~Chapter 14~
I staggered around in the chaos for a while, but decided the only thing to focus on right now was getting out of this dungeon.
With these S-class unawakened people around, the ant queen would be no big deal—like chewing gum while lying down.
I could figure out what was really going on later, when I grabbed Himong by the collar and made him explain.
Linus, quick-witted enough not to ask me about status windows, and I walked over to the others.
Haid, who seemed to think he was the only experienced dungeon raider here, started explaining the situation to us.
“Looks like this is an ant nest.”
I covered my mouth with my hand and acted like I was shocked, as if I’d never heard of it.
“Then what should we do, Your Highness?”
“Since a black hole hasn’t appeared right away like last time, it means there’s still a monster left to defeat.”
Haid looked toward the shadowy depths of the cave as he spoke.
Cheryl, with her long red hair flowing, came up to his side.
“Maybe we have to find the black hole somewhere in this cave.”
She raised her hand, and a ball of fire—like a torch—appeared above it, lighting up the dark.
Cheryl stared at Haid with her usual unreadable expression.
The fireball burned as red as her hair, but her eyes were darker than the cave itself.
Cheryl was unpredictable at the best of times, and since this scene wasn’t even in the original novel, I secretly grew tense.
Surely she wouldn’t throw that fireball at Heid… right?
Especially after she’d just been humiliated by the Emperor, it made me extra uneasy.
Larienne must have felt the same tension, because she quickly stepped in between them.
“Either way, let’s hurry up and look. If we take too long, people will start worrying.”
Haid turned first, and both Cheryl and Larienne followed silently after him.
Yikes. The atmosphere was deadly.
According to the original story, the three of them weren’t supposed to be together at this point.
They were supposed to be building up layers of misunderstandings separately.
Maybe that’s why just watching them made things feel so awkward that I wanted to run home.
I sighed and was about to walk on when suddenly a big hand appeared in front of me.
When I looked up, its owner was smiling like honey dripping off his face.
“If walking is hard, should I carry you, Airvet?”
It was like the sun had risen inside the ant nest.
His glowing face lit up everything around us.
Linus was performing miracles with just his looks.
If no one else had been here, I would have gladly jumped right into his arms.
Instead, I just grabbed his hand and shook my head.
“I’m fine. You know I can walk well.”
“That’s a shame.”
Linus laughed softly, his eyes crinkling.
He was dangerously good at using his handsome face.
If I stared at him any longer, I might be the one scooping him up instead.
So I quickly started walking again.
Hand in hand with him following quietly, I decided to praise him for his earlier performance.
“I didn’t know you were that good with a sword, Linus.”
“I showed you a rough side of myself. Embarrassing.”
“Embarrassing? No way, it was really cool!”
I knew better than anyone how annoying it was to fight a swarm of soldier ants.
Even if Haid was the male lead, handling them alone would’ve been tough.
If Linus hadn’t been there, I would’ve had to jump in myself.
I only meant to compliment him for preventing a mess, but he suddenly stopped walking, frozen.
“Linus?”
I tugged at his hand and called his name, but he just stared at me with trembling eyes.
Wondering what was wrong, I tapped his cheek lightly.
Then he trapped my hand between his own and his cheek, and asked:
“Was I… cool?”
His voice shook as much as his gaze.
Why does this guy get emotional so often?
With that face, it’d actually be harder not to look cool.
Both my hands caught in his, I laughed and nodded.
“Yes, you were really cool.”
At that moment, a crushing pressure swept through the cave, from ceiling to floor.
***
I opened my eyes, and suddenly—I was there.
The only way to describe it was that my memory and my existence started at that instant.
Linus was lying across dozens of corpses.
In a nameless village not even on the map, terrified vigilantes tied him up and dragged him to the nearest magistrate.
The charge? No need to ask—murder.
Soaked in other people’s blood, he couldn’t say his name, couldn’t explain the situation.
While he sat blankly, a clerk searching his belongings found a piece of parchment in his chest.
Before long, Linus was taken to the Pictian ducal estate.
Baron Julius, a retainer of the late Duke of Pictian, examined the parchment—the Duke’s will—and asked:
“How did you get this will? What were you to the late Duke?”
“Don’t know.”
The words came out awkwardly, like he was speaking for the first time.
A mysterious man who carried the late Duke’s will.
The Pictian retainers argued all night:
“How can we crown someone as Duke when we don’t even know who he is? I refuse!”
“But the will clearly states to pass the title to a man named Lynus, bearing the Pictian crest on his chest.”
“And yet he claims he doesn’t even know his own name?”
“But the crest carved into his chest is genuine. I cannot ignore the late Duke’s final wishes!”
In the end, after fierce debate, Linus was made Duke of Pictian.
The retainers gave him crash-course lessons in noble etiquette.
His speech grew more polite, but his manner didn’t.
They covered for him, calling him the Duke’s illegitimate son, but rumors about his true identity spread anyway.
Once he could pass for a human being instead of a wild animal, they sent him off to the Empire’s capital, Arendel.
The Pictian lands, left without a real ruler, naturally fell into the retainers’ control, while everything around Linus remained foggy.
It was like a veil over his eyes—everything blurred.
The shining spring sunlight, the fresh green woods, the wide open sky.
Until the day he met Airvet.
***
“I-I’m okay.”
Her small voice rang clear.
Until now, every sound had felt muffled, like underwater.
But her voice was sharp and clear.
Her pink hair looked so vivid it might taste sweet.
Her little face, her mysterious violet eyes—and through them, even the sunlight, the trees, and the sky finally turned bright.
At that moment, Linus knew.
It’s her.
I exist to meet this person.
Why? He didn’t know.
Didn’t care to know.
All those lost memories that had haunted him no longer mattered.
As long as he was with Airevet, everything would have meaning.
That certainty sent shivers down his spine.
Yes—shivers.
The kind that reminds you you’re alive.
“You were really cool.”
Airevet smiled at him.
Overwhelmed with joy, Linus trembled again.
As he forgot to even breathe, the air around them compressed, pressing down from above.
The atmosphere of the ant nest shifted completely.
Looking around nervously, Airvet whispered quickly:
“Status window.”
When she checked it, her brow furrowed hard.
***
Undying Queen A 98%
□□■■□■□ ■□
The dungeon had suddenly upgraded from C-rank to A-rank.
I’d never even heard of a dungeon changing rank mid-raid.
No one knew what that meant.
Worse, the numbers on the status screen started dropping fast.
***
Undying Queen A 95%
□□■■□■□ ■□
“Wh-what’s happening?”
***
Undying Queen A 90%
□□■■□■□ ■□
“Wait, no, this isn’t right!”
As Airvet shouted at the air, Linus also felt the terrifying shift in energy.
Something massive was rushing toward them from the depths of the cave.
Airvet sensed the incoming soldier ants too and turned her head.
Linus gently tugged her hand, drawing her gaze back to him.
“Don’t worry, Airevet. I will protect you—no matter what.”
He lowered his lips softly onto the back of her hand, smiling sweetly enough to melt.
