Chapter 63 – The Insect Dungeon - Starting the tutorial with two bodies - NovelsTime

Starting the tutorial with two bodies

Chapter 63 – The Insect Dungeon

Author: Rowen
updatedAt: 2025-10-08

Honestly, I had already lost count of how many notifications flashed before my eyes since the very first grasshopper was pierced. As I mentioned before, they were weak—ridiculously weak—but the problem was the sheer number of them.

They came in swarms so massive that trying to count them would’ve been pure stupidity. Even so, with only the bare minimum of effort, I cut them down without trouble. Each strike, each precise movement, brought another carcass crashing to the ground. The death messages popped up one after another, relentless, until they formed what felt like a wall of flickering text in front of me.

*You killed [Green Grasshopper – lvl 22] – Experience gained. 44 TP obtained*

*You killed [Green Grasshopper – lvl 23] – Experience gained. 46 TP obtained*

*You killed [Green Grasshopper – lvl 22] – Experience gained. 44 TP obtained*

*DING! Class: [Assassin] has reached level 28 – Status points allocated*

Before I even realized it, the ground around me was already buried beneath a grotesque mass of grasshopper corpses. The greenish fluid seeping from their bodies tainted the air with a sharp, sticky stench, spreading across the grass until it looked more like a soaked, uneven carpet.

For a moment, I let my eyes wander over the scene—a heavy silence hung in the air, and somehow I felt no more swarms would be coming anytime soon. To my surprise, my level had jumped far beyond twenty-five. I was sitting at level twenty-eight already.

It’s worth pointing out that after level twenty, progression becomes absurdly harder—to the point where casually hunting monsters is almost pointless. The reason is simple and obvious: most creatures never even get close to that range, which makes every bit of experience rare and valuable.

Either way, as I stared at the lifeless grasshoppers piling up around me, the dry crack of their shells hitting the ground still echoed in my ears. That was when Alice’s voice—steady yet laced with concern—broke through the heavy silence near my female body: “Noa, Justin, are you two okay?”

I glanced around through Noa’s eyes for a moment. The grasshoppers lay scattered across the ground, unmoving, like a brittle carpet of chitin under the dim light. The silence that followed the carnage felt almost unnatural, as if the very air itself had stopped breathing.

I took a deep breath and nodded at Alice’s words, trying to ease the tension in my voice: “Don’t worry, I’m fine... just a little surprised. I didn’t expect there to be this many of them”

I wasn’t exaggerating. Even compared to the first dungeon I faced—the one infested with ants—the difference was staggering. Back then, their numbers felt threatening but still manageable. Now, though, it was a completely different story.

The ground was littered with grasshopper bodies, maybe thirty or forty in total, heaped in piles that reeked with a sharp, nauseating stench. Their levels varied, sure, but most were weak creatures; a handful had managed to pass level twenty, but from my perspective, that hardly mattered.

Even those slightly stronger ones weren’t a real threat. Their bodies were strangely soft, almost like air-filled balloons, so easy to pierce that every strike felt trivial. Honestly, to me, it was nothing more than a simple game.

Of course, facing so many at once had drained some of my stamina, but nothing serious. A few seconds of rest would be enough to fully recover.

“Anyway” I began, drawing Alice’s attention as I shook off those thoughts: “if this keeps up, I’ll need your help. Even if they seem like easy prey, if I end up completely exhausted, things could get much more complicated than they should”

Alice nodded, her eyes firm and resolute at my words. I, on the other hand, just let out a long sigh, trying to ease the tension weighing on my chest. I turned my gaze to the nearby trees, where the hives hung in unsettling silence, like tiny sentinels lurking in wait.

Alice, still at my side, also kept her eyes fixed on the hive. Her voice came out soft, almost as if she were afraid of drawing unwanted attention: “Do you think more of those things will show up?” Fresh chapters posted on novel※fire.net

When I heard her question, I simply nodded in silence, confirming her fears. Honestly, there wasn’t much else to say. Barely five minutes had passed since we started slaughtering those grasshoppers, yet it felt like every second was dragging on like an eternity. Twenty-five long, torturous minutes still remained—minutes that promised to weigh like hours.

Alice seemed to realize this too, because her expression suddenly darkened, as if a shadow had crossed her eyes. She lowered her gaze slightly before muttering, her voice heavy with frustration: “I know we’re saving my mana, but still... I feel awful not being able to help like Oliver or Ethan in situations like this. I’m sorry”

When I heard her words, my first instinct was to turn toward her, still within my male body. It was strange—and at the same time exactly as her words implied. The weight in her eyes wasn’t coldness or detachment, but another kind of shadow, one shaped by guilt.

“Why are you apologizing?” I asked, my female voice ringing out soft yet firm: “You know I’m counting on you...” I paused briefly, letting the weight of the words sink in, before adding: “counting on you a lot. It’s just...” I sighed, letting a trace of frustration slip through: “This isn’t the right moment for you to use your skills”

When I looked back at Alice after saying all that, I noticed her expression barely changed. There was only a faint tremor in her eyes, as if she were trying to hide her frustration behind a calm façade. Honestly, I understood her—at least to some degree.

If I were in her shoes, I’d probably feel just as powerless for not being able to do anything. But in the end, there wasn’t a simple solution. Her abilities demanded an absurd amount of mana, and under these circumstances, that left her practically tied down.

Of course, Alice didn’t seem to share the same calm. Her expression still carried a shadow of worry, but then, suddenly, something shifted — her eyes lit up as if a memory had just sparked in her mind.

The contrast was so striking it was as if all the tension in her face had been wiped away in an instant. With a voice suddenly bright, almost excited, she turned to me and exclaimed: “Noa! The shop... can it be used inside the dungeon?”

The moment I heard her words, it was like a spark ran through my mind, illuminating thoughts that had been dormant until then. The next second, as I focused on the idea of the shop, it simply materialized before me, silent and imposing, as if it had always been there, waiting.

Without hesitation, I glanced back at Alice. She remained still, her eyes fixed on an invisible point ahead, as if she were observing something only she could see. From the attentive way she stared into the void, I figured she must be accessing the shop on her own — after all, her level was high enough for that.

After a few seconds of staring, Alice suddenly extended her hand. Instantly, a brilliant light ignited around her, expanding until it filled the space with an almost blinding glow. When it finally faded, it revealed a thin glass cylinder in her palm, inside which a swirling blue liquid shimmered, casting a soft, almost hypnotic glow.

As far as I could remember, there was no doubt: it was a mana potion. Alice then turned her gaze to me, a serene smile forming on her lips, as if she wanted to share not only the object but the thoughts that came with it.

“This is perfect!” Alice exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement: “If mana is no longer a problem, I can finally use my abilities freely. I’ve got enough money to buy a few dozen potions... so this time, I can actually be useful!”

Honestly, I couldn’t argue with Alice. Using the shop had never even crossed my mind, but as she pointed out, it made perfect sense. If we could buy potions to restore our mana, then our abilities could be used without worry. That would, without a doubt, make the next twenty-five minutes much more efficient.

By the way — though it had nothing directly to do with what was happening — a bad feeling had been gnawing at me for some time. It was like an invisible weight pressing against my chest, a silent shadow that, no matter how hard I tried to push it away, remained constant. Unfortunately, that dark intuition proved right a few seconds later when reality hit, brutal and unavoidable.

From the cocoons clinging to the twisted trunks came a wet crack, shattering the suffocating silence. First low, almost swallowed by the forest itself, then louder, like fibers of flesh being violently torn.

From the newly split openings, thick, yellowish, viscous liquid dripped, falling heavily onto the soaked roots. The sour stench that spread was so pungent it seemed to corrode the air, slightly burning my nostrils and leaving a metallic taste in my mouth.

From inside, a muffled, irregular, frantic buzzing echoed — as if hundreds of wings were trapped, struggling all at once to break free. The sound vibrated through the air, making the ground tremble slightly under my feet.

My body stiffened instinctively the moment the first creature broke the surface: a grotesque fly, the size of a small dog. Its compound eyes pulsed a vivid red, like glowing embers, and from its misshapen mouth came convulsive movements, opening and closing in spasms that seemed more a reflex of pain than a natural need to breathe.

As it tore through the air with trembling wings, the insect tilted its head and spewed a gurgling blast of smoldering acid at the tree bark. The sharp, corrosive sound spread through the woods like a metallic whisper, accompanied by a harsh odor that burned the nostrils.

Within moments, the wood warped and began to melt, opening dark fissures from which drenched cocoons tumbled. They splattered on the ground with wet pops, cracking like rotten eggs and releasing a viscous liquid that spread across the leaf-covered earth. From each, swarms of flies erupted in waves, wings vibrating in a deafening buzz, as if the very air itself was being torn in frenzy.

From the twisted bodies of the insects, splashes of acid shot in all directions, sizzling as they hit the ground. Wherever the corrosive liquid landed, the grass dissolved into black, smoldering patches, giving off a nauseating stench of burnt flesh, mixed with the sickly sweet, putrid odor escaping from the cracked cocoons.

“This is... really gross” I murmured under my breath, my expression twisting in disgust as the air seemed to grow heavier with what I was seeing.

The swarm stirred, forming a pulsating, restless mass right in front of us, the sound of hundreds of wings beating echoing as a constant buzz in my ears. I clenched my jaw and added, without looking away: “No matter how I look at it... these things are way more annoying to deal with than those grasshoppers”

The reason I said that was simple: although both the grasshoppers and these flies could fly, there was a crucial difference between them. The grasshoppers themselves had no ranged attacks.

In the end, that meant the fight would inevitably come close — and that was extremely favorable, considering my specialty has always been direct combat, hand-to-hand.

However, from the earlier demonstration — when the fly spat corrosive acid straight from its mouth — it became clear these creatures have long-range attacks. In other words, there’s no obvious way to bring them close without exposing myself to risk. At least, I can’t believe these monstrous flies are foolish enough not to notice the advantage they have.

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