Chapter 30: Julian's First Dungeon Run is Too Boring!? (Part 1)

"It's warm..."

Julian wasn't expecting the dungeon to be warm, but as soon as he stepped inside the entrance that looked like it had swallowed all of them whole, it felt like a warm breath whiffed over his entire body.

"...And this is burnt," Julian crouched down, touching the familiar texture of ash—but it wasn't from the dungeon's floors which were seemingly made of bark and vine, not at all.

Cyrus, who was busy trying to find the right angle to capture Julian, let out a small chuckle. "They're probably just some weak fire monsters. Nothing to worry about. We're in a beginner's dungeon." He flashed a grin, still very much hoping that something fun and eventful would happen if he set up enough flags.

Julian straightened, still feeling the heat under his palm. "Fire monsters… shouldn't we have brought water with us, then?"

"That's not how—"

"Pft." Before Cyrus could respond, Talia's quiet snort whispered in the air. "What do you know about dungeons, Newbie?"

Julian shrugged, "Just what Cyrus explained to me."

Talia stepped closer, her tone a bit more serious now. "Here's something to remember, Julian. The monsters and layouts of dungeons can change. They're not static. What you see in one run might not be what you get in the next. That's why most adventurers in Artemia don't carry maps of dungeons because they don't stay reliable for long. Remember the map you got from the so-called Newbie Package? Yeah, that's useless in dungeons."

"So... none of you have technically been here before?"

Dyrroth, who had been standing off to the side, grinned. "You could say that, my dude. We're as fresh here as you."

"Exactly," Talia continued. "There's no need to worry. They say that the dungeons are supposedly connected to the planet's core—the deeper the dungeon is, the more dangerous it is. And in this case, Ethaca Dungeon is extremely shallow, that's why the hyums consider it as a beginner's dungeon."

"Oh…" Julian nodded, soaking in the information. "That's... interesting. Thank you for the information, Talia."

Talia chuckled, her sharp demeanor softening for a moment. "No need to be so formal, pft."

"Do you see this, Chat? I think we're converting our Sword Junkie into a gamer."

"Cy, can you shut the fuck up?" Talia glared at Cyrus. But alas, Cyrus was a professional, perhaps too professional as he did not stop talking at all and communicating with the chat as they pressed deeper into the dungeon.

Soon, however, the air became thick and almost suffocating. Julian felt it more than the others, the warmth crawling up his skin—after all, heat is something he had lived with almost his entire life; even the slightest change of temperature…

…he could feel.

"!!!"

And without warning, the ground cracked beneath his feet, a series of sharp, jagged lines forming as something moved below the surface. The others stepped back instinctively, but Julian's eyes remained locked on the ground.

And then they revealed themselves as the floor exploded—small, fiery creatures seemingly made of molten rock, tendrils of flame whipping around them as they rolled, or perhaps crawled, across the dungeon floor.

"Julian, watch out! Those are Flame Spawns!" Talia shouted from behind, almost pulling out her longsword but quickly remembered her role, "They may seem like harmless jellyfish, but they're very dangerous!"

"Okay." Julian didn't need the warning, however. His body already moved on instinct, dodging the first spawn as it lunged straight at his face. Julian could feel the heat almost touching his nose as the tendrils of the Flame Spawn stretched toward him—it looked weird, even for Julian.

He drew his shortsword in one smooth motion, the blade reflecting the light of the creature as he swung it toward its fiery body.

"Hm…?" The hit connected, but something wasn't right—Julian did not feel any impact at all, just a slight resistance as if he had just dipped the blade into oil. The Flame Spawn also barely staggered, its molten body reforming almost instantly where the sword had sliced.

"It… didn't work," Julian's eyes narrowed as he looked at his sword.

"Come on, Julian!" Cyrus shouted, hyping up the stream. "Let's go, baby! Show them what you've got!"

Another spawn charged at him, its fiery tendrils whipping dangerously close to his face again. But once again, Julian rolled to the side. He swung his sword toward the fiery small creature again, only for the same result to happen—it was completely unaffected.

"Hm…" He really only stared at the regenerating flames in front of him for a few moments before glancing at his shield.

And without thinking, he bashed the creature with it, hard. Julian finally felt some resistance, and he heard something cracking into pieces… and after a moment, the Spawn just started crumbling into a pile of scorched rock and flickering embers.

It worked.

Julian didn't hesitate anymore as a smile started to crawl on his face. He sheathed his sword back to his waist and just held the shield with both hands. He charged the next spawn, smashing into it with the weight of his shield, sending it skidding across the floor before it exploded into dust.

Another spawn shot toward him, rolling like a boulder of fire; its tendrils responsible for keeping its momentum. Julian raised his shield just in time to block the impact, and surprisingly, the force of its small frame was enough to push him back. His feet slid against the ground, but he held firm. And with the smile on his turning into a whispering cackle, he shoved the creature away and then quickly followed it before swinging the shield down in a crushing blow, snuffing out the creature of fire in one hit.

Titus, Dyrroth, and Talia looked at each other while this was happening; their eyes, narrowed and their heads subtly nodding for some reason. As for Cyrus, well...

"Chaaaat!" Cyrus was losing it in the background as he continued to hype the chat up… even though Julian was only fighting what could be considered a low-level 'slime' in video games. "Yo, chat! Are you seeing this?! Julian's a beast! This guy's insane!"

Julian barely heard him. His focus was entirely on the fight. The heat radiating from the spawns made it harder to breathe, but he was used to it. He darted from one spawn to the next, his shield coming down again and again, each hit reducing the creatures to rubble. With each hit, the smile on his face continued to grow wider and more manic.

And finally, the last spawn lunged at him, but Julian was ready. He sidestepped to dodge the attack and slammed his shield into its back, crushing the core with a final, resounding hit in the air and causing the fire to splash like lava.

"Ho…"

And with his heavy breath, the silence fell. Julian now stood among the broken remains of the flame spawns, the heat still pulsing through the air.

"That was… something." He glanced back at the others. Talia, Titus, and Dyrroth were watching him, all nodding and clearly impressed. Cyrus, meanwhile, was also grinning like a maniac.

"That's my boy!" Cyrus laughed. "Too easy! Now let's move on to even more exciting battles!"

Cyrus moved ahead of the group, tapping Julian on the shoulder, and gestured to him to move even though he had just finished fighting.

Julian didn't really mind, however—as compared to the daemon… as well as the shadow crawlers, this wasn't anything at all.

The group continued to go deeper into the dungeon, and aside from some Flame Spawns shooting out from the ground again and again, and Julian dispatching them in the blink of an eye…

…the exciting battle that Cyrus promised the chat did not come to fruition at all.

"No…no! L!? What do you mean 'L'!?" Cyrus could not help but clasp his hair tight, "Seriously, why didn't something bigger happen!? I promised the chat something epic and now they're all flaming me! I… I seriously thought there would be a boss fight, at least! Wasn't there supposed to be a [Boss] monster here!?"

"Ugh." Talia rolled her eyes. "Relax, Cy. It's a beginner's dungeon. It's already in the name."

"My dude, chill…" Dyrroth gestured to Cyrus to calm down, "You should have picked a better dungeon for the bro, this is too easy."

"Why didn't any of you betray us!?" Cyrus groaned dramatically. "I picked you guys because you know Kitty hates me! I was hoping for at least one of you to turn on us. Where's the chaos?"

"Don't be stupid," Talia crossed her arms, looking unimpressed. "You're not paying us enough for that kind of entertainment… and why would we betray you, Cy? We've also been your friends for as long as we've been friends with Kitty. And FYI, you hate Kitty, not the other way around."

"Damn it!" Cyrus exclaimed, throwing his arms up.

And while Talia seemed incredibly done with Cyrus's antics, Titus was nodding his head. "...You were hoping we would betray you and risked the life of the newbie? Bold, very bold. This is why I like you, kid."

"Agh! People are leaving!"

"...Well, I guess that's that," Talia shook her head and shrugged as she turned around. Titus and Dyrroth also turned, leaving Cyrus just groveling on the ground and lamenting the unsuccessful first stream.

Julian hesitated to leave Cyrus at first, but as soon as he heard him praying for something bad to happen… Julian just decided follow Talia and the others.

"Ah, guys!" Cyrus quickly got up, "Wait… wait for me!"

Several minutes later, the group was nearing the entrance, and yet Cyrus was still whispering under his breath. Unfortunately for him, nothing like what he wanted to happen happened at all—and the light of the outside was now once again reflecting in all of their eyes.

"Next time you pick a dungeon, pick something harder if you already knew that this newbie was something else," Talia scoffed as she heard Cyrus still whispering to himself.

"I didn't expect for there to just be Spawns!" Cyrus groaned, "Maybe we should just return to Juliet, Julian—some people are requesting to see you make weapons again."

"That's rad…" Dyrroth glanced back at Julian, "...Can I watch you make something, Newbie?"

"Uh… sure?" Julian just shrugged in response.

Talia also glanced back at Julian with an excited look in his eyes. "Oh? Can I also wa—"

Before she could finish her words, however, the walls suddenly started to rumble. A low, deep vibration that traveled through the dungeon like a pulse.

"Uhh… Did anyone else feel that?" Talia's eyes narrowed.

"Yes." Julian quickly nodded as he had actually been feeling the tremors since earlier.

"Uh, yeah, dude," Dyrroth said, glancing nervously around. "That didn't feel good."

Talia frowned, her hand instinctively moving to her sword. "Dungeon tremors aren't that unusual, but that... felt different."

The rumbling grew louder, and suddenly, the light in front of them—where the entrance was—began to shift.

"Is it…?"

The vines and roots that had made up the walls started to move, twisting and rearranging themselves… and soon, the entrance just closed on them.

Cyrus stepped back, the playful tone gone from his voice. "Wait, what the fuck? What's happening?"

[When two graves are dug, many will suffer. You are within the gods' reach and have been detected, Julian Winters. The punishment shall now be carried out.]