After slaying a wide variety of creatures, Alexander finally managed to lead his group to the dungeon's BOSS room. What he didn't expect was that Ocean had become so protective of Diana that she took things to an extreme.
They had known each other for less than a month, but even so, Ocean protected Diana with all she had in her, and it wasn't just because Alexander asked. She didn't behave like this on escort missions.
On the other side of the coin was Diana, who was extremely careful with Ocean, always healing her, thanking her, praising her, and petting her.
Alexander suspected this happened because Ocean felt Diana's sincerity towards her. Still, he had no idea how deep their relationship truly was.
After resting enough while observing and analyzing the two, Alexander cleared his mind to focus on facing the dungeon BOSS and entered the room.
[{Horned Rabbit} – Beast – 2nd Evolution]
The BOSS was a huge rabbit, 1.3 m tall, muscular, with sharp fangs and a 40–50 cm horn.
As soon as they entered, the rabbit attacked with dizzying speed, surpassing even intermediate 2nd evolution beasts.
Alexander, seasoned and cautious, didn’t underestimate the enemy and rushed to stop it.
Even using all his base attributes, he only avoided having his arm pierced thanks to his spear's parrying hook, which blocked the horn.
With a precise blow, he threw the rabbit far away, injuring its head.
Despite the momentary relief, his heart sank: "I can't underestimate an intermediate dungeon BOSS, especially without |Poisonous Mist|… I'd better finish this quickly so accidents don't happen."
Determined, Alexander stopped holding back and gave it his all.
The most noticeable change was the considerable increase in his speed when fully using his ring's attributes. Careful observers would notice his spear began to drip a colorless liquid.
His sudden change left the rabbit apprehensive, but it wasn't as if it could simply turn around and flee.
With no other choice, it stood firm and determined until its bitter end.
The absence of the familiar notification sound, which he always received upon completing a new dungeon, reminded him he still hadn't received the reward for the hybrid combat class tournament mission.
He then asked Diana to collect the items from the chest and went to check his missions to receive those rewards.
『 Missions 』
Tournament
Mission Type: Combat.
Mission Description: Participate in the hybrid combat novices' tournament and win at least one fight. Completion Evaluation: {S}
Rewards: (50000 XP points), (1 growth point) and (5 free attribute points).
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[You completed the mission: (Tournament)]
[You received: (50000 XP points), (1 growth point) and (5 free attribute points)]
With the addition of these points to the ones he already had saved, Alexander decided it was time to increase his power.
[19 points added to Vitality]
[45 points added to Strength]
[20 points added to Defense]
[40 points added to Dexterity]
[15 points added to Agility]
[20 points added to Intelligence]
Satisfied with his day's results and with the bodily euphoria from finally using the free attribute points he had saved, Alexander thought about inviting Diana to eat something and celebrate their first intermediate dungeon clearance.
When he was about to ask, something caught his attention and he had to swallow what he was about to say and grab her.
After confirming what his intuition said, Alexander turned to Ocean, who also seemed aware of it, and gave his command: "Barrier."
Ocean immediately obeyed his command and began gathering the necessary mana to cast the barrier.
Alexander then turned to Diana. "You’d better cover your ears well."
Diana’s POV
Diana became extremely confused by the sudden change in the situation. But before she could ask Alexander anything, a dense water barrier separated them.
Her confusion soon turned into a mix of fear, disbelief, and anxiety as she got the impression that the blurry image of him was undressing behind the thick layer of water. However, to her relief, Alexander didn’t attack her, but rather something in front of him.
Still confused by all this, Diana thought she saw mist forming and his image changing. But before she could think about it, a sharp, agonizing scream sounded in her ear.
After that, Diana began to hear a series of screams and the outside of the barrier started turning red.
The only thing she could distinguish with certainty amidst it all was the scream that repeated the most: "MONSTER!"
It was only when she felt her legs weaken that Diana understood why Alexander said it was better to cover her ears. The cries of pain and suffering were constant and heartbreaking.
Diana only began to calm down when the screams ceased and a familiar voice was heard: "You can come out now. But be careful with the 'red water,' as it's poisonous."
When Diana saw Alexander, he was shirtless and his pants were in tatters, but she didn't have time to think about anything else. He was covered in cuts, including one on his back that went down to the bone.
"Can you help me?" Alexander asked. "I cleaned the wounds with |Invigorate|, but the healing power of this spell isn't strong enough to close some cuts, especially the one on my back."
Snapping out of her stupor, Diana ran to Alexander and tried to kneel to reach his injuries and heal him. But in the middle of her movement, Ocean bit her clothes and pulled her back.
"I told you to be careful with the 'red water,'" said Alexander as he got up from a puddle. "If you had suffered the slightest scratch while kneeling, the poison would go straight into your bloodstream."
Diana knew this warning was for her safety, but she wasn't in the mood to receive sermons.
Ignoring that Alexander was speaking, Diana took the health potions she had taken from the dungeon chest and poured them onto his wounds before using her healing spell in conjunction with them.
Seeing her like that, Alexander stopped talking and just thanked her: "Thank you."
Under the healing effect of the [Intermediate Health Potions] and her spells, his wounds closed enough for the group to return to the city with relative safety.
Diana thought of a thousand and one things to break the silence that had persisted until then, but it was Alexander who ended up speaking first: "Maybe it's better for you to look for another profession. Ambushes like this are relatively common in an adventurer's life."
"You don't need to worry," replied Diana. "I'm fine."
"Maybe. But you didn't even see what happened," pointed out Alexander. "Even if you had seen, it wouldn't change anything."
“There's a huge gap between witnessing a death, killing a person, and being able to live with that,” he pointed out.
"No matter how wrong people are, and how fragile their lives seem to you, the act of taking a fellow being's life isn't something to be taken lightly," explained Alexander. "This can even degrade and destroy a person from the inside out, especially gentle people like you."
Diana looked at Alexander with a complex gaze for a while until she finally found the courage to ask: "But what about you?"
Alexander shrugged, but didn't evade the question. "You could say I came to THIS WORLD 'broken.' I don't care if the person is good, evil, commoner, noble, thief, saint, or mad; any potential threat that attacks me, I will kill."
After hearing the truth so brutally and directly, Diana asked nothing more and the group proceeded towards the city...
During their return, Alexander made a small detour and threw the lifeless bodies into a dungeon. So, the last remnants of his massacre with no survivors were "devoured" by the dungeon and its residents, as if they absorbed his brutality.
