## Chapter 355 – Dungeons and Adventurers (22)
“What? What did you just say…”
“We can’t get out anymore.
You just happened to be the last one.”
“How could that…
If we have magic tools!!”
“Give up if you’re thinking of doing something foolish.
The mana flow is extremely unstable.
Those trying to get out right now…
One wrong move and they’ll all become lost in the dimensions.
Their entire bodies might be torn apart like fragments.”
Eloise’s calm voice delivered the shocking news.
The thought of never seeing the outside world again filled Vivian’s mind, but she struggled to organize her thoughts and directed a question at Eloise.
For the pragmatic Vivian, an obstacle blocking her path was simply something to overcome.
“There must be a way.
There’s a reason you’re so calm.
Isn’t there?”
Eloise seemed to ponder Vivian’s persistent question for a moment, glancing at Marie, who was also deep in thought beside her, before slowly nodding.
Fortunately, books and research materials about the dungeon had been moved here for her to read during her vacation.
And with Marie, a reliable magic engineering student, by her side, they could search through everything together and eventually reach a conclusion, whether positive or negative.
Eloise, of course, didn’t want to be stuck here either, so she was determined to do her best.
“Of course. We’re looking for a way right now.
Theoretically, all we need is for the mana flow to stabilize.
According to the theory of magical entropy…”
“I wouldn’t understand the details even if you told me, so I’ll leave it to you.
Focus on resolving this situation.
I’ll put someone next to you, so ask for anything you need.
I’ll help as much as I can.”
“… I will…
Thank you for your cooperation.”
After finishing her conversation with Eloise, Vivian immediately went to the infirmary, which had been temporarily set up in a corner of the outpost.
This infirmary, which had been there since the outpost was first established, was a favor for a young woman from Chaoxing who was cooperative with Enic.
Because of the large number of users, it was a place where one could gain practical experience relatively easily. It was now teeming with people who had come here, and even back-alley quack doctors, who weren’t the original staff, had settled in to provide treatment.
Had things gotten so desperate?
Amidst the crowd, Vivian weaved her way through the people, her ears perking up at a certain voice.
“Hold him steady!
You need to stay focused!!”
“Ugh… Ugh…!! Blood… Blooood…!!”
“Get out of the way.”
A man had lost his grip on the patient’s struggling arm, overwhelmed by the sight of blood.
Vivian pushed the man aside and forcefully pressed down on the patient’s arm, causing the patient’s struggles to subside slightly.
The kind, brown eyes, which had widened in surprise at the sudden intrusion, blinked softly, conveying silent gratitude to Vivian.
“Intra-abdominal bleeding…
Says he was pierced by a monster’s claw.
It’s a very serious condition…
I’m trying to treat him, but…”
“Is he going to die?”
“No. We have some artificial blood prepared, so he won’t die from blood loss immediately…
But it’s a penetrating injury…
If we only treat him with what we have here…
With my skills, it’s hard to completely stop the bleeding temporarily…
He might die later from aftereffects or sudden cardiac arrest…”
“He’s going to die anyway, even if you don’t do anything.
I can’t exactly tell you not to try to save his life.”
“Ugh…”
“Yui.”
At Vivian’s calm words of encouragement, Yui, whose long eyelashes were prominent, gently closed her eyes and took a deep breath, clenching her fist.
“I’ll try.”
“Listen while you work. It seems like we’re stuck here.
We’re trapped here for the time being.”
“That means…”
“They said the entrance is unstable because of some mana thing.
But the mages are looking for a way out.
So, we have to endure here somehow in the meantime.
The good news is that we have enough food and water.
And some monster meat is edible, depending on the species.”
Yui neatly tied her hair back with a ribbon, revealing her smooth forehead.
Vivian gently wiped away the sweat that seemed to have formed on her forehead, where a few drops of blood from the previous patient had splattered. She was doing her best to calmly convey the current positive situation.
There was no need to agitate her, as she was already showing considerable concentration.
“The outpost’s functions aren’t completely paralyzed.
We’re planning to secure the area by thoroughly guarding the perimeter.
I’m sorry that you’re suddenly trapped, but we have no choice but to leave the patients here to you.”
“Is that… so…”
Yui’s brown eyes looked as if they were about to turn red at any moment, but her gaze remained fixed on the affected area, unwavering.
She might say she lacks skill, but at least in terms of her attitude as a doctor, she was worthy of recognition.
Yui’s hand, which had been moving, paused briefly when she heard that they couldn’t leave, but then resumed its movements, working diligently as if trying to erase any hesitation.
“If you’re going to eat monster meat, please bring it here before you eat it.
I’ll check to see if it’s poisonous.
And… please be careful not to get hurt anymore…
I think we’ll run out of medical supplies after seeing all the patients here.
This place was originally a space for monster research…
We don’t have the supplies for mass treatment…”
“I’ll try. If you need anything else…”
“I’ll tell you then.
I’m going to focus on this for now.
Oh, and…”
Even though she was showing a calm demeanor, Yui was feeling the pressure in her own way.
Perhaps she needed time to struggle on her own, as she quickly cut off Vivian’s words.
Vivian, of course, noticed this, so she handed over the patient’s care to someone else and left Yui’s infirmary.
‘Sudden mana fluctuations.
The severance of the dungeon and the world.’
As Vivian began to walk around the outpost, which was now mostly cleaned up, her mind became clouded, like fragments of fading memories scattering in the wind.
This situation was something she hadn’t even considered when she first took over the dungeon. The fact that she was completely cut off from the world she used to live in was simply too bewildering.
‘If I… can’t go back…’
Does he know that I’m trapped here?
If so, maybe, just maybe, he’ll come to save me like a knight in shining armor.
Just like when he took the insignificant girl who had lost everything into his comfortable embrace.
Feeling like she was indulging in empty fantasies, Vivian rubbed the tip of her nose and shook her head. She gently stroked her lower abdomen, where a spider was quietly sleeping.
She glared at the dungeon sky, which seemed strangely distorted, with slightly reddened eyes, before lowering her gaze to look straight ahead.
Beyond the wooden fence, where the sharp sounds of swords clashing against monster claws could be heard, as if the cleanup wasn’t complete yet.
‘I will definitely go back.’
As she walked towards that place, neatly drawing the sword from her waist, her eyes were filled with the strong will of a human confronting an absurd situation.
“To your side…”
.
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“Isn’t this more delicious than you thought?
Would you like to try this too?
Hehe… You’re eating so well.”
Lea was more talkative than he thought.
In the lair, she had shown the image of a charismatic spider queen who knew how to set the mood.
“Here, ahh~”
‘Ahh…!!’
Whether this was her true personality or whether it was just because she was with him, she seemed as excited as a new bride.
As he opened his spider mandibles and swallowed the piece of raw meat, she bit her lip as if unable to resist his cuteness. It felt like the story of who would feed whom was already a thing of the past.
“My partner, my husband, is so cute.
Don’t you want to brag about it to someone?”
Of course, he might be cute now.
The problem was that this main body was thousands of times larger than a spider, with thick, slippery tentacles, and Enic could wrap up Arachnella and dozens of human women with them.
‘Well… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad…’
But the reality was that his torso was resting on her hand, his legs flailing in the air as he accepted the meat she gave him.
He felt like he had been in a similar situation before, but back then, he had to endure an overbearing atmosphere as if he were about to be turned into a snack at any moment.
Compared to then, her current appearance was like heaven and earth.
It was the first time he had seen Lea, who always kept a wall around her heart and couldn’t laugh freely, always wary of her surroundings as if she were tense, forgetting everything else and enjoying herself so much.
He wondered if she had been like this when she was younger, and he somehow wanted to protect that side of her. To keep her in that mood for a long time, he nibbled on the pieces of meat she offered.
‘I’m… going to burst…’
Anyway, they were cuddling in Lea’s newly built spiderweb hideout.
After deciding that it would be dangerous if the same thing happened as last time with the hideout built in the tree, Lea had built this one on the ground, using the terrain to her advantage.
Thanks to this, the spiderweb house, which was like a small honeymoon home with a garden, had a slight problem in that it was easily visible to the surrounding monsters, but that wasn’t a big deal.
– Groooowl
“Oh my? It seems like prey has been caught?
Would you wait here for a moment?”
Only Lea could freely enter and exit Lea’s spiderweb house.
There was a reason why spiderwebs were spiderwebs.
When he entered and exited Lea’s house in the lair, his tentacles didn’t drag on the ground like snakes, so he could float in the air and move around easily, but most other monsters who had to walk on the ground couldn’t do that.
The prey who rushed in, drawn by their instincts even after seeing Lea’s flamboyant spiderweb house, which was like a gate to hell, must have been excited at the thought of eating the tender flesh of a succulent female.
But what returned was only the cruelly gleaming red eyes of a higher predator, who seemed to be in a bad mood because her cozy honeymoon life with her partner had been disturbed.
“Hehe… Fresh prey has arrived.
Isn’t this a gift to celebrate our honeymoon?”
When Lea returned, there were a few drops of red blood on her face, but she smiled sweetly, clasping her hands to her chest as if she were happy.
‘Eek…!!’
Her appearance was a little scary, but she was still his friendly ally and companion.
Her face was flushed as if she was excited after tasting blood, and she gracefully walked towards him on her four pairs of legs, gently lifting him up with both hands.
“Could it be that… we just locked eyes…?”
Yes, of course, I’ve heard that newlyweds go to the bedroom together as soon as they lock eyes.
It would be less scary if you wiped the blood off your face first, please save me.
Even with Lea’s eerie appearance, the spider’s heart was pounding, and just as he was about to pounce on her body, which was craving the pleasure of a female.
Lea suddenly turned around, her red eyes flashing, and the cozy atmosphere shattered.
“Something else has been caught.
What… is this?”
She felt the vibrations transmitted through the spiderweb she was standing on for a long time, then tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand something. She carefully carried him and began to move towards the outside.
And the moment she carefully lifted the entrance, which she had made like a lid.
Something flew by, grazing her cheek, creating a red line and causing thick drops of blood to form.
Lea glanced at the short wooden stick stuck in the spiderweb wall behind her, trembling, and glared at the opponent. His compound eyes, which had spotted the opponent first, widened.
“Th-This… Yuck…!! Why is it so… sticky… sob!!”
Perhaps because she had tripped over Lea’s spiderweb, she was completely stuck to the ground, her hand clutching a smooth bow, her body still in a position as if she had been drawing the string just a moment ago.
A slender, long body, a healthy, toned physique that felt both delicate and firm, and skin as white as snow, so white that it seemed to glow under the sun, reminiscent of the Irish race.
And the further up he looked, the more he felt a sense of incongruity in categorizing her as human, with a slender, sculpted body and a beautiful face that took his breath away even though he was meeting her for the first time.
And the moment he realized that the something fluttering next to her face was ears that resembled wings, his consciousness briefly said goodbye to his brain and flew off into the sky.
‘An elf…?’
“Ugh!! Just kill me already…!!”
