Azunai, a renowned adventurer, has lead many of his allies and comrades to victory. May it be a battle with the rival guilds or hunting monsters through out the Empire of Cyrene, and its neighboring countries and kingdoms. But most of all, conquering dungeons. Where riches awaits them at the end of the dungeon. Gold, gems, jewelries, items, artifacts. All of it, theirs if they're able to defeat the dungeon.
So far, Azunai and his comrades were able to conquer 8 fairly normal and low threat dungeons, but mostly normal ones. Not the best, but fair enough to earn him fame and renown from other dungeon crawlers. 19, the number of dungeons cleared and conquered by a single group or guild. Karl Franz, the guild master of Domitorem Lacum, leads the race for the top conqueror. Not that there is a race though.
And the dungeons he and his guild conquered were not all walk in the park, they conquered a many pretty high threat dungeons. Aside from conquering this dungeons, they were also the ones to first discover it. Which had given Domitorem Lacum the advantage and made it the most prestigious and most renowned guild. Where many nobles tried to recruit Franz and his guild. But ultimately becoming a vassal of the Emperor of Cyrene, Gabriel Angelos XI
Driven by his ambition, and perhaps envy, Azunai started conquering dungeons himself(no. not by "HIMSELF") with his group of friends of seven. First conquering low threat dungeons to gain some dungeon crawling experience to conquering normal threat dungeons. They were then invited to join the guild Lacum Venatores, and they all agreed to join. But their conquer of a high threat dungeon earned him fame and renown, and attention from other guilds nobles and especially, Karl Franz.
When Karl Franz heard the news that there was an adventurer who conquered a high threat dungeon, it perked up his interest on this guy. He and some of his high ranking guild members are on their way to a newly discovered dungeon of one of their guild scouts. He sent for an invitation to Azunai if he would like to join them in conquering this new found dungeon.
When Azunai got the invitation from Franz, he was ecstatic and immediately informed his friends and his guild master. His master did not like it though, and was adamant on letting Azunai go. But Azunai persist on going.
"This may take a while master Sven, but I will be back for sure." Azunai asks for the permission of his master. "It's not like they're inviting me to join their guild, they are just inviting me to come and experience what it feels like conquering a dungeon with highly skilled allies."
"So we, your guild, are not skilled enough to your liking?" Sven, the guild master got angry by what he had just heard. "Heard that men?! This guy here thinks he's such a big boy now that he's going to where the big boys are, at the big leagues. To only become their errand boy! Hahaahahahaha!" """HAHAHAHAHA""" and the guild burst into a fray of insulting laughs. But his friends did not, though they did not agree with Azunai either. Instead, they just did not say anything and just gave him a look of disappointment.
"Go boy! It's not like we cannot do anything without you. You're not that big, you know?" as if the guild master had already made his decision.
"So now you're kicking me out of the guild?! This is ridiculous!" Azunai tried to protests. "I'm not one to blow my trumpet, but I could say that I have done so many things for this guild since we joined!" anger is boiling up at the ridiculousness of his master.
Breaking their silence, his friend, Heinrich finally speaks.
"But it's not like you have done it yourself! Don't get conceited Azunai, we only chose you to be our party leader 'cause you always go and dive first and do much of the tanking. Without us you also wouldn't be able to accomplish what you had today. And what you had, we already had enough of it." Adding fuel to the fire. His other friends joined Heinrich's side and Sven.
"Wha..what? You guys? Are you not my friends?"
Devastated, he picked up the equipments he already packed and heads outside of the guild house without saying any other words. When he got out, one of his friends opened the window on the second floor and called out to him.
"Hey! You forgot this!" he then threw a sack full of Azunai's other belongings. Azunai picked it up and left without looking back.
After three days ride on a horse, he made it to a small frontier village of the Cyrene Empire named Fenris. Karl Franz and his handful of men stayed the night here to wait for Azunai. He stated in the letter that they would wait for him for three days to arrive, and should he not come they would proceed with the hunt. And Azunai made it just on the first day of their wait.
"So you are Azunai? Nice to meet you! I'm Karl Franz, and this are my men."
Franz shaked hands with Azunai. And Azunai proceeds to shake hands with Franz's men.
"It's an honor to meet you sir!" Azunai was overly excited upon meeting the great conqueror.
"Yes yes, I know. Well since you are here already, shall we get going?" sounding arrogant, he suggested they start working.
"Sure sir!" Azunai doesn't seem to mind the arrogant attitude of Franz. Or he really is just overwhelmed.
And so the group of 26 men moves out of the village and travelled a fair distance of about a kilometer. When they got there, they proceeded to the entrance of the supposed dungeon. "We're here!"
Notifying his guild and Azunai. "Alright men! Make yourselves ready! Last check on the equipments and supply! Make sure everything's checked! Potions, rations, camping materials! Azunai! Make sure your blade's sharpened, your shield! OKAY! STEEL YOURSELVES MEN! THIS MIGHT TAKE US QUITE A WHILE! LET'S GO! Good hunting everyone!
Karl Franz made his speech and they entered the dungeon.
'Oh shit! This is really happening! I can't believe it!'
Azunai is excited, as well as nervous. It's not like it's his first time, it's just being able to hunt in a dungeon with the renowned Karl Franz is pretty nerve wracking in itself.
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Domitorem Lacum then proceeded to the dungeon, smashingly fast on the first 40 floors. As they made progress inside the dungeon, they are nearing its most bottom level. They are already at the 56th level/floor. They've already been inside the dungeon for almost three weeks now. It had taken them quite some time. Karl Franz never knew that this dungeon is much harder than it seemed it posed. There's three more floors to go, and the Underlord's room, on the last floor is theirs for the taking. The dungeon core must be there, or should be there. And so far, there're no casualties yet. Most of them only suffered minor injuries.
"All clear!" the scout scanned the whole floor for the second time and reports to Karl Franz.
"ALL CLEAR! MAKE CAMP!" then Franz ordered his fatigued men, also Azunai.
As Karl Franz checked up on everybody, he eventually made his way to Azunai. "So? How are you doing so far? Enjoying the hunt?" he asked.
"Yes sir!" Azunai answered as enthusiastic as he can but fatigue shows nonetheless.
"Well, get some rest. We will rest here for a day. Then head down. Our scouts said there's only three more floors left. So we'll be needing your energy and fighting capabilities down there."
Karl Franz then left for his tent. They camped on a big clearance just before the stairs leading down the 53rd floor.
After a day's rest, they set out for the final 2 floors before the boss floor. Along the way, they encountered a many more fiercer and more agressive monsters. These monsters did not let them have a rest. They lost 3 men, unfortunately one was a healer, which is crucial for their survivability down there. Upon reaching the stairs leading to the last floor, they set up camp again to prepare for the last battle.
"Make camp! We'll need to recuperate. Healers go fix those who are injured. Black smiths do repairs! And if you have some extra time, appraise some of our loots! We might be able to use them tomorrow. And the rest! Get some sleep!" Franz then handed his equipments to a smith to have them fixed or maintained. Then he got to his tent. "Do not disturb me. Unless there're urgent matters." He then ordered one of his high ranking officer.
"Yes sir!" replied the officer. "You! Take the first watch, and make sure to wake someone up to take the watch after you!" he then ordered one of the guild members.
As they pack their camp, they had their meal. Who knows if it was breakfast or lunch or dinner. Nobody cares. They all just want to finish up this dungeon delve fast.
After a plentiful of rest everyone was already awake. They all had their breakfast and last checkups on their equipments. Karl Franz took a stand and spoke to his men and Azunai.
"Alright men! Be ready! I hope you all got some good sleep and rested well. Today, we finally conquer this dungeon! Gear up! Move out!"
Upon their descend.. they encountered only two monsters. Two hulking giants, standing 3 meters tall, both of them. These giants wield spear and halberd. Karl Franz and his officers or personal guards took both of them on. The rest, including Azunai were told to back out of the giants' melee range.
They only do ranged attacks. Azunai attacked with his siege crossbow. The rest of the Domitorem Lacum attacked with either magics spells or bow or crossbow.
They defeated the guardians, the officers took the keys from the guardians. They then both put the keys to the keyholes at the same time. The keys unlocks two stone doors. These mighty doors had designs on them of a great giant wrecking havoc on cities and towns.
Karl Franz pushed both doors open.
There, the Underlord of the dungeon awaits them sitting on his throne in the middle. It stands and revealed a staggering giant of 5 meters tall.
It picked up his mighty maul and roared then charged at them. Its roar shook the dungeon, and possibly the fears inside of Azunai and the members of Domitorem Lacum. Franz and his officers seems not fazed at all. Then Franz advanced too. And the giant took the first strike, striking Franz. But he just raised his shield, the Shield of the Agallans. The impact resounded and reverberated in the room. But the impact damage was absorb by the shield.
And just like the strategy they have earlier, everybody except for Franz and his officers took the offensive on melee while the rest attacked at range. Little by little they whittle the giant away. And try to keep it at bay, away from the range attackers. as Franz's shield could no longer take the damage, it was shattered. Forcing Franz to retreat a little. Giving the giant a chance to attack those pesky mages and wizards. Those of the unfortunate casters who are not fast enough to evade the maul of absolute destruction almost like disintegrated.
Karl Franz dash towards the giant, jumped as high as the giant's head then struck the giant square on the temple knocking it down with his famous warhammer, Warhammer of Zaramoth. And there, as soon as the giant fell, victory is at hand. One of his officers struck the neck of the giant while it lay unconscious on the ground, cutting its head.
Everybody howled for victory. But they haven't conquered the dungeon yet. The Dungeon Core has yet to be destroyed. But every adventurers knows that totally destroying the core would be pointless as it could be a training ground for their guild and a resource generator if they claim it. So for every adventurer, leaving the core intact or leaving just a small shard is the norm. But since dungeon core shards worth a lot of gold, they proceed to strike the core which was fairly huge, maybe even the largest that they've all seen.
"Break the core. Leave only a fist size." said Karl Franz. And his men started chipping at the core. But the core is so tough that the pickax they brought just couldn't do enough damage to break it. So Franz had to step up and strike it with his warhammer. And it did damage the core enouhh to break it into fairly big chunks, there's also smaller fragments that had scattered. Karl Franz only lefr about a fist size core.
Azunai also picked up shards for himself as a reward. He's also eyeing the treasure room which was just beside the room boss room. It had no doors, just open. So Azunai could see the treasures and many artifacts there. He was eyeing for specific artifact there. A sword.
When Franz proceeded to distribute the treasures and items and artifacts, he gave his guild members first. And Azunai last. The sword that Azunai wants was never given to anyone so his excitement perked up. Karl Franz picked up the sword and unsheathed it. Admiring the sword, he called for Azunai. Azunai stepped forward.
"This sword is amazing, isn't it?" Franz asked Azunai, seeing the excitement in him like he was a kid receiving a toy he had wished for.
"Yes sir. It is." Azunai mesmerized by the sword. His gaze follows wherever Franz wave it. Like being hypnotized. "Then this is yours." said Franz while showing a generous smile across his face.
"REALLY?! THANK YOU SIR! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" if he's just not suppressing himself, he would probably jumped for joy maniacally. His eyes were watering. "Then here, have it!" Franz then thrust the sword into his stomach then pulling it out and thrusting it yet again 3 more times.
"Wh---what? Augh... wh----why?" as he grab's Franz shoulder and looking him in the eyes while tearing up.
"Because I don't like you, that's all." Franz answered him casually as if nothing.
Azunai fell on the dungeon floor... Looking at the rest of Domitorem Lacum as they haul the treasures. And he could hear them all laughing, especially Karl Franz. The laughter never died, it only drifted far away as the Domitorem Lacum leaves the boss room.
"Bas----tards..." was his last words.
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