Chapter 3- The start of a nice year (3): Giant insects

***

Me and Miriam walked together at a certain distance. Even tho we are in the same school, she's still a stranger to me. I decide to try and start a conversation because of the awkward atmosphere.

"Um, so, in which class are you in?"

"Y-you really don't know?"

"No…should I?"

"N-no! It's ok don't worry about it…"

Like the dumb person that I am, I slowly realized that she was in my class. She acted like it was nothing just to not make me feel guilty. It gave me a good impression of what kind of person she was. Someone who's shy, gentle and kind. It was a contrast with her looks. She had quite the goth style.

…

The silence is really starting to get awkward. I sometimes glance at her and when our eyes meet I retreat mine rapidly. I'm not good at conversation. She then decides to talk first.

"Do you think we need to kill the boss to get out of here?…"

"The boss? Well it depends."

"How so?"

She was suddenly talking a lot. Maybe she had some kind of passion for dungeons?

"Well, there are multiple types of dungeons. Some are filled with monsters and the goal is to kill all of them to clear the dungeon, or there's a boss and the only way to get out of by killing it."

I notice her curious look and easily know the question she's going to ask beforehand.

"There's no way of telling if there's a boss here not not."

She gives a surprised look and lowers her head.

"I-I see…"

"…but most dungeon after grade B have a boss."

Her dark eyes lighten up.

"How do we know what grade a dungeon is??"

"Theres two ways,

-One, you can use a mana detector to identify the grade of the dungeon.

-And second, analyzing a monster can give a good idea of the grade."

I continue talking.

"By the way, when I found you I first heard you scream. Did you see a monster? If so, what did it look like?"

She hesitated before opening her mouth.

"Oh… there were no monsters… I just— heard a noise behind me and got scared…"

"…"

"…"

The atmosphere is even more awkward. Suddenly, something flashes in my mind.

"Oh! I just remembered! Miriam, can you try and open your status window?"

"Um, yeah, why?"

"The name of the hunter's location is written on the bottom of your window. Maybe we can a hint of what kind of dungeon we're in."

"Ah! Yes, g-good idea!…"

Miriam opens her status window. Her skills and class are folded so I can't see them. However I see the name of the dungeon.

[ {Miriam Ers}

{Class}: folded (Unfold to see)

+

{Skills}: folded. (Unfold to see)

+

{Inventory}: Empty.

+

{Current location}: [Dungeon Of the Giant Mentis.]

"It says Dungeon Of the Giant Mantis…" she then turns to look at me.

"Does that help?"

"I mean, not really, but at least we know that there's a boss and it's a Giant Mentis."

"…"

"…"

"So—"

All of a sudden, a huge like clapping sound is heard. We both turn around and try to find the source of the sound, however our eyes can't catch anything in this black ink darkness.

We then here the sound of multiple footsteps coming towards us.

Miriam says with fear,

"A-are those monsters??"

I stay on garde looking at the dark tunnel. We can't see anything after approximately ten meters.

Then, I spot a claw like forearm in the darkness.

"Run!"

Me and Miriam run away from the insect looking monsters. Luckily, most of them are slower than us, but one giant spider is tenacious. It jumps forward and grabs my left leg with its mouth.

"Get the fuck off me!"

I kick one of the eyes of the giant spider with my right leg and Miriam helps me up. My head kind of hurts, but we continue running in the cave.

After running from quite a long time, Miriam stops to breath.

"Ha…huff…well…that was…huff…something…"

"Yeah, we would be more careful from now on."

Miriam scans me carefully. Meanwhile my head starts to hurt even more.

"…you have good…stamina…huff…"

"Used to do athletics in primary school and cheerleading in middle school."

"Ah…lucky you, it must- huff… have been fun…"

"Well yes, but it was extremely stressful. In athletics since I was always the one to win I always had some kind of pressure. As if failing would make me useless…and cheerleading was stressful because I didn't want to let down my group."

Miriam's breathing gets worst. And she suddenly looks scared.

"…huff…wait-"

"I'm sorry to cut you but I think you should stop talking and take a break. You don't seem so good."

"But…huff…y-your leg…"

I look down at my leg and notice a huge purple mark on my left leg.

'Venom? Shit for real? That damn spider was venomous??'

My headache becomes extremely painful.

Miriam looks at me with worry.

"A-are you…okay…?"

"Well, no, but that spider didn't seem like it was higher than grade D or even grade E. So, if we could find someone with a healing skill it would be okay, even if they're grade E."

"B-but, I don't really know anyone at school so I don't know someone with a healing skill…do you?"

When Miriam asked me that question, I had to answer extremely carefully.

"Yes…I do know a healer in this school."

"If it's okay, can I please ask who? B-but only if you want to tell me of course!"

"…my brother. His name is Arthur."

***

Arthur and Jin-hu look around. There's only one way out of the room they're in and the giant mantis is blocking it.

'Maybe we could distract it?'

Arthur thought of many solutions and realized that all of them had a death sentence if failed. He decided to carefully analyze every single detail in his environment, including the people he was with.

"Hey, what are your names?"

The two students look at Arthur with a surprised look. Even Jin-hu was quite surprised by this sudden question.

The boy answers.

"Why the fuck is that supposed to matter?? We are literally in a fucking dungeon about to get eaten by a huge mantis. I don't think that our names are the most important thing in this situation."

The boy student then stays quiet.

The girl then takes her turn talking.

"My name is Lily…but why are you asking this right now?"

"No real reason. I just wanted to know."

Both students look at Arthur while frowning.

"Kkraawwwk!" A screech from the mantis is then heard. Everyone flinches.

The two students both observe the giant monster while being careful not to get caught.

Arthur then feels something tapping his shoulder.

"Hm?"

Jin-Hu whispers to him.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

"What? I literally just asked their names."

Jin-Hu raises his voice.

"You. Asked their names. That's the problem, you don't like talking to others and for some reason you're making friends?"

"…"

"So what's up?"

"*sigh* First off, don't speak too loudly and second, I want then to trust me by getting to know them. Would you follow a complete stranger in a life or death situation??"

"I mean we're in the same school…"

"Okay, tell me the name of someone in our class beside Emy and me."

Jin-Hu has a lost expression on his face.

His face then lights up.

"Richard, I know at least one person in the class!"

"Uh, you only know his name because you find him annoying."

"Well I mean, he is the teacher's pet so-"

"Can you guys stop talking so loudly please!? I don't want that huge mantis to find us."

Arthur and Jin-Hu look at each other and quickly stop talking.

"Ah! Guys!"

Everyone then glances at the high pitched voice. Lily with determination in her eyes then continue speaking.

"When the guy with short black hair and black eyes threw the rock to come over here…"

"Name's Jin-Hu."

"Yes! When Jin-Hu threw the rock to distract the giant mantis, what if we just do it again and run while it's not paying attention."

Everyone quickly glance at each other.

The boy student answers back.

"Do you REALLY think that it's that dumb?? Or are you stupider than it?!"

"W-well I'm just trying to find solutions!"

"Well try harder you dumb bitch!"

"Woah woah woah, who the hell do you think you are??"

Jin-Hu reacted quite fast to the boy's remark.

"You're angry at this poor girl because she…tries to help? What are YOU doing to help??"

The boy snickers while rolling his eyes and stops talking.

'A distraction…' Arthur thought.

'Might not be a good idea, but I guess it's our only shot.'

The giant mantis was still lurking around. Most of the time, insect type monsters are not regarded as a threat except the ones that are venomous.

However, mantis monsters are extremely dangerous. Even on a normal sized mantis, their front legs are extremely powerful, they can move really fast and swiftly. So on a bigger scale, they are quite dangerous.

They have good eyesight, but they cannot hear human voices well since our voices are too low for them.

Arthur thought.

'Should I tell them that the mantis basically can't hear us?

…no in case there are other things lurking around it's better to keep our voices low.'

***

"…can't I enter the dungeon now??"

A man employee tuen around and answers her question.

"Uh, sorry miss Eun-Ha nim, but we need to stabilize the gate first…"

"How long is it going to take?"

"Maybe some hours, or maybe days…"

"What??"

'What the hell, is this why rescue teams take so long to actually do them job and rescue people?'

"Can't I just go in on my own?"

"I'm extremely sorry miss, but I fear that it's not possible. We need to have a precise evaluation of the gate's grade to send you the money for your work."

"Why did the dungeon management company send me then? This is a waste of time."

"This is in case of a dungeon break miss."

"…"

A dungeon break occurs when the boss of the dungeon is not defeated after a certain period of time. The countdown for a dungeon break depends on the grade of the dungeon. If the gate of the dungeon is unstable, the countdown can go faster. In some extremely rare cases, if the gate is too unstable, a dungeon break can occur in a matter a single week or even days.

"I'm sorry miss, but I have to go now."

"Hm…"

Anna Eun-Ha carefully peered at the gate. Some thoughts started to immerse her mind.

'Should I just go in?'

She thought about what could happen if she went in without the dungeon management company's approval.

This company controlled every single thing regarding gates, dungeons, smaller companies, hunters and even guilds.

'If I go inside now, I might not get my money and I'll be breaking my deal… I needed to accompany the rescue team inside the dungeon, not go inside alone.'

'But…'

Eun-Ha thought that if she went alone, maybe she could get the rewards for defeating the dungeon boss. Patience was one of her biggest flaws and she was naturally quite stubborn.

However, not listening to the dungeon management company's order was dangerous. By going in, Eun-Ha would also break the trust the company has in her… not that they trust her anyway.

'…'

'…'

But she was still the number 2 hunter, what could they do about it?

"Hm, well, screw this old asshole."

"Rescue team supervisor sir…"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Have you seen miss Anna Eun-Ha?"

"Hm? The number 2 ranker with us today? I've seen her earlier, but recently no. Why?"

"Well um, that's the thing mister, she's gone…"

"What? Gone?? Where???"

The man employee points the gate.

"Earlier, miss Anna Eun-Ha told was quite impatient and asked me if she could go inside the dungeon."

"Did she…"

"Yes mister, it's really likely that she went in the dungeon on her own."

***