Chapter 7: Night-Dungeon

The party entered the dungeon as they took out their weapons and started walking cautiously in a defensive mode.

"Be careful, Emilia. You are our healer, so you need to be safe," Darius said as he walked in front of Emilia.

'He is so protective and caring,' Emilia thought as her face flushed.

"It's so dark here. Maybe coming here at night was a bad idea?" questioned Matt.

"Don't say that! We will be getting a handsome reward for clearing the night dungeon," stated Brax.

Every dungeon has levels, further divided by the difficulties. Dungeons are separated by floors. Floor one was considered the safest, and even an E-rank adventurer could easily clear it and get some rewards.

Every dungeon starts with weak monsters. The monsters keep getting stronger and more potent once they go deeper and deeper.

It is said that no one has ever cleared an entire dungeon yet. There is no end to the dungeons. They come from the abyss and lead to the gates of hell, though no one knows how much was true.

For an adventurer, every adventure can be their last adventure, especially in dungeon exploration. Going to clear the dungeon solo would be a suicide mission, even for an S-rank adventurer.

The party kept walking further and further as they encountered slimes, goblins, wolves, and other weak monsters.

The guild gave the quests to the adventurers in return for the rewards. As proof that they have killed monsters in the dungeon, they needed to cut the monster's right ear and submit it to the guild.

"Brax, keep your eye on the sides. Venus, I will leave the defense to you. Matt, make sure you keep an eye on the back. And Emilia, don't worry, I will protect you," Darius ordered everyone.

"Maybe we should have hired a knight for defense. We are basically defenseless if we got attacked from range," spoke Brax.

"I tried Brax; I tried," Darius took a deep breath and said, "But no one was agreeing on coming to the night-dungeon."

"I can cast a defense spell on us," said Emilia.

"Wouldn't it take too much of your mana to cast such a heavy spell?" questioned Darius.

Emilia nodded and said, "But we need some protection. I may not be a fighter, but I will do my best to protect everyone."

"That's not true," Darius patted Emilia's head and said, "You are a fighter. You have a powerful fighting spirit."

They cleared the dungeon further without breaking any sweat.

"It's almost midnight, and we have just cleared floor one," reported Matt.

"Alright," Darius put the sword back in his sheath and glanced around. "We will take a rest here."

"Yeah," Brax chugged down the water bottle and said, "Since we have cleared the first floor, there will be no monster on this floor. We can rest easy."

The party then sat down and sighed in relief.

"I feel like it took longer than we expected," said Darius.

"Maybe it will be morning until we clear the second floor?" questioned Venus.

"We have to at least clear the third floor to get the next tier reward," Darius asserted with a sigh.

Matt took out the roasted rabbits from his bag and gave them to everyone.

"They have turned cold," retorted Brax.

"Why worry when we have our own bonfire here?" Matt said as he glanced at Venus.

Venus nudged her elbow to Matt and said, "Maybe I should burn you with it?"

Matt pinched Venus' cheek and pointed his gaze at the rabbits, and venus heated the roasted meat of the rabbits.

As they were eating, Brax broke the silence saying, "What about you, Darius ?"

"Hmm?" Darius motioned and took a bite.

"Do you want a harem?" Brax then glanced at Emilia and said, "Or you are happy with just one girl?"

Darius gazed at Emilia and said, "Emilia is the only one for me."

"Tch!" Brax clicked his tongue and said, "This is why I hate relationships. They bind you."

"That's not true. You don't know the bliss of true love yet," said Darius.

Brax then laid down as he moved his gaze at Matt and questioned, "What about you, Matt? You want a harem?"

Matt looked at Brax in disbelief and furrowed his brows, "Are you seriously asking a married man if he wants harem or not?"

"I am," Brax nodded.

Matt sighed and glanced at Venus, who was staring at him intensely, then said, "I don't have that option, you know?"

"Heh!" Brax smirked and said, "You all are slaves."

They kept passing comments and remarks as time passed.

"Alright," Darius stood up and said, "Let's go now. We shouldn't waste our time."

"Yeah," everyone agreed.

Darius moved his hand over to Emilia and helped her get up.

"Have you had enough rest, Emilia?"

Emilia nodded with her flushed face.

They started walking further and passed the boundary of the first floor. As they were walking, something shined in the dark.

Quick to impulses, Brax noticed it and stopped.

"Shh! Guys, guys!" Brax whispered violently.

"What is it, Brax?" questioned Matt.

Brax pointed his finger in the dark and said, "I just saw something over there."

Everyone looked in the direction where Brax pointed his finger, but there was no sign of anyone.

"There is nothing there," Darius patted Brax's shoulder and said, "Maybe you are tired."

"I am not! I swear I saw something there."

"That's just a rest area, Brax," Venus added.

"But…" Brax stammered and doubted what he saw.

Matt noticed Brax acting strange and said, "Maybe we should just take a look to confirm?"

"Yeah," Darius took out his sword and said, "Be careful."

"Wait!" exclaimed Venus.

Everyone stopped to look back at Venus. "What?"

"There is no need to go there," Venus took out her wand, "I can shoot a fireball, and we will be able to see what's there."

"Ah!" Darius exclaimed, "Yes, that way, we won't have to worry about any monster."

Venus fired a fireball in the dark. The path illuminated for a short period, and then the fireball vanished into the darkness.

"There is no one," stated Venus.

"No…" Brax started trembling. "Didn't you notice?"

"Noticed what?" questioned Venus.

"That area is supposed to be a rest area. But your fireball just kept going further and further," Brax was freaking out. "Rest areas aren't supposed to be this long!" Brax yelled as he crouched down.

Darius hugged him and said, "What are you freaking out for? So what if there is a monster? We can defeat it together. I am sure we will encounter some weak monsters. After all, we are still on the second floor."

Brax stood up and said, "Right. Sorry for acting weird."

Matt gulped down and questioned, "Should we go there? Or take the normal route?"

"It doesn't matter. If we leave a monster alive on the first three floors, our quest will fail!" Darius replied.

"So we need to clear that secret floor too?" questioned Venus.

"Don't call it the secret floor. It may be just a normal floor where some monster is hiding, you know?" said Darius.

"Yeah," affirmed Matt.

Emilia was amazed by their teamwork. It's only been a little over a month since Emilia joined their party, but they have treated her well.

The party slowly walked further and entered the rest area.

"Venus," Darius whispered.

Venus nodded and shot a fireball. After flowing for some seconds, the fireball disappeared in the dark.

Suddenly, the fire torches on the walls ignited and illuminated the way.

"Huh? You did this, Venus?" questioned Matt, completely petrified.

Venus shook her head, "I didn't!"

"Could it be that there is another party here?" questioned Brax.

"No. I asked the guild leader about this, and they said they rarely have any night-dungeon exploration requests," replied Darius.

"Maybe we should go back and come again with more members?" Suggested Emilia.

"No, Emilia. We can't waste our time. We need the reward. And if we get more members, we have to split the reward more. The more members we have, the fewer rewards we will get," Darius retorted.

Suddenly, all the fire torches extinguished, and darkness enveloped everything.

"What?! Venus, fire, fire!"

The fire torches ignited again on their own. "What's going on?!" shouted Brax.

"Let's get out of here!" shouted Matt.

"No! We can't leave. We have already cleared the first floor. Two more floors, and we will get the reward." Darius stopped them.

"Hey… there is something." Venus slowly moved her finger to the unknown figure, which looked like a little boy.

It was standing with its back facing the party. "Why is a kid doing here?" Venus immediately rushed to the boy.

"Wait! Venus!" Matt yelled.

Matt ran after Venus to stop her, but he failed.

The next thing he saw was a big hole in Venus's body, and the floor as well the wall dyed red by her blood.

Venus slowly looked back at Matt, and her body fell to the ground.