I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 42

Chapter 42

That very evening, after Iris mentioned the word “rune,” we rode our horses toward the mountain ridge where the newly discovered dungeon was said to be located. Our party consisted of four members: Iris, myself, Rize, and Erika.

Claudia remained at the castle, saying that someone needed to stay behind to protect the city.

After about an hour of riding, we arrived at the entrance of a cave, revealed amidst a collapsed mountainside.

After tying our horses to a nearby tree and using a scroll to create a barrier that prevented monsters from sensing the inside, Iris approached the cave entrance and drew her sword.

“Rune pulses were detected, but no internal exploration has been conducted. That’s our task. We don’t know what’s inside, so stay alert.”

Rize and Erika also drew their weapons. Rize’s were twin daggers embedded with blue jewels, the same color as her eyes, and Erika’s was a Japanese katana with intricate patterns engraved on the blade.

It’s not because of the mod, that’s the original NPC’s weapon.

‘Well, it’s a Japanese company.’

Although the practical setting of Brightest Darkness 4 was Western, no user would particularly find fault with a Japanese sword appearing in a game made by a Japanese company in Japan.

In the first place, throughout the entire Brightest Darkness series, from part 1 to 4, “sword”-type weapons weren’t particularly good in terms of performance, so it wasn’t even a point of contention.

In the user-created tier lists, at best, only one or two would be placed around the mid-3rd tier, and most were relegated to the 5th tier, which was practically the same as being trash.

“I’ll enter first.”

Iris, firmly gripping her longsword in one hand, held the torch in her other hand forward and stepped inside. Rize followed behind her. I was third, and Erika was last.

As if she was determined to keep things professional, Rize became completely silent as soon as we entered. It felt like she was a completely different person than before.

The overall size of the cave seemed larger than what I remembered from the game. Well, considering how large the boss here was supposed to be according to the lore, it made sense that the boss room would also be huge.

‘I’m already getting a headache.’

Just the thought of having to deal with that guy for a long time gave me a pain in the back of my neck. I sighed inwardly and followed behind Rize.

“…”

Only the clanking sounds of armor echoed through the cave. This was because Iris, Rize, and Erika were all fully armed in silver full plate armor.

They finally looked like proper knights. Even though they were still only wearing white tank tops and dolphin shorts underneath the armor, without even any underwear, I decided to ignore it.

Naturally, I was dressed in my usual cloth attire and leather pants. I tried wearing armor just in case, but I couldn’t roll, so I had no choice.

It’s not that I had to roll in an even more awkward way, but like when the weight of the armor exceeded the character’s carrying capacity, I could only nod my head forward and rolling wouldn’t work.

I tried several times because even I thought it was strange, but my body wouldn’t slam onto the ground, it would just stagger for a moment.

I couldn’t even run. Claudia laughed when she saw me waddling around, saying I needed to work on my stamina, but I couldn’t laugh because I knew why this was happening.

So I just took it off.

‘I’d rather run around naked than give up rolling.’

It was clear which one took priority.

“Halt.”

Iris stopped walking. A vast chamber lay ahead. I recognized this place at once. This was the passage leading to the boss of this dungeon.

“The space is too wide. Rize, stay by my side. Rookie, you stand next to Erika. We move in pairs.”

Rize stepped forward and stood beside Iris, and Erika positioned herself next to me. As if they were truly on edge, elemental energy was leaking slightly from the weapons in their hands.

Compared to the three who were cautiously stepping forward, not knowing what might appear, I walked while pretending to be moderately vigilant.

The regular mobs that appeared here were nothing special. Besides, even if I didn’t step up, the Knight Commanders would take care of them all.

Dealing with the boss here was enough to drain my mental energy.

“Erika, where is the rune reaction detected?”

Upon hearing Iris’s question, Erika briefly glanced down at the necklace she was wearing. It was a green necklace that hummed with light.

“It’s quite a distance below our current location. Assuming the path is a straight line and not winding, it would take a little over an hour to reach it at this speed.”

“One hour in a straight line? Then we should assume at least two hours to get there. If we go back and forth, it’ll easily take five hours.”

“And if monsters appear along the way, it’ll take even longer.”

As soon as those words were spoken, Iris coated her blade with wind, Rize bloomed ice flowers on her twin daggers, and Erika engulfed her weapon in flames, almost simultaneously.

Something with bumpy scales, a mixture of black and gray, was approaching from the far end of the passage. Seeing the creature, Rize and Erika gasped in disgust.

It was a centipede, almost the size of a human.

Dozens of pairs of legs wriggled disgustingly, all covered in scales. The antennae on its face trembled incessantly. The hard carapace on its back was also covered in scales.

And it wasn’t even just one. Five more, identical creatures were approaching from behind.

“Ugh, I never imagined such disgusting monsters would appear. What is this place?”

“…It’s a bit creepy. No, not a bit, a lot.”

Rize and Erika shuddered and channeled elemental energy into their weapons. Ice covered Rize’s body, and flames erupted from Erika’s sword, illuminating the surroundings.

‘I shouldn’t take them with me when I get the magic book later.’

Later on, we’ll discover a dungeon filled not with centipede-like monsters, but with actual human-sized insects.

That place was famous for shocking the players directly, not just the characters. It was so bad that the developers even placed an NPC at the front to warn players to turn back because the place was swarming with bugs.

But unfortunately, one of the magic books I needed to obtain was in that place. If it weren’t for that magic book, I wouldn’t even glance at that place.

“We’ll deal with them quickly. Rookie, you stay put at the back.”

Having said that, Iris, seemingly unfazed by the hideous sight, charged at the centipede with her sword enveloped in a whirlwind. Rize and Erika also let out groans of “Eugh!” and charged, their bodies and weapons respectively wreathed in ice and flames.

ㅡThwack!

And they exploded the centipede’s head in one hit.

The centipede, its head blown off, writhed its body, its joints twitching, before finally curling up its legs and dying. The others were the same. Their bodies exploded and were torn apart with the slightest touch of a weapon.

“Huh?”

A bewildered sound escaped Rize’s lips as they were easily dealt with, despite their gruesome appearance. It seemed she hadn’t expected them to die in one hit.

The reason was the fundamental difference in specs. This was a dungeon that opened at level 20, while the Silver Dawn Knight Commanders were mid-to-late game bosses.

Naturally, they could crush the mobs here with their superior stats.

“You’re not surprised again, Rookie.”

Iris, having cleanly sliced the centipedes into pieces with a few swings of her sword, turned her head towards me. Although I couldn’t see her expression because of her helmet, I somehow had a feeling what kind of face she was making.

“Do you have any idea about this dungeon?”

Her voice held a hint of anticipation. I answered without changing my expression.

“I do know something.”

“Really?! Wait, then why didn’t you tell us until now?!”

“I need your help later. For now, I’m enough on my own.”

I looked around, searching for a large crack in the wall. I walked towards it, heading towards the center of the chamber until a stalactite was right next to me. Then I took three steps back to the right.

The three of them seemed to have no idea what I was doing.

“Ah, you guys should go stand over there instead of just standing around.”

“…?”

Although they looked incredibly puzzled, the three of them retreated to the passage where the centipede monsters had just emerged, as I instructed. It seemed they thought there was no harm in listening to me for now.

After confirming that the Knight Commanders had retreated to a safe distance, I plunged the Bloodstained Sword into my stomach. Since Rize had already blabbed about the Bloodstained Sword’s special ability, no one was surprised.

I absorbed blood to the limit in that state and then pulled out the sword. An ominous, b*oody hue swirled around the blade.

“Rookie, why are you suddenly using that? And what’s the reason for telling us to stand here?”

“Because you can’t get caught up in this too.”

“We can’t get caught up in what? Rookie, what are youㅡ”

ㅡRumble!

Before Iris could finish her sentence, the floor of the chamber began to collapse with a deafening roar. The floor near the passage where Iris, Erika, and Rize were standing was the first to give way, sinking and splitting apart.

The three of them were startled and tried to rescue me, but a gap several times the height of a person had already formed between us. No matter how skilled they were as Knight Commanders, they couldn’t jump that distance without a running start.

Moreover, the chasm between us was widening even at this moment. The speed at which the floor was collapsing was accelerating. The crack gradually approached me.

Iris shouted urgently.

“Rookie! Don’t tell me you’re going to…!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I won’t die. You trust me, right?”

“It’s not a matter of trust! If you knew this was going to happen, you should have told usㅡ”

Before she could finish her sentence, the remaining part of the floor finally gave way, and my body began to plummet downwards. The silver armor of Rize, Iris, and Erika quickly receded from view.

“Just follow the path straight down! I’ll be waiting for you below!”

I shouted upwards with all my might as I fell. I wasn’t sure if they could hear me over the loud noise of the collapsing floor, though.

‘When I get back, I’ll get another earful about why I didn’t tell them beforehand.’

It couldn’t be helped.

This boss had to be defeated by meticulously executing specific mechanics, so having multiple people would only increase the chances of aggro bouncing around and wasting time. In the worst-case scenario, there could even be an accident.

I refused to take that risk. It was enough to receive the Knight Commanders’ help in the 4th phase, after clearing all the mechanics.

‘Now, I should start getting ready.’

After what felt like at least 10 seconds of freefall, I finally spotted a puddle of water below and calmly prepared for a plunge attack.