Both Andrew and Dalton were baffled. They couldn't believe what was before their eyes. Not only had they experienced something surreal, but now there was a floating, weirdly holographic card before their eyes.
Andrew wondered if the drinking had finally caught up to him and instead of destroying his liver, it ruined a part of his brain. But, the more he thought about what was happening, the more believed he wasn't losing it.
Things… are just different.
That was the conclusion he came to. Dalton, on the other hand was freaking out.
He stumbled back and forth, trying his best to stand up straight. "What the hell?! What the—"
He was cut off as he slipped and hit the floor. He pushed himself up, and distanced himself from the card. To his dismay, the card drifted towards him, maintaining a distance of only 60 centimeters from his face.
"Hell… Hell! I must be imagining things!" Dalton grabbed his own head, panic all over his face.
Andrew's eyes drifted from Dalton towards the card before himself. It seemed that the cards had chosen them for whatever reason.
What does it want with us…? And the will of 'our' dear brother? Just what is going on?
Andrew kept his eyes on the card. The way its glow increased seemed to dare him to touch it.
Deep in Andrew, something responded to it; telling him to touch it—to see what may happen. To experience something different.
Slowly he stretched his hand towards it. As soon as he made contact with it, the card broke into yellow energy and rushed into his eyes!
With a mere recoil, he couldn't stop the energy. It didn't hurt him. It just felt odd.
…
That was all?
The card visualized before his eyes with texts.
[DUNGEON HUNTER CHOOSEN!]
[INTEGRATING SYSTEM PACKAGE!]
Andrew wondered what in the hell was going on?
Unfortunately for him, hell was about to break loose in his mind.
A cold chill encapsulated him. His heart, throat, lungs, kidneys, guts, and lastly his brain were all gently caressed by the chill in the form of hands.
[BOOOTING!]
[....]
Endless strings of words and numbers forced themselves directly into his brain. The information flashed before him, over and over. He got more overwhelmed with each passing second.
"ARGHHHH!" He shouted as blood flowed from his nose.
He no longer wanted to understand. He wanted it to stop! And now! Fortunately for him, his wish came soon.
[.... PACKAGE INSTALLED]
[PLEASE SELECT CLASS]
[WARRIOR, DEFENDER, RANGER, SUPPORTER]
He nearly fell backward but he managed to reach out for the wall to stop his descent.
"Cough Cough!" he coughed harshly—his mind still in pain.
Dalton asked Andrew with worry, "Man, what's happening?! Are you okay?! Huh…? You are bleeding all over your shirt!"
Andrew dragged his finger across his nose to check. His fingers came back drenched in so much blood that he was shocked. He looked down at his shirt to find a huge red stain on it.
"That's a lot of blood..." Andrew stood up, a little shaky. He then looked at the card in front of Dalton.
"That card did something to me." He looked at the present class options still in his view. "Well, it still is."
Andrew was about to say something else, but Dalton lost it.
"Why did you even touch it?! Goddammit, Andrew, if some weird thing suddenly appears in front of you, you run away from it! God damn it!"
Dalton, finally finding his balance back, stood up And went to the door of the small apartment, turning back at Andrew, "Listen… we clearly need to be checked out.."
He smiled. "Let's get to a doctor so we can clear out what's happening."
"You think… this all a hallucination?" Andrew asked.
"Yeah, obviously," Dalton replied as he stepped outside.
What he saw caused his mouth to drop in shock.
Andrew rushed to see what was going on.
An endless amount of vehicles had crashed into homes, buildings, or each other. If that wasn't bad enough, flames ran rampant among the vehicles.
Wide-eyed and trembling, people scattered in all directions, desperately seeking safety amidst the wreckage of countless vehicle accidents. Horns blared and tires screeched, drowning out the cries of terror. Some individuals, visibly shaken, clung to each other for comfort, while others frantically tried to reach their loved ones.
There weren't any monsters or anything… except for floating cards that followed them no matter how much they tried to distance themselves from them.
What could. Wait!
Confident about what was going on, Andrew grabbed Dalton shoulder. "The same way we got teleported around to all those different environments, that must have also happened to them!"
Dalton bit his tongue as he shook his head. "You mean… They must have also been hit with the drug… or hallucinogen attack rather."
"Huh? Why would all of us be hallucinating about the same thing!"
"Why not?! We have no idea how advanced the military actually is! We are most likely under attack right now! Why the hell would you think this is real?!"
Andrew clenched his fist. He wondered that very question to himself. Getting teleported like that? And the giant chess pieces? Those things shouldn't be real…
Dalton rubbed his head, looking at the system request in front of his face.
[PLEASE TAKE HOLD OF THE CLASS CARD SO THAT YOU MAY SELECT A CLASS]
He pretended like it didn't even exist. Instead, he looked around, trying to wonder how they were going to get to a hospital when the bridge was down and there was chaos on the road.
Andrew noticed something odd at the side of his eyes.
[00:00:30]
[IN THIRTY SECONDS, THE FIRST DUNGEON EVENT WILL PROCEED]
[EVERY HUMAN ON EARTH WILL BE TELEPORTED INSIDE THE ETERNAL-DUNGEON — FLOOR 1]
Andrew clicked his tongue. That's right. This shouldn't be real, but it's real.
"Dalton" Andrew called with urgency.
"Huh? What? Do you know how to make it to the hospital?"
"No. But I have an idea of what's going on."
Dalton raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"In thirty seconds, we will all be teleported into a dungeon. I have no idea if you know what that means, but it means a lot of danger."
He pointed at the card that was following Dalton. "If you don't take it, you might die. I don't want to die, and I don't want you to die! So… choose your class, because that's what I will be doing now."
Dalton was speechless as Andrew focused on the classes available.
Something practical, Andrew thought to himself and selected [Warrior].
In an instant, medieval leather armor wrapped around his body and an array of weapons appeared.
Dalton looked lost.
"Wait, what's happening?!?!"
Andrew took hold of the axe, his heartbeat speeding up.
Since the system and card had appeared, his heart had been racing. But it didn't feel like fear.
Andrew glared at Dalton. "So, you think this is still a hallucination? The very moment I donned armor, you hallucinated it too?" Andrew pointed at the chaos. "Dalton, you know this is real, and hell, if it isn't real, then what harm could interacting with the system cause?"
"But…"
"I know! Trust me, though, before we both die!"
Dalton wanted to refute what Andrew said, but he couldn't. He didn't want to accept it. But… it being hallucinations didn't make any kind of sense, truly.
"Okay…" he muttered, taking a hold of the card.
Andrew nodded at him.
Then Dalton held his head. "What's this…? Permission granted to who…?
Who?
Before Andrew could question what he meant, space was ripped open in the middle of the road. From the torn space, a blue light shone so brightly everyone was forced to close their eyes.
To think all this is real…
A door of darkness formed around it, blocking the light.
[THE TUTORIAL DUNGEON WILL OPEN IN 00:00:05]
It appeared!
"Dalton! Hurry choose your class and weapon!"
"R-right!" Yet, for some reason, instead of focusing on himself, he looked at everyone else who had yet to take the cards.
Dalton shouted at them. "The cards! Accepts the cards!"
That fool!
"Worry about yourself first!" Andrew yelled at him.
[00:00:00]
[THE DUNGEON HAS OPENED]
The doors shattered as the portal of light viciously commanded the power of a black hole, sucking everyone in the vicinity.
[THE PARTY FORMED WILL BE BASED ON INDIVIDUALS YOU SPENT THE MOST TIME WITH]
[Information bits: All dungeons are linked together in some form, despite each one being part of a different world.]
After a flash of light, Andrew suddenly rolled across the scorching-hot gray sand.
Uhh… where the hell is this?
He stood up, and to his surprise, there wasn't just Dalton with him, but several of his coworkers.