Dante was alone, left to die alone. His entire body hurt like hell, but at least he wasn't cold or wet anymore. He had discovered a nifty trick that he could use. If he stored his armor in his soul and then retrieved it, it would be completely dry. That was because the water that wets it cannot get sucked with it into his soul, and the same applied to blood and dirt.
He at least won't have to do laundry, and that was a plus. He was never good at it.
But for now, he had more problems to worry about besides his wet and cold body... he was now stuck in a humid and dark cave with nothing to light his path besides a few bioluminescent mushrooms.
"Are they even edible?" While Dante absolutely loathed anything green, he had a sweet spot for mushrooms. He knew they could be poisonous as well, but those that aren't tasted as good as meat. He bet beside one of the glowing mushrooms, thought for a few seconds, then picked it up.
He wasn't going to eat, but had something else in mind. "Well, it is still glowing." That mushroom emitted as much light as a tiny and weak lighter, but it was better than nothing, so Dante decided to finally start exploring the place. His first goal was to locate other Blessed... well, he is Cursed, so not other... doesn't matter.
"Dungeons are trials from god... but Maria said that even if we got separated, we should still be in close proximity to at least another person." It was a pattern that had been noticed to be consistent across all recorded dungeon dives. So, Dante started looking around with his soul sense, trying to look through the cave walls to locate anyone else, but all he could see were the souls of abominations.
"Probably, they already died." He growled, summoned his sword to his hand, and decided to get to work instead of wasting time. "Kill, get stronger, and then repeat. When you get hungry, grill the abominations that look edible and eat them. They are edible to the Blessed but not to normal people..."
As Dante recited his knowledge to calm himself down, he could see a Mundane Beast soul approaching him, and it was riddled with darkness. This would be his first real fight in a while and he would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous or afraid.
What crawled out of the darkness was strange to say the very least. A small lizard-like creature of pale white skin, large eyes, and frills on its head. It was the size of a medium-sized dog, and had shark-like fangs and long black claws.
"Damn, you're ugly." Dante rushed forward as fast as he could, thrusting his sword right at the monster's head. He wasn't going to waste time or give it a chance to fight.
As his blade approached the abomination's head, the creature moved at horrifying speed, dodging the thrust and lunged toward Dante's face, aiming to bite his neck off. But it was nowhere near as fast as the Scarred wolves, so Dante managed to react without even using his mana. He dodged to the side and slashed the abomination clean in half across the torso.
[You have slayed, an Achesoul.]
[Soul Harvested and Cleansed]
Hearing that, Dante immediately pulled his soul harvest out and gave it a look with a smile on his face.
[Soul Harvest: 9/666] Now he has ten droplets of mana and should be able to cast a few decent spells, but it won't be wise to waste what little he has for fun. He has to keep moving. Maria's first and last advice for clearing dungeons is to never stand still for too long, as you'll eventually get surrounded and swarmed.
Without giving the dead abomination a second look, Dante kept moving through the dark cave, crawling between stones, and even swimming through large flooded sections while keeping an eye for any other caiman or Achesoul.
It was a relatively safe first few hours, but it wasn't because the dungeon itself was safe. Dante actively scouted for abominations using his soul sense and avoided them, since after that Achesoul, all of the abominations that he spotted were at least Scarred Monsters.
"The hell is up with this place? Everything here is outright deadly..." Dante really wanted to try fighting one of those Scarred Monsters, but always talked himself out of it since he still hadn't met anyone and had no second plan to fall on. Besides, he can't heal himself. If he got injured, then it would be his end.
In the past month, he really tried to learn healing magic, but couldn't no matter what, as his understanding of medicine was as shallow as his sense of humor.
But then, he saw it: a pristine soul right inside the wall, and it was the soul of someone he knew. But there was one problem: this someone could easily get him killed.
The moment he was thinking about leaving, a static hum rang inside his head and then faded into the background of his thoughts. ^Dante! Can you hear me? Dante!^
That voice sounded exactly like the system, a rough, mechanical copy of the voice of his own thoughts. Many Blessed described it as the same, their inner voice talking.
He tapped his skull and growled. "Alicia, are you all right?" That is what he said, but his thoughts were the exact opposite. ^This bitch can talk telepathically? Can she read thoughts? I knew she was trouble the moment I saw her.^
^Sorry for being a bitch. I can hear your thoughts now, but I wasn't reading your mind before. Whenever I use my blessing, the target hears a faint static ringing in their thoughts, which is caused by the ability interfering with their mind. I can't remove it.^
Dante froze. "No, you got it wrong, Alicia. I didn't mean that. I'm glad that I found you." But in his thoughts, he was seething. ^Even if! You're crippled, you can't move on your own! There are crawling spaces just a tenth of a meter thick; even I can't crawl through them with ease. Am I supposed to carry you on my back and drag you through the holes? You don't take cripples like you to cave diving trips. It is just outright impossible!^
Alicia sighed. ^Dante, I know I'm not the most suited for this situation, and I'm aware of it. But can you calm down for a second and listen to me?^
"I'm calm!" He growled, but his mind wasn't calm at all.
^This place isn't normal. It is unlike any Mundane dungeon I've ever read about. If we don't work together to find the others, we'll end up dead. I can use healing magic, so I'll keep you alive, and you keep me safe.^ With her voice ringing in his mind, Dante finally decided to stop playing it safe.
"Fine, I'm coming so stay still." He lifted his hand and touched the wall.
^I can't move. I've been sitting here for hours, and I'm already freezing.^ But at that moment, what she sensed in his thoughts horrified her to the bones. "Wait! Don't! You'll kill yourself!" She cried in panic as Dante unleashed a wave of his own magic through the wall, turning the stone into gravel using basic Earth Manipulation Magic.
It was the same magic he used to unlock the cage's door. But where, at the time he could only control a handful, now he can control a lot more. And unlike the last time, when he made dirt harden inside the lock to pry the pins up, he made the stone break into gravel this time.
The wall between him and Alicia wasn't that thick, probably a bit wider than a single finger span, and he could easily dig a hole large enough for himself to crawl through with the mana he had.
"Dante! Dante! Can you hear me!?" Alicia was panicking for some reason, so he had to growl at her. With his head throbbing in pain from running out of mana, her screaming only made his pain worse. "Shut up! I'm fine. Why are you screaming?"
As she saw him crawl toward her, she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Nine... nine out of ten people who run out of mana die. The remaining 10% suffer permanent brain damage, memory loss, disabilities, and many more neurological disorders due to them starving their brain out of mana, which is the same as a regular brain getting starved of oxygen." Hearing her explain that as he landed face-first into the freezing water at her feet, Dante finally understood why she panicked.
"Wait?! Running out of mana is that bad?" He blinked several times and she grabbed him by the face and started healing him immediately. "Yes! You fool! Don't tell me you didn't know that?!"
"I didn't... I never heard or read about it in the academy." As he looked at her terrified face, she looked even more confused, enraged, and scared. "You don't need to teach people that they'll stop dying if they stop breathing! It's common sense."
"I'm sure it isn't that bad. I..." But he immediately fell silent as she started crying. "I... I... don't want more people to keep dying to help me. I know I told you we need to work together... but I didn't mean that you'll need to risk your life digging through the wall with magic to reach me! That's just insane! Why did you think it's a good idea?!"
It took Dante almost half an hour to calm her down.