Chapter 104

Chapter 104

The white light begins to dissipate and I open my eyes to see a single hunter in front of me.

I gulp and look around.

“Arie... Where are the others...?”

He’s sitting on a large rock covered in moss about 2m off the ground. There’s incredibly lush plant life all as far as the eye can see. The twisting green vines cover the dungeon floor with small blooming red, pink, and white flowers. There are blue and purple berries dangling from thick bushes and short yellow-tinted assortments of shrubbery all around us.

I walk forward hesitantly past a massive tree wrapped in plant life with arching branches that cover our view of the sky above.

Arie responds with a neutral tone.

“You’re the first to come out. Well, aside from me at least.”

He shows me a light smile, then looks up at the jungle’s canopy to take in the view.

As I begin to respond, a white light flashes behind us. Maria’s voice rings out and I let out a sigh of relief as I turn to see her wide grin.

“Now that was an annoying little creature. It wasn’t that strong... it just took forever to wear it down!”

I nod.

“Yeah, tricky one.”

Arie lets out a small chuckle and a sigh of his own.

“It was like all the others, one shot, and the boss is dead.”

He bends one leg upwards to rest his arm on his knee while continuing to sit atop the boulder. The cloaked figure stares at both of us curiously while placing his chin down into the bent arm covering the lower half of his face. The only visible features are his light blue eyes and short silver hair.

A flash of light appears once again, and the green-haired healer comes flying out. Maria is the first to greet her.

“Abby!! You made it!!”

She glows bright while healing the massive cuts and blunt force wounds covering her body. She grins and looks up at us.

“What a great fight. That thing was creepy, but it could manipulate rock too so I finally got to go all out with my combat magic!”

She scratches her head, then continues.

“Oh- Maria, about those MP potions... I kind of used them all.

Maria laughs and lightly slaps her on the back.

“Hey, we’re on the last floor, who cares? I had a feeling you’d use them anyways.”

They both walk off over to a small flowing creek about 10m away chuckling about something, not all the details are clear to me. I take a deep breath in and out while staring at the swirling portal at the dungeon’s entrance. Arie does the same with his fierce, yet concerned unmoving eyes.

We sit and stand in silence for another 2 minutes straight. My heart pounds faster and faster the longer our wait goes on. I’m not particularly worried about anything bad happening, both Bruce and Nessa have their bracelets on. If they lose this battle, they’ll just be sent back to the respawn point.

It’s just... This is the first time I’ve worked together with a group of people as a team and actually enjoyed it. I’d really like to at least see it through to the end of this exam.

Arie nods while swiftly ducking under a low-hanging vine covered in pink and white blossoming flowers.

“I’ve... seen some like it before.”

He stares forward as I jump over a log covered in dense green moss growing an assortment of mushrooms across its backside.

“Oh yeah? Which one? There’s a dungeon here in the capital with no monsters? Just a boss?”

He lets out a long sigh.

“No, not in the capital. There’s a few like that near my home village.”

I raise an eyebrow, then grin.

“Oh yeah? Where are you from?”

Arie’s eyes rapidly move back and forth as he scans the surrounding area, then nods speaking in a low tone. There’s a change in his expression, his eyes are filled with sadness, and his voice shakes ever so slightly.

“I’m not exactly from the Vice Region. I just came out here on an independent contract to take the exam.”

The forest falls even more silent as we continue to walk forward. I eye the hooded archer up and down, then crack a thin smile.

“Ya know, I can’t get a good read on you Arie... but, I hope we can be friends. I want to see what that bow can really do.”

We lock eyes for a moment, then he mimics my thin smiles back.

“I’d like that too.”

There seems to be a lot more to unpack concerning Arie’s past but now isn’t the time.

*CRACKKKK*

I hear a large branch break and Bruce’s deep voice rings loudly throughout the forest.

“We got our first monster! It’s a tough one!”

I grit my teeth and run forward to join the action. While twisting and turning my body through all the fallen trees and heavy greenery a battle is starting without me.

The blue glow of Ice magic fills my vision as well as the heat from a blazing fire. The ground begins to rumble, and I hear a loud clang of something hard slamming against Bruce’s shield.

Arie and I race forward into the small open clearing ahead.

A long slithering snake-like creature comes into view. Its scaly skin is pure white, with a small red diamond-shaped marking on the top of its head. The fast-moving tongue protruding from its mouth is jet black and split in two. To top it all off, its dark blue eyes stare us down the instant we come into view.

The jungle floor turns into a battlefield, split in half covered in Ice where Maria stands, and burning bright alongside Nessa.

Abby stands atop a pillar of stone between the two of them while Bruce charges forward at the beast with no fear. He yells out to us once he notices we’ve arrived at the scene.

“Sit tight you two! This will be over before you know it, enjoy the show!”

The 15-meter-long Goliath of a snake brings its head up in the air to stare down at all of us. The monster lets out a loud hiss and an energy wave of intimidation erupts from its body to show off its immense strength.

The first battle of the 15th floor is about to begin.