"B-Boss-!"
"Rhiner, get up-"
Lee Minho picked up the almost unconscious and bleeding hunter on his shoulder as he tried to get away from the monster chasing after them.
Once Rhiner had gotten hurt and attacked, a few smaller monsters had come out to attack them.
The team had taken care of them quickly before they had run into the biggest issue yet—an A-class monster.
There should have been no way or reason for an A-class monster to appear in a B-class dungeon, but something happened.
"Tsk, what do we do? Was the information about this dungeon wrong somehow? Or did something change? Ugh, I don't think I can take on that monster and protect everyone at the same time either."
Lee Minho complained as he tried to run away.
He had already sent the signal for the others to clear up the dungeon and call for higher back-up, but he did not know how long that would take.
If a dungeon-break happened in the meantime, then there was no telling the kind of destruction that could take place.
So before things got worse, they needed to do something.
'But what do we do-! At this rate, we will all get injured-!'
"Lee Minho, where is Boss-! Boss is-!"
The female beta of Rhiner's team came running toward him, and this time he was sure she was the real deal.
She looked distressed as she tried to catch up to him and the others, but the monster noticed her presence.
What happened next was unfortunate, and Lee Minho wanted to divert his eyes. But he could not do that as he watched the monster rip the poor beta apart.
She never even got the chance to speak up before she perished.
"K-Kara-! NO-!"
Her teammates cried out loudly as they watched the beta die. But Lee Minho snapped at them to keep running.
"Don't look back. We only lost one person for now. We cannot afford to lose any more."
He hated to be like this, but being cruel was the best way to snap someone out of their grief for the moment. He knew that he would be hated by these people for his behavior, but he would take it over them being dead.
'Would we even be able to survive until help comes? Tsk, just where is that fucking core-'
Just as he complained, the dungeon began to collapse around him and he sighed in relief.
Someone had found the core of the dungeon and it had begun to collapse around them. But the relief was short-lived when the monster behind them did not stop chasing after them.
He was not disappearing with the dungeon.
______
Once the high priest died, I decided to leave the cave. But before I could leave, the system beeped, telling me that I was near the core.
The high priest's presence must have been hiding the core until now, but I was finally able to find it and destroy it.
Once I did, the dungeon began to collapse around me and it was time for me to make my escape.
As I ran, I saw an A-class monster chasing after people and I waited for it to disappear. But despite the dungeon collapsing, the monster did not disappear.
"What the fuck-! No, there were too many irregularities from the start, so complaining is useless anyway. I need to take care of the A-class monster."
Taking care of the monster was not a problem in itself. The bigger issue was to do it without being noticed.
However, just because it was difficult did not mean it was impossible either. I had a few tools I had acquired back in my day that could be useful.
And let's just say not all of them were obtained from ethical means.
I took out a gun-looking weapon I had picked up from the final S-class dungeon. It was unlike any gun that humans or even hunters used to have 10 years ago.
Instead of standard bullets, it consumed mana to fire mana bullets. It was faster and stronger than a normal gun, but how much you could use it depended on your rank.
I had not used it much to see how much I could fire since there was time in the past, but Erin had tried and failed after 5 shots and then complained that it was too impractical since it consumed too much mana.
'Not that I would need to fire a lot of bullets. Two should do the trick for now.'
I chose a relatively high point to shoot and then focused my senses using my mana.
[Focus mode engaged. Title - Weapon Master is active]
[Fire power will increase by 100%. Mana proficiency will increase by 100%]
'Well, here goes nothing.'
I fired off the first shot and it felt stronger than before. I could feel my mana pulsing under my palm and I could confidently say that I was much stronger than any other time I recall fighting.
'What the heck is this cheat-? Did I seriously get stronger without even doing anything?'
I questioned as the blast from the gun shattered the A-class monster rampaging. For a second, I felt my heart skip a beat as my eyes met the rampaging monster's. He turned around to give me a smile.
His lips formed some words that seemed to want to speak, but it shattered before it could do that.
I felt goosebumps go down my spine as I took in the scene. Something about that made me feel uncomfortable.
The system message finally confirmed what I already knew.
[Dungeon cleared. Rewards will be distributed soon]
Rewards were nice to get and the main reason even high-class hunters sometimes took low-level jobs.
As for me? I no longer had any interest in rewards. I had more than enough to last me a few lifetimes.
"Well, time to head home."
I threw myself down from the branch and walked toward the exit. After all, it wouldn't be good to have people come after me and think that I got lost or something.
But even as I walked toward the exit, something about the dungeon and what happened in here worried me/
The things I had heard rang in my ear and made me want to focus.
'Don't be foolish. You already decided to step away from that world. You just fought this time because you had no choice.'
I reminded myself.
But it was easy for an exception to become a norm, and I felt like I might head down that path if I were not careful.
______
"Find that brat at all costs. We need to check up on that being."
"Tsk, how did that brat wake up, much less find his strength to run away like this."
"Ugh, can you even call that thing a 'he'? We all know we retrieved it from inside a cocoon from the remains of the S-class dungeon 10 years ago and the being had remained dormant until now. Even if it looks completely human, we should consider it as a monster."
People and scientists ran around in order to find the being they had lost. But in the end, they never found what they were looking for because the being had already left the facility a long time ago.
______
If you're here, you might as well drop a PS for me and a review as well. I want to get to 10 at least.