Path of the Pioneers

In her time as an awakened, Adeline had been in around a dozen dungeons. But it was her first time seeing something like this.

She blinked, annoyance rising in her chest as she stared at the blue window in front of her.

[Surprise challenge active: ‘Randomized Entry’]

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, clenching her teeth while trying to stifle a shout trying to work its way out of her mouth.

There were reports of this kind of thing here and there. People entering dungeons with twisted layouts or other odd effects. But it was considered highly irregular. A 1/100,000 occurrence, at least. That fact alone was why people rarely thought about it.

Adeline drew her blade. The mage tagging along with her, Sybil, was almost certainly lost in this dungeon. As a first-time delver, she wasn’t bound to last long alone. She had done good work at dealing with the Hunters, even if those ones were just initiates, but Adeline doubted that dungeon monsters would let themselves get hit by something like flying pebbles. 

She took a breath as stomping sounds came her way, from the direction she was facing. “A hobgoblin?” She swung her blade up at the wooden club flying its way at her head, cleaving it in half. She breathed out, aura flowing from her hand to the edge of her blade, sharpening it.

Turning her sword with her arm and wrist, she lined the edge up with the monster’s neck. All at once, she swung hard to the right, turning her whole body to slice through and decapitate it in one smooth motion.

Adeline stared down at its headless corpse, thinking for a moment.

“Randomized entry, and high-aggression monsters. Still, if it’s hobgoblins.. It makes sense why it’s just a simple D-rank.”

She used her skill, [Aura Perception], extending out her senses. If there were any living things within twenty meters, she’d know immediately. Normally, Adeline would take her time in a situation like this. But she’d be lucky if her squishy mage companion managed to survive a single hobgoblin with her level of experience. Even with that fancy new ability she found.

Sprinting down the hallway, Adeline shouted as loud as she could.”SYBIL! WHERE ARE YOU?” The roar of her words echoed throughout the long halls. The stomping of several footsteps soon followed.

That was fine by her. The more monsters that were after her, the less Sybil had to contend with. Not that she was taking a particularly big risk with such weak ones. Still, with such a large quantity…

She grinned wildly as a dozen or so hobgoblins ran at her from either direction. “This might be a bit tough.”

The first group reached her quickly. Adeline swung at the frontmost hobgoblin, just as it raised its club. Her blade moved diagonally up and to the left, slashing through its chest and the side of its neck. Not dead, but mortally wounded.

She turned to face the other approaching group, stepping forward as she readied for an upward-right slash. Her sword cut through another hobgoblin with ease, beginning to spark lightly as it reached the end of the swing.

The other side eventually managed to stumble over the body of their comrade, and so Adeline retaliated with another diagonal slash, cutting down one more. After that attack, her sword began to glow dimly with swaying flames.

This was an effect of her main skill: [Cirix Phoenix Blade]. The repetitive motions built up aura within her sword, turning into a burning blade that could sear its way through her enemies. As long as she kept moving her sword, it would grow stronger and stronger. It was a simple thing for her to keep up that rhythm against hobgoblins.

The motion of her swings began to pick up speed, the arcs of the slashes widening more and more as aura packed into her sword. A hobgoblin that had fallen to the ground clambered over the small pile of bodies leading to Adeline, abandoning its weapon in favor of tossing it as hard as it could at her.

She laughed, teeth flashing as she grabbed the club with her left hand. She slashed through another two hobgoblins, spinning around to smash one on the other side with the heavy club. A follow-up slash from her sword freed its head from its shoulders.

She threw the club like a javelin at another trying to close in on her, sending it toppling to the ground behind a pile. Not dead, but disrupted for now.

This is what she lived for, more than anything. The thrill of cutting down monsters, beasts that threatened to wipe out her people if they were ever given the chance.

House Cirix were known as bloodhounds in the noble courts, not just for their fierce loyalty to the Crown. Something about battle stirred their hearts to the core, an unavoidable fate for any in their lineage.

Growing stronger and defending her home were the things that Adeline loved most.

“SYBIL! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, THEN-” She groaned, taken aback as something hard and heavy smashed into her ribs from her left, just as she was going for another hobgoblin. She braced herself. Under no circumstance could she stop herself from swinging, or the aura she built up would be wasted.

It was another, behind her, one that managed to climb over its pile while Adeline was distracted and shouting out for Sybil. She glared at it, jamming her sword into its heart before it had a chance to move.  “I’m trying to find my friend. Could you stop getting in the way?”

The flames burning on it kicked up, scorching a wide hole in its chest as she prepared to release the aura stored inside of it.

It’s an amazing thing, she thought, that dungeon terrain is indestructible.

The fire erupted all at once, completely filling the hall on either side for ten meters. It roared, a deafening sound that almost managed to drown out the screams and cries of agony from the hobgoblins. 

The flames died down, and Adeline was left in an empty hallway, the walls and floor covered in the scorched bodies of the hobgoblins and the ashes of the parts they lost by her hand.

“Back to it, then.”

Adeline began sprinting down the hall once more. She felt it her duty to make sure Sybil survived this dungeon, given that Adeline had been saved by her. But it wasn’t simply that. The girl had an undeniable charm to her. That had been set in stone for Adeline since she saw the mage pulling down her hat while trying to cover up her cheeks going red.

She opened up her status window, a habit she had picked up at an early age. It was important to see what had changed, especially after a large battle. You needed to know how close you were to getting an improvement when in an environment like this.

Name: Adeline Cirix

Class: Blademaster

Level: 28 (7%)

She clicked her tongue, annoyed. “One percent? I hope Sybil is having better luck than me.”