Odd Dungeon

Orion Academy on the west side of the school property ...

In front of the gate of Rank G in the forest. All the 3rd year students gathered and prepared to go inside while their teacher taught them what to do.

"Listen everyone!" Their instructor Scarlet shouts from under her stomach to get everyone's attention.

When the student heard the call, they immediately turned their gaze to Scarlet.

"Before all of you enter this dungeon, here are the three instructions and the reminder that you need to follow while you doing your business inside!" She opened up a scroll where all of the instructions are written and read it.

"First, This dungeon you see is a labyrinth type, so be carefull not to get lost inside when looking for the core and the guardian inside."

"So it's a Labyrinth type, huh? This is getting more and more exciting."

"Second, Killing lot of monster inside are graded too, so kill as much as you can, however, killing only doesn't count if you don't have a proof so bring a remain and present it to me."

"And lastly," Scarlet paused a second and smirked. "...The first one to kill the guardian and break the core are automatically give you a 40% score."

The moment Scarlet brought up the last rule of the event, the student just thought of looking for the way to the guardian of the dungeon. With that way, their time will not be wasted and they can easily secured the no.1 spot of the year.

"Hehe, very easy."

"So we don't need to waste our time just to kill monster, looking for a way to the boss will definitely bring us to the top."

"Let's start this game and wreak havoc inside. Hehe can't wait to test my new sword!"

Seeing and hearing all the student around being so motivated, Jin became more encouraged. He is confident in his combat skill eventhough not having an ability of a hunter.

"Yosh!" Jin exclaimed inwardly and touched his knife that was placed at his back.

"I only have a short sword in me, however, the monster inside are not strong and just like an animal, they only relay on their instinct." Jin murmured with a smirk showing on his face.

After Jin showed a happy expression, Alex immidiately appraoched him and tapped his shoulder.

"Yo! Jin, Hehe."

Jin turned around and saw another of his companions. 5 of them along with Alex are holding a lot of equipment and supplies, the dungeon is a kind of labyrinth so that means it is there that they will spend the rest of their week to find the guardian.

A big smile flashed on Alex's face once he laughed.

"Why are you so excited, huh?"

"Huh?" Jin looked at him with a questioning face.

"Wait wait! Do you think I'll let you fight us ?!"

Alex shifted his gaze and looked at the friends behind him.

"Yo! Everyone, This trash was thought to fight the monster inside while he knew he is not awaken, HAHAHAHA !! What a joke!"

Alex burst out laughing and at the same time the other colleagues followed.

"Ha!" Alex took a deep breath and giggled as he spoke. "Jin Silverred my boy, I can't, did you really think you have the ability to kill the monster inside with your shabby knife?"

Jin nodded in agreement and once smiled.

"Yes I can!" Jin replied cheerfully.

Alex tapped his shoulder, he held it tightly and looked at him showing an evil smile due to irritation.

"No you can't. I didn't recruit you to fight with us, know that? From now on, you will be our porter,"

Alex pointed his thumb at his back where all their belongings lay, all six bags in total full of supplies and equipment, good for a week's stay inside.

"You see that, don't you? Our belongings, take them all inside while following. Just shut up and follow what I'm saying."

Alex pushed him back into their belongings and once passed him to get into the dungeon.

"Good luck trash."

"Haha! Porter you are the best."

"Hurry up with the trash and don't mess with us inside!" Alex said as he waved his hand as he entered the gate.

Jin approached their belongings and sighed. "I thought I could use you, what a pity for both of us." Jin whispered as he gently slid the knife behind him.

The short sword Jin was carrying belonged to his father together with the three string bracelet that he always wore, his father gave that him the day before he died in the raid on a Rank B dungeon.

He picked up all the belongings of his companions and at once followed them inside.

Their team was the last team to enter the gate because the others were already excited to test their ability with the monster inside. Instead of cursing Alex and his friends, Jin just thought that carrying heavy was part of his training.

After they stepped their feet inside the dungeon, a wodden club swayed in front of them by the goblin who's waiting for their arrival.

"Creechh!"

Alex and his friend backed away a bit, he smiled and raised his hand which started to create a fireball from his hand. Once the ball of fire was created Alex threw it at the goblin and was easily killed with that.

"Ohh!" Alex exclaimed. "Monsters here are definitely weak, huh."

"No, Alex, you're just strong!" Pommiel's flattery of him.

"Of course I am!"

"Okay! Follow Alex's aim!" Josh spoke under his stomach.

****

It's been 4 days since they entered the Labyrinth-type-dungeon, but they can't find any monster inside except for the first day.

'Is it really a dungeon?' Jin thought as he looked around inside.

"It's getting weird, I know this dungeong is a labyrinth type and the monster are definitely separate, but it's no longer right, why don't we encounter a monster even once or a second time?" Jin thought out loud as he followed his teammates.

As he walked away, Alex noticed that he's falling behind and so he called out. "Hey porter! What are you doing ?! Hurry up and bring us some water here."

Jin came to his senses and brought them bottles of water.

"Hey, Alex!" Jin called.

Alex looked at him and asked. "Hmm ?! Why ?!" He said while drinking water.

"I think there's something wrong with this dugeon."

"Huh? What do you mean by that, porter?"

"Did you think it's weird too? Not encountering a single monster after killing one? We've been here already for four days walking? What if someone already reached the guardian and killed it?"

Alex and the rest looked at Jin with a questioning face and then bursts out in laughter.

"It's mean that we are on the right path! Do you think? Right guys?! And if some team already killed the guardian, you see this?" Alex pointed his finger towards his gadget on his wrist. "...This will automatically rang!"

"Yeah of course, Alex is the one who's leading the way so that is the only meaning behind that."

"And why don't you just thank me for giving you a nice walk, huh? What do you think you can do if we ran into a dangerous monster? For me I can fight them but for you? I'm not going to protect you and you know that."

Jin just kept quiet and didn't say another word. He keep on following the path that Alex is given, however, his mind is still full of question and still bothered by the dungeon itself.

'I hope no one pleases us badly.'

As they walked calmly, Alex turned and spoke. "Hey porter, I know you're thirsty, there's a bottle of water in my back pack, drink it and you'll be refreshed." He said with a small smile on his lips.

"No, I'm oka--

"No, no no! Just drink it, it's mixed with a magic potion and it will help you keep up with us. It pain in the ass if our porter isn't with us."

After Alex mentioned the water mixed with potion, Jin gratefully accepted the offer and drank the water.

Potion is an expensive liquid and only the rich can buy a package of it.

Once he drank all the water in the battle, he definitely felt the gradual weight loss on his body.

****

"Oh! It's really great." Jin straightened up and moved his body. "Thank you Alex!"

Seeing that the bottle was empty, Alex smiled at Jin.

Why would a bad Alex just give expensive water to a scum like Jin?

***

The next day...

5th day of exploring inside the Labyrinth-type-dungeon, Jin and his team finally reach the deepest part where the guardian lies, However, in that room only the core is inside and the caretaker's corpse was nowhere.

The core of the dungeon is an orb circling the center of the Guardian's chamber. It won't come out anytime soon, but once you kill the Guardian, it will eventually appear out of thin air.

However, in their case, the orb showed up, but the room seemed to be in order, there was no trace of figthing and the corpse was not inside, if someone had already killed, why would they leave the core?

"Huh ?! There's no guardian here."

"You're right."

"But, it's okay, isn't it Alex? It's mean we secured the no.1 spot!"

As his team began to celebrate their success in finding the guardian's chamber, Jin began to think, he suspiciously thought that there was something wrong with the dungeon.

Only Jin on their team noticed the strange incident, he tried to understand the situation, but the noise of the others was too much so he could not concentrate on himself.

The rules of each dungeon are that after anyone kills the dungeon keeper, the dungeon itself will start showing signs such as a slow collapse of the wall inside or an earthquake inside.

But inside the dungeon where Jin is with his team, there is no such sign in either of the two.