Chapter 17 – First Dungeon [3]

While walking, he gave them the context about the boss that Kiara talked about. It was also the reason why he got that many points and reached rank 1 worldwide after the apocalypse.

"So, you killed a boss by yourself while surrounded by a horde of monsters?" Taylor asked with wide eyes. "That sounds crazy."

"It's true." Kiara nodded her head and turned around to look at Vale behind her. "I was there when he did that. It was insane."

Vale only shook his head lightly while holding back his laughter. "I will tell you guys about that later. But for now, let's focus on our training."

Moving around the forest while creating a guide to return to the portal was easy. They encountered a few more monsters, such as bears or boars, and killed them off quickly without wasting their time and energy too much. All monsters seemed to be derived from animals that lived on earth.

As they walked deeper into the forest, they finally saw a stone path in front of them with torches on the side that lit up as they approached it.

"Oh?"

From the presence that Vale felt, it was clear that a monster stronger than anything they encountered so far was waiting for them at the end of the path.

"This path is making me feel uneasy." Kiara commented as she walked beside him. "I think we can expect a boss or something at the end."

As usual, her intuition was pretty spot on. Vale even wondered whether she had a skill to enhance her senses or something.

"I won't help you this time." Vale said as he walked forward and looked at his teammates behind him. "This is a good opportunity for you to level up and gain experience. Don't worry, I will back you up if things get rough."

His encouragement made them smile confidently and nodded their heads. Then, they continued down the path as a group while taking down monsters along the way.

Growth could be seen in their group. Taylor and Jenny's cooperation was better, allowing them to kill monsters faster and more efficiently than before. Kiara's speed and strength had grown too. And Vale didn't miss the way her eyes darted everywhere to ensure she wasn't surrounded.

Even though their level stayed the same right now, they had gotten stronger.

Finally, they reached the end of the path and saw a circular stage with stairs leading up to it. There were vines and plants on the floor, making it look like a ruin from years ago.

But, they could feel that there was something big on that stage.

As they reached the end of the stairs, they saw it. A giant white snake was resting on the stage with its eyes closed and tongue sticking out. The sight was hilarious and surprising at the same time.

"That's a snake." Kiara commented. "Isn't it the same as the one that appeared on the street yesterday?"

"It is." Vale nodded, "But this one is slightly bigger. Maybe it's the mom."

Joking in this situation helped them relax and calm their nerves before attacking. Taylor and Jenny couldn't hide their fear. The giant snake was scary enough on its own.

A strong monster had a strange pressure that humans couldn't ignore. It was something Vale found out when facing the apocalypse boss two days ago. And this boss had a similar pressure albeit way weaker than that skeleton.

"Taylor, Jenny. Can you fight?" Vale asked as he looked at them.

"Yeah, I can." Taylor nodded his head as he stepped forward and slammed his shield on the ground. "Let's do this!"

"Honey, be careful. I will support you from behind." Jenny reassured.

"Then I will take the vanguard role." Kiara held her sword with both hands and activated the Mana Coat. Her sword was covered with a bluish light that outlined the blade, "Don't worry, it's not my first time fighting a big monster like this."

She approached the monster calmly. It roused from its sleep and hissed loudly at her as if it was warning her to stay back.

However, she kept walking forward and lowered her sword.

"Skill: Rising Slash."

She swung her sword upward, creating a thin arc of wind that rushed toward the white snake. It was fast and aimed for the throat of the monster, cutting it with ease and making it bleed heavily from the wound.

Injured, the large snake trashed around in pain as it tried to use its tail to hit Kiara, but Taylor jumped in and blocked it with his shield.

"Skill: Strong Muscle!"

He was pushed back, but his skill allowed him to tank it. He stopped the attack and shouted.

"Thanks, Taylor."

"Say less. Jenny!" The big guy shouted loudly.

Without any words, his wife moved forward and aimed her longbow at the monster's eye. She knocked an arrow and shot it forward before immediately throwing her bow at it, which was telekinesis controlled and hit the monster's body directly.

It screamed in pain as blood seeped out from its wounds. At that moment, Kiara jumped using Taylor's body to boost the height and activated her new skill while midair.

"Skill: Wind Slash!"

Her sword shone with a bright white light as she swung it downward and sent a wind pressure that created a large gash on the monster's back. It couldn't cut the monster cleanly, but that didn't matter.

Its stamina was dropping drastically, showing that it was about to die soon. She landed on Taylor's shield, using it to decrease the impact from falling to the ground. Then, she stepped on it and jumped toward the monster again.

"Skill: Quick Slash!"

She had mastered the move perfectly, cutting off the area where the deep wound was located, severing the monster's spine.

The white snake was dead at that moment.

They sighed in relief as they gathered around it and took a deep breath. The fight was over.

"That was easier than I thought." Kiara said, the bluish aura around her blade disappeared as she deactivated her skill. "But that was tiring. This dungeon is harder than I thought."

"No wonder people can't enter it easily." Taylor added as he lowered his shield. "Is it just an hour? I am really tired from killing these monsters for an hour. Usually, I can workout for 3 to 5 hours straight. But this time..."

He stopped as he noticed that he was rambling. His wife chuckled and patted his shoulder gently, showing him that she understood what he meant.

Vale nodded his head and looked at the monster corpse in front of him. The dungeon indeed ate a lot of stamina. The constant monster attack was one of the problems. However, the way his team worked together was fantastic.

It seemed that they were used to working as a team, even though this was their first time being in a dungeon together. Their coordination and tactics were not bad at all.

"You will get better once your level is raised." Vale assured them as he looked around before sighing, "I thought defeating the dungeon boss would give us something. But there is no treasure chest or anything appearing."

A disappointment couldn't be hidden in his tone.