Misfortune

The surroundings of this floor were eerily quiet.

There was no sense of monsters nearby.

The air was more humid than the upper floors, and the gray stone walls were covered in green moss.

Ye Yousheng collapsed onto the ground, his heavy breathing echoing around him.

Their nonstop sprint on the twenty-fifth floor had completely drained his stamina.

“Haah… didn’t expect we’d actually make it out… just now, I seriously thought we were dead…”

Alicia, propping herself up with her staff, shook her head and gave a wry smile when she heard that.

“This is already the fifth time I’ve heard you say that.”

“Heh. This time it was actually dangerous. Who the hell knew we’d run into something that terrifying…”

According to the information from his observation skill, that mad wolf had already reached Level 61—a fourth-tier monster.

“I didn’t expect to encounter a Frenzied Wolf either… In the dungeon labyrinth, every five floors has an exceptionally powerful lord monster.

Those creatures can’t be judged by common sense. Even experienced adventurers avoid clashing with them…”

In fact, every five floors in the labyrinth brought a minor shift, and every ten floors a major one—something closely tied to these lord monsters.

“Yeah, I could tell… Fighting something like that is basically a mental endurance test.”

Just recalling that bone-chilling killing intent made Ye Yousheng’s spine go cold.

It was the first time he had encountered a creature that could face his killing intent head-on—and even overwhelm it.

After resting enough, he got up, wiped his face with Alicia’s robe, and said,

“Anyway, we’ve already made it halfway!”

“Oh!—your head! Don’t wipe your dirty face on my robe!”

Ye Yousheng treated Alicia with extreme casualness.

Whether it was because he didn’t see her as an outsider, or because her personality was just that easy to deal with—either way, he simply couldn’t take her seriously.

After recovering a bit, Ye Yousheng stood up, scooped Alicia into his arms again, and left the spot in an embarrassingly high-knee running posture.

Alicia, meanwhile, had already gone completely numb.

After everything she’d been through, her long skirt had effectively turned into a miniskirt.

You didn’t even need a front view—if Ye Yousheng just lowered his head slightly, he could see those pure white panties adorned with a bow.

And with a bit of dust on them… they even looked slightly dirty.

Of course, Ye Yousheng had no interest in that.

He had merely taken over a dozen photos from various angles with his smartphone—openly and without shame.

As he carefully scanned their surroundings while moving forward, he asked,

“What items do we have left?”

Alicia absentmindedly checked the pouch in her arms and replied,

“Three potions that restore 200 HP, one that restores 300 HP… and one antidote, plus two magic scrolls…”

Seeing this, Ye Yousheng rolled his eyes and asked,

“Wait… you keep all that… in the pouch inside your chest?”

“S-So what if I do! That way I won’t lose anything, and I can take them out anytime—it’s convenient!”

Even as she said it, Alicia knew stuffing everything into her chest like that was… questionable.

But small spatial storage bags were expensive.

Most adventurers hired a porter to carry items and collect materials, but due to her circumstances, Alicia always traveled alone.

So she came up with this method—keeping everything close to her chest so she wouldn’t lose life-saving items…

…and to make her chest look a bit bigger.

Ahem.

Truly killing two birds with one stone.

“No, your chest is already big enough… And honestly, it looks unnatural. It might even hinder your development.”

Alicia cried out in disbelief, “How do you even know that?!”

Ye Yousheng scratched his nose.

“Anyway, save those items for critical moments. Your mana… about 800 left?”

Alicia was shocked again.

“How do you know that too?!”

“I just do.”

Brushing it off, Ye Yousheng continued,

“Let me ask you something. When you use magic, do you always have to chant that… uh, incantation?”

Just thinking about those cringe-inducing chants made his head hurt.

Lulu had never used anything like that before, so why did Alicia need to recite something so embarrassingly theatrical?

“Mm! Of course! Only by relying on ‘Words of Power’ can you let the elements understand your intent!”

“Words of Power…?”

“Yeah, what you call incantations. The words spoken when casting magic—they’re collectively called Words of Power.”

Whether you called them spells or Words of Power, there was only one thing Ye Yousheng wanted to know—

“Do you have to say them out loud every time?”

Every time Alicia cast magic, he had to cover for her.

It was a hassle.

Once it came to her specialty, Alicia immediately became talkative.

“That depends on a person’s elemental affinity! If it’s low, you can only gather a small number of elements, and without specific words and gestures, the elements won’t understand what you want.

But if your affinity is high, you can gather a large number of elements.

In that case, you don’t need long incantations—you can just say the name of the spell!

I’ve even heard that the legendary Goddess of Life, Eve, can cast forbidden-level magic with just a single gesture!”

“I see.”

Ye Yousheng understood that all too well.

After all, he had once personally experienced being a goddess.

That overwhelming power—to ignite vast swathes of fire elements with a mere point—was unforgettable.

“Of course, elemental affinity can be improved!

As long as you keep using magic and honing your skills, one day you’ll be able to cast freely at will! I’m working toward that too—”

“What?! Elemental affinity can be improved?!”

Ye Yousheng suddenly shouted, cutting her off.

That was crucial information!

Elemental affinity could increase!

Lulu had once said the reason he had no magic was because his elemental affinity was negative—no elements were willing to enter his body, so he had no mana.

“Yeah, as long as—”

Buzz—buzz—

The sudden vibration of his phone interrupted the conversation.

Though anxious, Ye Yousheng knew that if Yiwu was contacting him, it had to be important.

Last time, it had been about a teleportation array.

He unzipped his inner pocket, pulled out his phone, and answered.

“Yousheng! Your fortune is really strange right now!”

The opening line left him completely confused.

“My fortune?”

“Mm? Who are you talking to?”

Ye Yousheng made a shushing gesture to Alicia, then said into the phone,

“Yiwu, what do you mean?”

“Since my little sister is the Goddess of Luck, I can vaguely observe your fortune!

Right now, you’re surrounded by pitch-black misfortune…

Your luck has clearly been overdrawn and reversed! From this moment on, you’re going to be extremely unlucky!”

“…”

After hearing that, Ye Yousheng silently opened his status panel.

Sure enough, his Luck, which had been 0, was now -999.

At first, it had been zero due to a curse from the Goddess of Luck.

Later, that state disappeared, and he gained the Goddess’s blessing—his Luck rose to 999, along with a bug-like skill: Extreme Luck.

Then that blessing vanished too, returning his Luck to 0, and the skill became unusable.

His Luck had gone 0 → 999 → 0…

And now… it had plunged to 0 → -999.

“Sorry, I should’ve noticed earlier… Run, Yousheng! This level of misfortune will drag you straight into death!”

Yiwu wasn’t wrong.

But Ye Yousheng no longer had the chance to run.

“Ughhhh…”

From the end of the corridor appeared—

A familiar monster.

Death Knell.

The cracks and blade marks on its armor and bell made it unmistakable.

It was the same one Ye Yousheng had fought before.

And from that intense killing intent, he knew—

It had come for revenge.

Once again, they encountered the monster that had nearly wiped them out.

But that wasn’t all.

“Awooo! Awooo!”

Behind Death Knell followed several black hounds with spiked collars, spewing flames from their mouths—Hellhounds.

It was said their infernal fire could melt even steel.

“What a shame, Yiwu… looks like the misfortune has already arrived.”

With that, Ye Yousheng hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

“Hey, Alicia… this time, we might really die.”

Alicia cried out miserably, “…This is seriously too much!”

“Heh. Yeah… it really is.”

On one side—monsters driven by vengeance.

On the other—humans fighting to survive.

The flames of battle ignited once more.