The white light begins to dissipate and I open my eyes to see a single hunter in front of me.
I gulp and look around.
"Arie… Where are the others…?"
He's sitting on a large rock covered in moss about 2m off the ground. There's incredibly lush plant life all as far as the eye can see. The twisting green vines cover the dungeon floor with small blooming red, pink, and white flowers. There are blue and purple berries dangling from thick bushes and short yellow-tinted assortments of shrubbery all around us.
I walk forward hesitantly past a massive tree wrapped in plant life with arching branches that cover our view of the sky above.
Arie responds with a neutral tone.
"You're the first to come out. Well, aside from me at least."
He shows me a light smile, then looks up at the jungle's canopy to take in the view.
As I begin to respond, a white light flashes behind us. Maria's voice rings out and I let out a sigh of relief as I turn to see her wide grin.
"Now that was an annoying little creature. It wasn't that strong… it just took forever to wear it down!"
I nod.
"Yeah, tricky one."
Arie lets out a small chuckle and a sigh of his own.
"It was like all the others, one shot, and the boss is dead."
He bends one leg upwards to rest his arm on his knee while continuing to sit atop the boulder. The cloaked figure stares at both of us curiously while placing his chin down into the bent arm covering the lower half of his face. The only visible features are his light blue eyes and short silver hair.
A flash of light appears once again, and the green-haired healer comes flying out. Maria is the first to greet her.
"Abby!! You made it!!"
She glows bright while healing the massive cuts and blunt force wounds covering her body. She grins and looks up at us.
"What a great fight. That thing was creepy, but it could manipulate rock too so I finally got to go all out with my combat magic!"
She scratches her head, then continues.
"Oh- Maria, about those MP potions… I kind of used them all.
Maria laughs and lightly slaps her on the back.
"Hey, we're on the last floor, who cares? I had a feeling you'd use them anyways."
They both walk off over to a small flowing creek about 10m away chuckling about something, not all the details are clear to me. I take a deep breath in and out while staring at the swirling portal at the dungeon's entrance. Arie does the same with his fierce, yet concerned unmoving eyes.
We sit and stand in silence for another 2 minutes straight. My heart pounds faster and faster the longer our wait goes on. I'm not particularly worried about anything bad happening, both Bruce and Nessa have their bracelets on. If they lose this battle, they'll just be sent back to the respawn point.
It's just... This is the first time I've worked together with a group of people as a team and actually enjoyed it. I'd really like to at least see it through to the end of this exam.
I gulp and continue to stare at the portal in front of me as the seconds pass by ever so slowly.
The tree branches sway in the artificial dungeon breeze, Maria and Abby laugh off in the distance by the stream, and the vines around the jungle floor twist and grow in my imagination as an eternity seems to go by.
Finally, I see a flash of light.
My eyes widen as the short red-haired mage comes stumbling out of the portal with a manic grin plastered across her face dripping blood from head to toe.
She looks me in the eyes and murmurs a few words.
"I… I… beat it."
*THUDDD*
Nessa falls to the floor moments later. Both Maria and Abby come running over. I nod slowly and whisper under my breath.
"Just one more."
Abby immediately begins glowing bright green surrounding Nessa's body in an orb of warm light.
I become a bit more relieved as the life creeps back into the redhead's face, but my eyes keep wandering back to the portal behind them.
With Maria and Abby kneeling over Nessa as she eventually stands to her feet, my vision tunnels on the twisting energy before my eyes.
Nothing else matters right now.
The branches in the great trees above creek and shift to reveal a small ray of light pouring down from the beautiful blue sky.
Time slows down for me even more as I wait patiently.
Then, a flash of light finally occurs and a battle-ridden tank carrying a crimson-stained war hammer appears before my eyes.
A weight is lifted off my back. Nessa slowly sits up as Bruce lets out a bellowing laugh. A small trickle of blood rolls down the side of his forehead.
"Now that one gave me a run for my money. What a boss! What a boss indeed!"
He looks at me with a toothy grin and nods firmly, I nod back.
"Good to see we all made it."
Arie lifts his chin from his knee, then swiftly jumps down from the boulder above us.
Nessa stands to her feet and drinks an HP potion to finish up her healing process, then I point my sword off into the wilderness.
"This is our last floor. Everyone stay sharp. Let's all make it through this in one piece."
Bruce heals up with an HP potion of his own and we get back into a similar formation to begin the trek through the dungeon.
Bruce stays up front with his shield held steady, Abby and Nessa take the lead with him on either side. Maria stays about 5m behind Bruce while Arie and I cover the rear about 5 more meters behind her.
The jungle is silent, aside from the swaying leaves and crackle of branches underneath our footsteps. There are no bugs and no sign of life in sight. Five minutes of ducking and weaving through the thick shrubbery goes by before I strike up a conversation with Arie.
"I really hope this dungeon isn't like our last one. That was pretty odd, don't you think? I've never seen one with no monsters."
Arie nods while swiftly ducking under a low-hanging vine covered in pink and white blossoming flowers.
"I've… seen some like it before."
He stares forward as I jump over a log covered in dense green moss growing an assortment of mushrooms across its backside.
"Oh yeah? Which one? There's a dungeon here in the capital with no monsters? Just a boss?"
He lets out a long sigh.
"No, not in the capital. There's a few like that near my home village."
I raise an eyebrow, then grin.
"Oh yeah? Where are you from?"
Arie's eyes rapidly move back and forth as he scans the surrounding area, then nods speaking in a low tone. There's a change in his expression, his eyes are filled with sadness, and his voice shakes ever so slightly.
"I'm not exactly from the Vice Region. I just came out here on an independent contract to take the exam."
The forest falls even more silent as we continue to walk forward. I eye the hooded archer up and down, then crack a thin smile.
"Ya know, I can't get a good read on you Arie… but, I hope we can be friends. I want to see what that bow can really do."
We lock eyes for a moment, then he mimics my thin smiles back.
"I'd like that too."
There seems to be a lot more to unpack concerning Arie's past but now isn't the time.
*CRACKKKK*
I hear a large branch break and Bruce's deep voice rings loudly throughout the forest.
"We got our first monster! It's a tough one!"
I grit my teeth and run forward to join the action. While twisting and turning my body through all the fallen trees and heavy greenery a battle is starting without me.
The blue glow of Ice magic fills my vision as well as the heat from a blazing fire. The ground begins to rumble, and I hear a loud clang of something hard slamming against Bruce's shield.
Arie and I race forward into the small open clearing ahead.
A long slithering snake-like creature comes into view. Its scaly skin is pure white, with a small red diamond-shaped marking on the top of its head. The fast-moving tongue protruding from its mouth is jet black and split in two. To top it all off, its dark blue eyes stare us down the instant we come into view.
The jungle floor turns into a battlefield, split in half covered in Ice where Maria stands, and burning bright alongside Nessa.
Abby stands atop a pillar of stone between the two of them while Bruce charges forward at the beast with no fear. He yells out to us once he notices we've arrived at the scene.
"Sit tight you two! This will be over before you know it, enjoy the show!"
The 15-meter-long Goliath of a snake brings its head up in the air to stare down at all of us. The monster lets out a loud hiss and an energy wave of intimidation erupts from its body to show off its immense strength.
The first battle of the 15th floor is about to begin.