Chapter 6. Job Two.

Because Rin had more appointments here and because of the recent dungeon anomalies, he decided to stay in the country for the time-being. He could feel that a change was coming and knowing his luck, he'd be right at the center of the conflict so he wouldn't bother trying to hide from it. 

After handling the situation at the S-rank dungeon he got another important call that made him get on a plane and travel across the country for a second rescue mission. Instead of receiving the details over the phone or from a file like normal, he was told that the Dungeon Master himself would be coming to inform him of the situation and to escort him to the site. Rin already didn't like this change in routine and he thought that the Dungeon Master should be overseeing the situation at the dungeon not that he'd say anything about it. 

Net cat carrier in hand, Rin entered the plane that was set to take him to the dungeon. An older, nicely dressed man with streaks of grey in his dyed black hair stood up from the plush seating and walked over to him. He outstretched a hand to Rin and greeted him politely but he still carried that look of mistrust that Rin had grown used to. Rin's nose scrunched up as the overwhelming smell of cologne filled his senses. The people who met and worked with him knew it was better to avoid wearing perfumes around him to help with his sensitivities. He fixed his mask to his face, hiding away from the potent smell.

"Hello Mr. Haze, I believe this is the first time we are meeting." He flashed a smile that Rin thought hid an altera motive. 

Rin responded rather promptly, worn from the S-rank dungeon and wanting to rest for as long as possible on the plane ride. "We've been to a few of the same events but this is our first time speaking, Mr. Browning."

The man smiled brightly at Rin before leading him to sit in a rather lavish booth in the plane where a bottle of champaign and two glasses rested in an ice bucket nearby. Rin took note of the over-the-top decorations littered about the carriage before flopping down onto his seat. He just wanted to get some sleep given that he'd been jumping from dungeon to dungeon for the past few weeks with little time to rest but once Mr. Browning sat across from him, his hopes were diminished.

Instead of being able to sleep the man across from him insisted on talking to him and even tried to serve Rin alcohol which he turned down politely while scathing on the inside, how could a person offer alcohol to a hunter about to go into a dungeon. Rin resolved himself to the fact that he wouldn't be getting any sleep and brought out a cat carrier figuring that this might get him to shut up. Mr. Browning stared at it inquisitively as Rin unzipped the front pouch. "Oh, isn't it true that you tame small dungeon monsters to assist you given your low stats? I have to say, it is an interesting idea but people aren't particularly fond of monsters so it might be best to not use them so you can keep your public image." 

Rin rolled his eyes, his expression hidden by his mask. "If you ask me sir, doing my job is more important that my public image. My job is rescue people from dungeons, not be a pretty face on tv. I'll do whatever makes my job the easiest and most effective." 

"Oh right. Of course, I couldn't agree more." 

Rin just sighed and ignored him taking, finishing unzipping the cat carrier and reaching a hand. "This dungeon has a mountain terrain. Correct?"

"Ah yes, it is used for a lot of mining operations thanks to the rare raw minerals that are found there." Mr. Browning started chattering on, trying to impress the hunter across from him. 

"I don't care about the industrial benefits." Rin snapped as he took his hands out of the carrier and held up a small monster in his hands, it was big enough that it filled up his hands, its long front paws and fluffy tail spilling out of his fingers. Rin placed the creature on the table and petted the creature on its head slowly waking it up. The creature blinked a few times to fight off its sleep, its large grey eyes turning to look at Rin as it stretched its mouth open in a yawn, showing off its large fangs and pink mouth. It purred slightly, stretching before moving to rub up against Rin's hands in a cat-like manner, its dusty grey tail swishing around to lightly hit him in the face. 

"What is that thing?" The man across from Rin mumbled.

"It's a Monrona, an A-grade dungeon monster that is familiar with mountain environments. I called him Rocky, he'll be accompanying me into the dungeon." Puffy came out from under Rin's clothes, cooing sadly. Rin chuckled a little, scratching her head before placing her o the table with Rocky. "Don't worry, you are coming too." Rocky perked his long pointed ears up when he saw Puffy and he walked over to sniff her, lifting one of his front paws to tap her lightly. Puffy hissed at him in response, prompting Rin to lift up Rocky and place him in his arms. Mr. Browning looked a little uncomfortable to see the dungeon monster which surprised Rin slightly. Guild Masters should be more familiar with monsters and such small ones shouldn't pose such a threat. Rin didn't think too much about it, as the man's unexpected silence gave him an opportunity to get a small amount of sleep which only lasted about thirty minutes. Once they landed at the gate Rin tucked Puffy away in his clothes before wrapping Rocky around his shoulders like a scarf and getting off the plane, backpack in hand. 

"Mr. Haze." Rin lifted his gaze to see a stern looking man in a black suit. Rin recognized him almost immediately as the head of dungeon management in this country, Colt Burton. Rin had seen the man several times to go over dungeon details and he had to meet with him before entering the country so they were pretty friendly. Rin lifted up his mask so he could talk to him face to face.

Colt stopped in front of Rin, shaking his hand. "It's nice to see you again Mr. Burton but if I may ask, what are you doing here? Usually you wouldn't come to these rescue operations." Rin asked, peering past him at the dungeon gate which was blowing out snow. 

Colt sighed slightly, a tired look in his eyes. "Extenuating circumstances forced me to be here. You see, this dungeon was improperly managed." 

"Improperly managed?" Rin glanced back at Mr. Browning who was starting to look nervous. 

Colt massaged his brow as he sighed, "Mr. Browning did not properly staff this dungeon raid, the people are trapped inside due to the lack of manpower." Van responded, glaring at Mr. Browning. 

Rin joined him in glaring at the man with a scoff. "So that's why he was trying to suck up to me on the plane. So I wouldn't report him but it looks like dungeon management was already on top of it."

"I've had issues with Mr. Browning before." He states coldly, a clear iciness in his glare that makes Rin feel shivers up his spine and a slight pressure on his throat but not enough to disturb him. Colt Burton was an S-ranker so even being in his presence was a little tough but any other C-ranker would have it a lot worse. 

"We'll go in and handle the situation in the dungeon." He said, scratching Rocky's head. "Can you handle the situation out here?"

Colt sighs slightly, nodding his head with a small smile. "Thank you for your help." 

"No problem. Just doing my job." Rin started to walk towards the dungeon without any hesitation. Rocky jumped down from Rin's shoulders, his body glowing slightly as he changed to be almost twice Rin's height. His front fangs grew larger to be long teeth like a saber toothed tiger. His claws and front arms grew longer to be about double the size of his hind legs, making it easier for him to climb rough terrain and his eyes hardened to be more ferocious unlike the wide kitten eyes he had earlier. Rocky shook out his fur after transforming and lowered his head down towards Rin, rubbing his cheek up against him. The people around the dungeon stared on in amazement, after all it wasn't very often that people saw a dungeon boss outside of a dungeon. Rocky was actually an A-grade dungeon boss that Rin got as an egg as a part of a reward for saving a group while he was in Australia, he raised Rocky with his own two hands and the kid grew to treat him as his mother and assist him with missions. 

Rin jumped onto Rocky's back, fixing his mask in place as Rocky got used to the new weight on top of him. "I'll be back soon, alright?" Rin stated, looking down at Colt who gave him a slight nod. 

With that Rin went straight into the dungeon without any hesitation from him or Rocky. He felt a slight warping as he entered that made his stomach turn but it only lasted a second as an icy chill met his face. Rin shivered slightly from the change in temperature while Rocky looks around with excitement, swishing his tail in the air and sniffing the snow covered ground. Rin took a look around the expansive dungeon, think to himself that it was quite large for an A grade dungeon. He was surrounded by a beautiful mountain scape with snowy peaks and sharp, rocky paths. Rocky jumped around excitedly causing Rin to scoff, "I suppose this is the first time you've been back to a mountain dungeon since our time in Singapore… Alright, you can play a little while I get started." He jumped down off Rocky who immediately darted off into the rocky climate, climbing up cliffs and digging into the snow. Removed his mask and letting his hair blow in the wind, sniffing the air. "It's too windy, I won't be able to track them down with smell alone." He looks around the area by the gate, noticing some footprints nearby leading down the mountain. 

"The attendee list didn't have anyone with flight skills so they must have gone on foot. If I had to guess they wouldn't have taken the main pathway towards the dungeon boss to avoid running into as many monsters as possible given their low numbers. Meaning they would have taken the paths between the mountains along there." He trails his finger across the curving pathway made by the slopes in the mountain range. "If they did that they could have very easily been caught up in an avalanche." He taps his foot in thought. "We'll have to follow along the same path until I can pick up the trail." 

"Rocky!" He yelled, causing the feline to come bounding over to him immediately, leaning its head down to let Rin climb up. "We're going that way, look out for any humans." Rocky whined slightly, he wanted to climb over the big mountains. "I'm sorry." Rin said, scratching Rocky's head. "Maybe I'll ask if we can go around the dungeon for a little after we are done here." Rocky huffed a little and shook his head in displeasure but eventually took off down the mountain. 

The dungeon clear time was considered to be about four days but with Rocky, Rin was able to clear a three day journey in over half a day. The sun was starting to set and the air was getting even chillier but Rin still hadn't seen any sign of the group. He and Rocky stopped by a frozen stream to take a break. Rocky walked over to the stream and broke open the ice to take a drink while Rin looked around. "We should have run into them by now, I spotted tracks heading this way so they definitely took this route…" Rocky and him had run into some monsters on the way so it wasn't a similar situation to the S-grade dungeon but there were certainly less than he had expected. 

A cold wind blew through and Rin caught a whiff of smoke in the air. He turns in the direction that the wind was coming from, spotting some smoke rising up in the air a little further up the mountain nearby. 

Rin whistled sharply, causing Rocky to perk up and dart over to him, picking him up and moving in the direction of the smoke. They scale the mountain to find a small campfire but with a quick scan there is obvious that there are no other people. Rin hummed in thought while getting down from Rocky's back, looking around the fire that was shaded by some trees. While there was a built up campfire there are no traces of any humans having been there, no human tracks or materials. Rin furrows his brow while walking around the site searching for more clues, it truly was bizarre but it somehow felt familiar. "What is going on here?" he mumbled to himself, he glanced over to the ground nearby, noticing some small sharp tracks in the snow. His eyes glow orange as he applies his beastiary skill.

[Tracks of a Spitfire Spider. A-grade.]

"Spitfire spider?" The habitat of spitfire spiders is usually deserts, they bury themselves in the sand and make nests in it, there shouldn't be any in an icy dungeon. His eyes widened when the ground rumbled beneath him, he quickly applied his sight skills to spot a large warm mass underneath him. "Rocky!" Rin yelled, trying to get the creature's attention but before Rocky can get to him thread wrapped around Rin's feet and hands, pulling him down into the snow.