Diego enters a new clearing.
This one being much larger than the previous one.
It had similar features such as the crude wooden structures, the bones strewn about, and the effigies.
What had changed was this chamber was much better lit due to the magical crystals, the structures had bedding within that suggested a living space, and bits of stolen poorly maintained equipment.
‘The nest…’
Based on the stillness, it seemed the Bureau had yet to appear, meaning Diego might actually be able to escape with no one being the wiser.
He was at the final stretch, to escape all he needed to do was defeat the Boss.
It dawned on Diego that for the first time in his life, he would clear a Dungeon all on his own.
A feat he would never have even dreamed of a mere few hours ago.
Skills really do change lives, especially ones as powerful as the one he currently possessed.
‘I am getting this skill checked when I get out of here.’
Even if it felt like hours, Diego still didn't feel that fatigued. He did have a few scratches and tears in his clothes due to bumping into sharp corners, but he still felt as refreshed as he had been before coming into the Dungeon.
He could see the aura radiating from his body, especially from his left arm.
This strength filled him to the burst with confidence as he ventured forward with a goblin knife drawn in hand.
Once Diego reached a certain point in the nest he finally came across it.
Sitting in a makeshift throne made of bones flanked by two skull effigies and surrounded by wooden structures was the Boss.
A small screature, only slightly larger than its kin. It had gray skin, a long nose, long ears, and disproportionately large extremities. It was covered in fur pelts and had a cloth with crude runes scribbled on it draping its eyes.
It held in its hand a long hooked staff, longer than its body, decorated with fabrics, beads, and feathers.
Tied to the staff at the center of the hook in a web-like pattern was a large glowing blue magical crystal.
The creature immediately noticed Diego.
It pointed one of its long boney fingers at him and in its incomprehensible language, it bellowed out a command.
Suddenly, from around almost every wooden structure, a goblin had emerged.
All appeared to be better armed than their previous compatriots, some even carrying metal weaponry.
There had to have been at least a couple dozen in this chamber.
They surrounded Diego aiming their weapons at him.
It was a worst case scenario for him.
The reason his last assaults were successful were because the goblins were in manageable groups, or he could back away and bottleneck them.
But, because he had already been surrounded, stepping back was not an option.
“Hya hya hya”
The goblin shaman laughed as it commanded its subordinates to charge.
STAB!!
THUD!!
A goblin falls over with a thrown knife impaled in its forehead.
Diego quickly arms himself with an ax and a club, he swiftly moves towards the left swinging the club in his left hand with enough force to cave in the skull of another goblin.
THUD!!
A second goblin falls to the ground.
GRAHHHH!!!!
The goblins scream in unison and rush Diego.
“...!!”
Diego panics as he sees all the goblins rush him at once.
He hits a few out of the way as he attempts to run back into the tunnel.
Goblins that were behind him stop him in his tracks as they attempt to rush him.
FWOOSH!!
BOOM!!
A ball of fire whooshes past Diego hitting one of the goblins.It falls to the ground completely charred.
Had Diego not stopped in the moment, the fireball would have hit him instead.
“Hya hya hya!!”
The goblin shaman laughs as it charges another fireball using its staff, unbothered by the accidental casualty.
Taking advantage of the opening formed by the goblins that were knocked over by the fire blast, Diego breaks through their formation.
Unable to run back to the cavern entrance, he instead hides amongst the wooden structures the goblins had set up as living quarters.
BOOM!!
BOOM!!
BOOM!!
Diego is forced to run from shelter to shelter as the goblin shaman shoots out fireballs.
“GYAAAAH!!!”
“Hya hya hya!!”
Goblins fall left and right as the shaman carelessly shoots out fireballs, unconcerned with the collateral damage.
SMASH!!
In the meantime, Diego picks off goblins that try to corner him.
‘The fool is doing my job for me.’
KRRSH!!
Diego buries his ax into a goblin killing it instantly.
“!!!”
He struggles to pull the ax out as it had been buried too deeply into the creature.
“GYAHH!!!”
Before he can pull it out, another goblin surprises him.
SLASH!!
It manages to cut his side with a knife.
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SMASH!!
Diego manages to snack the creature with his club with enough force to send it flying.
He runs over to another shelter to momentarily catch his breath.
“Ngk!!”
He checks his wound while he momentarily rests.
‘Ok it isn't deep. Just a flesh wound…’
Fwish! Fwish!
He hastily takes off his backpack realizing it had been too cumbersome for the current task.
‘No use to ke if I'm dead…’
CRACKLE CRACKLE!!
Diego notices the wooden structures catching fire.
“GYAHHH!!!”
He peers over his hiding spot to see all the goblins around him panic.
Their numbers had been greatly reduced due to the flames consuming them.
Some had already made a run for the exit while others stayed behind to fight their leader who caused this catastrophe.
“GRAAHH!!!”
BOOM!!
“Hya hya hya”
The goblin shaman laughs as he uses his power to get his subordinates in order.
He kills those that try to flee and orders those that stayed to continue finding the Hunter.
The goblins are momentarily stunned in terror at the acts of cruelty displayed by their leader.
‘Now's my chance!!’
Diego runs towards the goblin horde. On the way he grabs a spear that had been stabbed into the ground.
“AAAHHHHH!!!”
STAB!!
Before any of the goblins could react, Diego had stabbed their leader in the abdomen.
“GRAAAAAHHH!!!!!”
BITE!!
The goblin shaman wails in pain, but quickly retaliates by biting down on Diego's shoulder.
“Argh!!”
Diego screams in pain, but manages to wrestle the creature off his shoulder.
He pushes it down.
Before the creature can lift its staff up to cast another spell, Diego stomps on its wrist pinning its arm down.
STAB!!
STAB!!
STAB!!
STAB!!
STAB!!
Diego continuously stabs the creature with his spear.
After a few more stabs the creature stops twitching.
SNAP!!
The spear snaps in half after the final impaling.
WOOOOOO!!
Magical energy flows out if the goblin shaman's corpse, entering Diego’s body.
“...”
The remaining goblins stand before Diego trembling in fear at the sight before them.
There he stood covered in their leader's blood as he stood over its corpse.
“GYAAAAH!!”
The goblins attempt to flee. Without their leader, they quickly break rank and fall into hysterics.
Diego picks up a club and begins chasing the remaining monsters.
THUMP!!
WOMP!!
SMACK!!
THUD!!
Their panicked state made them easy prey for the Hunter.
He got them one by one until none were left.
After he finished the fight he decided it was time to leave.
Since the Dungeon Boss had been defeated, the seal keeping him in the Dungeon was undone.
He grabbed what valuables he could carry, including the staff the Boss had, and momentarily paused to see if any stray wisps of magical energy would come to him.
After failing to see any wisps of magical energy emanating from the corpses the Dungeon boss was responsible for, he concluded this ability was only effective on creatures he himself killed.
Diego made a mental note of that as he slung his bag over his uninjured shoulder.
Looking back at the flaming devastation before him one last time as he makes it to the cavern entrance he thinks to himself.
“I got stronger…”
RRRRRRRBBBBBLLLL!!
That was the sign it was time to go.
The Dungeon had been cleared so the Gate was closing.
Diego runs through the tunnels he had come in through.
A big smile on his face as he rushed passed easily traversing the once dangerous passages.
His clothes were torn, he was battered, and bruised.
But, he still felt a euphoric energy that let him rush through the tunnels with ease.
He had done it. He had cleared a Dungeon by himself.
Something he never thought he could accomplish in his entire lifetime.
Of course he couldn't call it a successful capture as he had to leave a lot of valuable resources behind, but in his bag he carried more valuables than he ever had.
Now he didn't have to worry about money for the first time in a very long time.
He couldn't help but think that yes, consuming that Runestone was indeed a blessing after all.
He exits the Gate, and just as he does, it closes. Residual energy dissipates into the atmosphere.
His body is bathed in the early morning dawn. He had only been in that Dungeon for a few hours.
He turns to see one of his neighbors had walked out of his home to investigate what had happened.
Diego casually waves at him with a smile as he walks back into his home.
***
“Sir, we have received a report of a new gate opening.”
“Ok send a dispatch team for an evaluation.”
“Actually sir, that won't be necessary… The Dungeon has already been cleared.
A tall man sporting slicked back brown hair and wearing a black suit stands over a desk occupied by a man of similar height sporting neatly combed graying blonde hair reading a newspaper.
The blonde man also wore a suit and looked back at the first man with an annoyed expression.
“Poacher?”
“Most likely, it's pretty insane considering the Gate manifested in an urban area. It couldn't have been more than a few hours for it to have been cleared.”
Dungeon Poaching, the act of attempting to clear a Dungeon without Bureau authorization.
One of the many duties of the Bureau is to evaluate every Gate that opens in the country, assign it a rank and with the nation's permission; auction it off to the highest bidder. This system is in place to ensure less Hunter casualty due to rank imbalance and it also acts as a major stream of revenue for the maintenance of Bureau operations.
Though it's an uncommon practice due to it not only being a huge risk for potential loss of life and if discovered serious felonious charges.
Guilds heavily frowned upon the practice due to the potential cut in their profits had access to Gates been attained through legal methods.
Usually poachers will simply grab whatever they can and escape without detection as quickly as possible, it's almost unheard of for them to clear Dungeons.
“What Guild is in the area?”
“The Beast Guild, Sir.”
“Andrew Blake's boys… Again with those hooligans.”
“Not this time Sir, we contacted them already and they claim they were completely uninvolved. They are already doing their own internal investigation.”
“Any Hunters live in the area?”
“Just this one…”
The dark haired man hands the light haired man a folder.
Within it is all forms of information the Bureau has on Diego, including the most recent photo they have of him on file.
“Diego Vivar… He's only an E-rank Hunter. Even if the Dungeon was E-rank it would be too much of a stretch for an E-rank Hunter to clear it themselves in such a small span of time. Even if they had good equipment.”
“My thoughts exactly, Sir. But, he is the only Hunter that lives in the area. Perhaps he may have participated in an unauthorized raid with an unaffiliated group.”
“Fair enough…”
The light haired man closes the folder and straightens his tie.
“Call Beast guild and inform them one of our own will also participate in the investigation. As for Mr. Vivar, I feel he should at the very least have someone ask him a few questions. Get whoever is available over there ASAP.”
***
After a shower, treatment of his wounds, and a hand-wavy explanation to his parents of where he was last night during breakfast; Diego lies on his bed, physically fine, but emotionally exhausted.
While he covers his eyes with his forearm the image of the creature from his dream enters his mind.
He gets up to look at some books next to his nightstand. Picking up a bestiary, he flips through the pages and lands on the one about dragons.
[The pinnacle of all Magical Beasts. The secret to the Dragon's power is due to their nature of being a giant lump of magical energy, and can therefore absorb other sources of magical energy. They possess the physical traits of many other magical beasts and special lungs that allow them to breathe magical energy, shaping it into different elements depending on their adaptive nature. Due to the scale of their power, Dragon's tend to be found in EX-Rank Dungeons guarding massive hordes of treasure. Items crafted from the parts of Dragons tend to be of the highest quality, even a single scale is a highly valued prize. Though offshoots and distant relatives exist in lower class Dungeons, do not confuse them for these Beasts.]
‘Superior physical strength and the ability to absorb magical energy.’
Diego examines his left palm staring at the crimson jewel that was now embedded into it.
He felt an energy radiating from it, greater than what he had felt in his whole life.
‘That Runestone was a dragon scale. I still don't know why my arm changed, but…”
Reminiscing on the night's events, he reviews what he has learned so far about his new abilities.
‘I can get stronger, maybe to an unlimited extent.’
“!!!”
A sudden thought shook Diego to his core.
If other Hunters knew there was a skill that grants infinite growth, they would all jump at the chance to attain it.
Especially malicious ones could very easily threaten to harm Diego, or worse, his parents.
He may possess a miraculous, potentially life changing skill now, but he knew he was still only E-rank.
‘What do I do now? Do I go to the Bureau?”
“Oye Mijo!! Someone is at the door for you!”
As Diego pondered his next step, his mother alerted him to a guest at the door.