Host's Penalty

The dungeon raid was one of the worst in history. Hank had to report it as unsuccessful, and the Department of Raids wrote it down as a fluke. 

"Why in the world is something like this happening? I thought we had checked that Dungeon and it was recorded as a C-ranked Dungeon. It was not meant to be an uncharted dungeon and from the looks of things the surviving members had a story to tell." One of the supervisors wanted to know what had happened there but the message he got from Hank. 

"Yeah, even the raid leader was spooked. From what he said here, he went back and found out that there was one more survivor, but he was unconscious. What's more surprising is that Hank was sure there was no way he would survive, he said he had a hunch about the boy before he went back to check on him." The other supervisor said as he looked at the report that Hank brought to him. 

"What is even more shocking is the fact that he said that the boy was mutilated in front of him and there was no way he would be able to survive the wounds but oddly it was clear that his body had healed from all the wounds and he was like a new being." Both supervisors were asking one question. 

"What in the world happened inside the dungeon that would be able to heal that man?!" The supervisors were still asking a question trying to see what would come to anyone's mind. 

Down at the city hospital, Darius had been in a coma for the past four days. Hank brought him in and made sure that there was no way he would be removed if he was not treated even though like a miracle there were no wounds on his body.

Darius' wounds had healed after what happened back at the dungeon, all his wounds were cleared and it looked like he was never in an incident like that. 

But it was something that had shaken him to wake up, Darius opened his eyes. He looked around to see that he was in a hospital and it was not where he expected to see himself. 

"How on earth did I get here?" Darius asked when he looked around to see that he was in a hospital room, he could remember that he was not meant to be in anywhere close to the hospital since he had passed out in the dungeon. 

Flashbacks of what happened in the dungeon came to his mind, he opened the sheets to see what had happened to his wounds. To his shock there was nothing there, he was not sure if it was something that should be possible. 

"Maybe an A-ranked healer came in, but how on earth am I going to be able to pay for something that expensive?" Darius said to himself, he was not sure what he was going to do when the hospital would come for their money. 

The door opened, and Darius looked in that direction to see that it was a nurse and an examiner from the Agency. 

"Oh he's awake," The nurse said when she saw that Darius was up. 

Darius looked at them a bit surprised why they were there. "Hello," Darius said a bit surprised. 

"Mr. Winters, this is a surprise to see that you are now awake. You have been out cold for the past four days," The nurse said, looking at him with a smile. She didn't want to alert him much but Darius was a bit surprised to hear that he had been asleep for the past four days. 

"Four days?! What about Lena my sister?! Am I in the same hospital as her?!" Darius asked looking around, he was sure that there was no way anyone would tell him anything that would calm him down. He thought that Lena was not tended to. 

"Calm down, Mr. Hank paid for your bills he said that it was the least he could do. Yes, you are in the same hospital as your sister." The nurse smiled, and she turned to the examiner. "He is from the Agency, he said he wanted to have a little chat with you to find out what you knew about the whole issue and what you could tell them about the dungeon." The nurse said before taking her leave. 

Darius was left in a room with the examiner, he was a bit shocked that he would even be interviewed after coming out of that hell hole. 

"Good Morning," Darius said nervously, he was not sure what he was going to say but he knew that he had to say something to make sure that nothing was going to make it seem a bit off. 

"Well morning, it is a good thing you are awake, Mr. Winters. We thought you wouldn't make it even after stepping out of an uncharted dungeon." The examiner was looking at Darius. He was not going to take any risks. He wanted to know what he was going to get from Darius, and he was not going to do anything other than ask him questions. 

"So what did you see when you were in the dungeon? I know you all ran into something that made it hard for you to even think of escaping," The examiner was looking at Darius, he was not going to let him think if he was not going to tell him what they saw inside the dungeon. 

Darius was still filled with fear after what he had seen inside the dungeon. He was not sure he would be able to explain all they had seen. 

"It was a nightmare, I thought we were not going to make it out of there alive," Darius said a bit silently, he began to have flashbacks of the dungeon and what they saw inside there. 

The Basilisks and the other creatures that came out of nowhere, it was not going to be easy for him to even imagine what had happened in thirty minutes. 

The man slowly began talking he aimed to ask Darius how he was able to make it out of that dungeon alive. "I see, you all faced something none of you would have thought to meet in a C-ranked dungeon. The dungeon turned out to be an uncharted one and it was not even on our radar so when we got the info it was also too late." 

Darius stared at the man, he had the urge to headbutt him. 'Not on your radar my ass! People died in there! You are lucky I am weaker than you are sir, you would have gotten the whopping of a lifetime.' 

"It was a bit late and the monsters had already done what they wanted to you lot. And for that, I am deeply sorry." The examiner was looking at Darius, he was not sure what he was seeing but he knew that there was no way he would have been able to survive the monster attack.

Darius could see that the man didn't mean anything bad and it was truly a mistake on their end. He didn't want to have memories of that place and what it did to him. 

"One more thing, you came out of that place unscathed and it's something worth looking into. Since the Squad Leader said that there was no chance for any of you to walk out of that place alive. And he also told me that you were the last person to come out of the dungeon but he was shocked when he saw that there was injury on you. Tell me, did you have an awakening when you were inside the dungeon?" The examiner was looking at Darius, he was sure that there was no way anyone would be able to survive the attack from a creature like that if one didn't have enough power to escape it. 

Darius had vivid memories of what happened in the dungeon and he was not sure if anyone would take what he was going to say about the whole thing a bit seriously so he was not planning to tell anyone what had happened in the dungeon when he was there all alone. 

"No, I don't know what happened in there, I don't think I had an awakening." Darius said looking down, he was not sure he would be ready for anything they would be bringing to him. 

The examiner looked defeated. He was not expecting him to say something like that, but he was also not going to pressure Darius into saying anything that was not true. 

"Okay I will leave you to it, I know you must still be traumatized after what you saw there. Do well to get some rest," The examiner said before leaving the room, Darius was looking at him, his head boiling and his thoughts running wild. 

'Must be? I can still see that slithering bastard whenever I want to close my eyes.'

He knew very well there was no way he would be able to explain the light that came after the basilisk beat him. He was not going to be spewing rubbish. He laid down trying to get enough rest and make sure that there was nothing going to make him think much. 

'I wonder what happened back there, I thought I was dreaming when I saw that happen but then there was no one there or a way for me to even levitate." Darius was trying to close his eyes to get some rest when he felt something a bit different happening around him. 

He looked up to see a screen in front of him, it was filled with instructions. 

"What in the world is this?" Darius asked when he looked at the screen. 

The instructions on the screen were, 

{Notice, Dragon god host is required to attain the proper physique. You are required to do three hundred pushups, two hundred sit-ups, and ten-kilometer sprints. Failure to do it or start will be penalized.}

"Am I dreaming? Or maybe that nurse mixed something in my medication." Darius asked himself, he was confused when he saw what was happening in front of him and it was not even clear what he would be calling the thing happening in front of him at the moment. 

The doors opened and a nurse walked in with a tray of medicines for Darius, he was looking at her to see if she would notice the odd screen but she handed him the tray. 

"Now make sure you take these at the time placed on them, the doctor said he would run some more tests on you so you will be able to leave when the time is right." The nurse said she had a big smile on her face. 

Darius was sure that she was not able to see the screen so it was clear he was either dreaming or he had a hit on his head. "I think it would be best if I was to ignore this and get some rest," Darius laid back down and wanted to make sure that he was not the one making himself feel all that stress. 

When Darius lay down, he didn't notice when the screen brought out a timer that had a time placed there. It was a ten-minute timer, and Darius was not sure what he was seeing so he was not going to take it seriously. 

{Warning! Time is almost up, Host will be penalized if he doesn't comply.} Another message came up on the screen, Darius still didn't pay attention to it he was trying to ignore it and make sure that he was going to get enough rest. 

The screen brought out another countdown sequence but this time it was for ten seconds, Darius didn't look up his head was still faced down. 

'I wonder what in the world that was, I want to get some rest, maybe I hit my head hard in that dungeon.' Darius ruffled his hands on his head, he was a bit confused and he wasn't going to let himself get dragged into something that he would not like. 

Another message appeared on the screen, it read. {Times up, the Host will pay the penalty.} 

The next minute, Darius was teleported to another place. It was like he was taken to another world, Darius looked around and he was a bit confused. 

"What in the world is going on here?" Darius looked around, he then looked up to see the screen. 

It read, {Survive the Skeleton Warriors for thirty minutes, that is your punishment.}

Darius looked at the screen confused, he looked back and he saw Skeleton warriors standing behind him with Swords and Clubs. 

Darius swallowed hard, "What in the world is going on?!"