A while ago I was inside the elevator, playing with my tablet phone and surfing the internet for information about this world.
It was a small shock at first but then a greater shock happened when I was about to step out of the elevator to the highest floor which turned out to be the signal of the disaster I got myself into a huge problem, a dungeon.
A dungeon was something like another dimension or another world. The concept of the dungeon came from some RPGs where its outer form was that of a portal that led to another place. Inside the dungeon, usually many monsters inhabit there and protect their territory from invaders such as we, Enhanceds.
Many Enhanceds would go to the dungeon to hone their skills and gain experience or do so for money. But, that was the case for the normal dungeon.
Unlike the normal dungeon where Enhanceds were the invaders, the dungeon that suddenly brought me and other people forcefully was different. This type of dungeon was called 'Flash Dungeon'.
Flash Dungeon was a dungeon that appeared suddenly due to a certain factor that made the magic in the air gather at one point and exploded. The explosion will create a dimensional gap that appears in just a few seconds.
And that slight shock at first then the greater shock when I was about to get out of the elevator was probably the explosion of the mana in the empty space, it was invisible and couldn't be detected but the after-effect of the blast could be felt through that shock or something else.
That was that. The most important thing right now was that I need to get my composure back.
I breathed in and out slowly and steadily, making sure that I wouldn't get choked by my own breathing.
Now that I was more or less calm, I studied my surroundings. There were at least a hundred people who were forcefully brought here. They all were in the same state, confusion, and fear of the unknown and sudden things.
They were enjoying their time leisurely but the next second, they suddenly found themself in the forest outskirts. To make it worse, there was also something invisible that blocked our exit out of the forest.
Invisible barrier.
Even though this place looked vast and full of exit ways, because of the invisible barrier, people couldn't leave this place.
Unlike the normal dungeon or people called the rift dungeon where someone could use the return stone or kill the boss of that dungeon to exit the dungeon. The flash dungeon was different, there were no bosses there. The only way to get out of this dungeon was to survive until the countdown ended.
I looked above, at the sky. There was something like a countdown there that looked rather transparent because the color almost blended in with the sky. But, people could still see it clearly for some reason.
[167:58:58]
'I need to survive for a week, huh?'
"Hey, everyone! Please calm down!"
That one loud and clear voice took over all the attention of the people trapped here including me. Standing close to the trees were a group of six people, four men, and two women. The voice from earlier was coming from the guy who has a trained muscle body, he looked like a reliable guy.
"Ah!"
"You're Jin!"
"Jin? Oh, thank god!"
'Jin?' I raised an eyebrow, trying to recall his name.
There was a character named Jin amongst the characters I wrote in the novel but I was not sure if he was the same as that character or not. If he was not, then it was either an extra character that I didn't even include in the story, just like this boy I possessed—Zio Varrez and his cousin, Shannon Oliver.
I looked over the group again. Many people had gathered around them by now. They were either fascinated by that man named Jin or just felt safe because there were people who looked reliable in this situation.
"I know that you guys are confused right now, but don't worry. I'll make sure that you all can leave this place safely, so hear me out…" said him. "This is what we call the flash dungeon. It's a phenomenon where…"
He explained about the flash dungeon to the others with reassuring words of choices. He was so good with speeches that he could run a campaign as a politician, not gonna lie.
After hearing his explanation, people started to calm down. Though, there were still some who were trembling and wearing hopeless expressions.
"So. I offer myself as the one who will lead you to safety from here," he said with a broad smile. "First, look at the sky…"
His finger was pointing above, at the sky. People were following his gesture and they were shocked when they saw the numbers in the sky. Jin smiled when he saw them gasp and turned their attention to him again.
"It's a countdown timer. When that time is up, we'll be able to get out of here without having to fight monsters… Well, not really, we might have to fight it at least once or twice." His words slightly made people flinch. "But, don't worry. Let us the Enhanced–"
He cleared his throat. "The heroes, take care of it!"
Oh yeah, of course. It was weird that I forgot that it was a hero-against-villain story all over again.
Long short story, this world was invaded by the monster. People suddenly gained power through a system like in a game, they awakened their power, fought against monsters, and succeed in saving their world.
Thus, the new society and the era of Enhanced was begun. Some years later, those Enhanceds which at first were the pillars of humanity split into two sides; the good and the bad.
Of course, the good side was the Enhanceds calling themselves heroes, and the bad side was the villains.
Cheers and claps erupted amongst the crowds.
What a speech. He could really run for a politician, I thought.
"Wait!"
The sound made the cheering and clapping stop. All attention was shifted to the owner of that husky voice. It was a man in his thirties, covered in scars that gave him an aura of a veteran fighter.
"I don't agree with you being the leader," said the man. "I also want to nominate myself to become the leader of this group."
People were gasping when they finally recognized the man.
"It-it's Herman!"
"The infamous goblin butcher?!"
He smirked proudly when hearing people recognize him and his nickname.
Pfft. Goblin butcher? What a name! I never heard of him though. Just another extra.
I walked toward the nearby tree, not too far from the crowd, and leaned on it. There were some people here too, they seemed uninterested in the current situation just like me.
Along with these people, I observed the crowd and the two guys who competed for the leadership role. If I was right, those crowds were mostly civilians, none of them was an Enhanced except Jin's group and Herman who was accompanied by two arrogant-looking people.
"Hey, kid."
Along with that voice, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning my attention to the voice's owner, I found a smiling guy and the other gazed at me.
"Are you an Enhanced, too?"
I nod. "I'm preparing for the entrance exam."
His smile widened as he lowered himself and sat beside me.
"I see, in that case, I hope we all can get out of here," he said.
There was a pause before he continued. "The first time we were dragged here you looked dazed and panicked, but a second later, you suddenly calmed down as if this was normal. I can't even do that in an instant…"
I raised an eyebrow as he lifted his hand.
"Look… Even now, I'm still trembling."
'What is this guy on about all of a sudden?'
So, after a long time of arguing about who would be the group leader. It had finally decided that Jin was the one who took that role after we did a group vote.
Of course, I voted for Jin because he looked more reliable than that goblin butcher guy. Jin won by 76 votes out of 100; most of the Enhanceds were siding with him. Displeased with the result, the goblin butcher guy left the party and wandered together with 20 other guys who were also displeased with the result.
Just as he promised, Jin was taking care of and protecting the people who followed him. We set up a base right in the place where we first got in here, the outskirts. Because there were more civilians than Enhanceds in this group; like 59 civilians and 20 Enhanceds including me, the Enhanced's group needed to work even harder to survive.
We made it through the first day without any difficulty. All we did was set up a base and gather materials such as wood, fruit or food, and other necessities. On the second day, the Enhanceds started to sweep the forest, looking for any monster in the periphery.
On the third day, there was a monster wave at nightfall…
"Wake up! There is a monster wave! Hurry and set up defenses!" Jin shouted.
Half-heartedly weeping my sleepiness, I immediately get in position. But, position for what? Honestly, all I did these days was just relax–-even during the expedition–while everyone was busy building this and that.
"Kyaa!!"
That scream. That damn scream… It was at that moment when everything went south.
My hair stood on end, and a chill pierced my spine like needles. I who had always ignored everything that happened in this world from the first time as if everything was normal, started to feel anxious.
"WATCH OUT!"
Splurt–!