"Are you okay?" Daria finally spoke after she landed gracefully on her feet.
Bell let out a sigh of relief and so did most of the miners, finally, they have been saved.
As Daria slow steps towards Bell, she opened her mouth to speak. Her voice calm and Serious. "The rest will be here soon, so just hold on for a while"
One of the miners tried to call out to Daria but the ground vibrated under their feets as the third spider attacked. Daria effortlessly spun around and struck with her rapier before the spider could attack, but the spider leaped into the air and spat some acid at her.
Luckily, Daria jumped back and tries to regain her footing as the spider quickly attacked. Before Daria could counter, the spider's leg was already above her, then suddenly, it staggered and fell down as all it's legs fell off. Daria immediately attacks with a piercing strike to the giant spider's eyes again and again at an unbelievable speed till it gave out.
Daria body was completely covered in the spider's black blood as she stabbed it for the last time then slowly pulled out her rapier, her movement was slow and scary, her breathing was slightly heavier than normal. Now the miners are more afraid of the knight then they were of the spider.
_if this was the Daria I met this morning, I'll would definitely be scared of her_ Bell thought as he struggles back to his feet.
Daria slowly wiped off the blood from her weapon then sheath it.
"Wahhh~, now in covered in monster blood!" She yelled as she started to wipe out the blood from her armour. She suddenly stopped and looked around. "But what happened back there"
[CONGRATULATION]
[Player has completed the quest]
[Player has unlocked two new skills]
[Dash(active): level 1]
[Rage(active): level 1]
[Player can now use skill points]
[Player gained 60 exp]
[Player level has risen to 4]
_she has returned back to the way she was this morning_
"...that knight...sh-she fought those s-spiders on her own..." One of the miners spoke in awe.
"...she really defected those monsters..."
"You saved us!" A young man yelled.
"Wait!, There's still an injured person!" Bell yelled as he rushed to the adventurer.
The old man who had previously pulled him into the crowd had already tied his severed hand with a bandage, the adventurer eyes were closed. "He'll be okay for now, he's just saving his strength"
"That's a relief to hear" Daria said as she walked to the edge of the abyss. "The others are here"
A mage stood at the other end of the abyss, accompanied by a dragon knight as he chanted a spell and the earth between each side of the abyss started coming closer to each other till it finally formed a new bridge.
"You can all cross now!" The female knight yelled from the other side.
The miners didn't move, instead they insist Daria cross before them. She acknowledge them and carried the injured adventurer walked before them, Bell followed.
.
.
.
"I knew what you did back there" Daria whispered to Bell over the table.
They had safety came back from the mine and had settled in a bar.
_for a bar that was set up in a busy town, it's really empty_ Bell had thought as they occupy the table at the far end of the room.
They were only a few miners and some adventurers shared drinks and a bartender sleeping at the counter. He hadn't even stand up to attend to them, instead Daria was the one who took the mugs on the counter and served the beer herself then dropped a few hils on the counter.
"Huh!?"
"Don't worry, you don't need to act modest. I'm more glad to see that you survived" Daria said with a smile as she lifted her mug and took a few glops.
"What about the payment?" Bell asked with a serious tone.
Daria slammed the mug on the table. "That really hits the spot! Nothing better than beer in the morning!" She yelled with a smug smile on her face, then she looked around and noticed she had brought some attention to herself.
Daria blushed and immediately comported herself before reaching out to a pouch beside her and placed it on the table. "That's three thousand hils, and I threw in a little more as an appreciation for saving my life"
"It was just dumb luck, that's all" Bell collected the money and stood up to leave.
"Wait! You forgot to take this"
Bell stopped as be watched Daria dropped three glowing stones on the table, they were small and had rough texture. He sat down and picked up one of the glowing stones.
"What is it?" Bell asked as he closely examine it, he had said it out, expecting the system to give him a detailed explanation but nothing happened, instead Daria spoke up.
"It's a monster core. They are harvested from monsters and are exchanged for money at the guild, but it all depends on the rank of the monster" Daria explained then took another glop. "But they wouldn't cost much since they came from E rank monsters but you can still use them to make some magical items"
Bell eyes widened from shock, the thought of those monsters that cut thought the knights like they were nothing was called an E rank made him scared.
"Those monsters were E rank!?, But how were they so strong?" Bell asked.
"I noticed too. I don't really know what's going on but monsters have been getting stronger lately and some of them are even escaping from the dungeons"
Daria expression shifted to sadness as Bell bow his head, obviously lost in his thought.
_it could be the same reason Ryu and i were attacked by goblins in the forest_ Bell thought for a while and raised his head up. "I need to go back to the inn, I better rest up if I want to make it to the mines early"
"You won't have to worry about that"
"Why?"
"Because the mines will be closed off"
"What! Why?"
"To prevent any more accident, they will be moving deep into the mountains at the east, so there'll be no further mining for a while"