I quickly heal Warren and see Blankk stumble from behind a pillar.
"The main boss was difficult, how is anyone supposed to defeat something that high level in a B-Class dungeon? It doesn't make sense."
Blankk asks himself as I quickly heal him. I look around, and see Vex propped against the corner of the room. As I jog over to him I see he's brutally ripped up. He's missing one arm and his head is barely holding on by a small strip of flesh. I quickly reach down to heal him, but notice his flesh slowly mending on it's own
"This must be the ability he was talking about."
I say quietly as I look around the room. The secret boss only dropped his scythes, no bonus accessories or other types of gear.
I guess the lower level dungeons drop much weaker loot. It makes perfect sense, but this doesn't even seem worth the hastle.
I think as I feel a hand on my leg. As I look forward, I see Vex almost completely healed. He slowly stands up and cracks his neck.
"Dying hurts, but at least the pain doesn't last long."
He says to himself as he looks at me.
"I'm assuming you killed the secret enemy?"
He asks as I nod. He sighs and looks at the palms of his hands. He stares quietly before quickly walking towards the entrance.
I wonder if he's ok.
I quickly follow behind them, all of us crawling through the tunnel leading from the boss room. As we exit the tunnel, we all see Vex still walking angrily towards the portal. Warren speaks up.
"He was the first to go down in the fight, he's probably beating himself up over not contributing to the fight at all."
Azeroth sighs and responds.
"Can any of us say we really helped? If Dante hadn't shown up, I really believe we all would've died."
Azeroth says quietly as Blankk pats my shoulder and keeps walking towards the portal. Warren, followed by Azeroth, also starts walking to the portal.
This feels like a hollow victory. Everyone seems defeated by this encounter.
I slowly walk behind them as we all walk through the dungeon quietly. After a few minutes of walking, we all exit the portal. As the sunlight strikes my eyes, I see the guild we were helping run over to us. They all inspect us and smile.
"We're glad no one got hurt."
Their leader says as I see Vex stop beside me. I hear the portal behind us crackle and pop as I see the names in the party change.
[Warren]
[Dante]
[Azeroth]
[Blankk]
[Morris]
[Skye]
[Hako]
[James]
[Travis]
[Angel]
After looking at the names for a second, I notice Vex is no longer in the party. He places his hand on my shoulder and speaks quietly.
"Only I can do this, wait out here for me. For you, it shouldn't be long."
He says as I quickly look towards him.
"What are you going to do?"
I whisper back as his eyes meet mine, almost fueled by anger.
"I'm going to get stronger by abusing my ability."
He says as he starts to jump into the portal. As his feet leave the ground, I grab his wrist and look to the portal. As I see the blood red portal, I pull him back to me.
"Are you crazy you'll die."
I say, quickly remembering his ability.
"No, you can't be serious. What if you never get strong enough to leave?"
I ask hastily as he looks at me and tries to pull his wrist away.
"That's a risk I'm going to take, I know my ability triggers on death. So if I'm in a hopelessly outclassed setting where I will die repeatedly, I'll be forced to grow stronger."
He says as I grit my teeth and release his wrist. He gives a faint smile.
"Don't worry. Even if I'm in there for a year, only six minutes will pass out here."
He says as I nod.
"I just worry about where the limit of that skill is."
I reply as he nods.
"Well, guess I'll try to find out."
He says as he gives a quick wave before falling back into the S-Class portal. I hear a collective gasp across everyone. Azeroth starts to lunge into the portal as I quickly grab his wrist and throw him to the ground.
"He's the only one who can do this! I've put my faith into him, and you should as well!"
I yell as Azeroth stands up and stares into the portal.
"But the laws are different in there, what if he doesn't even receive attribute points from his ability!?"
I feel my heart sink slightly as I shake my head.
"He was sure of himself, I'm sure when he died the first time he received points. That must be why he's so sure this will work."
I say as I see Warren and Blankk staring at us, clearly concerned. The leader of the other guild quickly speaks up.
"D-did you say he died?"
He asks as I look at him and shake my head.
"That's not for you to know. We held up our end of the deal, so please find another dungeon."
I say, trying to keep my composure under the idea that Vex may die permanently inside the dungeon.
He wouldn't charge into the dungeon just to test how far his ability would go, would he? No, I'm sure he knows his ability will let him grow stronger.
I think as I wait outside the portal. After 2 minutes, I hear a familiar voice.
"Are you debating going into the portal? Or are you waiting for someone to come out?"
I look to see the leader of Wolfpack standing beside his wolf about 30 feet away.
"Alesti."
I say as I angle my vision down and glare at him.
"What are you doing here?"
I ask calmly as he looks to the portal.
"A guild ran past me while I was leaving town, they were smiling and claiming to have beaten a B-Class dungeon so I got curious what it became afterwards."
He says as our eyes lock. I smirk and pull out the ring from the dungeon and look at it.
"Want to have a rematch? I'm certain I could take you down right now."
I say proudly as he laughs and nods.
"Fine, fine, I'll humor you."
He says as he pulls out a dagger from thin air and gets in a ready position.
"But kid, this time I will draw blood."
He says with a slight yawn. As I put on the ring, I immediately feel my power increase drastically. I quickly lunge towards him, but feel his foot on the back of my head while I'm still moving.
Impossible!
I look back to see his dagger cut through my cheek and stab into the ground.
[-500 HP]
[+500 HP]
I feel the wound immediately heal as I quickly turn to jump towards him again. Before my feet leave the ground, I see him beside me pulling his dagger from the dirt. As I look closely, I notice his eyes are still closed.
"For all that strength, your inexperience shines through."
He says as I jump back and feel my heart racing.
"Items may increase your attributes, but they don't increase your score. My score is ten thousand. But due to the items I'm wearing my: speed, reflexes, and agility are all fifty times greater. If my current attributes were my actual score, I'd be closer to three hundred thousand."
He says as my heart sinks.
With this ring, my stats only increase to above 20,000. I'm hopelessly outclassed.
I think as he yawns and looks into the portal.
"So who's in the portal?"
He asks as I look towards it.
"Our friend."