A door stood at the end of the first floor of the mall. An otherworldly light seeped underneath it and brightened the area around it.
At this moment, it unlocked with a gentle click, and immediately afterwards, players rushed through it like a stampede of animals.
They were eager and nervous to enter the second floor.
The ones who didn't do very well on the first floor were desperate to do well on the second floor.
At the mission board, most of the missions belonging to the second floor were already taken; only the remaining few were left.
Adam looked at the mission board, saw the last remaining second-floor missions, and looked uninterested. However, he was very interested in one of the missions on the top of the board, which was ignored by other players.
'These missions are called All-Missions, and can be completed on any floor.' Adam took one of the mission posters and looked at it with a thoughtful smile.
***
[Mission: Find and destroy the Baby Centipede Skeleton]
[Rank: F]
[Floor: Any]
[Description: A race of Chaosbeings that often live in dark, damp basement areas. They can often be found on any floor, as they are one of the most common Chaosbeings found in the dungeon]
[Reward: 5,000 points]
***
'F-ranked mission.' Adam folded the poster and stuffed it inside his pocket. 'It's not the hardest mission available, but for Coinfeeders, F-ranked missions can be extremely deadly.
'However, I don't care about the Baby Centipede Skeleton itself. Instead, it's what follows and why Dean's discovery was so shocking and crucial.'
He nodded and then headed towards the door to the second floor. It was wide open, and he couldn't see anything except bright light.
After Adam stepped through the door, his figure disappeared amid the light and vanished from the Safe Area.
On the second floor of the mall, Muriel took out her notepad and scribbled something down.
"What mission did your player take?" A voice came behind her.
Muriel turned to her side and saw Ron lean on the railing, looking down towards the door of the second floor.
"F-ranked, All-Mission." Muriel replied. "An ordinary find and destroy Chaosbeing mission."
"Oh." Ron rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I expected him to take some risks. Ramon and Hannibal took the D-ranked mission."
"I suppose he is not as reckless as we thought." Muriel said and closed her notepad. "He has gained enough points to get at least a D-rank score."
"If that's all he gets, I will be disappointed in him." Ron said with his arms crossed. "Mercenary also has to be bold. Does he still lack courage?"
"..." Muriel shook her head. "I don't know."
However, she couldn't get the words Adam spoke to her a few days ago.
She had a hunch that Adam wouldn't be afraid of taking a D-ranked mission.
'Is he only concentrating on the boss fights and is trying to save his strength?' Muriel frowned deeply.
...
After Adam opened his eyes, a dark land opened up in front of him.
The sky was dark and cloudy, as if it could start raining at any moment, and he was standing at the entrance of an abandoned town with buildings made of black rocks with shattered windows and crumbling walls.
Adam looked at the ground below his feet, which was cracked like desert soil and very dry.
After looking away from the ground, he saw a black castle at the end of the town, standing on top of a small hill, surrounded by black rock walls and four watch towers, one of which was broken from the middle.
The players were running towards the black castle as if it were a race to see who could reach that place first. They all expected the boss to be there.
Adam looked away from the black castle and walked into a dimly lit alleyway with his hands slipping inside his pockets. He was hoping for Dean's memory to serve him correctly.
After one raid, they had gathered around a campfire, and the generals of Star Faction spoke about their tutorial experiences.
Dean's experience stood out the most, as he was the one that almost caused the destruction of his entire group. However, he acted very valiantly, and at the end of the tutorial, he became the eighth person ever to receive an S-ranked score.
After a short walk later, Adam stopped in front of a gated building with shattered windows and a dark interior. It was in a quite isolated place, far from the town's main street and from the black castle.
It looked like this building hadn't been touched for many centuries.
Adam opened the black, creaking gate and walked to the front door.
After opening the door, he entered the room and heard the creaking floor below him.
As he navigated through the first floor, he soon found a door hidden behind fallen furniture. After moving the furniture away and opening the door, he saw stairs leading deep into the basement.
Adam walked down the stairs and reached the basement soon afterward. It was a very dark place, with damp air and a musty smell.
It seemed like the perfect spot for Baby Centipede Skeleton to live.
However, when Adam's eyes got used to the darkness, he didn't see the centipede anywhere.
But then Adam slowly drew his shortsword and approached the cracked wall at the end of the basement. It looked like it had been punched really hard and was about to collapse.
He took a deep breath and put the shield in front of his body, then tackled the wall with all his might.
Crash—the wall crumbled apart, and dust clouds filled the air.
At that moment, a chilly breeze swept through the basement, and the clicking sound echoed throughout the room, as if there were hundreds of locks disengaging at the same time.
Adam took out a torch and matchstick, which he purchased from a merchant store, and lit up the torch.
As the torch lit up the small area around him, he then hurled it through the broken wall and into the vast darkness beyond.
As the torch illuminated the darkness, its yellowish light revealed a creepy skeleton nearly thirty meters long and five meters high. The skeleton had over a hundred legs, all sharp and deadly.
At the moment when the torch landed on the ground, the ground shook like an earthquake had struck the town, and then the skeleton turned towards the crumpled wall in the distance, and even though it couldn't see, it could sense a nearby presence.
If this sight were seen by Ron and others, their faces would pale as this creature wasn't Baby Centipede Skeleton.
Instead, it was a nearly mature Adult Centipede Skeleton—when it was discovered by Dean five years later, it was fully mature and had caused enormous amounts of damage throughout the second floor, killing most of the players.
It was too much for Coinfeeders to deal with, and thus, some mercenaries working in the Safe Area had to step in and kill the centipede. It was one of the rare instances when they had to actually intervene.
"Hah..." Adam's face paled with a twitching lip. 'Didn't those so-called Chaosbeing experts say that one of the Baby Centipede Skeleton's must've had some kind of surprise evolution, starting in 2150 and lasting five years?
'The evolution should have started this year, and yet, it looks like he has been evolving for a few years at least.
'Chaosbeing experts my fucking ass.'
Smash—the Centipede Skeleton stabbed the ground with one of its legs that had a length of four to five meters. That single leg had more strength than a harpoon, and it could easily pierce through any metal.
Adam slowly started backing off, feeling slightly regretful that he believed those fools who called themselves as Chaosbeing experts.
At that moment, the Centipede Skeleton shot forward, its hundred legs moving in unison as it lunged towards Adam.
Adam quickly ran up the stairs, stormed out of the basement, and jumped out of the window like a rabbit escaping its predator.
At that moment, the building behind him crumbled like a house of cards, and then the Centipede Skeleton jumped out of the ground, its disgusting body and long, spindly legs stretching out towards the sky.
"Shit..." Adam jumped to his feet, moved the shield in front of him, and put the shield into a counter-attack stance. There was no time for regrets.
'It's still not as strong as it will be in five years, but can I defeat it as Coinfeeder?' Adam closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then slammed his eyes open with renewed vigor in his eyes.
"Fuck it, I'll try!"