In a small town on the Mana continent there was a celebration, the celebration was for the day of the harvest.
This small town was called Sunflower Town, every season when they harvested the crops, the inhabitants had a party in the town.
Even with the fatigue of the long day they built a bonfire and laughed while enjoying the food and drinks around it.
It was already night and everyone looked at a man who was in front of the crowd, this man wore thick leather clothes and a sword, he was the adventurer in charge of protecting this town.
His level was not very high, only level 19, he had taken a mission from the adventurer's guild to protect this town for a period of time.
He often returned to this town so he was already familiar with the people of the town.
"Mr. Smith can you tell us a story of your adventures in the dungeon" a villager addresses the man in front.
"Of course, since today is a day of celebration, I will tell one of my adventures" Mr. Smith smiles as he says that, after taking a sip of his drink, he begins.
"This story is also a warning for those who want to explore the dungeon" Mr. Smith puts on a serious face.
"4 years ago was the last time I entered the dungeon, and I entered with a group of 3 people besides me" Mr. Smith makes a gesture of sinking into his memories.
...
In the story, Mr. Smith after entering the dungeon had assumed an intermediate position in the group's battle formation, the Squire went to the front, the magician and the archer in the rear, the four adventurers had similar levels between 17 to 19, Mr. Smith had the highest level.
In the dungeon when a monster dies inside, its body disappears, that was also the strangeness of the dungeon.
They had reached level 9 of the dungeon by this time, and the monsters of that level were almost the limit of what they could handle.
After a tough battle with a small horde of monsters, the members of the group wanted to go back except for the squire.
The squire tried to convince the others to go to level 10, the mage and the archer quickly refused, and Smith remained silent.
They knew that after level 10 there was a possibility of certain monsters appearing that were categorized as bosses.
After a small discussion and not reaching any agreement, they asked Smith's opinion since he had the highest level of his group and the most experience.
To tell the truth, Smith at that moment also wanted to continue exploring, but it was risky, and even more so because they did not have a map of that level.
"At that moment I made a bad decision," Smith says with some regret.
In the end Smith had agreed to continue, the squire was encouraged, the magician and the archer had a look of anguish.
Smith also agreed because on the next level there was a teleportation portal to the exit, in fact in the dungeon every 5 levels there was one.
After taking a strategy of not taking risks
the magician and the archer consoled themselves a little.
After passing through a large door they reached level 10, everyone was on alert, they had agreed to quickly look for the portal and if a boss monster appeared they would retreat.
Level 10 was different from the others they had entered, here there was a lot of space, after the magician illuminated the surroundings they realized that they were in a large cave.
If a monster appeared here they would have more room to move.
Little by little they advanced in the cave until they found the exit.
Upon leaving the cave, the magician and the archer realized that they were in a forest as if it were the outside world.
Although Smith and the squire had explained to him that level 10 had this strange peculiarity, the latter two were still surprised.
Smith and the others advanced in search of the portal, they encountered some monsters, the weak ones they killed quickly and the strong ones they avoided, although they received some minor injuries it did not affect their speed.
Along the way they found some magic herbs, which were distributed by the group, and magic ore, the latter being the most valuable, which was why many adventurers risked reaching this level.
Although they were exhausted, they were in a good mood after obtaining these items.
They continued advancing through the forest until suddenly Smith stopped. "It smells like blood" Smith changed expression.
The others quickly went on high alert and into battle position.
They advanced a little and then passed by a large tree.
They see an open area in the middle of the forest, in that open area there was a large red bear, the bear was very large, at least three times the size of an adult man.
If the large bear surprised the group, the scene below the bear was even more so.
Below the bear were the bodies of bloodied people.
They were adventurers who had just been killed by the bear, one who was still alive was kneeling with a large, deep cut from claws on the side of his chest.
His wound was bleeding too much, the adventurer, upon hearing the sounds of footsteps, quickly turned around, "help" and shouted.
Although Smith and his group had never seen a boss monster, they knew that this bear was one, at least a group of level 25 to 30 was needed to be able to subdue it.
Smith and his group were already retreating to escape when the huge bear fixes its gaze on their group after the wounded adventurer screamed.
The group breaks out in a cold sweat upon being noticed by the bear.
The bear roars at the new intruders and pounces on the new group.
The wounded adventurer who was in front is crushed by the great weight of the bear, having his skull shattered.
The squire, although he had his guard up, is surprised by the speed of the bear.
The squire gives a loud scream and raises his shield towards the bear, the great bear makes a horizontal cut with its enormous claws and easily pierces the shield, the claws hit the squire's chest.
At the strong impact, the squire is sent flying several meters with a bloody wound on his chest.
Smith, who was behind the squire, watches as his defender is almost killed by a single blow from the bear.
Facing the bear, Smith knows that he has no chance of surviving, knowing that Smith prepares to do everything possible.
The great bear was about to attack Smith when he is hit by a magic arrow, the arrow hits exactly in his left eye.
"Run" the archer shouts to Smith as he also turns around, the magician also flees at that moment.
Smith seeing an opportunity starts to run with all his might.
The great bear upon being wounded roars with anger and his red fur begins to bristle and his mane catches fire like huge flames.
After that transformation the bear aims at the archer, the archer who had already moved several meters away in the forest is instantly hit by the new berserk bear.
"What" is the last thing the archer says before being torn apart by the bear's claw.
Smith from afar turns around only to see the archer being brutally murdered, feeling that he could be next he runs away with more strength with regret in his heart, he throws away all his luggage and increases his speed even more.
After 1 hour of running, Smith stops from exhaustion, leans against a tree and sits down, still shaken and because of the fear of the bear he remembers the near death experience he just went through.
It was a bad idea to come to this level, the squire probably didn't survive, the archer died and the wizard was uncertain, plus all the items he collected he had thrown when he fled and also his food rations.
Now Smith needed to find the portal or else go back to a lower floor before he attracts more dangerous monsters.
Smith walked very stealthily through the forest and keeping his guard up, although he hadn't been physically hurt by the bear it had left a deep fear, they had totally underestimated the difficulty of a boss monster.
In the end night came to that strange level and Smith was very exhausted and hungry, Smith thought he was going to die here, he had been hurt by a monster in the course of the hours and there could be stronger monsters than those there were during the day.
Still he had to continue for a small hope of survival, in the end by luck or by fate he saw a blue glow in the distance.
Smith, seeing that, ran desperately towards the blue light, as he got closer he could glimpse the image of the portal.
Smith had never been so happy before, as he looked around for danger and noticed nothing, he approached the portal and left the dungeon.
...
Until he got here with the story, the adult villagers were amazed and scared by the dangers of the dungeon, some children who were still there and had listened to the end of the story were shaking with fear or crying and being comforted by their parents.
Mr. Smith observes that within all these children there is one who stares at him, there is no fear in his eyes after hearing his story but rather there is great emotion and expectation.
Mr. Smith looks somewhat surprised at this 9 or 10 year old boy and asks his name "little one, what is your name?"
The boy still staring says "nim".
"Nim...what did you think of my story? Weren't you scared?" Mr. Smith asks curiously.
"No" answered nim.
"Oh why?" Mr. Smith continues, after saying that he is surprised by the answer.
"Because I will also be an adventurer who will explore the dungeon" nim answers excitedly.
"Adventurer huh...I'm looking forward to seeing him" after saying that Mr. Smith said no more.
....
After the party and the night are over, it's a new day.
In the morning Nim gets out of bed, after tidying his bed and changing his clothes he opens his window and looks at the sunrise with a smile.