Chapter 13: 13- Conspiracy

"Wake up! Damn it!"

Julia woke up to the loud voice; calling her name, which seems more desperate than annoying, before she found Rudeus fighting the horde of rats. That he could have defeated with a flick of his finger at any other day, but after accumulating wounds after wounds from the boss monster, that was an anomaly itself, he was having a hard time 

Not to mention, having to protect two dead weight behind his back; one was sleeping while the other was weeping, over his upcoming loan

Nicolas wasn't of any help, after losing his main fire power; summoned wolfs. But he could still fight against the stray rats, that gets past Rudeus and Greyt defenses combined, which doesn't amount to more than the total number of fingers a snake body have

"Huh? What happened to your cheeks?" Glancing at Nicolas right cheek, julia took notice of a kid sized bloody handprint etched on it with four grievous poke marks, predictably caused by some sharp nails 

"Th... This?... Ah, i don't know" 

Averting his face to the other side, Nicolas fixed his cracked glasses onto his nosebridge, before shooting the arrow at the already dead rat, trying to act busy 

"Don't worry! I will tell you later, but first I need some helping hands here" 

Rudeus said in between slashing a beautiful black arc, dissecting more than five rats at once around him, only for another ten or so rats to take their place 

Julia, without needing another word. Erected the defensive barrier around them, taking herself as the center, that could last a few seconds

Before she instinctively swiped her hand behind her back, with a motion of grabbing something, only to catch empty air 

"Ah! Where's the bag?!" She searched all the places, her eyes could travel within a second, before turning to the unofficial porter of their party "Nicolas?"

"How would I know? Don't you remember, I had given you before" 

"Hmm ye... Yeah but..."

"Like I said! I will tell you later, but first do something about these bugs"

The barrier already starts creaking under the assault of the numerous rats at once as they speak. It was weak, made instantaneously without any catalyst. Frthermore, barrier magic wasn't julias fort 

"Ah! I hate doing this..." Taking a deep breath, she chanted the spell, that eats a good chunk of mana with each syllabus " 'O' Lady Winter, The mother of frozen lands, here thou shall be your kingdoms reach, embrace thee raging chitters, let them return to their eternal sleep, your eternal preacher calls for your presence' "

With her wooden magic staff glowing in a brilliant light, she finished chanting her same spell, which she used against the boss monster before fainting out of exhaustion 

Taking consideration of the barriers durability. She gently tapped the staff against the ground, resulting in a rippling glow passing through all the rats, before freezing them in a dozens of frozen coffins, as a silence finally descended in the room 

"Sigh... I'm not doing this again!" 

She felt nauseous after exhausting her entire mana source twice within an hour, as she inevitably stumbled against Nicolas, as he was nearest to her, resulting him to catch her, but before he could fully support her back, Rudeus swatted his hands away as he glared at him 

"Uhh! tha...thanks" 

Rubbing her temples, the orange haired women sighed inwardly, as her eyes draws near the ring Neller had given her as 'gift' 

'Sigh... If only he could also... Huh?!... Where's my ring?!" 

Her heart skipped a beat, as she failed to find the ring that costs was more than she could afford, even if she sold herself! 

"Rudeus!" 

"Hey! Who do think you're staring at? Do I look like a thief to you?" 

Although Rudeus said that, an unconcealed smug refused to leave his face

"Where's my ring!" Her eyes was dead serious, clearly not liking his childish prank 

"Cough! Cough! Rudy just tell her what you saw and... Urgh! We should get out of here before that thing comes back" 

Coughing some black blood, Greyt starts patching up the insta bandages on the wounds, already knowing the healing potions were stored in the stolen bag

                                           

"What?! A gob... Goblin stolen it!" 

With wide eyes, Julia refused to believe what Rudeus had said and thought he was playing yet another one of his not-so-funny prank, but as she turned to Nicolas, who was walking with the weird bloody handprint etched on his face like a living/walking proof

She had no choice but to take the truth as it is, before thinking that maybe what she saw in her dream of a naked goblin running with her ring, was might not be a dream but the glimpse of reality she saw before fainting 

"But... What will I say to Neller?" She was having a hard time thinking of an excuse, that seems less ridiculous than telling him, she lost it to a goblin on run

"See? I toldya, it ain't my fault" 

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While Julia was worried, Rudeus was all smiles, as he shrugged with the nonchalance of 'now it ain't my problem', which suddenly gets on her nerves 

"Yes! It's all your fault! It was you who took the quest right, maybe it was all your plan from the start... You, you must have distracted us before releasing a wild goblin at me!" 

Clearly, julia was already losing her mind as she blamed it all on his head

"What?! You think I was the one who raised that anomaly of a monster inside a dungeon, before leading all of us to our doom. Just to let a wild goblin steal your what? That cheap knock-off Engagement ring?" 

Scoffing at her stupidity, Rudeus remarked with a snicker, causing her to almost erupt on the spot, but Nicolas alerted voice interrupted her

"Hey! Guys come here!" 

                                       

As he was breaking the freezed up rats in ice and making a way to the exit with Greyt in tow, leaving the the bickering ex-couple alone. They saw a hidden formation carved at the blind spot in the room, anybody could have missed it, among the many rat holes seemingly blending well within them 

"Ah.... This...?" Julia gasped, forgetting her earlier worry and anger 

"This doesn't seems like naturally formed by the dungeon does it?" Frowning out of pain and deep concern, Greyt voiced his opinion

"If I'm right, which I know I am, that goblin had just stolen the magic core out of this formation, that was most likely functioning as the eye of this formation. Which does explains, why in the world that rat monster would have gone after him, ignoring us, and most probably this might be the reason behind its unusual strength"

Redeus commented before spotting an unusually large golden chest, guarded by the frozen rats at end of the boss room. Curious, he silently walks away, ignoring the Nicolas mindless ramblings behind

"Hmm... maybe you're right, and Leaving aside the fact on how a goblin that were supposed to be spawned in the First Echelon or the outskirts of Third Strata, has appeared in the second strata for a moment. Isn't it weird that a low-tier boss monster discovered a mana stone mine within the second strata?" 

Although, not well versed with the magic formations. He was still knowledgable in more than his own field, and slowly Nicolas tried to connect the dots on his own

"If we take this magic formation into consideration, that most likely doesn't belong to the dungeon itself. We could definitely say that someone was trying to artificially inflate the mana level in the second strata, that would most definitely will leads to the overflow sooner than anybody could be speculating" 

As he came to his own conclusion, which he believes to be the truth; Regardless of the actual truth, Nicolas released a horrified gasp

"No! This is dangerous! We have to check if there's more of these formations present in this strata and the others!"

"No, We're leaving. Our quest is more than completed here"

Slamming shut the bloody chest, Rudeus said with a heavy tone. Taking a bunch of dog tags in his grasp, dripping with blood and gore. As the proof of those missing/dead newbie adventurers instead of the stuffed, bloody paste made out of their body parts inside the golden chest; waiting to be transform into some gold coins by some dungeon magic, to be looted by the next greedy adventures coming after them

Of course, only if they're able to kill the chest owner/boss monster in the future. Rather than feeding back the chest with their souls and bodies, just like their predecessors before, strengthening the chest owner/boss monster in return, as per the 'Dungeons Golden Rule' implied

Meanwhile, Julia was staring at the mountain of mana stones thinking that with this, she might be able to repay the cost of her lost ring or maybe buy another one, replacing the lost one with the exact copy

"Let's take this all with us" She muttered when she couldn't decide on her own

"No! We don't have time. That rat monster would have already killed that goblin and it might return at any time. We have to go!" It was Greyt who stops her taking the risk, before continuing for the Nicolas in an unusually deep voice "And inform the guild firstly about what we have discovered here, and leave this matter to them" 

Although, they're veteran adventurers with the 'D' rank etched to their dog tags as proof. They don't belong to any familias, nor they're of any high levelled powerful guild members, or privileged individuals with the obligation to stick their legs into any matter they find hand

Furthermore, it was better not to get involved in these stuff that a normal adventurer shouldn't. It's much better leaving these matter to the authorities to handle on their own

"Yeah, it was their headache and finally a chance to let those sh*tty familias move their lazy asses, and do some work for once instead of eating on our taxes for nothing" 

With a boom! Rudeus destroyed all the fozen rats, clearing the path for them at once

"But then, we won't be getting any share from this, so how about we take some first while we still can. That monster is still nowhere to be seen, we still have some time right!"

Reluctant to leave this much wealth behind, Julia suggested and before Rudeus could bring some sense to her greedy mind... 

"Screeeeiiiii!!!"

They have to cover their ears in unison, withstanding the pain caused by a horrendous war cry of that rat monster, echoing vigorously throughout the vibrating cavern walls

                                           

"Sure, we would have all the time in the world, after we rest together in that monsters stomach right?"

Scoffing back, Rudeus grabs her hand and starts running with the other two members as fast as they all could, fearing that dreaded anomalys would drop at any moment, while julia reluctantly took one last look at that mountain of wealth they're leaving behind

'Sigh... Neller might hate me for this' 

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