The Dungeon

"Hello good friend, I hope this letter finds you well. Ecstatic is the term I'd use to describe myself at this moment. Remember the [S Tier] dungeon in the inner city? Of course you do, you'll be heading there tomorrow if I'm not mistaken.

"Well, I've received a very important tidbit of information in regards to it – hopefully this letter will have reached you by then. I'll tell you this free of charge, all things considered, ha ha! Let's see. Larry, one of my subordinates, was retesting the gate and it wasn't as strong as the Association's testers initially made it out to be, it's actually [S- Tier]. Knots are forming in my stomach as I write that, knowing there isn't anything further I can do to help. I hope you and the team will be able to successfully clear the dungeon, a Rupture in the middle of the city would be devastating. Let's just pray in our hearts I suppose.

"Larry also thinks it'll be an ambush dungeon, however I think that we should get a second opinion from another Gate Technician. You should be fine regardless, but I'll put in the request before I leave today. Of course, it may take a moment due to how busy we've been, expect it the day of the raid's start. Unrest is building up, it's really not good. Tomorrow, everyone nearby will be evacuated to give us enough time to try and get the stragglers who hold out.

"Outwardly we must maintain a stoic face, right? Many people would lose their faith in the Association if we fucked this up, please excuse my crudeness. Obviously we leave this up to you the gods among us, please do a good job, ha ha. Really though, don't mess it up.

"Right, one more thing. Our intel suggests that Lumirae, or another foreign adversary imitating Lumirae, may initiate an attack on the city when you're away. Watch your back."

Lukas looked at the letter again and reread it for the hundredth time, looking for clues. Yet once again he let out a sigh and was about to tuck it into his pocket when he noticed the text at the bottom.

"I didn't have much time to write this letter out in between meetings. Pardon the poor grammar, friend."

Lukas clicked his tongue and assumed that it was a clue for something. It had been struck-through by Connor but there didn't really seem to be any reason for that.

He tucked the letter into his pocket as he kicked open his van's door. He had already passed the identification checks and security to reach the dungeon. It was pretty much in the center of the downtown so if a rupture occurred, it really would've devastated just about everything.

He went digging into the back of his van to bring out his personal equipment, as for the actual scanning devices, those should've been set up as soon as the dungeon was found so he didn't need to worry about it.

He took out his work laptop and a few other tools and papers for recording certain things. As he shut his van he looked around. There were dozens of Association and government workers lining the streets and inside the block aid, all working hard.

'Hero will be here somewhere.' Lukas thought to himself as he imagined his friend's lifeless body. It was seared into his head, but every time he thought of it – he began to hate Hero more and more.

Lukas trudged forward with his equipment in tow. As he reached the portal he could feel his face contort in anger.

The glowing red mass of energy in front of him might've been the only thing he hated more that murderer. It shimmered and mirrored the surroundings, distorting them into a false illusion – giving people long horns, building's decay, the floors fire and brimstone. It made the world around look as if it betrayed humanity.

"You must be Lukas!"

A voice came from behind him causing him to abruptly turn. There he saw a man just a few years older than him wearing a plaid shirt with circular glasses. The man stuck out his hand with a smile.

"I'm Larry, should be easy enough to remember!" He laughed despite the glowing mass of death beside him, "Now, I looked over your file and all the recommendations. The promotion isn't guarantee, think of this as a test. But I don't think I'll be needing much convincing to be honest. With some other guys quitting and Manuel vanishing, we're short staffed at the moment."

"Oh that's alright, I'm just pleased to be lending a helping hand." Lukas gave a big smile that almost faltered at the mention of Manuel.

Internally however, he began to think of something else.

'I wonder where that *bastard* is. The National Guild should be here already if they're going to raid, I haven't seen any of them though… Should I tell them about the potential attack in the note as well? Someone from the association at least? I don't really want to go near the guild itself.'

He thought for a moment but realized that that would put the spotlight on himself, which was the last thing he wanted right now. If Connor knew about the attack and was confident enough to casually mention it in a letter, surely others did as well.

The voice next to him brought his thoughts back into place.

"Great! Everyone gave you really high praises when I asked, so let's put you to the test. We've got everything already set up, come grab your gear." Larry motioned towards a tent standing close to the dungeon.

The two walked over there as Lukas took in the sights. He had discovered an [S Ranked] dungeon just once and from there the Association took over as he wasn't too far into his career at time. Meaning, he had never been to a dungeon as active as this one besides briefly.

Certainly not to directly contribute.

The two of them entered the tent and Larry took Lukas over to some biohazard suits. Without so much as a complaint they both put the suits on. They were a bright yellow and cumbersome to work in – providing little in the way of flexibility.

They attached oxygen tanks to their gas masks and performed many preliminary checks before walking out.

Dungeons emitted a very low level of radiation, a very unique type that allowed for finding them easily. While it would be practically harmless to be within 5 meters of the dungeon for brief periods, the when someone is there for a longer time, it can start to be dangerous.

Nobody wants their life expectancy reduced for no reason due to something easily preventable.

Lukas and Larry made their way over and talked to each other through built in radios as they examined the lab equipment. It didn't take long for Lukas to begin the reevaluation.

They had access to Aura Scanners which detected the density of the dungeon and searched for anomalies. They also something called Spacial Stabilizers which would try to contain the dungeon and probe for it's layout.

One would use the Aura Scanner to get a general size of the dungeons and then they would use Spacial Stabilize to freeze it. Before it gets frozen, a dungeon tends to randomize itself constantly so the tests all end up being for nothing.

As that was the case, once a Stabilizer was active, one would rarely disable it. If they did, the dungeon would start randomizing again and you'd have to conduct every test again.

Lukas began to look at what had already been established with both of the tools by the other Gate Technicians. He was supposed to be looking for certain attributes that would signify different types of dungeons.

There were a few types of dungeons, but they currently thought this was an [S- Ranked Ambush] dungeon. If that information was indeed correct, then they'd be assaulted as soon as they entered. Most dungeons had a small hub at the entrance to prepare, but Ambush dungeons didn't.

Furthermore, they'd be assaulted practically the whole time by waves of weaker enemies which would wear anyone out. These dungeons tended to be smaller in size and you had to clear it as quickly as possible, but anything was possible.

"That's a bit strange." Lukas muttered with a frown.

He fiddled with the Aura scanner, a large computer that had to be hauled around in a massive truck, as it began to visualize a larger dungeon.

"Why do you think it's an ambush dungeon if it's this large? Logically it could be a normal dungeon, or hell, even a field dungeon." Lukas asked Larry over the radio.

"Because it keeps changing. In probably around a minute, it'll get smaller on the visualizer."

"Why not replace the Stabilizers?"

"We have. Twice. We don't have time for it anymore." Larry shook his head. "They're going to be heading in soon. They only have 6 days left to raid it."

Lukas frowned in his biohazard suit as he began to sweat. The cramped layers and his hot breath were incredibly uncomfortable.

"Oh! There it goes!" A finger pointed at the screen.

The finger wasn't gloved in thick layers of protection, but instead in a cloth. Lukas looked over quickly to see Hero pointing at the screen.

His mask still had it's eerie smile etched on it.

Lukas watched as Hero got closer to the screen, he could see the monitor's light bouncing off of the man's eyes nested deep behind the mask.

"This really is a problem!" He raised himself up and scratched the top of his head.

The three were silent for a moment with Larry and Lukas both looking at Hero.

"Larry, how are you?" Hero put his hand gently on the man's shoulder and questioned him enthusiastically.

Larry broke his silence and laughed.

"Just fine," he shifted in his suit before leaning over, "Lukas and I were trying to nail down the dungeon type before you all enter."

"Ah?" Hero cocked his head.

He slowly turned around and looked at the person in the other biohazard suit. He saw Lukas staring back at him, unlike in the alleyway, Lukas was determined to stand his ground.

Lukas could see the eyes deep in the mask slowly turn crescent shaped with joy. Hero quickly dropped into a bow.

"I don't believe I've made your acquaintance before! It's a pleasure to meet you Lukas, I thank you for all the work you've done so far. Gate Technicians simply don't get enough praise."

Hero raised himself from the bow and walked forward. He stuck his hand out and brought his face closer to Lukas'. Close enough that despite the thick protection, Lukas would hear him.

"You aren't supposed to be here." Hero let out a soft laugh as he whispered.

"Apologies." Lukas replied with a scowl.

"Oh well, Lukas, I guess you'll be getting a front row seat."

The smile on his mask seemed to unnaturally stretch as he said that.