A sword with a sharp blue aura pierced 34-year-old Akira's heart. "
Black bear." Suddenly, someone lightly pushed Akira from behind, which woke him from his reverie.
He simply balanced himself without getting scared and became very calm. "You came," he turned around to see Haruka.
"No fun. Why aren't you scared?" Haruka asked with a pouty voice.
'What should I say? I forgot to get scared. I am always on alert, so I quickly get adapt to any surprise. Did I make her miss the fun? I am a scumbag.'
"I got scared stiff that I couldn't even shout," he said, but she didn't believe him.
"Okay, let's enter the reward room," she said blankly turning away.
"Just a minute." He went away.
"Hey." She called but he was quick. "What's the big idea?"
A few seconds later, a 5-meter monster came rushing to the reward room entrance, along with Akira.
"White rabbit, get ready to enter."
Haruka stretched her hand to him, and Akira felt happy that she did. He held her hand, and both of them entered the reward room almost at the same time.
They entered a room with a round stone platform in the middle. On it, 10 light balls were floating.
**You cleared the dungeon. Pick up the reward.
You are the first person to clear a dungeon; you get the title 'Dungeon Opener.'
This title grants you 50% more coins, exp, and crystals from all dungeons**
Haruka got this notification, meanwhile, Akira got:
**You cleared the dungeon. Pick up the reward.**
**Error: You entered along with your partner almost simultaneously; you will also be awarded the title Dungeon Opener**
"I got the title too," Akira whispered, unable to believe it. He lifted Haruka into the air and spun her around in joy.
"Haha, hey, cut it out. Did the title make you that happy?" Haruka enjoyed his happiness and felt a little embarrassed too.
"You don't understand the value of the title," he put her down and pulled her towards the platform. "Come quick; we should take the rewards."
They went and grabbed the light balls. The balls vanished as they touched them.
"You received one life. You received 5000 exp + 2500 exp. You received 1000 coins + 500 coins. You received 12+6 level 1 crystals. 3+1 level 2 crystals. 8+4 level 5 crystals. 16+8 . . ."
"So these rewards come from the title, but what is this 'one life'?" Haruka asked curiously, pondering what that might be and wanting to hear Akira confirm it.
"Yes. Don't mind the 'one life' thing. The real reward will come after 10 minutes," Akira said, avoiding the topic.
The one life was an additional life. If a player dies, they would spawn in their safest place. Akira didn't plan to do dangerous things; he only got it just in case.
Another panel appeared.
**If no player steps into the reward room in 10 minutes, the dungeon will close.**
Haruka tried to grab another light orb.
"You won't get it," said Akira with an amused smile under the mask, "one player can only get one reward per dungeon."
"Then what are the real rewards you mentioned?" She asked while she got embarrassed.
"You will know soon. But how did you clear the questions?" Akira asked.
"Didn't you say Q and A have either one of morality, logic, or conviction? I noticed the second question is logic type, and the first one is similar to conviction because there is no logic to apply there.
And the third question was obviously morality-related. The traveler is so immoral; he only helped the boy to make himself feel good for that moment and didn't think about what that soldier might do to the boy later."
Akira was a little confused and became surprised. 'Wait, I actually didn't tell her that all the questions come from just one category in dungeons. I guess, when I explained, I thought I said it to her but I didn't.
My previous life dungeons like this only have the same type of questions per dungeon: morality, logic, or conviction. This is the first time I heard about questions coming from different categories in one dungeon.
That's good; I almost confused her. That small detail which I didn't tell helped her. I must not make such mistakes ever again.'
He hugged Haruka in relief while thinking; he was genuinely scared before. She became confused and flustered.
"What are you doing?" She asked with a soft voice, unable to push him away.
"I was worried that you might not answer the questions right."
That ticked off Haruka instantly; she smacked his head in anger and yelled, "Are you implying I am dumb?"
10 minutes later,
**No one entered the dungeon reward room. The dungeon is cleared. The fallen players' items and coins will be equally distributed among the reward winners.**
**You received 14,837 + 7418 gold coins...**
All the items players stored came to Haruka and Akira, but both of their inventories got full, and many fell down.
"So many fell down, is this a waste?" Haruka asked.
"Yes, but the system will put the most valuable items in our inventory first, so we don't need to go through them."
Haruka and Akira entered a portal, which teleported them outside of the tower, and the tower vanished.
"It vanished?" Haruka couldn't believe a tower just vanished like that in front of her eyes.
"Of course, the dungeon has no use," said Akira, "the players who are alive also got teleported outside with us."
Bang
Suddenly, a gunshot was heard. Everyone looked at the man who shot it.
"Who got the rewards, come over here immediately." A condescending voice swept across the small area.
Suddenly, many men in bodyguard suits surrounded all the players who came from the dungeon. It was easy to spot them because they all appeared around the place where the dungeon vanished.
Players became confused and panicked.
The bodyguards waiting outside quickly surrounded them. Everyone looked at the man who shot the gun.
'So, he won't let us go?' Akira thought. 'Among the dungeons, other reward category dungeons have the best and worst rewards possible.
The first batch of skill, weapon, and artifact reward dungeons are special because they are the most powerful among the same level and only guarantee growth-type skills with no restrictions.
However, why did I still come to this other category dungeon? In my previous life, I had a mission to kill a man named Tsukamoto Mototsugu, but the next day, he was still alive.
If I killed him alone, I would have thought it was his dupe, but I also killed 20 of his bodyguards, and among them, 6 were still alive. Why would he dupe his bodyguards and only 6 among 20? So I investigated and found that they all raided this other category dungeon, and the reward was one life.
Which means you won't die one time even if someone kills you. You will spawn at your house after you die. So I didn't bother with other dungeons that were close to Ruka's house and came here directly.
I killed him because of orders from the heavenly snakes. Why would they want him dead? Not because he is a good person, but because he was cutting in on their action. He is so sinister that he made a small dent in their profits.'
"Haruka, let's leave," said Akira.
While they tried to walk away, the bodyguards came to block them.
"You, did I say you can leave?" Mototsugu shouted with a gun pointed at Akira. "Hey, black mask guy, tell me who got the reward; otherwise, I will kill the white mask guy." He pointed his gun at Haruka.
At that moment, Akira decided Mototsugu's fate.
"I saw a woman luring a monster towards the exit," said Akira with a pitiful voice, "then she entered the exit, and the monster blocked the exit. So I hid to save myself."
"So you do know who has the rewards; show her to me," said Mototsugu.
Akira searched around while walking towards Mototsugu.
"She is not here." He came near Mototsugu as if he was searching behind him.
As Akira came 1 meter closer to him, Akira swung his empty hand; in the midway, a sword appeared by equipping itself to Akira, and it cut Mototsugu's hand.
The gun fell down along with Mototsugu's palm. No one could believe what they saw. A human's hand just got chopped in front of their eyes.
*Aaahhh* Mototsugu fell on his knees and shouted like crazy; the screams echoed in the silence. The surroundings became pin-drop silent. Most shocked was Haruka; she didn't know what to think; her best friend just cut off somebody's palm.
Akira took the gun and pointed it at Mototsugu to stop the rushing bodyguards towards him. Everyone stopped.
In a rage, Akira said, "You DARE point your weapon at my little brother?" That voice sent chills down the spine. No one dared to move in fear of alerting him.
On the other hand, that line completely caught Haruka off guard. She became awkward, and she looked at her chest with embarrassment.
"You bastard, do you think you can live after this?" Mototsugu shouted with frustration and a strong desire to kill Akira.
"Hey," Akira smirked with mockery. "Do you think your father will pay attention to a crippled bastard son now?"
Mototsugu suddenly changed from arrogant to timid. "How do you know that?" Then he became arrogant again. "Are you messing with me?"'
"I also know you killed your mother to get your father's approval. You listen to his every word like a dog to get his favor."
"Stop, stop. Who are you? How do you know all this?" Mototsugu became frightened. Reality just hit him. Now he became useless; his father wouldn't care for him anymore.
Those words and his fear made the bodyguards lose interest in protecting him by putting their lives on the line because A man who could cut a hand could also cut a leg.