The blue outline of a portal slowly begins to form to become as large as my body. Portals come in all shapes and sizes and the larger they are, the more awakened can enter the dungeon. I steel myself, knowing that I can be sucked in at any time. These portals can often allow entry before the entrance is completely formed, as is this case.
How did I trigger the dungeon to start? Most areas are predesignated to have a portal spawn if an awakened encounters it. I assume that this has been decided before the system was given to everybody. As long as an awakened is within range, the portal will naturally begin to materialize. Normal humans seemed to be unaffected by these dungeon portals and could also not see them.
Dungeon portals seem to be wormholes leading to another universe, and the travel is always unsteady. I've always wondered if they are some sort of holographic world with a scenario or if they were real places. I never found out in my previous life, but this time I may be able to discover more.
All of a sudden, my whole body becomes light. The light distorts around me as I get sucked into the portal, and re-appear at the other end within a split second. There is almost no time to react.
I spawned in a swamp-like biome. Plants similar to trees stick out of the pale neon-coloured water. A dense green fog filled the air. Not the ideal place for humans to live.
|| Dungeon Quest!
Traverse the poison swamp and kill the final boss.
Rank: F
Time limit: 1 day
Rewards: 1 Active Skill (F) ||
As an awakened, I had the strength to prevent the suspicious water from doing anything to my skin. My abilities gave me resistance to the miasma and poison in the air.
I stood on what seemed to be the remains of a wooden dock surrounded by water. A dirt trail covered in moss connects the port to the distant fog. The most obvious course would be to walk along the path in that direction and eventually face the boss. In my previous life, I had been scared for Anastasia and ran down the path. Creatures inside the water kept spewing acid and hindered my fighting ability. Although I tried to fight and even turn back at some point, the onslaught of sludge and acid prevented me from doing so.
Everyone started in a different spot of the dungeon, so Ezekiel and I had been separated from each other and Anastasia. Back then, I was weak, powerless, and immature. By the time I moved and found Anastasia, it was already too late. Ezekiel had arrived earlier and slayed the lizard boss, but it had gotten to Anastasia first.
There was blood everywhere, her skull completely crushed. Some of her limbs were bent at different angles, and that dark purple hair no longer had the vibrant hue.
It was the first time I witnessed such a gruesome sight. I couldn't handle it and threw up on the spot. For the next few days, I was in a slump. The world now was just like that. The people you meet come and go at such a fast pace, that at some point, you just become immune to the gore and violence that happens daily.
But this time, I am alone and I will also do things differently. My past life went through more dangerous dungeons and defeated them all. A F-rank dungeon is nothing to me.
All dungeons are beatable. As long as someone can identify the weak points within a dungeon, and create strategies that utilize these points, the dungeon becomes easy to beat.
From experience, a smart thinker will often be more useful to a party raiding a dungeon than someone with all brawn and no brain. Confronting a dungeon head-on will almost always cause more difficulties.
My first step is to analyze my surroundings. The dungeon's main intention is to isolate the person onto one singular path that leads straight to the boss. But once you start, you cannot stop. The amount of projectiles being shot out will give you no choice but to continue forward and face the boss head-on while being distracted.
The weakness of this dungeon is that other than the traps laid out on the moss path, there are no traps for people who do not move along the path.
The trees are a perfect way to travel. Several dead logs float along the top of the water. These can be the path I take to get to the boss. Although risky, it was much better than getting chased by countless underwater animals and facing numerous traps along the moss path.
Thanks to Ezekiel's body, I can easily stand on the floating logs. He is weak, but his skinny frame allows me to easily maintain my balance and jump from log to log.
Every time, the water rippled with the bouncing logs, but no creature attacked me. There must have been something special about the moss for the creatures to attack whoever is on it.
I followed the path from the logs. At some point, it will lead to a clearing where the boss is. I have to strategize how to beat the boss.
In my previous life, Ezekiel had defeated the boss before I could even do anything, so he got all of the contributions. When it comes to reward distribution, the person with the highest contribution output usually receives the main prize, and then the next highest receives a prize accordingly. As I did nothing in the boss fight, which was also the main quest, I received absolutely nothing other than the basic exp rewards for any dungeon completion.
After traversing through the swamp for about 20 minutes, I come across the small clearing. Through the fog, I can vaguely make out the appearance of the lizard boss.
The boss looks like a miniature version of a dinosaur of some sort. It is standing upright on its two hind legs, almost human-like. Rows of green scales line across its back, and its yellow reptilian eyes pierce through the fog at me. In it's tiny claws it holds an axe.
It stares at me, I stare back with a crazed eye.
"Whatcha looking at??"