"This place is really dead," Acht muttered to himself as he looked around the streets they walked by.
Not even a single sound could be heard except the howling of the wind as it carried the dust from the piles of destroyed rocks.
It was as if they were walking in an apocalyptic world. This much destruction in a city the size of a country in a matter of hours shows how dangerous monsters are when they attack a city in huge numbers.
The group also had the same complicated look, seeing how Lagradon was turned into a mere wasteland of death and despair.
The only one who kept a calm front except for Acht was Leislet who didn't look around at all and kept her gaze straight.
This place was her home in a sense since she lived there for a long time during her childhood and when she became the hunter association president. So, everyone knew how much this affected her seeing this place wither like that. Her calm expression was nothing but a front since she was the pillar of this team.
The group eventually reached the place where the dungeon was.
The dungeon was in a somehow rural area of the city where there was only a place for guards who work there and some other laboratories for experimenting.
This dungeon was very special. In normal cases, to conquer a dungeon, hunters will need to kill the boss. Then, dungeon outbreaks will become something impossible to happen.
But, in this particular dungeon, the hunters couldn't find the boss room no matter how much they searched. It was something very weird since most dungeons are very simple-structured and straightforward.
Yet, this one had so many routes and secret places that it became impossible to find the boss room. That's why it was left like that.
When they reached their destination, Leislet stepped up and looked at her team.
"Now, listen carefully! This dungeon is a very dangerous place and frankly speaking, some of you could die…"
Her words made most of the A-Rank hunters gulp a mouthful of saliva. They were the weaker out of the whole team so they were the easier to kill.
"But, you are all heroes who deserve all the honor for accepting such a dangerous mission. Now, we will go inside and we will only come out with the boss's head in our hands. Understand?!" She shouted with the authority of a leader.
Her words sent a shiver down the spine of everyone there and made adrenaline pump in their vines.
They all then nodded and said in unison.
"Yes!"
Their morals were through the roof with these words from Leislet.
Acht watched this scene and nodded his head in satisfaction. The last thing he wanted in his team was a bunch of scared cats with no resolve.
Then, Leislet took the initiative and walked to the dungeon first. The energy portal kept swirling ominously as if it was threatening them not to enter. The atmosphere became heavy as the team waited for Leislet.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and then said,
"Let's go."
Immediately, the team walked to the portal and entered the dungeon without any hesitation.
Acht was the last one to enter as he looked at the portal with a complicated gaze.
There was something extremely odd about the place that kept nudging him since he reached this place. It was not an evil thing that made him feel intimidated or anything of that sort, but more of a mysterious being calling for him from the inside.
He couldn't feel exactly what or why this thing was calling for him but it was certainly pretty odd.
But, he soon woke up from his deep thoughts and walked inside the portal following the team.
The moment he reached the other side, he found the team standing in one place looking at a particular spot with no sound whatsoever.
'hm? What's wrong?' He thought to himself as he walked to the front to see the problem.
When he reached the far front where Leislet stood, he found that they were standing on top of a huge cliff that overviewed a vast land. The soil of this plain was dark red like clotted blood. There was no wildlife or any type of life for that matter that could be seen for as far as the human eye could reach. It was basically a wasteland in every sense of the word.
Acht was speechless too seeing such scenery. This was the first time he had seen a dungeon with such a vast land.
"What…is this?" He heard Leislet mutter beside him which made him frown and look at her.
"Hasn't this dungeon always been like this?"
It took her a few seconds to react to his words and muster the strength to answer.
"...No, it was a normal dungeon size-wise if I recall correctly. What the hell happened?"
The other team members were also shocked to their core. They were expecting a tunnel-like passageway but what they found is a massive world-like dungeon.
Leislet saw this and had to take things at face value.
"Don't lose your focus! We came here expecting everything! Let's go. There is a way down over there."
She then pointed to a part of the cliff where it was gradually going down like a ladder.
'This is not going to be easy to handle.' Acht thought while gazing at the distance with his sharp eyes. The place was simply huge and not easy to navigate through, just like a desert.
However, as hard as it may get, he still came here with clear goals in his head and he won't be leaving until he achieved all of them or at least gained something good.
Then, with nervous looks, the team made their way down the cliff. Their journey had barely started and they were already facing a big challenge ahead of them. That challenge is…to keep their composure.
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