"I went on a hidden quest I found alone, leaving you and the others."
Isabelle began with a soft tone.
"The quest sounded easy, but I never expected I would encounter that thing."
I didn't say anything and only listened.
'That thing?'
Whatever that was, Isabelle's body was trembling, and she held her arms tightly when she mentioned it. Maybe that was the source of her trauma.
No matter how much I wanted to console her and tell her, everything would be fine now that I was here.
But that wouldn't help her. She needed to face her trauma by herself. I was only here to support her slightly and give her the push she needed.
So I waited. It didn't take long before she continued.
"I went to a Level 80 dungeon with a party. It's not just a random party. You know them too, the 3 girls' party called Valkyrie Squad."
"I know them." I nodded in confirmation.
Valkyrie Squad was a party composed of Tristan's female friends. They were close to each other and always raided some high-Level dungeons together, making them have pretty good teamwork.
And 2 years ago… they suddenly disappeared with Tristan.
'So it's because of this mission?'
"The dungeon was… a bit different from the usual. I was the vanguard at that time, and nothing managed to get past me. There were only low-Level monsters in a few first rooms, and we advanced confidently because of how easy it was, thinking it was a free quest."
"The exploration continued smoothly with me as a leader."
The story continued. She told me about dungeon diving, just a normal one that I knew of. Fighting off sudden attacks from monsters, disarming traps, and making a bed.
Everything in her story was normal. Nothing stood out from the others except the monsters' Level increased at a fast speed instead of going up slowly as they went deeper.
And another strange thing happened.
"The monster's attributes suddenly changed even though the environment stayed the same." Isabelle's expression turned serious with a hint of fear written on it. "They became… ferocious and attacked us without any fear."
"Their attributes changed?" I narrowed my eyes questioningly. "How exactly did they change?"
"Their fire attribute turned into a water attribute in a lava environment. And our equipment was focused on fire resistance and not water, making us vulnerable to it. A Salamander becomes an Ice Lizard."
"… Continue." I gestured with my hand.
Strange. As she said, a dungeon had an environment and attributes. The monsters dwelling inside usually had the same attributes as the environment in that dungeon. For a water attribute monster to live in a lava environment was just… suicide.
However, Isabelle said a Salamander became an Ice Lizard, a monster of its opposite attribute. Not only that, it managed to survive in that place.
"We didn't think much at first." Isabelle clenched her fist and gritted her teeth in frustration and anger.
"That's until we went deeper and almost reached the location that our quest asked us to visit. Unlike our expectation of being greeted by another hot lava environment when we arrived, a giant lake spread wide in front of us, leaving only a few parts of the ground we could use as footing there."
"A lake?!"
Now that was a different kind of thing altogether. A dungeon that changed its attribute at the end of the stage?
"That's just like the final dungeon…" I muttered out loud, holding my chin in deep thought.
Isabelle looked at me curiously.
Come to think of it, Isabelle didn't know anything about the final dungeon except what I told her earlier. And I only explained to her how I raided it alone without explaining its layout.
At least this became a nice stop to make her calm down a little bit. But her story needed to continue and I shouldn't say anything anymore.
"Sorry, you can continue."
"You should explain that to me later." She said, narrowing her eyes.
"I will. But I want to hear your story right now, and what do you mean by it's 12 years for you."
"I am getting there. This part is something I don't want to remember anymore, but… I want to tell you about this."
Isabelle heaved a long sigh, collecting her courage to tell me.
'Ah, this must be the biggest reason behind her trauma.' I thought, leaning slightly to hear her better. Of course, we were still in the cave, so I was looking at my radar while I was listening to her. 'Nothing strange or something that can interrupt her is nearby.'
"The girls from Valkyrie Squad didn't lower their guard, nor did I. We knew that we were inside the dungeon, but… The lake was peaceful and serene. My <Mana Senses> detected nothing, and Zeta's <Presence Detection> also found nothing. And so, we decided to take a rest."
"We enjoyed it. Yes… We enjoyed the situation even though we knew we were inside a dangerous Level 80 dungeon with monsters that could escape our detections. We… lowered our guard."
That was something fatal. I narrowed my eyes, a bit disappointed in Isabelle. She was supposed to be aware… Yes, supposed to.
I changed my mind after I heard her next sentence.
"The lake… It's a magic lake that could cloud our judgment. We realized that too late. And when Delta realized it… Zeta and Beta were no more. Their bodies were gone."
Isabelle's body trembled uncontrollably. She tried to hug herself, but it didn't work. Alone, she wouldn't be able to continue to face her fear. However, I was here.
Slowly, not to make her startled, I got closer and closer until I sat right beside her. Finally, our shoulders touched each other, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and brought her closer to me.
"What happened next? I am trying to help you, but I won't be able to do it without hearing your problem." I whispered softly. "You can trust me, right? I even beat the last boss, Ghost Marionette, alone. Let alone the monster in front of you, I can even defeat an entire army of it if it's to protect you."
"You're safe with me."
I didn't need more words to comfort her. Isabelle slowly leaned her body against me, surrendering her weight against my shoulder.
"It's calming." She muttered. "And nostalgic." She continued.
Her trembling reduced considerably, but I could still feel she was scared by her fast heartbeat.
Just like me, or even worse, she wanted to forget her past. But she confronted it today because I pushed her. I… felt bad, but it was necessary. Living in fear wasn't pleasant, I realized.
If this moment of pain could help her live better in the future, I would push harder while confronting my own past too.
"Arthur, do you believe me?" She looked over her shoulder with a wavering gaze straight into my eyes.
Answering her with an unflinching gaze, I nodded. "I do. So you can continue." I said. "What kind of monster is it?"
"A big one," Isabelle replied shortly. "A monster that looked like a beautiful human female with octopus legs. Under that was a big mouth… filled with rows of sharp teeth. Zeta and Beta's bloodied, butchered bodies were inside that mouth."
The trembling returned. I held her tighter, making sure that I was right by her side.
"Its laugh was eerie. I still heard it inside my mind, in my nightmare. Every time, every night, I thought it should be me who died that time. My armor saved me. It got destroyed, but it saved me. And… and…"
This went in a bad direction. Isabelle began to blame herself, and that was really bad for her mental health. So I circled my arms around her head, pushing her close to me.
"It's not your fault," I whispered the word people in her position wanted to hear the most. "It was my fault."
For not stopping you, I added inside my mind.
It stopped. Her breathing almost returned to normal.
"It wasn't." She said, pushing herself away from my embrace. "It was my fault. And it was that monster's fault."
"It's Scylla's fault."
"Tristan…" Her name unconsciously escaped my lips.
"Don't worry. I am fine now. That monster is no more." Isabelle tried to smile with all she got and got up. "But don't expect the old me to return. I… can't be the cheery Tristan anymore. I am just Isabelle, the empty husk."
She stood up and stretched her arms up.
"It's refreshing." She looked at me with a masked smile. "Sorry. In the end, I can't finish my story. I will tell you if we have time in the future."
That was unfair.
Why did it have to be that monster? And why did I confront her today?
Because the coincidence was really scary.
No, was it really just a coincidence if something like this happened?
In the first place, did coincidence exist? I meant… I was given a chance to redeem my past just after I found out that Isabelle was the same person as Tristan.
'Sorry, Isabelle.' I stood up with the help of [Caliburn], looking at Isabelle stopped near the entrance where I came from earlier. 'I will cure your trauma no matter what you say.'
My lips curled into a smile as I walked toward her. It was best if she didn't know about it yet. Yes, I would keep it a secret from her. About my plan.
'Feel free to hate me later if you want to. I want you to live happily in this bonus stage and not worry about being scared of monsters anymore.'
Our stories hadn't finished yet. I still didn't know what she meant by 12 years, and I hadn't told her about my journey after she was gone.
We still hid something from each other, but… It was enough for now. Curing her trauma would come first.
'I will need Garcia's help.'
