CHAPTER 126: THAT GROUP IS GOING TO GO CRAZY

Going into this dungeon was torture. His shoes were also burning from the high temperatures; the further he went in, the hotter it got.

It got to a point where his shoes couldn’t take it anymore, and he was forced to put many bandages on his feet to resist, although it was difficult.

The good thing was that the resistance points were increasing. The bad thing was that he could not add them.

After many hours, he reached the core of the dungeon. As he expected, it was a sea of lava, terrifying.

Fortunately, this dungeon had no boss, so after killing all the golems and suffering severe burns all over his body, he could finally get out.

Even though his stomach was completely full of potions and healing pills, his body was terrifyingly red.

The burns made it difficult for him to walk, stand, or even lie down.

When it was over, he walked gently and carefully to the portal... Finally, he came out.

It had been too many hours trapped in that terrifying dungeon. When he came out, he couldn’t even say anything to Anna. He walked towards her and swallowed several more potions. These slowly did their job of restoring him, but they didn’t work well on burns.

Seeing this, Anna quickly grabbed him carefully, gave him some very high-level potions that would allow him to recover more quickly, and then took him back to town to lie down in a decent place.

"Training seriously will always be painful and difficult, even more so if you want to train resistance. So be strong; there are still two days to go, " she said before thoughtfully walking out and leaving him lying down.

There was a lot to do ahead.

-

The next morning, Elliot still had burns all over his body. Even with amazing potions, he couldn’t recover them quickly, but they no longer hurt.

The burns on his back had healed completely, so he could move freely.

That morning, Anna took him to his second dungeon.

Lord Wind’s Dungeon.

"Watch out for the wind and the hawks. You just have to kill the Boss. Go."

He was pushed inside the portal without warning once again.

This time, he was on top of a mountain. This dungeon was also special, as it was a large mountain range connected by high bridges, which looked like they would fall down at any moment, but they were incredibly sturdy.

Hawks flew overhead; they were more powerful than the golems of before, though less resilient.

The problem was that by flying, they could attack from distances Elliot couldn’t reach, and today his strength was also sealed, although he was allowed to use basic weapons.

He drew the sword Anna had given him and took a deep breath.

Massive tornadoes would occasionally rise in front of his sight.

"This will be difficult..." He smiled.

There was no way it could be harder than feeling your skin and flesh steadily cooking, but he couldn’t underestimate it. These pesky dungeons weren’t just anything.

He allowed himself to enjoy the beautiful scenery this dungeon had to offer before he began.

--

Many hours later.

Elliot flew out of the dungeon after being hit by a massive tornado just before he crossed the portal.

His body was injured all over. He had been pushed to a dangerous limit, where his blood was left on every part of that dungeon.

He had never imagined that those Hawks, all of them, had magical abilities of blades and the like. Much less had he thought tornadoes carried metals.

No one told him that!

That’s why he was badly hurt on the way out. One wrong step inside that dungeon and he wouldn’t have counted it.

He shivered once again as he remembered when he was almost executed by the attack of ten hawks and a tornado at the same time.

"...These dungeons cannot be underestimated..." His teeth clashed together.

Just then, Anna’s voice reached him.

"Go get some rest. Tomorrow is the last day before you have to train the Strength."

There were no words of congratulations; she simply tossed him a potion to heal his wounds. This was the good thing about this wind-centered dungeon.

The wounds done there recovered with potions very easily. If he hadn’t been hit by a tornado at the end, he wouldn’t have as many wounds, as he had taken some potions earlier.

"Good." Elliot smiled and stood up. The accumulated fatigue made his muscles and bones burn, but he endured it and followed her back to the city, where, once again, he rested all night.

At dawn, he was taken to the last dungeon.

"The Dungeon of the Hideous Mermaid is a water dungeon. The dangers of this dungeon are obvious; death is everywhere, and enduring the pressure underwater is very difficult. Moreover, breathing is impossible. That’s why you’ll have to wear this suit." She pulled out a special suit for swimming at the bottom of the sea and gave it to him.

"It’s simple and only serves to let you breathe, so you’ll have to deal with the water pressure on your own; it’s part of your train."

"Now, here you don’t need to fight anyone if you don’t want to. Many kinds of fish and strange beasts that you’ve probably never seen before will attack you. They are there to make your life miserable. You must be careful because many of them are D-Rank beasts."

"But only focus on bringing me the head of the mermaid, no matter how you do it. But watch out for the waves that she can create underwater; they are dangerous."

"For the rest, you must find out for yourself. Go after you suit up."

Elliot nodded. "I understand, Miss Anna. I will do so immediately."

He put on the gray suit he had been given, a special one for swimming, and had a magic breathing mask.

Then he got a few more things ready before stepping forward.

"I’m leaving." He took a deep breath and stepped in...

--

These days, Loen City has been strangely quiet on the surface, but underneath the table, many things are getting chaotic.

For the Clark Group and their party, not getting Elliot’s location was too stressful. Even within the Angelic Wave Guild, there was no sign of him.

The last time they saw him, he appeared to be walking with a strange but powerful woman. Then he disappeared.

What was he doing? Where was he?

They could tell, with difficulty, that Jenna and the rest of the Star Knights were training with powerful trainers. But no one knew where Elliot was.

So they called a meeting.

"I think we’re all here for something."

"Where is Elliot Clark?"

Master Roy sighed, as did the special guests.

"Even we haven’t been able to find him."

"Could it be that he fled to another city?" Alexander seemed to have aged these days. He had numerous gray hairs on his head, and his beard was slightly overgrown.

"I don’t think so... Couldn’t we confirm that Jenna and he were in a romantic relationship?"

"And with how he is, would he abandon his girlfriend?"

"I don’t think so..."

"He could be training in another city?"

Finally, Master Roy, Alexander, and the rest realized that when one of them mentioned it.

"Could be..." Alexander looked at the special guest.

"Professor, could I ask you to ask your contacts about him? His appearance..."

"Not necessary." This man interrupted sharply. "He’s not in Agora, he’s not in any of the coastal cities either."

"Then..."

"If he’s training in another city, perhaps he’s in one of the Great Cities." He said, though he scoffed in the end. "Or he could very well be in another kingdom."

"Another kingdom?" Roy and Alexander frowned.

"It could be..."

"He went to the Runic Kingdom?"

"Shit!"

"There it would be too hard to reach him."

Once again, though, this man scoffed.

"Why so worried about a little guy like him? He’ll eventually die." He spoke and shrugged. "Even though I said that, that’s most likely not the case. That kid’s sponsors have been looking for him, too, and apparently, they’ve all gotten the same answer: it’s not possible to use him for real-time sponsorships right now. He may not have left the kingdom and is still out there, training in the shadows."

"If so... wouldn’t we have found him by now?" Alexander asked, and Roy nodded.

"We’ve moved several guilds to look for him and used powerful people, but he’s nowhere to be found."

"Hahaha, you guys have gotten really stupid lately. A little boy has destroyed your minds and confidence in such an amazing way, it makes me believe that boy is an absolute genius ever seen." The man scoffed and leaned back in his chair.

"From what you guys have told me, Elliot Clark is very talented, to the point that he is the most talented among those five. Only someone powerful could train someone like him, so remember that the person brought to train him can’t be someone normal. Although we have used powerful people to search for him, what if that person next to him is as powerful as ours?"

"Then we couldn’t find him, even if he’s right under our noses. Why worry so much about it? Instead of bothering with that guy, you should be talking about how you’re going to send us dead bodies."

"The weather is winter, I think right now is a good time to do some digging." This man smiled under his dark cloak.

Just then, outside, a powerful bolt of lightning struck the ground.

THUNDER*

Light shone over the slightly darkened room, and strange pointed ears lit up, as they protruded from that dark cloak...