A young warrior walked through the market of Quin alongside his party members.
"Hey, Drake. Doesn't this look good?"
A girl suddenly walked up to the young man and showed a small hairpin.
"It does, Lily. It'll look good on you, so why not buy it?"
Drake, the young warrior, laughed and ruffled the girl's hair. Lily blushed and looked down.
It was clear that she was enjoying it.
"Oi, stop flirting in public, you two."
A middle-aged man laughed as he saw the two being intimate.
"S-sorry, Master Bayek."
The boy retracted his hand in a fluster. The archer girl, Lily, looked disappointed but didn't say anything.
"Come on, let the young ones have their fun."
A mature seductive voice came from behind and reprimanded Bayek.
"Hah, you are too soft, Anne."
Bayek replied with a snort. Anne, the healer of the party, rolled her eyes.
"Oh hey, isn't it the Flying Sword party! Come, buy something!"
A merchant called out from a nearby store. Drake waved his hand but the other three ignored him altogether.
"Master Bayek, are we going beyond the first floor of the dungeon today?"
Lily posed a question as they headed towards the entrance of the only dungeon in the city, Death Flower.
Bayek looked at his disciple and nodded.
"Yeah, if we can, we will go down to the fifth floor. I think all of you are strong enough to take on the monsters on those floors."
"Of course we are, Master! You have been training us for over five years now, we have to be at least half your strength!"
Drake said with a confident look, causing Bayek to sigh.
"Let's not be overconfident. Didn't you hear about a Hunter who was killed cruelly in the dungeon?"
Anne chided Drake but the latter just sneered.
"That guy was an E-ranker, right? And that happened ten years ago, and since then there haven't been any deaths."
"True, but if you aren't careful, you might end up like that guy. So be on your guard."
Bayek reminded them before heading towards the soldiers guarding the dungeon entrance.
After a brief exchange, they were let into the dungeon.
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"Drake! Your form is loose! Straighten it!"
Bayek scolded his young student as he cut down wolf-type monsters.
The C-ranking Hunter was powerful enough to take on several of those creatures alone.
"Good shot, Lily!"
On the other side of the battlefield, Anne was praising the archer girl as the latter took down a wolf with a headshot.
"Thank you, Master Anne!"
Lily replied while panting. Soon, all four of them were done taking care of the monsters.
"Hah... Isn't it weird that so many monsters are spawning today?"
Drake said after drinking a health potion.
"Hm... It's odd for sure. I wonder if it's the same for others? Is that why there aren't many parties here today?"
Anne muttered and turned towards Bayek, who just shrugged.
"With our party being C-rank, we can easily take these guys on. Even if there are more monsters than usual, we don't need to worry too much."
"True!"
Lily nodded happily.
"Well, let's continue down to floor two."
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"Damn... These guys are tough!"
Bayek cursed as his sword slashed a mantis-type monster. The green leaves around him got torn apart with the resulting shockwave, giving him a clear view of the area.
The second floor wasn't any different from the first floor.
"The spawn rate has increased... And their base strength has doubled. We might be in trouble if we go in further. Shall we turn back and try once the dungeon calms down?"
Anne suggested, but her words were quietly shot down by Bayek.
"No need, we can handle this much. Besides, this will be good practice for the children. Let's go."
"Alright."
Anne sighed and followed the party leader. Lily and Drake walked behind them with worried faces... They couldn't guess what their master was thinking.
The party walked through the forest while battling powerful monsters. The waves of attackers didn't leave them any time to breathe, but the strong warriors held on.
After hours of battling, Drake put down the final monsters and took a deep breath. His whole body was covered in blood, his sword was chipped and his armour was broken in places.
"Hah... Hah... We should go back, Master..."
He couldn't put up a brave front anymore. The warrior glanced at the girl he loved, who was also covered in blood. But unlike him, she had a large wound on her shoulder and her cute face looked pale.
"... Let's head back."
Bayek murmured after a few moments. The old Hunter couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. He decided to retreat and gather more strength before coming again.
But as soon as he turned, his body stiffened.
"W-what's going on... ?"
Anne, who was casting buffs and healing spells on the party members from a distance, also realized that something had gone wrong.
She turned around and froze just like Bayek.
"D-didn't we come through this path?"
"Yeah..."
Bayek replied lifelessly.
"Then why is the path gone?! Why is it covered by these trees?!"
Anne's shout reached everyone's years, but no one replied.
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"Calm down, Anne. I'm sure there's a reason behind this."
Bayek said in a cold tone as he observed the surroundings. The green plains they had fought on were still there, but the surrounding paths had completely disappeared and were replaced by many ancient trees.
Bayek used his warrior strength to jump up and observe the surroundings from the sky. He soon dropped down and shook his head.
"I can't see the dungeon walls..."
Dungeons were extraordinary existences. Each dungeon level had an entirely different ecosystem than the one before, complete with its sky, rivers and sometimes even civilizations from the past.
But all of them had one thing in common... One could see the vague shape of a wall surrounding the dungeon level from anywhere on the floor.
Yet... They couldn't see it now.
"Have we teleported to someplace else?"
Lily asked with a deep breath.
"Hm... Well, that's possible."
Bayek said with a frown. It was a rare occurrence to be suddenly teleported from a dungeon, but it wasn't unheard of.
"The path forward is still the same as before... So let's try reaching the teleportation stone on the second floor. If we succeed, then we can just get out of this place."
No one objected and the group moved forward after a short rest.
The new dungeon was more harder to traverse than the old dungeon. The ground had become softer and the monsters had become deadlier. It took the party quite a while to reach the boss area.
"Thankfully, the layout in front of us didn't change..."
Anne sighed as she stared at the clearing in front of them. If they stepped into the area, the boss monster would be spawned.
Under normal circumstances, the boss would be a giant snake which looked terrifying but was actually weak to slash attacks. A C-rank party like Flying Sword would be able to take care of it easily. However...
"We don't know if the boss has changed or not."
Bayek grumbled as he clenched his fists.
"But the teleport stone is right behind it... We have to try it."
Anne whispered before looking at the two young people behind them.
"You guys need to be prepared. If you see us being pushed back, run towards the teleport stone."
"B-but..."
"Just do it, okay?"
The woman sternly said before suddenly smiling. She put a hand tenderly on Bayek's arm while the latter just stood silently.
"We have already seen a lot of things, it won't be an issue if we ascend today. Rather, I'll be happy if both of us can go at the same time."
"Master Anne... Does that mean..."
Lily's eyes widened and she blushed. But soon after, she became serious and bowed solemnly.
The four Hunters then stepped into the field... And the boss appeared.