Chapter 27: Duo
Chapter 27: Duo
Michael finished all his preparation, though not like there were many anyway.
He simply put on his robe and cast Shield of Nourishment and Blessing of Stats on both himself and Shingen.
He tried talking to him a little but to no avail, he did murmur under his breath from time to time, however, Michael could not understand what he said.
His expression was blank, not showing much interest in what Michael was doing, just tapping his sword’s scabbard from time to time.
’So I am going into an unknown dungeon with a sketchy guy, awesome’ Michael expressed sarcastically.
Ever since the questioning earlier, the system was silent, not talking to him at all. He was not sure if it was offended or if Michael just overstepped his bounds.
From what he knew, while the system did have sentience, it also had a set of rules it had to follow, Michael was not sure if by realizing what he should not have actually messed something up.
However, as unsure as the future may be, he at least hoped the system was his ally, not his foe.
"Hope you two got acquainted, time to move" Amanda said after suddenly appearing, camera in her hand.
Noticing Michael’s smile cracking and him straightening his posture, she chuckled "It’s not on yet, I will turn it on before the dungeon."
Michael nodded and followed after Amanda, heading into what appeared to be her personalized car, much more fancy looking than his.
Shingen followed along as well, not showing much of a reaction to Amanda’s appearance.
The moment Michael got into the car, the windows tinted, making it so no one could see who was inside.
Amanda handed Michael a document, it had the dungeon’s details on it.
’Level 80 Wolf dungeon? That sounds like a lot of EXP’ He thought, a small grin forming on his face.
The document detailed the monsters, which in this case were Wolves, albeit not regular ones, they were the kind that were enhanced by magic, making them incredibly fast.
Amanda had only made the party a duo, a veteran swordsman Shingen and the so proclaimed messenger of the goddess, Michael.
Given the fact that Michael was allowed to go into a dungeon that was twice his level, he assumed Shingen was quite the fighter.
If he wasn’t..well he could just run away, what are they going to do? Ridicule him? The Saint merely heard his goddess calling so he had to return this instant.
Michael chuckled to himself, he found his own stupid ideas a bit funny, maybe he was finally going crazy.
He did not have the novelty to enjoy such a lavish life back then, he couldn’t allow himself to.
The line of work Michael was a part of, he planned on taking it into his 40’s maybe even 50’s, by then things might have changed.
’Too late for that now though’ He didn’t regret it, not that much anyway. Michael knew he left his father a large sum of money, even if at the cost of his own life.
"We are here" Amanda’s voice rang out, interrupting his thoughts.
He hadn’t paid much attention to his surroundings since he got into the car, he was now located in some sort of a forest, a blue portal right in front of him.
"Why is it so empty?" Michael asked as he looked around, not seeing the usual fortification set up.
"It appeared only recently, today in fact, we are currently preparing the supplies needed for the dungeon" Amanda explained.
She went on to mention that the level of the dungeon determines what supplies the government uses to set up camp.
There were materials that could withstand attacks from powerful monsters. Added to the fact that a few fairly high leveled people would also be stationed here.
Safe to say, the monsters were not coming through.
Michael listened to Amanda explain all the other basic stuff that he already knew and finally, she attached the camera onto his shoulder.
"It’s going to start recording in 30 seconds, you should go now"
Michael nodded and turned to Shingen "Alright, let’s go" The two of them immediately entering the dungeon.
Right off the bat, Michael felt uneasy, the air around him felt ominous, though he couldn’t quite figure out the reason why.
It seemed Shingen noticed too as he unsheated his sword, getting into a stance.
"Hey, we sh-"
A sudden zipped past Michael, interrupting his speech and startling him.
He was not able to see what happened, however, his shield absorbed whatever hit came at him.
Michael turned to Shingen and noticed blood on his sword, followed by the corpse of a wolf.
’Damn he killed it instantly, I wasn’t even able to see anything.’ Michael thought while turning around, noticing a few pairs of eyes watching them.
He did what he should have done earlier, use Physical Enhancement, he also took out his Plasma Blaster that was stowed away in the robe’s pocket and unfolded it.
That seemed to shock Shingen as his eyes slightly widened at the white color surrounding Michael.
"You..how do you know that" He asked Michael, stepping in front of him and preparing for the wolves attack.
As Michael was about to tell him to mind his own business, he heard a click on his shoulder, signifying the start of the recording.
However, his thoughts quickly halted as a sound came from the camera "Live recording started"
’Amanda.. you fu..’ Michael calmed down by taking a deep breath.
If this was not live, anything he would say could be cut in post production, now? He actually had to act as a Saint.
Michael turned to look at Shingen with a straight face "This? Are you talking about the Saintly aura that has been bestowed upon me by the Goddess Sophia herself?"
Shingen looked at him as if he were special and simply shrugged his shoulders, returning to his usual blank look.
Michael knew he was acting ridiculous, frankly, he was glad the camera could not fully see his face, else they would see him trying his best to not cringe.
As he was somewhat relaxed due to his bullshit, the wolves finally jumped in, their speed something Michael could only barely see, yet not completely react to.
They dashed at him and he swerved to the side, the wolves only slightly grazing him, albeit if he did not have his skill up, he would have been split into two.
The speed granted by Physical Enhancement was immense, it felt as if his stats nearly doubled, however, the system did not show it.
Michael quickly turned around and shot his sniper at them, even with his current speed, he was barely able to see the bullet travel.
However, that was not the case for the wolves, as the one he was aiming for suddenly became much faster, dodging the bullet completely.
’Right, so it’s useless..great’ Michael folded the sniper and put it back into his pocket.
Even if the damage he could deal with it was massive, what’s the point if he can’t hit his target?
’A bad matchup’
If he was any other class, he would not be able to do anything here, however, as a healer he could just stand back and watch others do the work.
Shingen’s skills were impressive, he had not seen someone wield the sword before, but the speed and sheer destructiveness each swing of his did, sent shivers down Michael’s spine.
’If only I could do that..’ He thought bitterly. While he did enjoy being a healer, he felt as though his heart was calling for battle.
He tried following that feeling by fighting the wolves, however, they were much faster than him, and he was not able to even land a single hit.
Even when only counter attacking, the moment a kick or a fist is about to connect with the skull of a wolf, it dodges.
It felt as though they were just playing around with him, not noticing the fact that Shingen had nearly slaughtered their entire pack.
As the last few wolves dashed at Michael once again, their heads were suddenly lopped off, sending a stream of blood right at Michael.
Specifically, his robe.
’Motherfucker I just got this cleaned!’ He exclaimed while glaring at Shingen, though only receiving a nod.
’This guy..he was doing it on purpose’ Realization struck Michael, this guy was trying to piss him off.
Michael decided he would remember this and looked at the corpses around him, before turning to the blue holograms that immediately turned into one.
[ [Assist] x17 Wind Wolf [Level 70] Killed! +119000 EXP]
1 Pack of Wolves and he was able to level up 3 times, it seemed he might reach level 50 sooner than he thought.
Maybe.
’Oh, are you finally back?’ Michael was a bit surprised to hear the system’s voice inside of his head again, even when he asked for it, it never replied.
Yes, now that it’s over, did you seriously try using your sniper against Wind Wolves? Are you perchance stupid?
Michael ignored the system’s squabbling, even if it was not long since he last heard its voice, it was still nice to hear.
He chuckled to himself ’Yeah yeah, fuck off.’