Dungeon (Part 1) - Separated
POV: Ryomen Sukuna
"Well this is problematic," I said, turning back to the group after seeing the System message
"What happened?" asked Ryogaku, not wanting his feeling of unease come true.
This will be extremely annoying, but I'll still try to increase my proficiency.
You know, it's like farming level 50 mobs when you're level 25.
"What rank monsters can you kill with ease?" I asked, knowing that there will be an outburst of emotions.
"I'm sure I can easily kill a few D-Ranks, C-Ranks might be a problem though," said Ryogaku.
"Same with me," both Anny and Johan said.
"I can kill E-Ranks, but I have problems with stronger D-Ranks" said Alexia
"Well," I sighed audibly, "This dungeon has evolved into a B-Rank.
. . .
"Huh?" One of them gathered enough courage to let that sound out.
"S-Sukuna, you shouldn't joke about that, r-right?" Alexia stammered, her voice trembling.
She was the weakest, so she'll obviously be the most terrified.
I just stared at her, no reaction.
Her face morphed from a nervous smile to one similar to when I find a spider on my table.
"W-well, we should leave then, right?" She tried again, her voice rising in panic.
"Escaping is never an option, you have to face your fears. If you always run away then you can never grow... also the gate seems to have evaporated, which means that this is a locked gate, so no chance of fleeing, after all."
Well that was the last straw, her mind was in a crisis as tears streamed down her face.
Ryogaku and Anny were comforting her, as I went to Johan.
"I think being stuck in a dungeon with you is my real fear." He said, a low chuckle only I could hear.
He was the most composed out of the four, I was impressed, honestly.
"Any changes in the 'mark'?" I whispered into his ear.
"Nothing out of the ordinary." He whispered back, I nodded and ended our conversation.
After a little while, when everyone in the group was calmed down, we decided to start.
We were currently in a small room. A room made of cracked rocks that seemed to barely support the weight.
There was only one exit to the room, a rectangular doorway which led to darkness on the other side.
"We're going in," I said, as I went through the door first.
I saw them follow in a line behind me.
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"Well great, just great"
I was alone in a room, its walls were made of rough rocks and some mana stones were fixed on the walls in non-uniform intervals.
There was no vegetation and I could see a bunch of E-Rank and D-Rank monsters in there, wolves, rabbits, bears, and such monsters filled the room.
There was only one exit to the room, which probably went towards the center of the dungeon, to the boss room.
The room had a strong smell of blood, it seemed that some of the weaker monsters were killed by stronger ones. The dungeon rooms have only one path, so it is possible that some stronger monsters came here and the weaker ones could not escape.
I assume that everyone is split up individually into such rooms, and they will have to go to the boss room by themselves.
This might prove difficult for them though.
The main cast is strong, they are even stronger than in the original game because of my intervention.
Especially Johan, who also seemed to be more understanding and cooperative, so I even accelerated his character development.
But, even though they are stronger, the monsters are also stronger, so it'll be much harder. I'm also not there to help them in perilous situations.
Well, if everyone goes to the center of the dungeon we'll meet up soon enough, I'm a little worried about Alexia though, but she has healing magic, it should be fine.
'Well, a good time to see how much stronger I have become, huh?'
With a little smirk on my face, I leapt right into the horde of monsters.
'Dismantle'
[EXP +10] (x12)
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POV: Anny Leonheart
I was in a huge room, its floor was muddy water, while vegetation hung from the roof.
The air hung heavy with the smell of dam earth and decaying flesh. The low growls of creatures echoed in the silence.
I, along with Johan, was standing on a big rock which gave us a good view of the whole room.
This side of the room has a muddy floor and a few E-Rank monsters, while the side away from us, where the only exit in the room is present, is filled with water and has a few E and D-Rank aquatic monsters.
Monsters are divided into sets, each with certain strengths and weaknesses, though there can be slight changes, especially in the lower-ranks.
These sets have properties, such as E-Rank fish usually look like normal fish, while C-Rank fish are much larger than normal and have overdeveloped sharp teeth, and possibly many eyes, so hunters have to find out the monsters' weaknesses while clearing the dungeon and form a plan quickly.
Well, smart hunters had to...
"LET'S GOOOOOO IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO DIE," Johan let out a battle cry as he jumped onto the floor and started punching monsters left and right.
I sighed, but with small smile on her face, this is how he always was, and it cheered me up to see him normal.
I stayed back on the rock and fired spells from a distance, aimed at the monsters.
[Fire Arrow]
*whoosh*
"OI YOU ALMOST HIT ME" screamed Johan as a monster close to him burst up in flames
"Okay okay, sorry," I said while giggling, I'm sure he knew that that was necessary.
The friendship of these four was something to be envious of, sometimes they had such good chemistry that it felt like they were reading each other's minds.
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We cleared the room in a few minutes and went into the next one, which had literally no characteristics that stood out, it was just like a cave, with a little vegetation here and there, again, there were only two paths, one that went back to the room they came from, and one that went to the center of the dungeon.
In the middle of the room, there was a huge bear looking monster standing on two feet, facing away from them, we both figured that it was a low C-Rank.
Glancing at each other, we nodded, and I started the fight by firing a freezing spell on the bear.
Johan rushed in with his spiked knuckles, which looked like they were made of metal, but were made of high rank mana stones, and hence were classified as an A-Rank weapon.
He hardened the knuckles using mana and perfectly stabbed the eyes of the monster while it could not move due to the freezing spell.
The bear roared and tried to swipe him away with its arms, but he just ducked and ran between its legs, punching the bear from behind.
Noticing an opportunity, I decided to use a fire arrow.
As I casted the spell, practiced so many times that I did not need a chant, fire started forming close to my hands.
The fire started to flow in a predetermined manner, condensing and reshaping itself into a bright arrow.
There was a crackling sound in the air as the arrow gathered more mana, becoming more lethal by the moment.
With a silent thought, I released the spell, which hit the head of the bear and burned one side of it.
The bear broke free from the freezing spell, its legs moving clumsily due to the effects of freezing and blood dripping from its eyes and head.
A flicker of worry crossed my mind, this monster was stronger than I expected to face.
It started flailing its arms, hoping that it would hit one of us, but Johan backed off, I created an ice spike near the bear's feet, causing it to trip and fall.
Johan ran to the bear, who was now laying down on the floor and started punching its head with his knuckles while I sent low level fire spells on its body.
The bear stopped moving in a few seconds, indicating that it had died.
Seeing this, Johan gave me a thumbs-up to while I just nodded and started walking towards the next room, Johan followed just behind me.
I was not worried about us, Johan is good for close combat, while I work in long-range, so we make a good duo.
Who I am worried about is Alexia, she was already looking scared, which is basically a death sentence during a dungeon raid.
I just hope that she is with either Ryogaku or Sukuna, who both have the ability to protect her.
Even though I am worried about her, it is not time for me to think too deeply of it, as it might affect my performance.
My fists clenched as I glanced back to the last room.
Just be safe...Alexia.