Chapter 2: Introducing the Victim

Adventurer, a versatile profession, with a peak that can assist the Hero in defeating the Demon King and forge new legends, and a bottom that can go as low as to sneak around and scrounge for food and drinks.

Just one silver coin, and anyone could buy an adventurer certificate at the adventurer association, becoming the lowest level of adventurer, like a wandering incognito, a wanted criminal, an innocent country boy, a lazy city thug, and even...

A new day, the crowd at the entrance to Sain Dungeon bustles and swarms, endlessly surging, all crammed in front of the Teleportation Gate, waiting for the opening of the Dungeon.

There are not a few people making a living around here, in addition to the adventurers inside fighting monsters and gathering materials, there are also small merchants and peddlers shouting their wares on the periphery, and a large number of miners organized by the nobility to enter the Dungeon and mine for ores. A closer look reveals that there are even more ordinary people than adventurers.

Speaking of ores, Sain Dungeon produces a unique red ore called Blood Essence, a critical material for some of the local Lord's industries.

Every day, hundreds of miners belonging to the Lord go into the Dungeon to mine. These ores are more important to the local Lord than life itself, something he would never give up no matter what.

Such a Dungeon, its foot traffic could reach up to thousands at peak times, truly inconceivable.

"This is the place, the legendary Newbie Dungeon that even a fool could clear in one go!"

At the entrance Teleportation Gate to Sain Dungeon, an energetic young girl waves her delicate arms, her long wavy blonde hair shimmering under the sunlight, and even though she's dressed in simple leather armor, she can't hide her innate elegance.

In short, she's a noble young lady who has run away from home. God knows why she would become an adventurer, probably just bored.

"Please don't run so fast, Miss Heiniss!"

In general, the retinue of a noble young lady is either a stunning beauty or a super handsome man, and Fili belonged to the former, with a height of 1.8 meters giving her a pair of enviable long legs, her long sea-blue hair was like a jewel, too bad that her cold face was now filled with helplessness.

"We agreed, after conquering this Dungeon, we'll return home obediently. The mistress will be worried,"

"I know, I know," Heiniss replied nonchalantly, and seizing the moment her servant wasn't paying attention, she dashed into the Teleportation Gate!

"Ah, wait for me!"

Fili stomped her foot, frustrated, and hurriedly followed.

She had always had a fear of Teleportation, whether it was going through a Teleportation Gate or Teleportation Magic, she always needed a few seconds to recover afterward.

"Uh... why is it so dark?"

Fili, feeling a bit dizzy, looked up and was caught off by the scene before her.

It was a desolate and bleak village, dark and sad, the scattered torches provided some lighting, but they only revealed so much.

The black and dry tree branches looked like ghost claws, reaching out maliciously to those who approached.

A chill ran down Fili's back; the intel clearly stated that Sain Dungeon was full of sunny ancient architecture. Why did it look like a haunted house now?

"I must have been duped by that information peddler, damn it,"

She gripped the curved sword in her hand and called out: "Miss, where are you?"

Although it looked eerie, since Sain Dungeon had been dubbed "The Easiest Dungeon in History," it meant this exterior was nothing more than a façade, not worth fretting over.

With that thought, Fili wasn't scared anymore.

She crossed the collapsed village gate and entered into the village. Most of the houses had collapsed and were incapable of being explored. At the end of the main road, a church stood solemnly.

"Miss?"

No matter how much Fili called, there was no response from Heiniss, which raised some doubts in her heart.

The time gap between her and Heiniss entering wasn't that significant, so why couldn't she find her?

"Could she be hiding in the church?" She arrived at the church at the end of the main road and pushed the door hard, but it didn't budge.

"Aah!"

Just then, a piercing scream tore through the sky, and Fili's body jolted, rushing towards the source of the sound.

"Miss, where are you? If you hear me, reply!"

Silence. A gust of wind blew from somewhere, and with a "creak," a rusted door collapsed to the ground.

At the moment the door made a sound, Fili had already rushed into the broken house, but there was nothing there, just an ordinary wooden chest placed in the center.

"It's not wrong, the Miss' scent is here; she's been in this place," she took off her hood, revealing a pair of fluffy beast ears, and her nose twitched a few times, pinpointing the chest.

Heiniss had just touched this; she recognized the scent.

Fili opened the wooden chest in one motion, but then—

[Triggered a Teleportation Trap!!!]

"Ha!?"

A thick fog suddenly wrapped around Fili, causing her to cough incessantly. When she opened her eyes again, the view before her had been completely turned upside down!

Stunned, a warm little thing suddenly leapt into her arms.

"Mi-Miss?" She carefully sniffed, confirming it was indeed the real Heiniss.

The latter looked up at her with tearful eyes, sobbing, "That scared me to death, wuwu... why is there a trap inside the chest!"

Fili let out a helpless sigh and rubbed Heiniss' head, "Next time don't run around randomly, stick with me."

"Mm-hmm," the noble young lady obediently nodded, and Fili began to observe their surroundings.

They had been teleported into a dilapidated room underground, outside the door was an uneven rock surface, blood-red ores could be seen everywhere, even the rock strata above were full of crystals.

"It seems to be some sort of underground mine,"

Fili, holding Heiniss's little hand, cautiously walked out of the decrepit house and realized this was a rather spacious mining area, with tunnels hewn in every direction; a quick glance revealed no less than five separate tunnels.

"Now we're in trouble, which path leads back,"

Just as she was troubled, several skeleton monsters wielding pickaxes wobbled their way over, and with a casual flick, a Sword Qi scattered the skeleton monsters, leaving their remains scattered on the ground.

"Fili is so amazing!" Stars sparkled in Heiniss's eyes.

"Let's try this way,"

Ultimately, Fili chose the largest mine tunnel on intuition, and the two entered it.

A few minutes after they had left, blue ghostly flames flickered in the eyes of a skeleton skull on the ground, its mouth wide open as if in a silent, manic laughter.

"Fili, look, there's a light point over there,"

Heiniss pointed to a bright white light point not far ahead in the tunnel.

In the Dungeon, treasures not locked in chests would often scatter around the nooks and crannies and emit light: ordinary items would be white, rarer ones purple, and the most precious gold.

Therefore, the allure of the light point to adventurers was akin to a lonely old bachelor suddenly spotting an incomparably beautiful woman!

A goblin squatted before the white light point, digging in the soil with its back to the pair, seemingly unaware of their presence.

Can I go? Heiniss inquired with her eyes.

Fili pondered a moment and then nodded. Heiniss drew her Short Sword, tiptoed over, and with a clean strike, slit the goblin's throat!

"The light point contained a Flying Knife!"

Heiniss triumphantly displayed her spoils of war; though it was just an insignificant Flying Knife, this was her first time obtaining a trophy in the Dungeon, making it exceptionally meaningful.

Fili showed an indulgent smile but froze as she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye, and she shouted, "Come back!"

"What?"

Heiniss hadn't quite grasped what was happening when snickering sounds began erupting everywhere, one, two, three...

Three goblins suddenly sprang out from a corner!

"Ah, where did these come from!"

In her panic, she slayed two, but her left arm was bitten by the remaining one.

Fili hurriedly dispatched the goblin and took a Potion out of her bag, sprinkling it on Heiniss's wound, which quickly healed up without leaving even a scar!

"I was scared to death, where were these damned creatures hiding!" Heiniss indignantly kicked the corpses of the goblins, which had perfectly concealed their small bodies using the dim light and irregular terrain to stealthily ambush their prey.

They even used a companion as bait!

To tell the truth, even Fili had let her guard down at the sight of that single, backturned goblin; she hadn't even sensed the other goblins.

"There's something wrong with this Dungeon,"

Recalling the previous Teleportation trap, Fili snapped back to attention. Wasn't this supposed to be the simplest Dungeon? It seemed quite treacherous!

Either she had been deceived by everyone, or... something had changed within this Dungeon!

"Let's go, we need to be more careful now,"

This time, she thoroughly collected herself, no longer underestimating the Sain Dungeon.

But then, why were there so many niches on either side of the tunnel? They looked just big enough to fit two or three people.

"Snap!"

As she took her first step, her foot pressed down on something, and then a rumbling sound followed. A mechanism had been triggered.

"What, what? What's happening?"

When Heiniss saw a gigantic iron ball rolling down the tunnel towards them, she freaked out.

"Run!"

Fili grabbed Heiniss and started to run back the way they came; they had not traversed far down the tunnel and should be able to escape—

"Click-clack, click-clack!"

A strange clattering sound, and in the next moment, Fili was faced with an unforgettable scene.

Dozens of ghastly pale skeleton ghost hands, linked arm in arm, formed an impregnable barrier at the tunnel entrance!

The leading skeleton monster was laughing wildly; it had a scar on its ribs...

It was from Fili's Sword Qi!

The skeleton monster she had shattered had come back to life!?