Death Leveling Chapter 47

[ … words ]

The perspective of Nemo:

Dante is back?—noticed him dragging a deer.

“Wow, Dante, you caught a deer?!” Ku blurted out, yelling.

“Yup! I got a bit lucky, but at least now we’ll have something nice,” Dante answered.

Went up to the deer and put my hand on it—its neck is broken, there’s no cut using his blade—how did he do that?—he shouldn’t have this kind of physical prowess.

“Yeah, this is a good catch, Dante—good job,” I let out; I can’t be acting suspicious of him, even if this is abnormal.

I’ll have to be discreet with this…

[ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS ACTIVATED]

I activated it only on my hand—having my palm on the deer, I controlled the MANA output to explicitly go onto the deer.

I might just be paranoid… but I feel compelled to keep my MANA away from Dante—I didn’t particularly think he or anyone could pick it up even if it grazed them, but I wanted to keep my thoughts to myself and myself alone.

And… seems like I’m right.

The deer is simply dead, there’s no MANA residue anywhere on it—and it would be there were it killed with a magic-imbued weapon.

*Skreee!! Skreeeeeee!!*

[MENTAL CLARITY ACTIVATED]

I closed my eyes.

Shouldn’t sabotage my team, should I now?

I’ll keep one eye expanded—that should be adequate.

“Oh, I ate some apples and berries while hunting—I’ll skip on the food this time.”

Erm…

“Huh, again?—you passed on food yesterday as well.”

What dat mean…

[MENTAL CLARITY ACTIVATED]

Erm…

I HAVE NO CLUE!!

I wish the Intelligence Stat actually represented… intelligence.

Sigh.

After we left the Nightmare Guild upon our delivery…

“Sooo… what was that about?”

“No one—just some pick-me idiot.” “That’s one way to say it.”

“By the way, Nemo, she said some odd things about Im City—she acted like we shouldn’t have any freedom, as if it’s some authoritarian regime,” voiced Dante in a pretty firm and curious tone—not answering would rid me with guilt, wouldn’t it?

[MENTAL CLARITY ACTIVATED]

“Really? That’s so strange… I wonder what’s that about.”

He’ll learn soon enough for himself—everyone is curious—or suspicious, I guess—about the inner workings of Im City, but it isn’t something I could convincingly explain on my own.

That’s why the Academy will do it… and the higher ups.

Until then… just suck it up.

Suddenly, my hair stood up—who’s glaring at me?!

Peeped and Ku was staring straight at my soul!!

Stupid child!!

If not for my cutesy bunny mask, I would definitely kill myself out of anxiety.

Later on once everyone was getting ready for bed, Dante inquired, “Nemo, I always wondered… what’s underneath your mask?—is there a reason you hide your face?”

Erm…

“I need to hide my handsome face!! Don’t want you guys falling for me!!”

I need to hide my emotions!! Don’t want you guys seeing how I feel!!

Dante proceeded to insist, “come on—don’t be like that!!”

“Erm… it’s a combat thing—it isn’t that deep, it just helps me sense MANA.”

Erm… it suppresses anyone external from reading how I feel!! It’s an anti-anxiety mask!!

Not that I could ever tell anyone…

I bet Ku and Dante would laugh at me if they knew—just the thought makes me want to puke!!

*Skreeeeeeeekkk!!!!*

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!”

M— my mask wher— where is it!!

Instantly, put it on…

[SHADOW EXCHANGE ACTIVATED]

“W— wha— Soyeon?!” immediately I yelled out of pure instinct!!

A human eye on her bedroll!!

What the flip, man!!

“God… what is this? There’s just… no way,” I let out in puzzlement.

Pointed my finger at the eye…

[SHADOW FLAMES ACTIVATED]

“Hey… Dante… you’re…”

“Hush… be quiet.”

Wat dat mean…

[MENTAL CLARITY ACTIVATED]

WAT DAT MEAN…!!

“I— I don’t think I can sleep alone after this.”

My mouth went wide open… I’m lucky I put on my mask in time!!

You children need to calm down!! What d’flip!!

“Ah… I guess I’ll leave you two at it,” I voiced and left the tent—this wasn’t any of my business, but Dante being suspicious certainly is.

Should I report him?—no, I shouldn’t sabotage my team… not after what happened with Milo.

“Shiiiiiiieeet…” I hope they don’t do anything sus… not in my tents!!

But I guess I do have a spell for cleaning… stains.

The morning quickly rolled around…!!

Sun rising upon a nice rest of over 8 hours…!!

“Wait, wait…” instantly I blurted out… Dante isn’t within my barrier…

Is he an early bird today? I peeped my head outside the tent and… he’s nowhere to be seen.

Soyeon is still here—so they didn’t sneak out to do… erm… something.

Gulped down a massive breath and shouted… “GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE!! RISE AND SHINE!!”

Both Ku and Soyeon came out of their tents and… seems like they have no idea where Dante could’ve gone?—should I still ask them?

Soyeon glanced around and then mumbled sleepily, “where’s… Dante?”

I nodded my head in affirmation.

“That’s what I was going to ask you!—and it seems you have no clue!” I remarked in a firm yet cartoonish voice.

Suddenly, some anxiety went over her face—she seems to care about him quite deeply already, that’s a little worrying.

“Well, maybe he went for a walk—let’s not ponder too much over things out of our control!”

The way a barrier works is a little one-sided… you get notified over anyone foreign entering, but you’re left in the dark if anyone already within the barrier leaves.

I might’ve given Dante the benefit of the doubt, but…

[MANA AURA ACTIVATED]

With open eyes, my eyes went upwards as I focused on reading the surroundings.

He’s not here… should I go beyond 100%?

No—I’m not risking becoming a potato.

After around an hour of waiting, we got impatient and started looking for him.

We entertained some unsightly possibilities, which made Soyeon quite worried, but I didn’t particularly set my eyes on anything genuinely bad happening.

Finally, we concluded that we should go back to Dream Town to look for him…

But then…

Dante showed up.

And he wasn’t in his previous attire.

He showed up wearing a black kimono—his MANA was strangely offputting compared to last night—what could’ve changed overnight?—where was he?