Deus Didymus: Rend

Chapter Seventy: Back to the City

Jinju paced through the dirt path of the dungeon's settlement. Parties of varying levels and sizes filled the atmosphere with a hearty sense of camaraderie. Unlike the refined buildings made of steel, concrete and wood on the surface, the settlement's buildings comprised of only wood and stone.

The small community housed dozens of buildings within primitive wooden walls meant to impede the animalistic monsters that spawned on the floor. From the flowing fresh water teeming with fish to the large forest that spanned from wall to wall of the dungeon, save for the clearing that housed the settlement, the twenty-seventh floor gave the impression of a thriving community.

Though she didn't appear abnormal-as many adventuring parties passed through the settlement on a daily basis-she attracted the eyes of many. Her ragged cloak stuck out like a sore thumb, giving her the visage of a thief more than a rogue-classed adventurer.

Grasping her coin purse, Jinju approached a small shop. She browsed it's inventory before lifting two gray cloaks onto the clerk's table.

"That will be twenty silver."

Jinju dug through her pouch, dropping her payment into the man's hands. Despite trying her best to keep her face down, the man took a peek underneath Jinju's hood, raising an eyebrow.

"You look a lot like the criminal 'White Rabbit."

"The last person who told me that lost their tongue," Jinju growled.

The man threw his hands into the air, "My bad, my bad... I wouldn't be too happy being compared to a criminal either."

Without another word, Jinju left the shop with cloaks in hand. She trekked through the dense forest, eventually coming upon a pond. Following a brief scan of the environment, Jinju threw her new clothes onto the ground with a sigh.

"I checked before you got back," Kami commented.

Jinju sat underneath the bordering tree, placing her head against its trunk, "I'm sure you did. It's just a habit."

Kami chuckled. He rubbed his damp hair with a towel, tossing it near the small stack of their belongings. "A good habit."

"How long have we been here?"

"Nearing just about a month," Kami replied.

"A month..." Jinju squeezed her right hand into a fist, holding it before releasing. "Before I met you, I would have called someone insane if they told me they leveled up twice in a month-much less from five to seven."

Kami hummed with a smug grin, "It's all the catalog-less training we did. Did you also think fighting monsters without your catalog would be insane?"

"A death wish."

"What can I say?" Kami cooed. "The norm does not apply to me."

Jinju rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle from her boyfriend. "Okay, mister hot-shot, what are we going to do now?"

Kami pinched his chin. He glanced at the small pile, then Jinju, then toward the pond. "The plan is to return to the surface. I don't like the idea of leaving Sumin alone for too long."

"What about the problem officer?" Jinju questioned.

"I know how to fight her now," Kami grinned. "You use a spell, she counters it, you steal her counter, counter whatever spell she goes for, I strike."

Jinju squinted, "You make it sound a lot simpler than it is."

"Any extra steps are better done on the fly." Kami closed his eyes, shrugging, "We can't predict human behavior, so planning for every possibility is a waste of time."