"Hah! Who are you!" I scrambled backward while pointing at the unfamiliar man who woke me.
"What's wrong with you?" The brown-haired man, probably around my age, wearing something like a robe with thin armor and holding a dagger in his hand, raised a confused eyebrow.
"Where am I?" Setting aside the stranger, I immediately looked around… and found my current location was inside a large dome with stone walls, supported by pillars overgrown with crystals, which were also the source of light for this place. Also, on every side, there were large cave openings.
Then my eyes caught sight of someone else besides that man; a woman with bluish-black hair wearing a typical sorcerer's robe of blue, a wooden staff with a crystal at its tip gripped in her hand.
The woman looked at me with a sharp gaze, then snorted and averted her eyes.
'What in the world is this?' My brain felt like it was on fire trying to process this sudden change and who these people were. Do I know them?
I composed myself and stared seriously at the man who woke me. "I'm not in the mood for jokes right now. Tell me what all this is about? Where am I and who are you?"
"Don't tell me you've lost your memory…" The brown-haired man lazily rubbed his face. "I'm your friend Aaron, you idiot. And this is Emily…"
He then pointed upwards with his dagger towards a large hole with torn spider webs. Then he said, "Well, we just fell from up there and got separated from Azrael and Sierra… And it seems we're in a double dungeon, uh, just our luck."
"Nonsense!" I snapped.
"Nonsense? Look around you, are those dead monsters nonsense?"
I looked around, this time more carefully.
'He's right.' On the ground around me, many monsters shaped like spiders or centipedes, about the size of my knees, were scattered.
Then my eyes stopped on a crystal that reflected my image, and I felt something was different…
There, I was still overall the same with my messy black hair, only this time my jawline was more defined and my skin looked fresher and healthier compared to before, which had a lot of acne. Essentially, I looked younger.
I then gaped when I realized the clothes I was wearing; I wore a grey robe with thin armor underneath, and at my waist was a wooden staff with a crystal at its tip.
'Since when have I… been wearing these clothes and equipment?'
"This fell from you earlier." Aaron held out an identification card.
Snatching it quickly, I immediately examined the contents of the ID.
Name: Adrian Hale.
Age:19
Address:Havient City, Olstree District: House No. 7
Rank:D
Skill:Sorcerer
Attributes:Fire and Wind.
This was a hunter identification card with my name and photo, but 19 years old?! I'm three years younger? And Havient City… What city is that?
Amidst this confusion, one thing was certain: this hunter ID was very similar to the one in my novel, from the layout to how I'd always imagined such a card would look.
'It can't be… can it? What's really going on… Am I dreaming?' After a few seconds, I reached a conclusion. 'Or… are they playing a trick on me?'
With a burning chest, I approached the man named Aaron. "Stop this charade! I know I write weird stuff! I know I'm weird! But why are you doing this to me? What did I do to you?" I won't stay silent this time.
"Adrian, what's wrong with you?" Aaron's face looked worried.
"Stop calling my name! I don't know you!" I snapped louder.
Then the woman named Emily approached me.
–Clap!
My head jerked to the side as a hard slap landed on my cheek.
"Was that enough to snap you out of it?" Emily said in an annoyed tone. "We're in a double dungeon right now and don't know what monsters we'll have to face, BUT you… are screaming like that? Do you want to attract every monster here?"
At that moment, Emily's blue eyes were glistening.
"Ouch." I now realized this wasn't a dream because the sensation of this slap was truly painful.
And it seems I was wrong about one thing: the two of them looked serious and not joking at all. So, this doesn't seem to be a scenario mocking me by parodying my novel in a teasing way like back in middle school…
Then what could explain all this?
Holding back the pain in my cheek, I straightened up and looked at them both. Then awkwardly, I said. "Um… It seems I misunderstood. Well, how about you two explain everything from the beginning so I understand, and of course, why I'm here?"
"What else is there to explain? Isn't this situation clear enough?" said Emily.
"No, I don't know. Please explain to me…" I couldn't finish my sentence because I saw four large red eyes approaching from the darkness of the cave.
"W-what is that?!" I stepped back while pointing at the monster.
Emily and Aaron turned their heads simultaneously, then were shocked in unison.
Then from the direction of that creature, a white-colored liquid shot towards us.
And at that very moment, Emily promptly raised her staff, and then a slightly transparent purple energy wall began to form quickly from bottom to top, successfully blocking the white liquid, which turned out to be sticky, hot spider web.
"What the hell is this…?"
I gaped as the creature began to reveal its form from the darkness—starting from its snake-like head, but with complex spider-like jaws, and its body was very long with hard shell-like skin, and it also had sharp legs on each side for walking. In essence, this creature was like a combination of a snake, spider, and centipede, and calling it a monster was very fitting!
The monster raised its head high until it almost touched the dome's ceiling, and my survival instinct told me it was about to strike.
"Dodge!"
The monster lunged quickly, easily shattering Emily's energy wall.
Luckily, I had rolled to the right, while the others rolled to the left.
We were scattered!
The monster turned its body towards me because I was the closest to it.
It passed several pillars and found me running.
Realizing I was being chased, I immediately ran in a zigzag pattern between the pillars to reduce the monster's mobility, and it worked. I successfully avoided its lunges and sticky web shots multiple times.
'Hah, why did the situation turn into life or death like this?' My lungs were burning.
And this time, I was cornered with no other way to run because there was only a wall in front of me. Then, when I felt the ground tremor (which meant the monster was in a lunging momentum because its legs stomped the ground), I immediately rolled to the right.
–Crash!
The monster crashed into the stone wall so hard it made the entire place shake, causing dust to fly everywhere and blocking my view, but this was perfect for hiding.
I then leaned against a crystal, breathless, after I was sure I had moved away from the point where the monster crashed into the wall.
I looked around, but the still-flying dust prevented me from seeing more than five meters away.
'Where is the monster?'
–Hiss! –Hiss!
The hissing sound came from behind me and was very close. My feet felt rooted to the ground when I saw the monster in a position ready to strike!
'I'm going to die.'
After thinking there was no more hope, suddenly a purple energy rope tightly bound the monster and dragged it slightly, causing the strike to never happen. That was Emily's magic!
Then a dagger shot swiftly and accurately, embedding itself deep into the side of the monster's jaw. The monster then groaned in pain and shifted its target to Aaron.
"Come at me!" Aaron shouted.
The tremors around me began to lessen, indicating the monster had moved away from my current location, and finally, I could breathe a sigh of relief while leaning against the crystal.
"Finally…" I tried to calm myself by touching my heart.
'Damn, why was I suddenly thrown into a life-or-death situation like this without any explanation?' After a few seconds of reflection, I straightened up again to prepare to fight or find a way to escape from the monster. Because if Aaron and Emily lost, I would be the next target.
I then dismissed the second option of finding a way to escape this situation because my conscience couldn't leave the two of them here. This was weird; I didn't know them, but why did I feel reluctant to leave?
Finally, I paced back and forth while thinking of a way to defeat the monster. Then the tremors returned due to the ongoing battle not far from here.
Then rocks and crystals began to fall.
"Ouch!" a small rock hit my head, and when I looked at the rock, I got an idea.
'Yes, that's the only way to defeat that monster.' I nodded to myself confidently. But before I executed that plan, I wanted to confirm something that had been nagging in my mind since I arrived here.
Then I peeked through a gap in the crystals to see the battle happening not far away.
Through the gap, I saw Aaron and Emily fighting the monster with their respective magic and a 'Hit and Run' strategy.
'They can use magic?' This was weird, very weird, yet it also felt familiar to me. From their magic to the monster—everything felt very familiar.
Emily seemed to be using Structural Magic because she could create solid objects from nothingness according to her imagination with her mana, but that magic was very wasteful because she had to maintain it for a long time.
Then Aaron, he didn't seem like a magic user but a close-range fighter—an Assassin! His agile and nimble movements when passing through rocks were produced by mana pressure gathering in his muscles, enhancing his physical abilities. I could tell because there was some kind of energy emanating from him, and also, it turned out he could use fire magic to coat his dagger.
And the monster… Yeah, that monster, I was really very familiar with it because its physical description reminded me of a common monster that often appeared in my novel.
'Is that a Rank-C Dungeon Boss: Serpent Centipede…?' That idea just popped into my head because it basically looked very similar to the description of that monster.
'Emily and Aaron's magic, then the dungeon and Serpent Centipede…. That's all from the novel.' My heart raced as I reached a logical conclusion about what had happened to me.
"Did I enter my own novel but in my own younger body?" That just came out of my mouth, and suddenly there was something burning inside my heart, like a spirit.
"No, no, impossible." Then I paced back and forth after saying that, my heart restless between happiness and fear.
–Sigh!
"There's only one way to prove it." I positioned my hands as if praying, wanting to try to feel my Mana Core. Everyone in my novel's world had a Mana Core located in their heart. 150 years ago, when the Great Calamity first appeared, humans received a blessing: mana. Initially, they used mana only as a material for magic to survive against strong monsters that destroyed the world with their numbers.
But the world's destruction wasn't just material; it also changed the climate—forcing humans to constantly coat their bodies with mana to survive in the extremely changed environment. Eventually, mana evolved; it was no longer just a material for magic but the very sustenance of human life, like a heart.
–Thump!
I felt a cold sensation spreading through all my blood vessels (Mana), and the strongest was in my heart—that was my Mana Core!
'Now I'm sure I've entered my own novel!' I grinned widely.
Then, without thinking further, I immediately came out of my hiding place to face the monster.
'Hmm, considering this body's attributes are Fire and Wind… I want to use fire first!' I took my staff and aimed it at the monster, which was busy fighting.
'This will be easy, I'm its creator.'
I then imagined a fireball appearing at the tip of my staff… Then, small bluish-white particles began to gather at the tip of my staff, slowly forming fire.
Then suddenly, unexpectedly, the fireball quickly grew to a size larger than my own body, and everything happened very fast!
I couldn't help but marvel at this. I could use magic!
The monster then noticed my presence. We faced each other, and it began gathering web in its mouth to shoot as well.
"Sorry, but you're not my target." I raised my staff higher, aiming precisely at the rocks and crystals above the monster.
We shot simultaneously.
The monster's web shot towards me, but thanks to the recoil from the fireball and a bit of wind magic I used—I could avoid it, though I tumbled until I crashed into a pillar.
–Boom!
My fireball exploded when it finally hit the roof above the monster, then rocks and crystals began to fall slowly and simultaneously, landing on half of the monster's body, pinning it down so it couldn't move and only writhed in pain.
While the monster was busy freeing itself, I was actually having fun with myself because I wanted to use a skill commonly used by my character: Wind Riding.
After several failed attempts, I finally succeeded. Wind began to form under my feet like a tornado, slowly lifting my body bit by bit.
"Whoa, I can fly!" I was so happy that I forgot the monster was still alive!
"Focus." I slapped my face to refocus on the monster.
'Alright, come on.' I slowly approached the monster, afraid of falling.
Then I kept shooting at the rocks and crystals above the monster to bury it more. Emily and Aaron seemed to help, apparently understanding my plan.
–Boom! –Boom! –Boom!
More rocks and crystals fell until ¾ of the monster's body was buried, now only its head remained. But even so, the monster didn't give up; instead, it kept struggling and also shot webs at me several times, which started to overwhelm me.
Then I got an idea!
Now flying with an awkward skating style, I began to approach the monster's head but still at a safe distance.
Our eyes met, and even though it was a monster, I could see its annoyed expression directed at me.
The monster began gathering web in its mouth to shoot!
'Here it comes!' The moment the monster shot, I immediately deflected the web back into its own face, covering its entire face with its own sticky, hot web!
The monster writhed, banging its head hard against the ground and pillars.
I suspected this would work.
This was the chance!
"Aaron, aim for the top of the monster's head, that's its weak point! And Emily, use magic to create a path for Aaron!" I shouted at them.
Emily nodded, then raised both her hands. A purple aura appeared around her body. My attention was drawn to her until I realized the monster was being bound and pressed down by Structural Magic shaped like gates, causing the monster to fall to the ground.
"I can't hold it any longer!" Emily groaned.
Aaron jumped between rocks to find a position, then with lightning magic he had probably been saving, he dashed swiftly and was already above the monster's head. He then raised his dagger high and ended the monster with a stab that cracked its skull.
–Thud!
The monster fell.
"Good job, Adrian!" Aaron gave me a thumbs-up from atop the monster's head.
I was still in the air with wind under my feet, feeling a slight disappointment in my heart. 'Damn, that was too fast. I should have prolonged it. I still wanted to use more magic.'
I began to descend slowly, listlessly.
Then I stopped because I heard sounds approaching from the caves.
I grinned, this time wider than before.
From the caves, many hybrid monsters like before emerged from various directions, but these were smaller and they were in very large numbers. But I was sure all of them were Rank-C monsters!
"Haha, I'm going to have fun!" Somehow, after finding out I could use magic, I couldn't control myself!
"I will slaughter all of you, hahaha!" I declared, and immediately kept my word. I used fireballs, wind arrows, then combinations to slaughter them one by one.
"Die!"
"Die!"
"Die!"
I vented all my frustration from always being a passive victim of the world, my boss, my father, in this attack! At this point, I was like a serial killer, killing while laughing.
"Alright, I'll end it here." I flew myself higher than before while compressing a fireball above me that would explode into random fire arrows. My vast imagination made it very easy for me to manipulate mana.
Aaron and Emily were in a safe position, so I wouldn't hold back.
"Die." I lowered my hand with a condescending gesture… but nothing happened.
"W-what?" The mana I had compressed above me also disappeared.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
'W-what is this?' Suddenly, my heart beat painfully fast, so loud I could hear it in my ears. My vision began to blur in rhythm with my heartbeat. I finally realized something:
'Damn, I forgot I'm only Rank D with limited mana.' The wind under my feet vanished. I was in freefall without any safety. In my blurry vision, I saw two people emerge from a cave, and before I hit the ground, everything went dark…