Two men in matching blue suits were standing in front of a big red dungeon gate. This dungeon had no hunter around and no guild had bought it either. Ever since a hunter went into this dungeon, the dungeon had stopped accepting any other hunter from entering.
At first, no one had understood what was happening, but, once more and more people started finding keys in dungeons, they understood that this was probably a timed dungeon that someone entered. It however was still an anomaly even in all the time dungeons that had been entered and cleared.
Most timed dungeons had clear conditions that one had to fulfill in a certain amount of time to escape the dungeon. Failure usually meant death. Timed dungeons usually went on from somewhere between a few hours to years.
The longest recorded successful timed dungeon till now was 20 years long. This was the dungeon where the 5 Heroes entered the dungeon and killed the Four horsemen of the Demon King.
This was the event that stopped the invasion of the Demon king to the earth.
Ever since then, Dungeons had stopped appearing on earth and only those dungeons that already existed were left. Big Guilds and Governments stepped forward to buy and handle all activities related to the dungeons.
The two men were agents from the Dungeon Association formed by the government since the Vanquishing.
One agent looked into his glasses and spoke, "It's 11 o'clock already. How much longer do we have to stay in the sun? Can't we go wait in our car?"
The second agent gave a disapproving look. He was much older than the first person and was used to working in unfavorable conditions.
He looked towards the young agent and said, "Why do you even care about the sun? It's not like you get hot in that uniform."
"Yeah, but I don't want my skin to get darker than this. I forgot to put on the sunscreen today." The young one said sluggishly.
"Stop talking nonsense. You know what the scouter said, based on the energy signature, this is probably a 100-year timed dungeon. If the hunter inside is alive by the time he comes out, this will be the longest recorded successful timed dungeon of all time. It should be coming to an end any day now, so we must make sure to not miss this man."
The old agent opened a hologram from his wrist. It showed a video of a man getting sucked into this very dungeon. The video wasn't of very good quality and adding on the fact that it was taken during the evening, you could barely see the face of the person who got sucked into the dungeon.
The association president had given them strict instruction to wait for this man.
"What did they say about his name was again? Something like Alder, Ad-"
VOOOM
The gate suddenly vibrated and started shining. Slowly it started losing its color, going from blood red to just red to orange to yellow to pale yellow to white.
Tap tap tap
An old man slowly walked out of the now white dungeon gate. As he walked out the dungeon behind him got smaller and smaller until it was no more. The only thing remaining there was the old man in his ragged state.
He was wearing tattered clothes. His pants only came up to his knees. whatever was remaining had holes in them. His shirt was also full of holes and torn around his stomach, showcasing his well-developed abs and muscles.
He had long unkempt hair and a beard of pure black color, covering up a majority of his face. Not a single gray hair for a man who was stuck in the timed dungeon for a century.
His dull and dead eyes suddenly brightened as he walked out of the gate and saw humans for the first time in a century.
"Am I really back?" the old man asked himself in a very low and hoarse voice.
The two agents from the Dungeon Association immediately went forward.
"Are you alright sir?" the older agent asked.
"I'm.." The man couldn't speak. He was trembling, having heard human voices in what felt like forever. It had been at least 60 years since he heard someone speak.
"I'm back, aren't I?" the man asked, with a hint of anticipation in his voice.
"You are back sir." The young agent replied.
"HAHA, I'm back. I'M FINALLY BACK." The man shouted loudly, which for a man who hadn't spoken in a long while wasn't very loud.
cough cough
The man started to cough. The agents came forward to meet the man. The older agent gave him some water. Hearing the man speak about coming back and being happy, he was sure. This was the person they were waiting for. The man who spent a century in the dungeon. The man who was lost to time.
- - - - - - - - -
The DA agents were seated at the front of the car while the 'old man was seated in the back seat. The man kept looking around the car. It was like everything was new to him. He was like a toddler, curious about everything.
He would look outside the car and every once in a while go 'WHOA'. Which was understandable, to be honest. A man who was stuck in a dungeon, only to come out of it a century later, there would be a lot of changes. Many that would surprise him, and many that would shock him.
The man had just done what was equivalent to time-traveling a century to the future. Except his time machine was the treacherous dungeon, and it took him a hundred years to get here.
"Sir, we need to clarify your identity." The old agent spoke after a while. The front seats had by this point turned around and both agents were facing the old man.
The 'old man looked at them a little spooked, "You don't need to drive?" he asked.
The young agent laughed a little. The older one couldn't help but smile either.
" We have set it to autopilot, sir. You needn't worry about the car. As I said earlier, we need to clarify your identity." The older agent said.
"Here you go." The old man said as he handed the two agents a card.
The two agents were puzzled, not understanding what the old man was doing. The young agent took the card and politely asked, "what is this sir?"
The old man was confused. "Didn't you ask for my identity?" he answered.
The older agent seemed to realize something and went "Oh! That's right. This is a hunter card." He turned towards the young agent and informed him, "this is what the people used as hunter identification in the early days."
"We don't have a method of verifying this card at moment, so you will have to wait until we get to the Headquarters sir. In the meanwhile, Why don't you just tell us your name?" the old agent said as he turned towards the man.
"My name?" he didn't know how long it had been since he even cared about his name. Monsters didn't care what his name was, or where he was from. Only that he was an enemy to them and they had to kill him.
The man smiled a bit and said, "Adler. My name is Adler Lee."