Chapter 68 | Survival Guide for the Otome Game's Villain

When the teleportation array activated, Erich actually didn't feel a thing. The tug of spatial distortion lasted only an instant, and then all sensation was drained from his body.

It was only when a sharp pain jolted him awake that the hollow emptiness of drained mana surged from deep within his body. Every inch of his pathways felt like a cracked riverbed, screaming in parched dryness.

Erich felt as if he had been thrown into a massive forge, where red-hot iron was repeatedly hammered, sending brilliant sparks flying. Waves of pain crashed down again and again, the temperature so high that even his consciousness seemed on the verge of melting.

Yet, he still clung to a breath of life.

Erich had no idea how long he had been sinking in the dark chaos; time had lost all meaning. The only things he could perceive were the heat and that dull, repeating ache of being hammered. He felt like he was probably going to die—die in some nameless, godforsaken place.

If the young princess knew he died like this, she would probably cry for hours.

Then, a wave of coolness washed away the feeling of impending death.

Like parched earth finally receiving rain, the soothing coolness seeped through every inch of his skin, tracing along his burning pathways. The pain and feverish heat were dispelled, and his depleted mana felt the touch of water once more, rising bit by bit to form a thin trickle. His body was being repaired, guided by an external force that slowly pieced his shattered self back together.

His consciousness was also slowly dragged up from the deep sea.

Erich opened his eyes.

The first thing that met his gaze was light—a warm yellow glow hovering not far away. Then came a woman's face bathed in a soft halo, her dark brown hair draping over her shoulders, with a few stray strands slipping behind her ears, dyed a faint gold by the light.

Her features were gentle, and her fingers hovered just above his chest. A white light poured continuously from her palm, flowing steadily into his body. With each surge of light, the burning pain inside him eased slightly.

Seeing him wake up, the woman did not stop her spell, only asking in a soft voice, “Are you alright, child?”

Erich opened his mouth to answer, but his throat was incredibly dry, leaving him temporarily speechless.

The woman turned her head and called out to the side, “Captain, Lilith, he's awake.”

Footsteps approached, and two more people entered Erich's field of vision. One was a sturdy, middle-aged man holding a shield as tall as a person, his face bearing the rugged marks of the elements. The other was a young girl with short pink hair, staring at him with curiosity.

The middle-aged man set his shield down on the ground, leaned in to inspect Erich from head to toe, and immediately blurted out a rapid-fire string of questions: “How are you feeling, kid? Can you move? How did you get here all by yourself? Do you have teammates? Are they still alive? What's your name?”

The questions pelted him like rapid gunfire, making Erich's head buzz.

The brown-haired woman gave the middle-aged man's arm a reproachful swat. “Slow down, Marcus. He just regained consciousness and isn't fully lucid yet.”

The man named Marcus scratched his head and gave a sheepish laugh. “I was just a bit too eager. So, how is he actually doing, Grace?”

Before Grace could answer, Erich pushed himself up into a sitting position. His body hadn't fully recovered yet; the sudden movement made his vision darken and stars dance before his eyes, but he really wasn't used to talking to people while lying down.

“I'm alright now. Thank you very much for your help. May I ask where this is?”

Only after speaking did he have the chance to take in his surroundings. It was a cavern with an uneven rocky ceiling. The ground was covered in a layer of gray mycelium that felt soft to the touch, and tiny specks of light drifted aimlessly through the air, flickering and casting the entire cavern in a dim, blue glow.

This place looked unlike any terrain he had seen near the academy, and he hadn't even seen it in the game.

“You don't even know where you are, so how did you end up unconscious here?” the pink-haired girl spoke up bluntly, interrupting his examination of their surroundings.

Erich gave a helpless smile. “There was an accident. I was forcibly teleported in.”

“Teleported?” The girl blinked, wanting to ask more, but Grace cut in.

“This is the second floor of the dungeon, 【Vaughan's Devourment】,” Grace said. “We are the adventuring party 【Gray Fang】. This is our captain, Marcus.” She chin-gestured toward the sturdy man. “I'm Grace, the team's healer. This is Lilith, our main magic attacker, and our scout, Miss Nasha.”

As she spoke, Grace pointed toward the nearby darkness.

A figure stepped out from the shadows. She was an elf with pale green hair and pointed ears. She had a slender build with a high waist, and her legs and torso were perfectly proportioned. Dressed in dark, form-fitting leather armor with a rapier resting at her waist, her footsteps were so light they made no sound.

She stopped at the edge of the halo of light and nodded to Erich without speaking, silently observing him from the boundary of light and shadow.

Erich nodded back in greeting. After a moment's thought, he decided to be direct. “My name is Erich. I'm a student at Morningstar Academy. There was an assassination attempt at the academy, and I was injured and swept into a teleportation array, which brought me here.”

“Morningstar Academy?” Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Morningstar Academy is all the way in Radiant City. That array sure sent you far.”

“Is it far?” Erich asked.

“To get back to the surface from here, you have to cross the first floor. Once you're out of the dungeon, you'd have to travel north for at least several days to reach Radiant City,” Marcus said, rubbing his chin. “You're pretty lucky. This is deep in the second floor, and people rarely come here. If we hadn't happened to pass by on a commission, you would've lain here until some magical beast carried you off, and no one would've been the wiser.”

Erich felt a slight chill run down his spine. His body still throbbed with pain, and his mana had only recovered a tiny fraction. In his current state, let alone climbing out of this dungeon on his own, even walking a few steps would be a struggle.

“What are your plans now?” Marcus asked next. “We still have a commission to complete deeper inside. Little mage from Morningstar, are you going to head up on your own? It's pretty dangerous for a mage to move through a dungeon alone.”

This was a subtle invitation. As the captain, Marcus had to be responsible for the entire party's safety and couldn't gamble his teammates' lives on the trustworthiness of a stranger. After all, taking in an unidentified injured person found in a dungeon was a highly risky move, and the other party might also be hesitating.