pick up the torch and move it.”

She quickly felt intimidated after seeing my display. But she grabbed the torch and followed behind me.

“I… Izuna-sama, was it? Just… who are you? I’ve never seen anyone this strong before.”

“That’s because I’m level 135.”

“What!? That’s… impossible. There’s nobody that strong! Are you serious?”

I revealed my level to test something. It seems I’m the only one that can see freely other people’s levels. Judging by her reaction she can’t see mine.

“Listen, Iris. Right now I don’t care if you are a princess or not. But this cave-dungeon is way out of your league. I kinda understand why your father wanted me to come here. But I’m surprised he let you guys do it.”

“Oh. So you met father. Normally I would be vexed that he’s meddling again but… right now I am happy that he did. Izuna-sama, our party formation is really solid. We thought we could challenge everything that came in our path. But… right before we reached the cursed sword we were split up. I’ve been wandering this maze ever since.”

“Wait. You said you got close to the sword. Do you know where it is?”

“I can vaguely feel it’s malevolence with my staff. It reacts to curses.”

Say that sooner! You should be leading in this case. I couldn’t help but slap myself.

“Is something wrong?”

“No… ignore me. Can you find it again?”

“I can… if it will save my friends, then I definitely will.”

Good girl. Let’s wrap this up already.

Me and Iris finally arrived at a big room. Various crystals were shining and as a result it was pretty well iluminated. In the center of the room there was this altar. And on the altar there was a sword with a red blade and black hilt. No matter how I look at it, I can’t feel any malevolence or whatsoever coming from it. I tried to take a step forward but Iris pulled one of my tails.

“Wait! You can’t actually touch it. If it’s not purified you’ll lose your reason too!”

“Calm down. I’m different from you guys.”

Another step. Eventually I reached the altar and grabbed the sword. The moment I grab it, a purple mist emerged from the sword and quickly wrapped itself around me. I even heard a terrible scream in my head. But that was only for a moment.

“Shut the f̲u̲c̲k̲ up!”

As I said that, my necklace kicked in. All the purple mist was immediately blown away and the screams my head stopped.

“Hmm. What a weird weapon. It seems you also have a form of possession on you. But that only works on lvl 50 or lower people.”

“Izuna-sama… are you alright?”

“Who do you take me for? I told you this thing can’t hurt me.”

“How…”

I need to come up with an excuse it seems.

“Hmph. This thing is so weak that I’m merely suppressing it’s power with my aura. But now for the important part.”

While holding the cursed sword in my left hand, I manifested my Chaoscaliber in my right hand. In order to disable this zombified effect, I need to destroy this sword. So I swing it with all my might onto my Chaoscaliber. And just what I was expecting happened. The sword snapped. I was pretty confident in my spears’ durability. That and the force I swung the sword with was more than it could whitstand.

A shockwave was generated. I really hope that this is enough to cancel the zombified. I know the goal was to retrieve this thing, but I’m sure the king will understand that it was the only way to save the prince and his friends.

“We’re done here, Iris. Let’s go back now and see if your friends returned to… WATCH OUT!”

I dashed like a madman and picked up Iris in a princess carry, then made a big side jump. From the ceiling something fell. Well, it would be more accurate to say “someone”. I recognized this thing. It was a big golem. A level 80 golem to be more specific. This thing must be the guardian of this place. Darn it. Judging by it’s pale brown color he definitely is the beginner raid boss Stoneman.

In Astral Storm, Stoneman was basically what you would call your very first raid. A way for you to get used to the mechanics of what’s expected of you to do at endgame. It was easy enough to understand but hard at the same time. I mean if you just screw around, it will kill you. For me this is a 45 second raid. As in I only need 45 seconds to beat it. However… that’s if I unleashed all my signature skill chain combos. This is real life. Not a game. Because we are in a cave, if I use my regular raid takedown pattern, the cave will just collapse over us.

Roaaar

It let out some kind of howl, which is rather funny since that thing doesn’t have a mouth. I placed Iris down.

“Iris, get behind the altar. I can’t fight that thing and babysit you at the same time.”

“But… I can help!”

“Don’t talk back to me. I said take cover. The way you and your friends are right now… all of you are just dead weight to me.”

Maybe I was too harsh. Small tears formed in her eyes, but she did take cover behind the altar like I asked. Sorry, but you really need to realize that you’re weak. Now for the big guy. How should I handle this?

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