"Seriously?!"
I couldn' t help but blurt out, causing the ice soldier to glance at me with suspicion.
[Requires Dungeon Core 0/1 to activate]
What do I do now?
There' s a way to save Sister Tiara, but what about Elda?
If we go in to find her, we won' t be able to leave due to martial law. Whether we' d even survive until the end is anyone' s guess.
But if I dive into a dungeon to get a core now, I might not make it in time to save Elda.
And if I' m not mistaken…
Hey, window, can a single dungeon core really be strong enough to save both my sister and my little sister?
…
The text on the window erased itself until only one line remained:
[To activate]
See? One core isn' t enough!
How many cores do I need? How much time will it take to become strong enough? At this rate, Elda might die!
Think, think, think, Calika, THINK!!!
…
Wait?!
I turned to look at the forest. The adventurers were already hurrying back.
This is it—the way to achieve both goals!
I' ve always hidden because I was weak. I hoped the goddess would pity my purity, so I never committed any wrongs.
Never stole, never hurt anyone, never took advantage of others. I tried so hard.
But look at the results!
No one hired me. I was framed, beaten, chased away like a dog, nearly killed. My little sister had to smear herself with filth every day to avoid being sold. My older sister was attacked and burned alive.
So, the goddess doesn' t exist. It' s all just nonsense and lies.
If the kingdom brands me as slum scum and leaves me with no way out…
Then I' ll be the villain they expect from the slums.
I' ll go all-in and become an oger.
I sent half the ice soldiers to the slums, giving them detailed descriptions of Elda—both with her face washed and unwashed—to find and protect her until I could get there.
The rest ran back to the officer who brought the slave trader under Lord Rokta' s orders.
Since I had so many slaves, the process of freeing them wasn' t complete yet.
I asked the officer who brought the slave trader to speak with me privately.
I told him to inform the three guilds that whoever finds Elda, Calika will belong to them without conditions.
I took off my cold-weather cloak and handed it to an ice soldier. Then I had another soldier use a sword to cut my hair short.
This would serve as proof that I was the one making the offer.
"Just show it to them, okay? Don' t let them keep it. Tell them it' s needed to confirm with the other guilds."
That' ll make them compete to find Elda.
"Understood, ma' am."
He agreed because of Lord Rokta. I' ll thank him later if I get the chance… though I' m not sure I will.
Then I sent the ice soldiers toward the path the adventurers came from.
--- Twenty minutes later ---
I hid with the ice soldiers in the trees until I was sure no soldiers or adventurers were left. Then we descended and headed straight for the farming dungeon.
A guild' s farming dungeon has multiple floors, which would take too long to clear. So, I targeted a kingdom farming dungeon instead.
In a kingdom farming dungeon, destroying the dungeon core is a crime punishable by death.
Each dungeon is guarded by 15–20 people at all times—half soldiers, half hired adventurers.
But because of martial law, they were all forced to return to the kingdom. Not a single one dared stay behind.
*****
The main reason they abandoned their duty to protect the dungeon core was that this kingdom had never experienced a dungeon break before.
In their panic and haste, they recalled everyone to reassess the situation and make new plans.
Aside from rival kingdoms, no one would expect someone from their own kingdom to deliberately destroy a farming dungeon.
And currently, Taten Thai had no rival kingdoms.
Kingdoms without an [S-rank] of their own aren' t coveted by others.
Conversely, kingdoms desperate to claim an [S-rank] will incite chaos and undermine kingdoms that have one, destabilizing their economy and governance.
This forces the [S-rank] to defect, and that' s when they swoop in with better offers.
*****
I headed with the ice soldiers to the nearest farming dungeon.
The dungeon here had only one floor, and there were hardly any monsters since it was heavily farmed.
The dungeon core was almost always visible.
I walked up to the core floating at head level and grabbed it.
"Got it. What now?"
[Eat it]
"…"
I wondered if I could really eat a hard object like this, but I opened my mouth and bit into it without hesitation.
To my surprise, it was delicious and easy to chew.
The core, the size of an adult' s head, went down quickly.
The window popped up repeatedly, and a voice explained directly in my head.
[Requires Dungeon Core 1/1 to level up and activate]
[Conditions met]
[Calika Nehu enters status: New Oger Species]
[Skill leveling activated to increase strength]
[Skill Points: 0]
[Requires dungeon cores to convert into skill points]
[Body Balance: 0/10]
[The body can handle power up to the leveled amount. Skills can only be upgraded to the level of body balance.]
[Strength: 0/10]
[Increases basic physical power in all body parts]
[Damage: 0/10]
[Increases attack power in all body parts]
[Skin Durability: 0/10]
[Increases resistance to attacks on all body parts]
[Agility: 0/10]
[Increases movement speed or dodging ability in all body parts]
[Regeneration: 0/10]
[Increases ability to heal damaged parts]
[Techniques]
[Conditions not met. Skill table cannot be unlocked for upgrading]
If I want to heal my sister, I need to upgrade Regeneration, right?
[As a new species, you are not bound to traditional skill restrictions]
[Regeneration skill can be used on other living beings, but doing so will sacrifice all leveled Regeneration points]
Take it, I don' t care!
[Level 10 Regeneration achieves 100% recovery but is ineffective on the dead]
Got it. So I need to max it at 10. That means 20 dungeon cores—10 for Balance and 10 for Regeneration.
What about saving my little sister quickly? I don' t have time to upgrade everything.
[Strength, Skin Durability, and Agility]
[The higher the level, the better your chances of surviving and succeeding]
Deal.
I ordered the ice soldiers to split up, 2–5 per dungeon depending on the number of floors, to clear the paths.
Since dungeon cores can' t leave the dungeon, the ice soldiers grabbed them and waited for me at the entrances, saving me time.
I rode on an ice soldier' s back and devoured every farming dungeon core.
First, I maxed out Slum Balance and Regeneration at 10 each. That should save Sister Tiara.
Then I upgraded the three skills the window recommended, but I didn' t max them all at 10 since I ran out of nearby farming dungeons.
Going deeper would take too long and risk encountering beasts, so I stopped here.
[Strength: 5/10]
At level 3, I could run on my own without the ice soldiers carrying me.
The higher the level, the less tired I got. Low-level monsters were no match anymore. It felt like a dream to stop them with my bare hands and throw them to their deaths.
Since the ice soldiers saw my clumsy fighting, they gave me a quick lesson by demonstrating on other monsters.
[Skin Durability: 8/10]
At level 3, most monsters couldn' t even scratch me. I upgraded it high because I feared pain like what Roja did to me.
[Agility: 6/10]
As promised, the higher I upgraded, the faster I could run. I could now outrun ice soldiers at full speed.
But dodging still required quick thinking. Even if my body could move fast, if I got distracted and tried to dodge too late, I wouldn' t make it.
I can definitely save her with this power.
I ran ahead of all the ice soldiers.
As I emerged from the forest, I saw the grandeur of the main army—tens of thousands of soldiers below, encircling the outer walls from the city gate to the slum district' s far wall.
In contrast, the top of the city walls was chaotic. Arrows and magic rained relentlessly into the city.
As I ran toward the gate, I noticed someone on the wall shouting something to the soldiers below.
Then a deafening boom echoed, loud enough for me to hear from a distance.
The city wall crumbled before my eyes. Debris and soldiers' bodies flew into the sky.
Cracks spread across the wall, followed by another explosive sound. The wall collapsed entirely.
Soldiers below were crushed to death by falling debris.
As the dust settled, a massive hole became visible.
Knights shouted orders to fire, resounding across the army. As countless arrows and spells targeted the hole…
A torrent of water gushed out, followed by a massive horde of monsters of all kinds.
"ELDAAAA!!!"
I sprinted full speed toward the city wall, each step cratering the ground beneath my feet.