Chapter 115: Chapter 115: Exploooorreee
Now, the problem was already solved—at least on the surface. Thanks to his system, Amber would go home. The lord, once assured of her safety, would have no choice but to keep his word.
The abbess was safe, his promise intact, and another sigil would decorate his banner.
Simple. Clean. A thread neatly tied.
Or so Aiden thought.
But reality had a way of unraveling even the tightest knots.
As both of them walked, the narrow alleyway began to brighten. The faint light ahead widened, promising something more than shadow, something beyond damp stone and stale air.
The sound of birds—actual birds, alive and singing—filtered in, high-pitched trills that seemed impossible in a dungeon.
They stepped forward together, the shift almost ceremonial.
Aiden blinked. His eyes widened, despite himself.
He had read about dungeons countless times, poring over every line in books like a starving man devouring crumbs. He had thought knowledge would armor him against surprise. And yet—
The words he’d memorized had failed him.
The creativity of the writer—whoever had shaped this world—shone here, more radiant than key words on the webnovel app, more vivid than imagination.
Before him stretched a forest heavenly in scope, like the myths of Eden his village priest had whispered about in half-belief.
The trees towered, endless, their canopies woven in a tapestry of green pierced by blossoms in impossible colors—indigo that shimmered like liquid night, scarlet that pulsed faintly as if alive, gold that caught the light and refracted it into rivers that ran across the leaves.
He felt very small.
He felt like a cattle boy again, eyes dulled by pastures and plows, staring at a horizon that never changed. And now—
"Woowww..." The sound slipped from his lips unguarded, raw as a child’s wonder.
Arina smirked, her gaze sideward. "Haha... first time?"
Her voice was casual, but he caught the undercurrent of pride in it, as if this forest belonged to her, as if she was part of it.
Aiden’s eyes snagged on three trees in particular, far away at the horizon. They dwarfed all others, rising colossal, their trunks thick as fortresses, spiraling upward as if to pierce the very sky.
They twisted and twirled together, three titans dancing, roots sunk deep into some unseen abyss, branches woven like gods’ braids.
It was not just a forest. It was a realm within a realm.
Before he could summon words, before awe could settle into sense, Arina moved.
She reached behind, her hand slipping beneath his back armor with frightening ease. And then—
She jumped.
Air rushed. Sky spun. His stomach lurched.
They weren’t flying, not truly, but it felt close enough. His breath locked, his chest too small for the sudden wild freedom.
The ground rushed up, merciless.
But before impact, she shifted. With casual precision, she threw him higher. His body arced, weightless, time stretched.
"What the—?!"
Then gravity reclaimed him.
He braced for pain. For bone against stone. For ruin.
Instead, he landed against her—her arms open, her stance steady. The catch was firm but gentle, as though she had been doing this all her life.
She grinned, teasing cutting through the wild thump of his heart. "You can come down now, princess."
Heat flared across his face. He pushed away quickly, retreating to the safety of his own feet. "Show off..."
Her laughter bubbled, disarming. "Haha... you are cute when you look angry." She said it easily, like fact, but her eyes studied him with something sharper.
He grit his teeth, forcing down the embarrassment that threatened to choke him.
"Follow me," she said at last, her tone hardening. "At my back at all times. Or you’ll die in seconds."
There was no jest there. Only truth.
They walked, the ground soft beneath their boots, moss spongy with dew. The air smelled sweet, almost too sweet, the perfume of blossoms mixed with something rank and damp. Life, abundant and rotting, in equal measure.
They passed statues.
Aiden slowed, his eyes tracing them—shapes carved from wood, human in outline, faces twisted, some peaceful, some frozen mid-scream. Grass coiled around them, worms threading in and out of wooden flesh.
He opened his mouth.
"Don’t even ask," Arina said, not sparing a glance. "Yes, they are people. Or they were."
The words fell like stones.
Aiden’s throat closed. He nodded silently, quickening his pace to match hers.
Then pain.
A sting in his arm, sudden and sharp, like a needle of fire. He hissed, turning. A butterfly hovered, its wings patterned like stained glass. Beautiful—until he saw its face.
Human. Distorted. Wrong.
It drifted past lazily, leaving agony in its wake.
Arina’s eyes narrowed. Her blade sang free, cleaving the air. Steel met fragile body, slicing the creature apart in one effortless motion.
"Let me see," she ordered, her hand already gripping his arm.
A swelling bulged beneath his skin, red and angry.
He shrugged. "It’s just a bug bit—"
Her expression hardened. Grave. "We need to cut your arm...."
The words were so calm, so final, that for a moment he thought he’d misheard. But her sword was already moving, angling for his wrist.
Instinct screamed. He twisted, dodging by a hair’s breadth, the blade biting empty air.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" Shock and fury laced his voice.
"Quickly! You’ll die within seconds if you don’t—"
Her words broke beneath a thunderous Thud!
The ground shook.
Another Thud!—closer this time.
The earth itself seemed to quake, shuddering like a beast roused from slumber.
From the undergrowth rose a shape. A giant. Green, lean, impossibly tall, its limbs like columns of rotting wood and sinew. Two-footed, hulking, yet disturbingly graceful.
A loafer giant.
Arina’s hand seized his shoulder, shoving him low, dragging him into bushes that scratched and bit.
"It’s a loafer giant," she whispered, eyes never leaving the monster. "Strange... it should wake only at night."
The creature stepped. Each impact rattled bones, churned soil. It bent slightly, massive head lowering, searching.
Aiden froze, breath shallow. The smell was rancid—sap and decay, mixed with the stench of centuries-old death.
The giant’s foot crashed down beside them, shaking their hidden refuge. The weight of it pressed on Aiden’s chest like a tombstone.
But it did not find them.
It moved on, lumbering into the trees, its heavy steps echoing until the forest swallowed it.
Only then did he breathe again. His lungs burned with the release.
"Welcome to a dungeon..." Arina murmured, almost bitterly. Then her gaze snapped to his arm. "Oh, right. Your arm."
He glanced down, expecting ruin.
But the swelling was gone. No wood creeping across his flesh. Only a faint red mark lingered, as if nothing had happened.
Her brows furrowed. "What? This... this isn’t normal."
Aiden said nothing. The familiar shimmer of a system notification blinked before his eyes.
[Wood poison detected. Wood poison dissolved.]
Relief broke through him, so strong it almost made him laugh. Thank god. Otherwise, I’d be a statue too.
Arina turned his arm over, inspecting, disbelief etched across her face. "What the fuck are you? Before, with the healer—and now this. Immune? Are you even human?"
The accusation cut, but he forced calm. "...Again, it’s not important. Let’s go. Where you want to go. Heal you quicker."
Her gaze lingered, sharp as a drawn blade.
Then she smirked, though it didn’t reach her eyes. "Haha... instead of searching, I think it came to us instead."
Her hand moved. Fast. She caught an arrow in mid-flight, the shaft quivering between her fingers.
Aiden’s breath stalled.
Even she seemed faintly surprised at her own timing. She snapped the arrow like a twig, discarding it with disdain.
"...I don’t know if you’re a miracle boy or just bad luck," she said, voice flat. "Because one abnormal thing after another keeps happening."
Aiden’s eyes shifted past her. In the distance, shadows among the branches. Movement. Ears long and pointed. Eyes glinting with cold purpose.
Elves huh.