Chapter 620 Into Another Place, Pt. 1

Large trees shot up to the sky as Keng and the gang stood in the hallway looking into the room. White snow covered the land as cold breaths began to form. Keng stepped through the door, feet crunching in snow as he looked around. It looked like the forest in the other district Lee Seng had fought that Blood Puppet except the trees were pine trees. One by one, the group trickled out. As soon as Evan passed through the door, the door shut, vanishing.

"Hey!" Evan shouted, turning to see the door was gone. "The door's gone!" The rest of the team turned and noticed it was just more large trees in the opposite direction. It was much colder here than the town they were in. Keng let out a warm breath as he scanned the area.

"We definitely stepped into a Portal." Keng whispered.

"How're we supposed to go back?" Evan asked, panicked. "That was our only way back! If the door's gone then—"

"Calm down." Manny raised his finger to his lips. Evan hushed as the group turned in different directions to listen. The large pine forest was quiet. The sound of snow crunching underneath their boots was the only noise they heard. When Manny was sure there wasn't anything threatening around, he lowered his finger and turned to the group.

"We're definitely not on Earth anymore." Olivia pulled the map up. It was glitching out as she forced the map to disappear.

"Portals are too finicky." Liz sighed. "They either lead you to a whole 'nother side of the world or they lead you to a dungeon."

"And I guess we got thrown into one…" Manny shook his head.

"A dungeon?" Keng asked. "A real dungeon?" Keng turned around, taking in the dungeon. It wasn't at all what he or Lee Seng thought it would be. It looked like a whole new world.

"Mmm. If the Elves guided us to this place, then that means Gloria is here." Ritsuka replied. They all looked at each other as Keng made a full turn.

"So that means our watches should register that we're in a dungeon, right?" Evan asked, nervously. He seemed to be the only one who was physically showing he didn't like where they were. He pulled his sleeve up, revealing his watch. He tapped at it a couple of times before smacking it harder. "It's not registering! Did we get thrown somewhere not in the Academy's database map?!?"

"Calm down, Ev." Ritsuka hushed. "Remember the rules to Accidental Portaling?"

"That was a thing, huh?" Olivia asked.

"Take in your surroundings and steel yourself!" Evan answered, nervously.

"We took in our surroundings so now we need to…?" Ritsuka raised his eyebrows at Evan.

"Steel yourself. Myself. Steel myself."

"Good, let's calm down so we can put our heads together and get out of here." Ritsuka smiled at his childhood friend.

"If we're really in a dungeon, that means this one doesn't adhere to the usual dungeon rules." Manny sighed.

"Rules?" Keng asked.

"A dungeon portal is always at the start. We started here so the portal should be there." Manny pointed.

"But it isn't." Liz interjected. "That means it's either a special dungeon with special rules or…"

"We entered at a breakpoint." Manny finished.

"Breakpoints are rare, right?" Olivia asked. Manny and Liz nodded at her. "Doesn't that mean this dungeon could easily be a B-rank dungeon?" Evan lost it at that. He pulled away from the group and began to freak out as Ritsuka moved for his friend and grabbed him.

"Hey!" Ritsuka shouted.

"We're dead! We're dead! A b-rank dungeon! We're going to die! I won't ever get to see my family again! You won't either, Ritsuka! We're totally—"

Ritsuka raised his hand and slapped Evan across the face. It seemed like this worked because Evan and the entire team went quiet. Evan's face was full of surprise as the others had similar reactions. Keng was just intrigued that Ritsuka had even slapped Evan.

"Breakpoints are rare, but it doesn't mean it's a B-rank dungeon." Ritsuka informed the group. "They're more common in B-rank dungeons, but if this breakpoint was in a town, accessed by a door, it could just mean Gloria or one of her team members created it."

"True." Olivia nodded. "Breakpoints are like rifts. They're tears in the fabric of reality. What we went through was too specific. It was too nice to be a breakpoint or the portal to the dungeon."

"That means we walked through someone's creation." Manny sighed. "I don't like that at all… But what can we do about that?"

"Let's just try to find Gloria and get the hell outta this dungeon." Liz pulled the group in. She looked at each one, waiting for a nod from all of them. When she reached Evan and Ritsuka, Ritsuka motioned with his head for Evan to answer.

"F-fine." Evan sighed. Ritsuka let go of Evan and nodded.

"Sound like a good plan, Lee Seng?" Liz looked at Keng. Keng had listened to everything that was happening but was too engrossed in being in an actual dungeon. Lee Seng had dreamed about entering a dungeon for years and now Keng was living his dream.

"Lee?" Manny called out. Keng snapped out of it and turned to look at the group.

"Yeah?" Keng asked.

"You hear the plan?"

"Yeah." Keng nodded. "It's better we take in our surroundings and figure out what types of monsters/creatures are here. That way we can compile a rough estimate of what dungeon rank we're dealing with."

"Good plan." Liz nodded. "Who's going to do that? Should we split?"

"No, I don't think we should." Manny shook his head. "It's even more dangerous than fighting Ice Elf scouts. We should stick together and— Lee Seng! Where are you going?!?"

"Y'all stay there! I'll come back for you! I'm gonna look around!" Keng waved, running into the forest.

"Uhhh, should we let him—" Ritsuka began to point.

"No!" Manny shouted. The group ran after Keng, only to watch him disappear from their sight.

,m "Annnnd he's gone." Olivia sighed, coming to a stop with the group. "Should we trust he'll come back?"

"He'll come back." Ritsuka nodded. Manny wasn't so sure about that as he looked between the group and the direction Keng had disappeared to.

"He'll be fine." Liz comforted Manny. She squeezed his shoulder, drawing his attention onto her. "Lee Seng is always like this. He's good at what he does. Trust him."

"I know but… He just came back from being on the run… I don't want to push him so hard… He could die like last time." Manny replied. Liz smiled and wrapped her arms around him. She hugged him tightly, drawing Manny's attention onto her.

"He lived on the run for two months. He survived November's guild quest. He'll come back to us shortly. Just be patient, alright?" Manny sighed and patted Liz's head. She was right. He needed to trust that Lee Seng would come back, but the daunting truth ate at him.

'If I don't keep an eye on him, something will happen to him…' Manny thought.

***

Keng moved through the forest with ease. The large pine trees were close enough together, he found himself bouncing from one tree to another with ease. This would help him not leave a trace of where he went while also letting him mark high places with his DME to tell him where to go. The forest was vast with nothing in sight.

As Keng thought about returning to his group, a break of bright light appeared in front of him.

'Is that the end?' Keng wondered. He rushed forward, stopping just short of the light. He stood on the hefty branch, hand touching the tree as he marked it. 'It is the end of the forest.' A jagged landscape spread across his peripherals as far as he could see with his enhanced sight. He felt nothing out of the ordinary here.

'There isn't anything this way… Maybe I was unlucky?' Keng thought. He turned, hopping back the way he came when small yips grew from within the forest. Keng landed on the fourth tree branch, watching as Goblins riding on small Direwolves moved through the forest. 'Where are you going?' Keng turned, following the goblins to the edge. The goblin riders poured out into the open, yelling at each other.

"We must return before it's too late! If we don't have an offering, we will die like the rest!" A Goblin shrieked. "If we don't return with an offering, he'll surely kill us!"

"A shame that tribe brought humans!" The other Goblin screeched back. "A human! A live one at that! There are no more humans because they killed the others! They are trying to make us look bad!"

"Just hurry up and find an offering worth giving!" A third Goblin barked at the two. It pulled the reins on the small Direwolf as it turned to face the group of goblin riders. "All of you find something worth giving or you'll die in my place, got it?!?"

"Yes, your Tuskiness!" The goblin riders scattered into different directions. Four rushed back into the woods, drawing Keng's attention towards them.