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The cave was tall and wide enough for even a giant troll to pass through without a problem.
How far had they gone into the cave?
Davian suddenly started to feel drowsy.
'Why all of a sudden?'
He had been diligently taking tonics made from Hydra regeneration stems, so his stamina shouldn't be depleted already.
He also got plenty of sleep last night.
Davian looked back at Mons and asked.
"Mons, are you alright?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I suddenly feel drowsy and my head is heavy. I'm asking if you feel the same."
"I'm fine."
Davian stopped walking.
"Something feels off."
"What is it, Master?"
"You're really not feeling anything?"
"No. You look a little tired, Master?"
"Then it seems... they might have released a mild poison in this cave. Since my physical strength is weak, I'm probably reacting first."
"What should we do then? If there's poison in the cave, the symptoms will get worse. We don't even know how long this cave is. Let's go back, Master."
They couldn't just leave after coming this far.
This wasn't a bonus stage or a step-by-step reward quest.
It meant they hadn't gained anything yet.
If they left now, they would have suffered for nothing and lost Belus, a key power for the future.
"Wait a moment."
While they were talking, drowsiness washed over him uncontrollably.
It was definitely not normal drowsiness.
'Point Summary.'
=====
[Mana Points: 70,000]
―Magic Power: 407,246
―Inner Power: 120,326
―Physical Power: 24,390
=====
He had been planning to raise his physical power, which was too low compared to his magic power and inner power.
However, he had been saving the points in case he encountered a quest or an enemy.
Davian barely moved his eyes and poured all his mana points into physical power.
=====
[Mana Points: 0]
―Magic Power: 407,246
―Inner Power: 120,326
―Physical Power: 94,390
=====
As 70,000 mana points were allocated to physical power, his muscles repeatedly tore and healed.
Crack, snap.
The sound of his muscles bursting was audible as his physical power increased rapidly.
Muscles weren't the only thing that could be strengthened by increasing physical power.
Raising physical power also improved the body's basic durability, its defense.
Thus, physical power was a stat that affected both strength and defense.
He felt his body, which had seemed about to collapse, rapidly refreshing.
Ding.
=====
[The skill 'Blessing of Hydra' has leveled up significantly.]
―Lv.14 → Lv.25
=====
The 'Blessing of Hydra' skill was not one that evolved into a higher-level skill.
Perhaps that was why the level-up notification appeared when it leveled up so much at once.
'If there's a notification, does that mean the skill details have changed as the level increased?'
Davian opened the detailed skill window of the Blessing of Hydra skill.
'Skill Details.'
=====
[Blessing of Hydra Lv.25]
―Passive Skill.
―Increases wound healing speed and partially regenerates the body.
―Gains immunity to certain poisons as the level increases.
―Skill level increases along with physical power when held.
=====
The skill details page was no different from when it was at level 1.
Only the level number next to the skill name had changed to 25.
However.
'Even if the written content is the same, the effect will be worlds apart.'
He had never leveled up this skill in his previous life, so he didn't know exactly how much it would change.
Even in this life, he had only raised it to level 14 so far.
But considering the changes that came with leveling up other skills, level 25 would definitely be drastically different from level 14.
Even now, just from this.
The drowsiness that had been pouring in was nowhere to be felt.
That was also proof that this drowsiness was not caused by fatigue.
It was probably a reaction to being slowly poisoned.
And now, probably.
'Still, at level 25, I should be immune to this weak poison.'
Now the problem was Mons.
He said he was fine now, but if he kept inhaling it, he would end up like Davian.
Depending on Mons' physical power, the timing would be different, but if he kept going without immunity to the poison, he would inevitably become poisoned.
"Mons."
"Huh? Master. Your eyes suddenly look clear again."
"Yeah. I just gained immunity to this poison."
"Huh? What do you..."
"It's something like that. Mons, you should probably leave now."
"Me?"
"Even for you, if you keep inhaling this poison, you'll become drowsy like I was earlier and then pass out. Go outside the cave and wait."
"I'm telling you, I'm fine right now?"
"Listen to me. The poison is spread throughout the cave. Even if you leave now, you might get poisoned on the way out. Well, looking at your condition now, it probably won't be that bad."
Mons looked at Davian.
Hearing him speak so firmly made it difficult to stay.
But he didn't want to leave his master alone either.
While Mons was hesitating, Davian spoke again.
"That's an order. Mons. There might be something else those guys are planning outside the cave, so you go out and stop anyone from entering this cave. Until I get out."
"Judging by your reaction, Master, it seems there really is poison... Then I will. But be sure to get out of the cave immediately if you think something's up. Don't push yourself too hard."
"Okay. Don't worry."
"Don't you value your companions more than your own life, Master? How can I not worry?"
Who? Me?
Not at all.
"I told you not to worry."
"Definitely. If you think it's not working, get out of the cave immediately. It's not too late to find another way with me afterward."
"Okay, okay. You're lecturing me again after a long time."
After sending Mons back, Davian continued deeper into the cave.
The intervals between the magic stones embedded in the cave walls widened as he went further in.
The inside of the cave became increasingly dark.
'Seeing the magic stones embedded, it's clear that this is a man-made passage.'
Magic stones were minerals that came from the human realm.
On the other hand, the minerals containing mana from the demon realm were demon stones.
The principles of creation were similar, but there were differences in the finished products due to the different mana properties of the two dimensions.
The cave, where he didn't feel any threats, continued long and tediously.
In order to eventually poison even those with high defense due to physical power training, a long passage like this would be necessary.
After parting with Mons, Davian was walking, focusing his attention on the changes in his body.
If there was even a slight change in his condition, it meant he hadn't gained immunity to this poison.
But even after walking for quite a while, his condition hadn't changed.
After going further, a wide space appeared.
In the center of the space was a corpse that had been carelessly thrown down.
Looking closely, it wasn't a corpse but Belus.
Belus was lying motionless.
He could see Belus breathing slowly but steadily.
'Fortunately, he's still alive.'
Davian slowly walked towards the center where Belus was lying.
At that moment.
Two men walked out of the darkness.
'Are those two all?'
Only those who were immune to the poison could enter this far, so they couldn't deploy many people.
'Originally, they would have hoped I would collapse halfway.'
Now the problem was the skill of these two guys.
Were they just selected as people who were immune to the poison and assigned the role of carrying Belus here?
Or were they incredibly skilled and unaffected by this poison?
"He actually came all the way here."
"He's probably someone who happened to have immunity. One in hundreds are said to be unaffected by this poison like us."
"Either way, it doesn't change the fact that he'll die here."
Davian chuckled.
The question about the two guys' skills was easily resolved by their conversation.
'Like us, huh... So two guys who happened to be immune were picked and sent here.'
Clang.
The guys drew their weapons.
One had an ordinary longsword.
The other wielded a strangely shaped weapon that looked like a huge ax.
"But how did he get here? He should have died before passing through the forest ahead, shouldn't he?"
"To have come all the way here, he must have brought incredibly strong companions. I heard that the attendant he brings is also very strong."
"I see. Then his companions are probably lying here and there in the cave, sleeping. Hahaha."
"We'll kill that guy first and then deal with them all as we go out."
"We'll get a huge reward when this job is done."
"Good. Let's get a huge reward. Hehehe."
The two were incessantly chattering as they awkwardly closed the distance with Davian.
Slurred speech and slightly hunched backs.
They hadn't even learned swordsmanship, as their posture while walking with the sword was completely clumsy.
The first encounter with the enemy.
Instead of focusing all their attention to grasp the opponent's skill, they were chattering and sneering among themselves.
They had clearly underestimated him based on Davian's appearance and age.
'Guys who don't even have the basics. No different from a bandit gang.'
Davian sighed deeply.
And.
Whoosh. Swoosh.
Two sharp wind element magic spells, created in an instant, flew away.
Mons was also waiting outside, and the cave was very long.
Belus seemed to be fine so far, but he couldn't let him continue to inhale poison in this cave forever.
Davian decided not to waste time and end it quickly.
The sharp wind element magic precisely hurtled towards each man's Adam's apple.
"Gasp!"
"Gasp!"
The two uttered the same groan.
Thud.
Swish.
Despite wielding completely different weapons, they had the same posture.
"Hehe."
"Fooled you."
The sneering remained.
The two lightly cut down Davian's sharp wind element magic, imbued with 6-star magic power.
Then.
Swish.
Swoosh.
They quickly scattered to either side.
Even with the Eyes of the Swordsman skill raised to level 37, he almost missed their movements.
'Crap.'
All their actions up until now had been to make Davian lower his guard.
Perfect acting.
The two were pros among pros.
The Geminos brothers.
Assassins who had made quite a name for themselves in the Manum Continent, where the Marino Empire was located.
They were famous for never having had their faces seen, neither by the ones who commissioned the work nor by the assassination targets.
The only known information was that they always moved together.
Those who commissioned the assassination could proceed without seeing their faces by going through an intermediate broker.
But the fact that none of the assassination targets had seen their faces meant that they had never failed an assassination.
And making the opponent lower their guard like this before attacking simultaneously with perfect teamwork was the Geminos brothers' long-standing secret technique.
'They deliberately made me lower my guard. I was completely fooled.'
Excellent acting that even Davian was fooled by.
Quick movements and perfectly synchronized movements, as if they had been together for a long time.
However.
'That doesn't change anything.'
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