After getting off the train, I made my way towards the location of the Dungeon Gate that I was going to go into today. When I got there, I saw a green-colored rectangle, like a doorway, floating near the ground on a corner of a sidewalk.
I looked around. First, I saw the other Independent Hunters that I'd be working with today. Then, I noticed the workers standing around. They were here to make sure that everything went smoothly without any issues. In the case of a Dungeon Shatter, they were responsible for containing the Monsters that would come out, but if necessary, reinforcements would come here.
I went over to where my temporary teammates were standing. There were a total of five people including myself.
"Hi!" a girl in the group called out to me, "Are you Marin Skye?"
"Yeah," I nodded with a slight smile.
"Alright then, now, we can start introductions!" she said energetically, "I'm Ella! I'm a D-Rank Independent Hunter that will be the leader of the party for today! I'm an archer, so I'll be staying near the back of the group!"
After that, a big and tall man who was clad in grayish armor stepped forward.
"Hello," he said calmly, contrasting Ella, "My name is Hanson. My rank is D and I'm a tanker. I'll make sure to properly defend everyone."
Next up was a woman wearing robes.
"H-hello," she stuttered slightly, "M-my name is Elizabeth. I-I'll be acting as healer for t-today."
Then, it was my turn.
"It's nice to meet you," I said, "My name is Marin. I'm an E-Rank swordsman."
Then, there was one person left.
"The name is Ray," a boy younger than me said with a straight face, "I'm a C-Rank magician."
After we finished with introductions, we got ready to enter the Dungeon Gate. I made sure my sword was sharpened and in good condition before taking a couple test swings. After I was done, I thought of the words 'Status Window'.
A transparent panel appeared in front of my eyes. On it said:
Name: Marin Skye
Age: 20
Sex: Male
Job: --
Strength: 10 / Speed: 12 / Vitality: 9 / Magic: 1
Skills: --
I sighed depressingly. Even though I'd seen this sight hundreds of times, that didn't make it any less saddening. My Stats were pretty decent… back when I was a rookie. However, my Stats stayed the same for 4 years despite how many Monsters I killed. I never even got any Skills. If anyone saw my Status Window, they would immediately think that I was just starting out. I don't know how many times I've heard someone say, 'You're good for a rookie,' to me even though I've been a Hunter for 4 years.
A person's Stats are supposed to rise when they kill Monsters. The higher their Stats are, the harder it is to raise them. People are also supposed to gain new Skills based around their Job when they kill a certain amount of Monsters. I don't even have a Job for some reason, so I just say that I'm a swordsman.
Putting away my Status Window, I stood with the rest of my party as they prepared to enter the Dungeon. The kid named Ray wasn't doing anything though. He looked bored. He was leaning on a wooden staff that had a green magic stone attached to the top of it.
'He said that he was C-Rank, so he's probably a rookie if he's participating in a Green Level Dungeon raid,' I thought, 'If he started out as a C-Rank, then he must be pretty talented.'
When people are first Awakened. They have to report it and measure their abilities as an Awakened person. They will be ranked and most people also get assigned a Job. Some lucky people even get Skills the moment that they're Awakened.
"Is everyone ready?" Ella asked with a smile on her face.
Everyone nodded.
"Alright," Ella said, "Then let's enter the Dungeon!"
Each of us stepped up to the green rectangle. Hanson was the tank, so he went in first with his shield raised. Next up, was the nervous Elizabeth.
"Is there really a need to be so careful?" Ray asked, yawning, "This is only a Green Level Dungeon."
"I get that you're C-Rank, but a Dungeon is still a Dungeon," Ella said, getting serious, "It's better to be safe than sorry."
"What a waste of time," Ray muttered with a dissatisfied look on his face.
I just stayed silent as I stepped through the Dungeon Gate after Elizabeth. Being a swordsman, I would be one of the main damage dealers of the group. Hanson, the tank, would mostly be defending and Elizabeth would probably be healing Hanson for most of the time since he'd be taking most of the hits. Ella and Ray would most likely stay at the back and provide cover and support for me and Hanson. That's why we went inside the Dungeon in this order.
The whole world changed around me the moment I went through the Dungeon Gate. For anyone who hasn't been in a Dungeon before, it would definitely be an amazing sight, but it's grown kind of dull to me, especially since many low level Dungeons look pretty similar.
I and the rest of my party were in a cavern-like Dungeon. There were small magic stones attached to the walls of the cavern, but there weren't many. The slight glow from the stones illuminated the walls, ground, and ceiling. Due to the slight glow, I could see traces of what looked like larger-than-normal cobwebs.
"Guys," I called out to my party members who were getting into formation, "It looks like this Dungeon has spider-type Monsters. Ray, can you cast fire magic?"
"No," he responded, "I only know air magic."
"Too bad," I said before also getting into formation near the front of the group, "If you had fire magic, then we'd be able to easily burn the spiderwebs with the spiders along with them."
After that, we began moving forward. My eyes quickly got adjusted to the darkness of the cavern. With each step forward, my eyes scanned the terrain. I especially made sure to keep checking above us. If there really were spider-type Monsters here, then there's a high likelihood that they'll ambush us from above.
I was right.
"Above!" I yelled at my party.
Hanson stood next to me, holding up his shield. I glanced back at Ella and Ray. Ella had an arrow knocked against her bowstring and Ray aimed his staff at the ceiling. Elizabeth had her hands out towards Hanson, preparing to heal him in case he got hurt. I stood a little bit behind Hanson to let him defend and got ready to attack for when the Monsters came down.
"I'll pull their attention," Hanson said as a red aura surrounded his body.
He was using a Skill called [Taunt]. It was a Skill that pulled the attention of Monsters towards the user, a Skill that all tankers obtain early on.
The moment Hanson used [Taunt], a spider that was bigger than my hand fell down from the ceiling. Making a screeching sound, it attached itself to Hanson's shield and started clawing at it using its legs. I moved quickly, lunging forward and using my sword to swat at the spider. My attack knocked it off of Hanson's shield, cutting off a couple of its legs.
The spider fell to the ground and was finished off by Hanson who slammed his hammer into the spider, squashing it against the cavern floor. Seeing that the Monster was dead, I went over to the flattened corpse and stuck my gloved hand into it. I felt around for a bit before I pulled my hand out. In my grasp was an undamaged magic stone. It wasn't very big, so I wouldn't be able to get too much money off trading this in to the Hunter Association, but there's sure to be more Monsters in this Dungeon, especially since the Monster type in this Dungeon is spiders.
"Is it fine for me to take this?" I asked the rest of my party.
"You and Hanson were the ones fighting it, so it's between you two," Ella said.
I looked over to Hanson, who said that I could take the magic stone. Thanking him, I put the stone in a leather bag that was attached to my belt.
After that, we moved deeper into the Dungeon. We got attacked by spiders more times, but there were never more than three or four spiders attacking us at a time. It didn't seem like they had any special Skills, so the only thing they could do was climb and jump towards us, making it pretty easy for me to predict their movements and counter their attacks.
So far, I was the biggest contributor in the party. I was near the front and I was also the main damage dealer, so I was the one doing most of the hitting. That also meant that Ella let me take most of the magic stones. I didn't take all of them though. I know that others are also trying to make a livelihood off being a Hunter. It's already hard enough being an Independent Hunter and not being part of a Hunter's Guild.
As we were hunting, suddenly, a larger group of spiders appeared. There was a group of about ten or twelve spiders. Some of them climbed on the walls and ceilings, and some crawled on the ground. When we saw this, we got serious.
"Ray!" Ella screamed from the back, "Get ready to fire some magic! Right after that, use [Taunt], Hanson! Elizabeth, make sure Hanson stays safe! Marin, stick close to Hanson! I'll support you from here!"
I nodded and stood by Hanson as instructed by the party leader, Ella. Then, a nearly invisible bullet of compressed air whistled past us from Ray. The wind magic struck three spiders that were close to each other, crushing their bodies and killing them. If it weren't for Hanson's [Taunt], then the attention of the spiders would've been focused on Ray, who would have a hard time handling the spiders. Although he was C-Rank, he was still just a newbie with zero experience.
As a red aura permeated from Hanson, all of the spiders rushed towards him. Before they could reach him though, a couple arrows from Ella whizzed past, striking a couple of them. Some of them attacked Hanson, clawing at his shield and his armor. The others attempted to get Hanson from the sides, but I was there to guard him. One slash from my sword could take down two or three at a time, so I only had to slash a couple times to get rid of them.
Even though a large group of spiders had appeared, we were able to defeat them without too much difficulty. Ella proposed that we take a short break to let Elizabeth heal Hanson, who had gotten hit a couple times. A soft glow emanated from her palms and onto Hanson. As that was happening, I was harvesting the magic stones from the spider corpses.
At the corner of my eye, I could see Ella thinking deeply about something. I decided to go ask what was on her mind. After all, when a party member, especially the leader, had their mind wandering, it could affect the rest of the party.
"What's up?" I asked Ella after I finished gathering the magic stones, "You look like something's on your mind."
"Huh?" Ella looked surprised when I spoke to her, "Oh, I was just thinking about whether or not we should go deeper into the Dungeon."
"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting down on the ground.
"Well, we've already gone pretty far," Ella said, "The spiders have been the only Monsters that we've encountered, so we should be able to handle the rest of the Dungeon, maybe even the Dungeon Boss."
The Dungeon Boss was a Monster that's present in all Dungeons. It would be stronger than any other Monster in the Dungeon and by killing it, you could clear the Dungeon. After the Boss Monster's death, the Dungeon Gate would disappear after a couple days.
"We told the Dungeon Managers that we'd only clear the first couple of areas though," I told her, "If we're not out of here after a certain amount of time, they're going to send people to check in on us."
"You're right, but…," Ella trailed off.
I was arguing against her, but it wasn't like I didn't understand her. A Hunter's income is pretty much based on how many Monsters you kill and what kinds of Monster you kill. Even if you kill a lot of Monsters, it doesn't matter too much if the magic stones you get from them aren't even big enough to power a lamp.
That was the case here. Although we, as a party, were able to kill many spiders, the magic stones we got were not only distributed to all of us, but they were also small in size. With the amount that we got, only Hanson and I would be able to get a good meal.
"I think we should keep going further," Ray suddenly said, "I've barely been able to do anything, so I'm bored. I wanna get some more action before we leave."
"I also think it wouldn't be a problem if we keep going," Hanson, who was completely healed, said.
I looked over to Elizabeth, but she just stayed silent. I looked back to Ella. She was also looking at me.
"Well, I don't really mind either way," I shrugged after thinking about it, "I just thought that it'd be troubling if we don't leave on time."
"That settles it then," Ella stood up, "Let's keep going and try to beat the Boss quickly."
I was a little hesitant, but I really didn't mind that much. However, in a little while, I would regret following the party deeper into the Dungeon.