Chapter 96: First Dungeon Break

Through the years, many things happened, from losing one of their friends to wild beasts, dying of illness, and confrontations with the village. Finally, they became close and made a deal.

One time, they also had a problem with the local government since most of them were minors, and the government wanted to take them all to an orphanage.

No one agreed to this; they fought back, turning it into a confrontation with the local police. Luckily, the villagers stepped forward.

They already had an amiable relationship at this moment, so they agreed to take guardianship over Luca and the others.

After this, their lives started to stabilize.

Time passed, and Luca had already gathered some money to send some of them to take college courses in the city. She knew living in the forest all the time would have no future.

They could keep living like this, but what would they do when they got old? Or if one of them wanted to look for someone to marry?

Most of them who survived avoided romance with each other since it happened once, and the end was not pretty.

They had a big fight and separated to the point they could not stay with each other in the same place and ended up leaving the camp.

But things rarely happen as planned.

At first, it started with strange phenomena where snow dropped even when it wasn't winter, then the weirdest part was at night; it wouldn't turn cold but instead became very hot, like in a desert.

After a few more days, the phenomena became weirder until one day, a big earthquake hit the place. After that, everything returned to normal.

This was the first wave of dungeons that appeared. Some were found and then locked down by the government, making sure no news came out to the public, but most of them were in places everyone didn't know about. The same is true of the one that appeared near Luca's village.

A few more weeks after the earthquake, Luca was having dinner with her friends and some people from the village, one of them a boy named Edward.

This boy liked Luca and tried to get close to her. Luca knew about this but never responded since her mind was burdened thinking about her friends.

"Luca, can't you give us a chance at least?" Edward asked with a hopeful look in his eye as he turned over the meat on the grill.

Luca sighed, "It's not that I hate you, Edward, it's just... Well, you know."

Edward let out a chuckle at her response, "Since you don't hate me, that should mean you like me. Don't worry, I will wait."

Luca's cheeks turned red. "That's not what I mean, Edward."

"Then what do you mean? If you don't hate me, then you like me. The opposite of hate is like."

Edward's words made Luca speechless.

Just as she wanted to say something again, a piercing scream of terror filled the air, making them quickly turn their focus toward it.

Edward didn't waste time and quickly ran toward the area. He remembered one of Luca's friends had gone there before to take a pee.

Edward expected to see a snake or beast attacking the man, but then he remembered every single one of them was experienced in hunting wild beasts; they wouldn't scream just because some dangerous animal came.

Edward and Luca arrived at the place, and what they saw made their eyes widen in surprise; it was something out of logic.

A two-headed dog the size of a lion was biting at the man's torso, blood coming out from it. The man, with his dying breath, screamed, "What are you standing there for, Luca! Run! Warn the others! This is not the only one!"

Luca didn't hear what he said; she took out a machete that was saddled on her waist and wanted to run to help her friend.

But Edward stopped her, "What are you doing, LUCA! Do you want to make his sacrifice useless?"

"But Edward? I am sure we still can do something for him."

"Luca, look again clearly. If it's only one, I will help you fight it!"

Luca took a deep breath, looked to the front, and cold sweat started appearing on her forehead.

There were many red eyes locked on them, all coming from similar creatures, just like the one biting at her friend.

Before she could even process it, Edward pulled Luca and ran back toward the encampment. But he kept getting a bad feeling in his mind, and his bad feeling became reality.

When they reached the encampment, the place was filled with similar monsters, but they could fight back better since they had more weapons, including firearms.

Even though it's not a military weapon, the hunting rifle was more than enough to make the creatures bleed.

The problem was the amount of the monster; they were overwhelmed by the number.

Luca was in shock through this; she couldn't think straight. Her friends, practically her family now, people she grew up with, were killed brutally in front of her eyes.

Edward was the one pulling her together.

Olivia didn't know the details after this; she just knew they somehow escaped from that place and awakened their powers in the process.

Other than the two of them, there was only one other survivor, Ariadne. Afterward, they became hunters and built their own guilds and business empires.

Olivia also told Alex one of the motivations Edward started the Campbell group was to support his mother, Luca.

If other big companies use charity to hide taxes and launder money, then Campbell is the opposite; it exists solely to support Luca's wish.

Hearing about the harshness of his parents' lives made Alex's eyes shimmer with tears.

His mom often told him the love story of her and his father, but not this part, more on how his father built their business empire.

"Why is mom so obsessed with helping people, Big Sis? Anyone I know in her position wouldn't be like her. Sёarch* The NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

She built her own life with her own hands; no one helped her in that situation other than Dad.

If anything, she should have hated society, letting them as kids fend for themselves. Some people even tried to force her to become a beggar or thief."