Chapter 1 – The Dungeon That Should've Been Easy
On paper, the dungeon raid was a cakewalk.
A nice, simple "mop-up" mission.
E-rank difficulty, barely any threat, and supposedly full of weak beasts that wouldn't scare a chicken.
Perfect for David , the weakest E-rank hunter in his guild.
Which was exactly why he was here… and exactly why he regretted breathing this morning.
The air inside the dungeon stank of damp stone and wet fur. David's boots squelched on the uneven ground, and every step echoed like the dungeon was mocking him. Around him, the other hunters strutted like they were in some heroic ballad.
Karl, the team's self-proclaimed tank, led the charge. He had muscles big enough to make armor look like spandex, and a war cry that sounded, to David's ears, like a dying goat trying to yodel.
"Stay close, rookie," Karl grunted.
David nodded.
"Sure. Just let me stand behind your shield of glorious goat-noise." he thought.
Karl ignored him. Everyone ignored him. They usually did.
The fight started well enough, slash, stab, yawn. David mostly kept to the back, swinging his sword in ways that wouldn't accidentally hit a teammate (or himself). But halfway through, something went very, very wrong.
The monsters… changed.
Their eyes glowed an ugly red, their bodies doubled in size, and suddenly the dungeon felt more like a nightmare than a playground. The "easy" enemies turned into killing machines.
"What the hell is going?" Karl wondered out loud as he used his shield to blocked an attack from an already died monster.
Panic ripped through the group. Hunters screamed, magic flared, and one guy accidentally set his own hair on fire.
"This wasn't in the document!!"
"No one told us such a thing will happen!!"
The monsters viciously torn apart every hunters mercilessly.
David the weakest of them all couldn't move as his leg was shaking in fear. Thinking about all the time he has risked his life, David finally managed to gathered up some courage and ruthlessly but weakly swung his sword towards the closest monsters.
David slashed desperately, his blade barely grazing a beast before it swatted him into a wall like an inconvenient fly. His ribs protested, his vision blurred. He weakly opened his eyes and saw the hunters he came with to raid the dungeon died on the floor, his mind was filled with fear as tears and blood flow from his eyes. Through the chaos, he saw Karl, the last one standing, face down the biggest monster of them all.
The monster roared, Karl roared back (goat-noise in full force), and then… something insane happened.
A beam of golden light split the ceiling, bathing Karl in a divine glow. It was so dramatic David half-expected background music. The monster froze, Karl screamed something heroic-sounding, and suddenly… Karl wasn't Karl anymore. He radiated power. The kind you see in storybooks.
David coughed blood and slumped against the wall.
Great. I'm dying in a corner while Goat Boy gets blessed by God. David sarcastically thought despite his fears.
The others lay scattered, lifeless. Karl glowing like a sun,struck down the monster with a single blow. The battle was over… but not for David.
His breathing grew shallow. His strength slipped away. His mind, however, stayed sharp enough to curse himself one last time.
He thought of his mother, who worked herself to the bone just to keep food on the table.
He thought of his little sister, too young to survive this cruel world alone.
And he hated himself, hated that he had been too weak, too useless, to protect them.
"I… wish…" His voice was barely a whisper. "…I was born stronger…"
The world dimmed. The sounds faded. His last sight was Karl basking in divine glory, while he, David, faded into nothing.
But death… wasn't the end.