Deranged Writer's Afterword

“ That’s probably the entrance…”, Lydia says, her brows arched upwards in worry.

We had reached the entrance to the restricted mines, the entrance seemed to be in pretty bad shape, we had been told that the entrance had been blockaded to prevent anyone from wandering in but the entrance was wide open,

Lydia bend down and picked a piece of what seemed to be part of the wood slab, which was probably used to seal this place, similar pieces of wood lay all around us, Lydia and I looked at each other at the same time,

This was bad.

Someone’s already in there.

Rhys whines slightly, feeling the tense atmosphere.

“ Should we go in now or wait for a few minutes ?” she asked, throwing the piece of wood back on the ground.

I thought deeply about our next move, but no matter what happens now…we can’t stop when we’re this close,

“ Let’s go in….it’s probably nothing.”, I say knowing full well that it was not just ‘nothing’.

“ If you say so…”, Lydia said, taking out a torch from her backpack and leading the way, inside the dark tunnel leading to the mines.

~~~~

The mine was divided into different sectors and the portal had appeared in the 7th sector, which was also the last one. Inside the mine, as we walked slowly, I could hear the scurrying of rats and whatnot, the air felt damp and the tunnel had a distinct musty and earthy smell.

As we made our way through the mine, I saw a signboard with a huge ‘2’ printed on it. We must have reached sector 2.

“ How much more do we have to go ?”I asked Lydia, who was walking in front of me.

“ Hmmm…about half an hour probably,” Lydia says, increasing her pace.

She must be feeling impatient, after all, she’s going to meet her mother after all these years, since such an interaction didn’t happen in the novel this soon, I couldn’t help but wonder how this would turn out in the end.

I just hope that things go well.

Heh.

That’s a lie, I don’t care.

Time passed by rather quickly and finally,

“ This must be it…”, Lydia said staring at the board that had ‘7’ printed on it, even if the board hadn’t been there we would have still found it as the entirety of sector seven was glowing slightly.

‘Zzzzzzz’

As we walked further into sector 7, we finally saw the portal that led to the S rank dungeon, it had a blue shade like all portals and a slight ‘whirring’ sound echoed throughout the sector.

Both of us nod at each other and walk into the dungeon as this was not the time to hesitate.

~~~~

Each dungeon had a unique theme.

There’s the normal kill-the-boss monster scenario.

Some others like the fearko dungeon.

But there are other dungeons out there that are even more complex, more dangerous.

‘Cold’

I felt it even before I opened my eyes, the unyielding cold that managed to penetrate the shitload of sweaters and coats. I shuddered slightly as I opened my eyes, snow-covered every inch of the land we were in.

I put it out of my hand and snowflakes piled up, even if the cold was undesirable..it was still a sight to behold.

“ It’s a little chilly isn’t it ?”Lydia remarked, scanning our surroundings.

…..

A little chilly!

I can’t believe I’m jealous of a literal wolf.

Now that I think about it, Lydia’s fur would make for a pretty good sweater…

Nah, killing friends is where I draw the line. So, I’ll have to make do with the sweater I have on now.

Rhys also seemed to not mind the cold that much, but just in case he felt cold I removed one of the many sweaters I wore and put it on him.

“ Where should we go now ?”Lydia asked, stretching to relieve her sore body.

As we didn’t know anything about the dungeon, we didn’t have a clear idea of how to clear it. But that wasn’t an issue since we weren’t here to clear this dungeon…we were here to drag out Luna Caerus.

“ We should start by exploring the dungeon slowly since we don’t know what kind of monsters we have to face. It's best to remain vigilant..”

“ Yeah…”, Lydia muttered looking conflicted.

“ What’s wrong ?”

After deliberating for a while, she answers back,

“ It’s just…..I-...I’m a little nervous.”

“ I see…”

It was normal to be nervous, after all, meeting her mother after knowing that she willingly abandoned her must not be easy. Mothers are just crazy, aren’t they?

“ It’s going to be fine…probably.”

“ Yeah….”, she says, looking unconvinced.

~~~~

As we slowly explored the dungeon, I tried my best to converse with Lydia but she…shut herself down. It’s been like this ever since I killed Max, she’s built so many walls between us, not that I can blame her.

Either way, I don’t really care.

But it still is a little regretful since I did enjoy her company…

“ Why don’t we stop for today ?”Lydia asked, following the setting sun with her blue eyes.

We had been exploring for the better part of the day, it was soon going to be night and the cold would be ten times worse, so I accepted that we had explored enough for today and we started to look for a place that would shelter us from the cold.

Till now, we had strangely yet to encounter any type of monster.

After an hour of searching, we finally found a cave, we settled inside the cave.

Lydia removed the sweater she wore and changed her clothes while I didn’t bother to change my dress since it wouldn’t have made a difference. The both of us took some time to get comfortable, fortunately, we had the heat orb with us…so we wouldn’t die due to this damn cold.

“ Are you cold ?”Lydia asked, looking at me strangely.

“ I’m f-f-fine.”, I say, pulling my blanket even closer to me.

Lydia chuckled and stared at me for a second, before abruptly moving close to me…way too close. I could almost feel her breathing on me, it was a little…weird but the warmth was welcome.

‘Munch’

‘Munch’

We tore into the beef jerky that we had packed, silently chewing while contemplating our next move or at least I did…Lydia seemed to be thinking about something else entirely, probably confronting her mother…who knows...

We didn’t talk much, I wanted to but she didn’t seem to be in the mood for a good ol’ conversation.

After a while, I was done with my dinner.

……..

……..

……..

……..

MY GOOD GOD!

I’M SO FUCKING BORED.

I thought that a dungeon raid would be more exciting, what the fuck is this shit ??

‘Che..’

I tried my best to stay awake, but I could feel myself falling asleep.

It’s better to get some shut-eye now then, there’s no reason to force me to stay awake. Lydia’s awake so it should be fine…

“ Yawn…”

~~~~