Erik and Violet were completely petrified when they saw a black mass completely envelop the hobgoblin's lifeless body. Neither of them could look away.
Erik was the first to react and quickly pulled out some mana stones to throw at Violet.
"Take them quickly and recover your magic energy."
"Huh? Really?"
Violet grabbed the mana stones with a confused expression but quickly turned them into particles and began to absorb them to restore her magical energy.
Seeing Violet regain her magical energy, Erik looked at the hobgoblin with a complicated expression as a cold sweat ran down his forehead.
'Didn't the system say that you defeated him...? Then, he's not a hbgoblin anymore.'
He deduced quickly, knowing that the system would not lie to him about the content of the mission.
However, he had no idea what that was. He could only think that what he saw with his own eyes was reality.
The hobgoblin's body was no longer visible, it was completely covered by the black mass that was now spherical.
Slowly, it began to rise into the sky, as the pressure in the place gradually increased.
"Shit... what's going on?"
He looked back with a complicated expression and saw that Violea had already absorbed the mana stones.
He quickly stowed his gun in his inventory and walked over to her.
"Are you done?"
Erik asked hurriedly.
"Yes, I'm done."
Violet replied.
"Let's go before that's over."
Erik insisted.
Taking Violet's hand, he began to run towards the dungeon entrance at full speed, aware that whatever was happening to the hobgoblin's body was not something he could deal with with his current strength.
Therefore, he decided to quickly leave the place, remembering the saying, "Fleeing from danger is not cowardice."
At that moment the most important thing was to get out of there.
Erik was not one to stand still and watch something terrible unfold.
'Damn, I always have such bad luck in the dungeons!'
He groaned internally at the situation.
He couldn't believe how unusual his experiences were in the three dungeons he had entered.
In the first, as a goalkeeper, the wolf killed everyone but him. In the second, although he expected it, he was betrayed by the group.
And now, with what he had witnessed with his own eyes when they were supposed to be low-ranking dungeons, the easiest thing.
"Erik, could you slow down a little? You're hurting me."
Violet spoke, with a pained expression as she couldn't keep up, who was pulling her hard as they ran through the trees.
"..."
Erik didn't respond but stopped and carried her as if she were a princess.
"Kya~"
This was not the time to start a conversation; he concentrated all his strength on his feet, even creating a small crater under them, and ran at full speed between the trees.
Violet was surprised to see how easily Erik embraced her, but decided not to comment and unconsciously snuggled against his chest.
She listened to the rapid heartbeat of Erik, who was dodging trees at an incredible speed.
When they reached the dungeon exit, which was only a few steps away, Erik stopped and gently released Violet.
They began walking toward the exit.
"Why did you suddenly start running? I thought we were going to take on that thing that was forming."
Violet asked intrigued. She was almost certain they were preparing to fight when he handed her the mana stones.
"I gasp...gasp...at first I thought we were going to take that thing on, but when it started to rise and the pressure increased.... I gasped...gasped...gasped...gasped..... I realized that with our current strength, we wouldn't defeat it."
Erik answered between moans, being completely honest.
At first, he had considered confronting them but changed his mind when his own body warned him that he couldn't do it.
As they were about to leave the dungeon, they looked back, and at that precise moment.
Fwoooash!
A huge plume of pure darkness rose into the sky, covering practically the entire place, and with its appearance, an enormous pressure took over the surroundings.
"Heuk!"
Erik and Violet almost fell to their knees as they felt the enormous pressure on their bodies, without a second thought, they jumped out of the dungeon.
***
When they left the dungeon, they quickly made their way to the association guard who was guarding the place.
"Call... Quick, reinforcements!"
Violet exclaimed in a hurry. Still nervous visibly, affected by the tension she had experienced inside the dungeon.
She now fully understood why Erik had decided to leave the place instead of confronting the situation.
"Huh? Wait, can you speak a little slower?"
The worker asked, confused by the words of the beautiful woman in front of him.
"What he means is that there has been an irregularity in this dungeon."
Violet repeated, this time a little calmer, though her face was still drenched in sweat.
"...."
Hearing those words, the worker hesitated, he didn't believe what the woman was saying but quickly remembered that he had to report any irregularities in a dungeon immediately, even if they were false.
Sighing, the worker asked:
"Can you tell me their names?"
"Violet and Erik."
The worker pulled out his phone and began to report the irregularity of the dungeon he was guarding.
- What are the names of the hunters who reported?
"Their names are Violet and Erik."
Announced the worker, providing the address of the place in case they needed to send reinforcements.
"You'll have to wait a moment and sit in those chairs."
Indicated the association worker.
Erik and Violet made their way to the chairs to wait, sensing that the worker didn't quite believe them about the irregularity.
They recalled that the only time they had experienced something similar was when the dungeon changed rank unexpectedly when Adam's group entered, and after that, they had no further incidents in the lower-ranked dungeons.
***
In one of the offices at the top of the Hunters' Association building, a blond man was found engrossed in a mountain of papers.
At that precise moment, the office door burst open, ushering in a woman.
"Mr. Leon, an irregularity has been reported."
The woman said hurriedly but with a respectful tone.
Leon looked at the woman in front of him.
"Where and who are the whistleblowers?"
He asked as he went back to looking through the papers scattered on his desk.
"The whistleblowers are named Erik and Violet."
"¡!"
Hearing the first name, Leon quickly stopped what he was doing, wondering if he had heard correctly.
"What are the names of the people who reported the irregularity in the dungeon?"
He asked again to make sure he had heard correctly.
"The people who reported the irregularity are named Erik and Violet."
The woman repeated in a respectful tone.
"Tell me where the place is, and I'm on my way."
Leon stood up from the desk. He knew it was true, as almost all the current problems were somehow related to Erik.
The woman gave him the address, and looking at the place, Leon left the association accompanied by Adrian.
They quickly made their way to the place where the irregularity had occurred.
***
Minutes later, a black car, completely polarized, stopped in front of the entrance to the dungeon.
Two men got out of the car, one blond and one black-haired: they were Leon and Adrian. They walked towards where Erik and Violet were, who were now much calmer than when they left the dungeon.
"You don't sit still, do you?"
Leon commented, looking at Erik, who was sitting in a chair.
'he's gotten stronger in such a short time and it looks like this woman has talent.'
"Well, at least I'm not in a hospital bed anymore."
Erik said with a small amused smile, getting up from the chair.
Violet, who knew who Leon was, was completely surprised at how casual Erik was being.
"Let's put the greetings aside, what happened in the dungeon?"
Leon asked, getting straight to the point.
Erik gave a small smile and began to relate everything that had happened inside the dungeon, omitting, of course, the part he had seen with his own eyes.
He left no detail unmentioned, describing how the monster began to cover itself and the column of darkness they saw when they came out.
"And that's all that happened inside the dungeon."
Erik concluded.
"Hmm..."
Leon was silent and thoughtful, then asked the person guarding the dungeon entrance a crucial question:
"Has the dungeon undergone any changes?"
"No sir! The dungeon has not undergone any changes!"
Replied the guard in a very respectful manner.
"Hmm... I see."
Leon muttered, placing his hand on his chin as he pondered the situation in general.
'It's strange that the dungeon hasn't changed. Could it have been an outside influence?'
Leon felt that this case was not as simple as it seemed, as there could be outside influences.
'Adrian, you stay here. I'm going to take a look inside the dungeon with my own eyes."
Leon heads towards the entrance.
....