Chapter 16 – First Dungeon [2]

Vale ignored the guys and looked at the eerie purple portal in front of him. While the dungeon's building looked different, the portal always looked the same everywhere, as if the building itself wasn't important at all.

Not much was known yet about this, but people believed that the dungeon difficulty increased the more extravagant the dungeon building was.

The old hotel in front of him looked dilapidated. Hopefully, this dungeon would be easy. It was the other reason why he chose this hotel to experience his first dungeon.

After gathering his courage and excitement, Vale stepped inside the portal first, followed closely by Kiara and the couple.

***

In the World Announcement, it was said that Dungeons were a way to contain monsters. It was located in Another World because Earth had no place left to create a monster habitat without destroying the ecosystem.

Earth's evolution was a defense mechanism against the invading apocalypse. Humans were given superpowers or a Passion System to fight monsters and prepare for the upcoming Scenario 2. Another defense mechanism that Earth prepared to defend itself.

Everything was connected and intertwined. It was scary how everything was a survival against the apocalypse in the end, with points as currency. Not that humanity had a choice to begin with. If Earth was destroyed, they would also perish.

With that in mind, Dungeons were like training grounds given to the humans. And because it was a training ground with rewards, there were sets of rules to follow.

[Dungeon Rules!]

[1. Earth encouraged natural growth. Each individual will only level up through gaining experiences. Killing monsters doesn't guarantee Level Up!]

[2. Points obtained by an individual would vary depending on their contribution to kill a monster.]

[3. Points and experience will be distributed once you exit the dungeon.]

[4. Dungeon is an ecosystem. Monsters are born, live, and die in it. They are wild, so proceed with caution.]

"These rules are something." Taylor commented as he read it with interest, "Leveling up depends on experience gained rather than just killing monsters? So there are no party features or something that allows us to level up together?"

"It looks that way." Jenny also read the rules and looked at Vale, who was standing in front of them. "Vale, you've been silent since we came here."

"..." He didn't answer them as he stood there with his eyes closed, thinking deeply.

These rules were familiar to him.

'It looks similar to the power system I created for my novel.' He thought. The coincidence was uncanny and made him fall into a deep thought. 'This is a rule set to prevent someone from creating a large group of superhumans by leveling them up quickly. There are no party features either.'

He had a hunch that it was done intentionally by Earth or Something else.

"Anyway, it's just us four." Kiara shrugged her shoulders and looked at the couple, "Me and Vale aside, both of you need to level up quickly, right?"

"Yeah, we're just Level 7 and 9, respectively." Taylor admitted. "It's hard to level up with just Jenny and I."

"Well, you two are a great tank and support!" She tried to comfort them but couldn't hide her worry. "This is why we're going to this dungeon. Feel free to level up. I will support you if things get rough."

"That's right!" Jenny nodded her head and smiled at her husband. "We can do this! We won't hold you guys back."

"I trust you two." Vale finally spoke as he opened his eyes and looked at the couple with a smile on his face. "Still... I don't expect that we're in a forest with large trees."

Looking around, the scenery was completely different from the old hotel that they entered through the portal. This time, they were in a forest with large trees and thick foliage everywhere. The canopy was blocking most of the light from entering the ground.

The atmosphere was gloomy and cold.

"This is a dungeon, so we can't expect anything." Kiara shrugged her shoulders as she looked around carefully. "Watch out for monsters!"

They could hear something running in the bushes or hiding behind the trees. Vale narrowed his eyes and drew his sword out of its sheath slowly. He could feel 5 monsters running toward them. And they were fast.

'We're still near the entrance portal and they already greet us like this. I guess these monsters are hungry.'

"I'll protect Jenny." Taylor said as he walked closer to his wife and raised his shield in front of him while looking around nervously.

The sound of growls and claws scraping on the ground were getting closer. And before they knew it, three wolves appeared in front of them while two from behind attacked them immediately.

Vale jumped up and swung his sword down on the nearest wolf's head, splitting it into two with a clean cut. He then proceeded to kill the other one while leaving the other three to his team.

Kiara jumped to the front. Bluish light covered her sword as she swung it, hitting the nearest wolf and creating a large wound on its stomach. She dodged another attack from the second one and stabbed her sword into its eye.

The last wolf tried to bite her, but Jenny blocked it with her telekinesis while Taylor charged forward and punched it in the face with his fist. The force was enough to send it flying backward before he crushed its body with his hammer.

The three wolves from the front hadn't died yet.

Jenny knocked an arrow and shot it at one of the wolves while Kiara slashed another one's head off using her sword.

Taylor didn't wait for his wife and slammed his hammer on the last wolf's face, knocking it down to the ground. The head turned into a paste on the ground, showing that it was dead.

"Wow, that's fast." Jenny commented as she looked at the corpses of the wolves scattered on the ground. "We will surely get points and can level up from that once we exit the dungeon, right?"

"Yes. I don't think the system will lie to us." Vale answered and sheathed his sword. "I can understand why they make that rule. If we somehow get stronger suddenly in the middle of a fight, that will destroy our rhythm and it's dangerous."

He had experienced that first hand when he just awakened, so he understood how dangerous getting a sudden power up in the middle of something.

"Well, it's still early to talk about that." Kiara reminded them as she looked at the surroundings. "We're still in the dungeon and there might be a boss somewhere. You know, like the one you killed before midnight."

"If there is a boss like that in every dungeon, the casualty will be 100%." He laughed at her joke, confusing the couple.