Vol 5 Chapter 46

#(3)

After witnessing the ridiculous sight of their target suddenly flying into the sky and disappearing, Rob and his party members were only able to reach the cave entrance where their target had flown to after enduring a journey that couldn't be watched without tears.

Having no means to fly down the cliff valley like that suspicious robed man, they chose to descend by embedding their weapons into the wall, but because Evan, being a priest, had no physical abilities, Chow and Rob had to take turns carrying him on their backs.

In the precarious situation where it seemed they might fall if even a slight breeze blew, Blue Lady screamed and cursed about why they had to endure this hardship by coming here instead of taking the perfectly good path they had been on, while Rob had to endure her torture of stepping on him with her boots from above without being able to make any excuses.

However, after barely making it down the cliff, monsters appeared that were so nasty they made them wonder if the cliff might have been better. In fact, they had forgotten that the area around De Gorka valley was already famous as a hunting ground exclusively for high-level users, where even high-level players couldn't freely roam alone but had to form parties and move in groups after establishing supply zones.

As a result, they were busy running away here and there, becoming completely battered to the point of doubting their abilities that they had been somewhat proud of, while narrowly escaping death several times. If Evan's holy power hadn't been stronger than expected, they would have died several times over already.

When they finally reached the cave entrance where the robed man had disappeared, with one of Blue Lady's boomerangs damaged, Chow's right shoulder plate crushed, and Rob covered in foul-smelling discharge, they hugged each other and shed tears, confirming their camaraderie that had grown dozens of times stronger in just a short time.

"Damn it, now that it's come to this, I'm going to see what kind of job that bastard really has before we go back."

Chow said through gritted teeth. Blue Lady nodded as well.

"Um... wouldn't it be better if we just bought warp items to Torelit from the high-level users' supply zone that's supposed to be around here..."

"Let's go!"

"Wooooh!"

Evan's words were buried, but no one even registered that he had spoken. Rob followed behind, feeling somewhat apologetic towards his companions. In fact, the party members had embarked on this arduous journey largely because of his strong insistence that they absolutely had to follow that man.

Though he hadn't told them, Rob had already seen that man at the Bistale Colosseum. And he was also the only person who had watched that man the longest during the major accident when the Colosseum collapsed.

At that time, when the famous Caesar appeared and split the Colosseum in two, while others were desperately trying to flee, Rob instead hid in a corner of the audience seats in a low crawl position to watch. The three companions that man had spoken to, with their remarkably distinctive faces, were surprisingly fighting Caesar until the end. Rob, who until then had thought the robed man was a swordsman, was shocked like his current party members when he witnessed the man using magic as if it were natural.

Being someone who couldn't contain his curiosity even if it killed him, he had wanted to see the end of that fight, but he ended up logging out after being buried under falling rocks without seeing much. Afterward, he had become quite disappointed when he couldn't find footage as detailed as what he had seen that day on any MIST-related webpage, and had half-forgotten about it.

Until today, when he met the robed man again and was punished for pretending to know him while being unsure.

"Ouch, stop bumping into me from behind! This is so annoying!"

"I'm not doing it on purpose!"

"You've bumped into me more than ten times already while saying that! Keep your eyes open! Or are you doing this because you're interested in me? Wake up!"

"No, you're not my type at all! Hey, Rob! Say something!"

"Huh, what?"

When Chow, who had been arguing loudly with Blue Lady, called out to him, Rob raised his head and frowned at the darkness so thick he couldn't see even an inch ahead. Evan was so quiet that they couldn't even tell if he was there or not. They had been tense about monsters appearing for about 5 minutes, but seeing the party members who had soon become lax now fighting, Rob couldn't help but sigh.

"Quickly testify about how great my ex-girlfriend was. We just broke up like Romeo and Juliet, even though she's not around anymore!"

"Oh yeah, there was someone. I don't know about Romeo and Juliet, but you did break up."

"Did you hear that?"

"Are you saying you're Romeo right now? Wow... Listen, that level of prince syndrome is a disease."

"Are you done talking?"

"W-wait a moment!"

Just as Chow was about to shout something, Evan's desperate cry suddenly rang out. As the party members, who had instantly fallen silent, looked toward where Evan should be, he continued stuttering.

"Um, well... I can sense life forms over there."

"...You had that kind of skill? Why didn't you say so earlier!"

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"I... I did tell you..."

"Ah, over there? We should proceed quietly from now on."

"It would be over if you just kept quiet!"

"Oh, really."

"..."

They began to move forward slowly, holding their breath, completely ignoring Evan who was once again frustrated at having his presence buried. However, shortly after, their silence didn't last long as they tumbled down like dominoes starting from Rob at the back, thanks to the ground shaking as if an earthquake had struck, accompanied by a booming sound.

"Aaaaah!"

"Kyaaaah!"

Boom boom boom boom boom!

"Ow ow ow... ugh...!"

Rob and his companions, who had fallen tangled together in the narrow passage, were struggling to get up after the impact subsided. While everyone was in pain, Rob especially had to feel like he was going crazy because of the noisy Blue Lady and Chow.

"Get your smelly butt off me right now!"

"I'm the one who's more uncomfortable right now!"

"Stop it already!"

When Rob shouted to stop their fight while holding his throbbing head that had hit the wall, the two flinched momentarily.