Reverse Dungeon

Keith was moving so quickly that Ian had no choice but to cling to him for dear life.

One of Keith’s arms was busy knocking skeletons aside, and his chest was too broad for Ian to hold on to properly.

That left Ian with only one option.

He wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck.

“...!”

Their chests pressed together, and Ian could hear Keith’s heartbeat.

He tried not to notice it.

Not the beat of Keith’s heart, not his breathing, and not the heat radiating from his body.

No, ignoring all of that was only natural, wasn’t it?

Keith was a man.

There was absolutely nothing between them.

‘Oh, damn it...’

Ian was painfully aware of how much he was shrinking back, almost like someone who had never been held by another person before.

Of course, Keith was the only person in Ian’s entire life who had ever grabbed him so freely.

He was also the only person who naturally protected Ian in dangerous situations without a moment’s hesitation.

‘Why are you reading anything into this?’

This fanatic was only protecting him because he thought Ian was a “Messenger of God.”

There was no reason to feel conscious of it.

“Phew.”

Ian lifted his head from where it had been buried against Keith’s chest.

And then he saw a familiar elf staring at them with his mouth hanging open.

“...”

“What’s that?” the elf asked innocently.

Ian felt as though his head was about to explode.

“Aren’t you running away?!”

“Oh, should I?”

The elf answered casually and started running alongside them.

His speed was no less impressive than Keith’s.

Even in the middle of this chaos, Ian could not help analyzing the elf’s stats.

‘Top-tier physical ability. High durability.’

Why had this guy chosen to become a merchant?

He could have thrived in almost any other profession.

Keith glanced at Ian as he ran.

“Why didn’t you run?!”

“I was trying to! My first regular customer told me to disappear!”

“I didn’t mean it like that!”

“You almost did! I was hurt, you know!”

They bickered as they fled from the lava and volcanic ash.

The roar of the disaster behind them was so deafening that they had to shout just to hear each other.

“If you were so hurt, why did you come back?!”

“Do you think I wanted to?! The soldiers locked all the gates!”

“You could have jumped over them!”

“That would have been rude!”

“Are you kidding me?!”

Ian felt like his insides were boiling.

“Argh?!”

At that moment, a massive rock hurtled toward the elf’s head.

The elf let out a strange scream and dodged it.

‘Great reflexes, too.’

Ian quickly realized that the elf had top-tier combat stats.

‘How did this guy even build his stats?’

Had he just picked up random skills?

Otherwise, there was no way he would have ended up as such a chaotic hybrid of a character.

In this situation, though, that “chaotic hybrid” was proving far more useful than expected.

If he had been an ordinary merchant, he would have been nothing but dead weight.

KUAAA!

A deafening roar forced them to look back despite every instinct telling them to keep running.

The Kyarakus unsealing event was in full swing.

A jar floated in midair, glowing with an ominous black-red light. Black smoke surged upward, forming the shape of a massive lizard before warping again and again.

Then, with the volcanic eruption, Kyarakus burst free from the jar.

KYAAAAAA!

The enormous fire lizard swelled its body and released a deafening roar.

The sound shook the ground and drove pain into their skulls.

The bone dinosaur controlled by the necromancer had been a mimicry of this creature.

The lizard’s sleek, scaled body stood upright on two legs. Its massive tail balanced it from behind, and its yellow eyes swept the area, searching for a target on which to unleash its rage.

“Take this!”

The elf merchant summoned a spirit and hardened the lava raining down over them.

“You’re a combat type?!”

“This is construction magic!”

The elf scolded him as though it were obvious and Ian should have known.

How was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Ian supposed to know that?

Still, he realized just how useful this elf was turning out to be.

On top of that, the elf had chosen to stay here instead of escaping when Ian had given him the chance.

If he died, Ian’s conscience would not have to ache over it.

Ian had already warned him to run.

Keith, however, possessed a streak of nobility that Ian did not share.

“Lord Ian. I will hold off the monster. You should go deal with the necromancer. I’ll guide you to their location.”

In other words, kill the necromancer first.

More skeletons were rising from the lava-cooled ash, their bone armies rebuilding themselves.

If they tried to fight everything head-on, they would only be cornered further.

And at the end of that road waited death.

Keith’s seasoned experience as a knight allowed him to make quick strategic decisions. He had already calculated their priorities.

“No.”

But Ian did not share that mindset.

Their group had grown from two members to three.

Ian firmly believed that all party members should carry an equal workload.

No freeloaders allowed.

If this guy wanted to leech experience points, he had better make himself useful.

Ian confirmed it.

“How good are you with elemental magic?”

“Huh? Well, I am a high-level mage. When you’ve lived for hundreds of years like me, you naturally grow close to spirits.” 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Ian was not interested in his backstory.

“Perfect. You’ll be our decoy.”

“What?!”

Before the elf could protest, Ian kicked him in the rear and sent him to the front of the party.

Kyarakus’s enormous yellow eyes locked onto the elf.

“...”

The elf froze in place.

‘Nice.’

The aggro had fixed on him.

Ian grabbed Keith and pulled them both out of the aggro range.

CRAA!

The monster let out a wrathful cry.

Volcanic ash erupted, forming hundreds of arrow-like projectiles that rained down on the elf.

“AAAHH?!”

The elf’s screams grew distant.

“Lord Ian?”

Keith sounded slightly bewildered.

Ian hesitated.

‘Oh? Is my reputation taking a hit?’

It would be troublesome if Keith started doubting whether Ian was truly a “Messenger of God.”

Just as Ian was about to come up with an excuse—

“Do you think he’ll be able to hold it off? I should—”

As expected of Keith, he was merciless toward non-humans.

“He’s fine. If he’s screaming, that means he’s still alive!”

Keith nodded, impressed.

“You’re right. Then please hold on again, Lord Ian.”

“Huh?”

“I’m faster on foot. Aren’t we going after the necromancer?”

Ian had no choice but to wrap his arms around Keith’s neck again.

‘.’

Ian used the skill to strengthen Keith’s sword.

With a single slash, Keith cut through the waists of four charging skeletons.

He stomped on the heads of regenerating skeletons and crushed them, then sliced through the spines of five more in rapid succession.

Keith never stopped moving, leaving the skeletons no chance to fully regenerate.

Even so, their sheer numbers were overwhelming.

Broken limbs reassembled themselves and grabbed at Keith’s ankles, making him stumble as though he were wading through waves.

Ian squirmed in Keith’s grasp.

Keith held him tighter, irritated.

Ian shouted, “Lift me higher!”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Save your life!”

Keith’s grip loosened.

Ian climbed onto his shoulder, unsteady but free enough to use his bow.

“Keith!”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”

Keith understood Ian’s intent before Ian even finished speaking.

For some reason, that gave Ian an odd sense of reassurance.

He drew two arrows from his quiver, holding one in his mouth and nocking the other to the bowstring.

Then he activated Rapid Fire.

The instant one arrow flew, the next took its place.

Light gathered around the arrows as they cut through the air, destroying skeleton after skeleton.

But it still was not enough.

Their pace could not keep up with the growing number of skeletons.

At this rate, they would be overwhelmed.

‘Oh, damn it...’

Ian had been in a foul mood ever since Kyarakus woke up.

His endless XP farming event had been ruined.

And now even this was not enough?

Ian wanted to cry.

He did not want to do this, but—

‘Stat window!’

Ian opened Keith’s system interface.

He had planned to level Keith gradually, but that was no longer realistic.

Ian scrolled through Keith’s countless skills and quickly found a few low-level ones.

[Character]

“Agent of God” Keith (★★★★★)

Skills

(Expand)

⁝

Smite: LV.2

Shield Mastery: LV.1

Sacrificial Body: LV.2

Seeker’s Step: LV.2

Keith had three primary growth paths.

An attack-focused Berserker model.

A balanced offensive-defensive model.

And an agility-focused speedster model.

‘What did I train him as last time?’

Ian could not remember.

He had experimented with all of them at one point or another.

Keith was useful no matter how he was trained, but the hardest build to manage was the attack-focused one.

The Berserker archetype had the tricky trait of increasing attack power as health dropped—but that lost health could not be healed.

Next came the agility model, while the balanced model was the easiest to handle.

Right now, Keith had a balanced build.

But they did not need defense in this situation.

Gritting his teeth, Ian leveled up one skill.

Ding!

[Level Up!]

[Seeker’s Step LV.2 → LV.6]

“...!”

Keith’s movements suddenly became astonishingly light.

It was almost as if he were flying as he carried Ian and leapt forward.