Chapter 121 - Half A Year
Foster was running as fast as he could, making use of the 'Silent Step' martial skill that allowed him to move a lot faster than he normally could. And beyond that, just through the increase of his attributes, he had become so much faster than he normally could have ever thought possible. He would definitely be able to get a gold medal in the olympics with this.
The hardest part of all this was trying to find the route that the large group with the otherworlder took. But even that wasn't that complicated, since there were plenty of people that he could ask about them. And at some point, he could just hear the echoing of their footsteps and clattering armors as well, so he just had to follow that. But well, considering that this whole floor looked like a completely inconsistent, huge cave system, he still wasn't sure if he was running the right way. That was, until he turned the next corner, and saw a large group in the distance. He could see the light of their lanterns lighting them up. That did remind Foster that he had completely forgotten to turn his own lantern on again, not that it mattered anymore now.
He continued running forward, when he suddenly saw the expression of that strategist. He was glancing at the ceiling, as if something was there. Just as Foster realized this, he could hear it, the sound of rock cracking apart. Pushing his foot into the ground, he tried to stop running, watching as rocks of different sizes started falling down all around him. He deactivated his silent step, and watched as some furry creature entered his peripheral. After running through this dungeon thus far, he had seen these a few times, even if this one looked a little different. But that didn't matter right now in the first place.
Just slightly glancing upward, Foster saw the monster falling toward him, and pushed his fist up toward it. He wasn't sure how strong this monster was going to be, so he shouldn't try to pull his punches. As such, he used both of the abilities that could be used in this situation. One of them, he hadn't used in real combat ever since encountering that giant wolf.
Stacking them both on top of another, Foster used the 'Chilling Touch' spell and the 'Single Strike' martial skill at the same time. The moment that his gauntlet impacted with the monster's head, a small explosion of necromancy and internal energy shot out from his arm. Fur started floating through the air while the monster's body was being flipped around. Before it hit the ground, Foster pushed his other fist right into the monster's chest, this time only using 'Single Strike', to try and push it into the ground.
As he did, to his surprise, the monster twitched just once or twice, and then started to fall apart into nothingness, disappearing like any regular dungeon monster did upon being killed. Breathing heavily out of exhaustion, Foster turned his head, looking through the group of people standing there, just watching him. While approaching them with slow steps, Foster grinned, "Finally... caught up... to you." He said, soon locking eyes with the man that was his target, "You... get the fuck over here." Foster added. He had been running for a while, and didn't want to bother pushing through a group of armed people, so having that guy come over to him would be the easiest thing to do. However, instead of the person that Foster actually wanted to talk to, someone else came through. It was that incredibly tall, muscular woman. Her hands were wrapped around her twin swords still laying in their sheaths by her hips.
"Who are you, and what do you want from us?" She asked, her voice clear but powerful. Foster looked up at her, raising his brows, as his breathing finally relaxed again, "Well first of all, I think I want to marry you? Like, just look at you, you're fucking gorgeous, and cearly hella determined to do what you love as well." He pointed out bluntly. And of course, this was something that absolutely took her aback, "H-Hah? What nonsense are you spouting now?"
"Ah, sorry, I tend to be a bit too... well, straightforward in situations like this? Anyway, we can talk about that later, first of all, I want to talk to the dude with the glasses back there." Foster said. He often half-joked like this when he was nervous. Obviously, this woman was incredibly attractive to him, but blurting it out like that might have made this situation somewhat weird.
"Why do you want to talk to Sam?" The woman in front of Foster asked, and he quickly looked up at her, "Ah, that's a bit..." He said, not sure where to go from here. He slowly glanced past her, once more locking eyes with that man, Sam, who was staring at him this whole time.
Slowly, he said something, although he probably had a really weird accent. He's only beek speaking in Argian for about a month now. In english, he said, "I think we're both from the same place."
The moment that Foster spoke, Sam's eyes opened wide in confusion, and he rushed forward, pushing through the crowd, until the two of them stood in front of each other.
"You're... Where are you from?" Sam asked, in a similarly awkward manner as Foster. It seemed like he also hadn't spoken english for a while. But Foster quickly replied, "...Here and there. Mostly upper east coast though, around New York but not directly, y'know?" He said, and Sam let out a loud laugh, placing his hand on Foster's shoulder, "Holy shit, you're really from earth? Ah, I'm from London, by the way. Fuck, this is great! I heard there were others like us here, but I haven't actually met anyone!"
It was as if all his suspicions simply disappeared in nothing but an instant, because he was happy to see someone from the same world as him. It felt like meeting someone that's from the same area as you while on vacation.
"Erm... I feel the same, like, I'm hella fucking happy to hear that you really are from there too, but... should we maybe talk in private?" Foster asked, looking past Sam at the large group of people that were staring at the two of them perplexed. Sam turned around as well, looking at the group with a wry smile, realizing that he had completely forgotten about them. The leader of the group walked up to them, and stared at Foster with a deep frown.
"Sam, who is this guy?" He asked, of course in Argian again. Sam turned around quickly, "Ah, he- He's from the same country as me. I got a little overwhelmed."
"From the same country, huh...? My condolences. I heard that something happened, bringing that island to ruin." He said, with a slight smile on his face, even though Foster was able to look through it without a second thought, "What was it again..?"
"Yeah, fuck off, bud. I don't care if you're suspicious of me, but at least don't make it that obvious, will you?" With an annoyed groan, Foster rubbed the bridge of his nose, and then looked back at Sam while Cain's mind was still trying to catch up to what just happened, "Again, could we speak alone?"
"H-Huh? Yeah, of course... Erm... Cain, sorry about that, but I would really like to talk to him, could we maybe just push ahead the break a little? This place is as good as any other." Sam said, practically already pushing Foster away from the group. Cain clicked his tongue and looked at the people behind him, "You heard'im, we're taking a break."
Once they reached a spot that was far enough away, Sam flicked his wrist. A magic circle appeared in front of his palm, before invisible walls lit up around them for a moment, "I created a quick barrier, just in case. Sorry, I got kind of overwhelmed back there." Sam said, with a smile on his face. Foster immediately shook his head, while he walked over toward where he saw one of these 'walls', touching it with his hand. When he did, a wave of light moved through the wall again, "Don't worry about it... also, the fuck's a barrier supposed to be?"
"Huh? A barrier... like, a wall created through magic, that follows a specific set of rules set by the caster, and- Ah, sorry... would you prefer English or Argian? By the way, how long have you been here? Your Argian sounds really smooth, it took me years to figure out how to speak it without an accent." Sam said, clearly extremely excited about this whole situation. Foster raised his brow, "...Years? How long have you been here?"
"Hm... I got here when I was 20, and I'm 27 now, so... yeah. It's been seven years." Sam explained, "How about you, how long have you been here?"
"...A month."
"Huh?"
"I've been here for a month. But... sorry, could you show me your phone again?" He asked, and Sam looked back at him confused. He pulled it out of his pocket, and showed it to Foster. It had gone through a lot, and has been modified, a little, but he could immediately recognize it even then. With a frown, he opened his bag and pulled out a small pouch. He pulled his completely shattered, broken phone out of it, "I have... had, the same one."
Sam opened his eyes wide, "What the hell did you do to this thing? And why do you even have a seven year old phone?"
"That's the thing." Foster replied, "I bought this phone when it first came out.. Half a year ago."