The Insatiable - Chapter 34

He turned around and found that the undead knight he was just fighting has been burnt to a crisp in the areas where it doesn’t have an armor covering it. Haruhiro felt his body release cold sweat. If he didn’t move quickly, he’d be joining that undead right now.

Haruhiro however, only stopped to check the outcome of that explosion. After he confirmed what the robed undead was doing, he doesn’t have to be afraid anymore. He will just need to time it right. Haruhiro then took out another throwing knife, one has been broken by the undead that parried it using its sword. He somewhat regrets using the knife to halt its movement and if he knew it would break he would have chosen a different approach.

[Undead Knight killed, gained 15 Greed Points.]

It was only at this time that Haruhiro noticed the notification but he paid it no attention. Instead, he struck while the iron is hot, Haruhiro moved his shadow and formed it into a tentacle with a sharp tip.

He can only use his shadow since the knife definitely will not be able to pierce the helmet, he also doesn’t have confidence in the pistol’s penetrating and firepower. The shadow stabbed the undead in its head with relative ease, Haruhiro then retreated. As he did, Haruhiro threw both knives in his hand towards the robed undeads.

Haruhiro can’t let them throw such an attack as they did earlier once again. That would be too annoying and it would waste time. Because of the skill he just learned this afternoon, he’s now more skilled in knife throwing than he was earlier. The two knives flew in an arced manner before finally hitting the robed undeads straight in the head.

[Undead mage killed, obtained 20 Greed Points.]

[Undead mage killed, obtained 19 Greed Points.]

They both transformed into particles of light that entered Nanako and Haruhiro’s body. Haruhiro then made his shadows pick up the coins that were dropped and retreated back to Nanako’s side. Now, all that’s left is one Undead Knight.

“Haru-chan?” Nanako looked at Haruhiro doubtfully, she wonders why he didn’t kill all of the enemies.

“You should handle the last one,” Haruhiro said as he observed the remaining Undead Knight. He then added, “Your flame should be able to burn it completely unlike the two undead mages before.”

Nanako listened to Haruhiro, she didn’t question what he wanted her to do. She has absolute faith in him. Nanako focused her mind and a few moments later a small flame formed like an arrow appeared in front of her. She then made it move towards the enemy.

However, it missed. She’s still unable to hit a moving target with her flames. She clicked her tongue in frustration and tried again. Summoning two flame arrows she targeted the undead knight once again. One of the flame arrows flew way past the undead knight, the other hit it right in its body. Once it did, the flame grew to the point it covered the whole undead knight’s body.

The flame didn’t stop until it turned the enemy to ash and once it did, blue particles of light came out and went straight into their bodies.

[Undead knight killed, obtained 15 Greed Points.]

Haruhiro picked it up and said to Nanako, “That’s good. You did it on your second try.” He praised her since it was just this afternoon that she started to practice but it seems that her hit rate is high enough. “I’ll increase the enemy I’ll leave for you in our next battle but don’t join in for the meantime when I’m battling. Not until you’re confident enough to not hit me Nanako.”

“Nn. Got it.”

They started to explore the temple. The two saw how the temple is now in ruins, broken walls and pillars are all over the place.

“Haru-chan, doesn’t this place look like the Parthenon? The one that we visited in Greece back then.”

While Nanako said that, she reminisced about their past vacation. How she missed those days. Haruhiro looked around and compared it with his memories.

“The pillars I guess but the overall, no? This place is way larger than the Parthenon. We’re still basically outside the temple anyway. This is just the corridor heading there, at least that’s what I think.”

“Then should we hurry it up?”

“Yeah.”

~~~~~~~

“How come you’re wounded Raguel?”

A person in all white said, this person is wearing a white jacket and pants. He has black hair and bright red eyes. On his face is an amiable smile that seems to never disappear.

While the person he is talking to is wearing the same color scheme, all white from the top to bottom. He’s wearing a plain white shirt and white pants. If Haruhiro saw this person, he’ll recognize him as the person that ambushed him and Sloth. Around him are gauzes stained with blood.

“Raphael? How come you’re back?”

The person in white or Raguel looked surprise from his sudden visitor. Evidently, he is truly surprised that Raphael appeared in front of him.

“I was leaving but then I saw someone that might be one of us.”

“Oh? Why didn’t you bring back that person here then?”

“She will eventually join us once she awakens. Then, if you have no more question I would like an answer to my question.”

“The cause of all this. The Sins of the world.”

Raphael looked at him with shock. He didn’t expect that one of their mission will be discovered here so soon.

“That’s great news. We’ll soon fix this world of its sins.”

Raphael’s smile became even more brilliant as he said this, however, he didn’t notice how Raguel has this crazed look on his face.

~~~~~~~~~

Time passed quickly inside the dungeon, they’ve been inside for almost six hours. Outside that would be two hours. The two of them have encountered and battled several enemies.

The variety of their enemies also started to change more often. A lot of times it would be the combination of both Undead Knights and Undead Mages while at other times it would just be one type. Undead Warriors and Paladins also started to appear frequently.

Because of this, his Greed Points have reached a total amount of 1,315. However, what disappointed him is the fact that his enemies have yet to drop any kind of item. Haruhiro is not discouraged, of course, they continued to battle their way through this dungeon and kill all enemies it spawns.

Right now they’re battling what appears to be one of the two “miniboss” in this dungeon. Haruhiro earlier checked the details of this miniboss from the System.

[Clergyman Ibanhiel

– Devoted believer of goddess Terra. He sacrificed his whole life in service of the goddess, he taught many students that later on became famous knights and mages about the goddess’ deeds for the people.]

Along with the Clergyman five other enemies. The composition of the enemies is two Undead Knights, two Undead Warriors, and an Undead Thief.

Nanako shot three flame arrows that flew towards the Undead Thief but it was able to dodge it all. She then moved away from that place and started to summon more flames. This is the strategy that she came up with as they continued to progress in the dungeon. She learned that she shouldn’t just sit still in one place and should instead be moving around. This way she’s able to both dodge enemy attacks and have more angles to shot from.

As for Haruhiro, he’s using both his shadows and his knives to attract all the enemies attention. Its a little hard for him but this is so that Nanako could shoot her flames with ease. He made three of his shadow tentacles block any attack that may harm him while the two continuously attacked. Haruhiro would also from time to time thrust out his knives to stab the enemies but unlike the simple ones they fought earlier, these ones have coordination.

He dodged to the left and made his shadow grab the blade of the sword, this was the moment he’s been waiting for. Haruhiro then made the shadow devour the sword, it slowly faded and before it did Haruhiro separated a small part of them and made it stab the Undead Warrior that had its sword stuck.

[Undead Warrior killed, obtained 17 Greed Points.]

Haruhiro didn’t stop and pushed on, he threw both the knives in each of his hand to the Undead Thief. He did this because he noticed how it wanted to attack Nanako secretly. It was able to dodge both knives but it didn’t notice that it fell into Haruhiro’s trap. Under it a shadow emerged that struck its head, splitting it open.

[Undead Thief killed, obtained 26 Greed Points.]

The remaining Undead Warrior was also ambushed by the three shadows that were supposedly guarding by Haruhiro’s side. It wasn’t able to dodge since it was attacked from three different directions.

[Undead Warrior killed, obtained 23 Greed Points.]

He then noticed two figures being burned by Nanako, these two are precisely the Undead Knights. Haruhiro has been leaving the heavily armored knights to her since she could burn them down to ash with her flames even with their armors on.

[Undead Knight killed, obtained 21 Greed Points.]

[Undead Knight killed, obtained 19 Greed Points.]

The fluctuation of the energy in the air then stopped. Haruhiro hurriedly got to Nanako’s side and wrapped the both of them in the shadow. The next moment the calm air around them moved, it transformed into blades that cut the surrounding still standing pillars to pieces. Inside the shadow, Haruhiro and Nanako are safe from the barrage of winds coming from their last enemy.

“Ready your flames Nanako.”

“Nn,” she nodded and focused her mind.

When Haruhiro felt that it’s safe outside, he undid the shadows wrapping them. Once the shadows were released, Nanako summoned a large arrow made of flames. This one is the biggest she’s ever made, it’s almost as thick as a person’s shoulder and always as long as a person’s arm.

Nanako attacked the Clergyman using this large flame arrow, however, the enemy then summoned a somewhat magical shield that’s able to block whatever is in its front. It blocked the flame arrow and the flames revolving around it easily but it didn’t notice a figure move past it.

Haruhiro took this chance to attack. His figure as if mixing with the shadow moved past the Clergyman. Haruhiro then turned his body, summoning all his shadows in this attack -he devoured the Clergyman. Nanako took this as her cue and made the flames disappear, she doesn’t want her flames to hurt Haruhiro.

[Undead Clergyman Ibanhiel killed, obtained 50 Greed Points, x1 Clergyman’s Journal, x1 Rusty Key.]

“Fuu,” Haruhiro let out a sigh of relief when he got that notification. From his shadows emerged blue particles of light that separated and went into their bodies. They felt the warmth spreading over their body.

“Haru-chan, that was amazing. How come you don’t just make your shadows swallow all our enemies so that we could have an easier time.”

Haruhiro smiled bitterly at her remark and replied, “If I could I would. It uses too much energy from me whenever I try to devour something.”

Nanako nodded in acknowledgment, seeing this Haruhiro returned his attention to his shadows. He moved them and made them all pick up the scattered coins. Haruhiro then placed it all inside his Inventory. However, he kept the journal and the key wanting to observe it.

He first looked at the so-called journal trying to find out details from it.

[Clergyman’s Journal

– The journal of Clergyman Ibanhiel. What secrets does it keep?]