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Chapter 98: Underestimation (3)

Stepping foot into the left hallway of the catacombs, Shinto and Kon quickly caught up with the group.

"...hmm, this place seems... way different from the other one?" Raina muttered out as she scrutinized the walls of the area. Soon after, she noticed the litmus bugs ere giving off a purple-hue unlike the previous onesgreen.

"The colour of the litmus bugs this time is purple..." Shinto thought.

"P-purple... what could be the meaning of this?" Kon mumbled out.

"...purple," Ethaniel thought to himself as he shrugged. "Well, guess skeletons are gonna come out."

"...w-what...?" Kon shivered at Ethaniel's statement. "S-Skeletons...?"

The moment Kon spoke out, a sudden loud noise rang out throughout the left hallway, quickly making Kon lunge over towards the legs of Ethaniel in almost an instant.

"E-EEEKK!!" he shouted out in a scared tone.

"H-Hey what gives?" Ethaniel was taken aback by Kon's sudden action as he quickly placed his hand onto the hilt of his sword. Moments later, his eyes scrutinizing around the area, remaining on high alert.

"O-Oops..." Frey muttered out in an embarrassed tone. "I uh... kind of accidentally hit some rubble... which in turn... uh... activated some sort of trap upfront..."

"...Frey," Ethaniel glared at Frey, soon after, he turned towards the trap that was triggered, taking note of the spikes that protruded out of the floors. "Tch, you had me worried for nothing."

"S-Sorry!" she apologized.

"Ahem... in any case, this entire area screams necromancy to me," Shinto analyzed his front as he noticed many scattered bones around the area, as well as certain dense floorings and walls. "Not only that... there seem to be traps laid out almost everywhere as well."

"It's a lot different from that rat-infested hallway, huh?" Raina said.

"Right. Unlike the other one... this place has no rats at all from what I can see," Shinto said in suspicion. "So, it's only a matter of time before skeletons start to appear..."

"S-Skeletons..." Kon shivered. "I-Is there anything else that can appear besides skeletons and rats...?"

"Bah. Why are you so scared of skeletons?" Ethaniel raised his brow as he shook his leg. "Also get off me will you?"

"Eep!" Kon quickly released his grasp from Ethaniel's leg as he landed onto the ground with his paws. "Well, I just don't like skeletons!"

"They aren't even that scary!" he scoffed. "It's just a skull on a bunch of bones. There's nothing scary about that."

"B-But it is..." Kon frowned. "Their soulless eyes controlled as if puppets... It's creepy! Especially when they can come back to form like it's nothing..."

"That's just how the undead work I guess," Ethaniel shrugged. "If anything it feels like you just hate fighting them."

"I hate them in general!" Kon shouted out.

"Aha... but speaking of undead... nothing's been appearing for a while now," Raina tilted her head in question. "Besides the traps almost triggered by Frey... I don't see any signs of monsters anywhere."

"...h-hey! What do you mean almost triggered by me?!" Frey pouted. "I only triggered two traps..."

"One that almost killed you and the other that you triggered just by kicking rubble," Ethaniel said.

"W-Well... it's just two!"

"...Frey, take one more step and you're a goner," Shinto calmly said.

"E-Eh...?" Frey blinked at the statement as she turned to look at the floor below her, quickly noticing a dent on it which would've sensed the pressure of Frey's weight if she had stepped on it.

"My point stands," Ethaniel scoffed.

"Argh! This is just me not being careful!"

"Tch. Yeah, right. Were you ever?"

The two bickered at one another as Shinto ignored them. "Anyway. It's strange. It's too quiet here. Not to my liking."

"B-But master... wouldn't that be jinxing it if you say it like that?" Kon mumbled out.

"...well, I'd rather hope that something would pop up so we can get experience to level up..." Shinto sighed. "It's better if can level up before reaching the boss."

"That's true!" Frey nodded her head. "But I don't want something like that rat incident to happen again..."

"Fighting against skeletons should be fairly easier given that they aren't small and can't exactly fit in tiny spaces like the rats," Ethaniel reasoned. "So it should be fine."

"...Ethaniel, the last time you said that we ended up nearly dying," Raina helplessly said.

"Ahem... I was underestimating that time, this won't happen again," Ethaniel coughed.

"Sure..." Raina glared at Ethaniel as she sighed.

While she walked at a steady pace along with the group, Raina felt a cold sensation on her shoulders. "...huh?" Tilting her head in question, she moved her hand over to the area. "...slime?" Feeling a sticky feeling on her hand, her face grew more confused.

"Huh? Raina, what's wrong?" Shinto questioned as he noticed Raina had stopped at her footsteps.

"There's slime on my shoulder...?" she answered unsurely. "I'm not sure where it came from though..."

"Slime...?" Shinto raised his brow as looked around the area. Moments later, his eyes quickly narrowed towards the ceiling of the catacombs, taking note of a substance at the top. "Raina, stand back!"

"...huh?"

The moment Shinto shouted out, the substance from the top of the catacombs began to move. In the next moment, it dropped down over towards the group as it formed into a round-shaped monster.

"Gloop."

"...a slime?" Frey blinked at the sight.

"It's a slime and not a skeleton?" Ethaniel clicked his tongue as held onto his sword tightly. Soon after, he stepped forward as he sent a white arc over towards the slime.

However, the attack that he had sent out only went through the slime.

"...?!" Ethaniel opened his eyes wide in shock.

"Gloop." The slime stood at its spot, unphased by Ethaniel's skill.

"What the...?" Frey her brow in confusion. "That didn't have any effect?"

"...is it immune to physical attacks?" Shinto tilted his head. "Raina, try casting a fire spell."

"U-Uh alright..." Holding onto her staff, Raina began to chant a spell. Moments later, a burning flame shot out from it.

[ Mage Skill - Fireball ]

The moment that the attack collided with the slime, the monster quickly let out a scream as it moved in anger.

"Gloop!!" Separating into pieces, the slime swiftly attached itself onto Raina.

"...eh?" The moment the slime attached to Raina, the substance grew in size as it quickly surrounded her in a matter of seconds. Before she knew it, she was getting dragged away by the slime.

"Raina!" The group cried out in shocked.