Outside the dungeon!

Three armed men stood in front of the entrance, looking at the ruins in front of them.

"Is this the right place?" asked the man in the middle of the group. He stood a head shorter than his companions, with jet-black hair, sharp features, and a scar across his right eye. He scanned the ruins.

"Hmm, let me see," the man on the right said before pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He opened it and studied the map, then looked at the ruin. "This seems to be the right place. According to this map and the report of the hunter who found the place, the description fits.".

"Huff, finally, it's about damn time we arrived," grunted the burly man on the left. Towering in stature, he had a bald head with no hair on his scalp, and his body was sculpted with explosive muscles that threatened to burst the leather armor he wore. In addition to his imposing physique, the burly man on the left wielded a large hammer with a tall handle, the length of which almost matched his impressive height.

He rested the hammer on the ground before shooting a glare at the man with the map. "Hawk, you are the worst tracker I have ever seen."

Hearing the burly man's words, Hawk put the map back in his pocket and glanced at him. "First of all, I never claimed to be a tracker. You just assumed I was because I carry a bow." He shrugged and showed his wooden bow; it was made of sturdy oak, with intricate carvings along its length and signs of frequent use. A quiver of arrows was strapped to his back. "And secondly, are you seriously going to stand there and blame me, Mike? It was your fault we got lost in the first place. If you hadn't pretended to know how to read a map, we wouldn't have taken the detour and been a day late."

The words stuck in Mike's throat, and he found no argument to get back to. It was his fault they got lost in the first place, but he wasn't willing to take all the blame.

"How about you? Didn't you deliberately lead us off the trail just so you could hunt some monsters?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Of course it does; because you continued to hunt monsters, we stumbled upon that damn hornet's nest. There were countless numbers of them. They refused to die even after I smashed them with my hammer." Mike said this through gritted teeth as he looked at the bulging red marks that filled his arms and neck.

"Oh no, you're not going to put that on me, man.” Hawk continued. “It was your fault. What did you expect would happen after you destroyed their nest? You didn't think they'd leave us alone and build another one, did you?."

"Then what do you expect me to do? It's not like I can use magic to burn those stinging little fucks. And it's YOUR FAULT for leading us to the nest in the first place."

"Huh, of course I will. We're hunters. It's our job to hunt and kill all monsters in this forbidden zone unless you want us to avoid them and run away at the sight of monsters."

"I didn't say—"

"That's the cowardly way."

"What did you call me? You wanna have a go, you skinny, monkey-eared bastard?!"

"Bring it on, you eyebrowless bald gorilla!"

They both yelled and were about to draw their weapons when a voice interrupted their conversation.

"Enough."

They froze, not because of the loudness of the voice but because of the tremendous pressure that hit their bodies immediately after the voice rang out.

Mike's knees buckled a little as he endured the mana pressure, sweat dripping from his forehead. He glanced at Hawk next to him and found him standing straight, seemingly not feeling the pressure, as if it wasn't there. Mike clenched his teeth and forcibly straightened his back, causing Hawk to chuckle.

After a while, the pressure eased, and Mike gasped for air, sweat dripping to the floor. After regaining his balance, he looked at the source of the pressure and was met with the sharp eyes of the short man.

"Captain Marco..." Mike said.

"I have neither the time nor the patience to stand here and listen to your silly banter!" Marco said, glancing at Mike before shifting his gaze to Hawk. "And you, stop bothering the rookie so much."

"I was just having some fun," Hawk muttered.

"I don't care if you idiots fight, but do it after we finish the mission and Mike finishes his test." Marco said.

Hawk opened his mouth to protest, but when he met Marco's eyes, he swallowed his words and said nothing.

Seeing them both silent, Marco nodded. "Good. Now, according to the mission report, this ruin was discovered by the patrol team three days ago. However, when they entered to investigate, they triggered a trap."

"The trap wasn't much of a challenge at first, as there was an easy pattern to follow, so they continued down the corridor, dodging the arrows. However, when they reached a certain point, the trap's mechanism changed, and it began firing arrows randomly without a pattern, catching them off guard. This resulted in the deaths of two hunters, and the third barely escaped alive," he said.

"Hmph, this is what happens when you overestimate your abilities. If they had stuck to their jobs and just reported back instead of trying to explore the place, they might still be alive." Mike huffed.

"Hmm, maybe they thought they could salvage some valuable things and steal them secretly before reporting back to the temple. It's not the first time this has happened to members of the patrol." Hawk said before nudging Mike lightly beside him. "Right, Mike, you were on the patrol team, so you must have taken something on your own, right? What did you take? Gold? Diamonds? Magic crystals? Oh, or maybe some essence stones?"

Seeing Mike's silence, Hawk continued.

"Come on, don't be shy, and tell me. Don't worry, I won't report you; I'm just curious."

Mike slapped his hand away and glared at him. "Don't spout nonsense, you bastard. I never stole a dime. I'm not stupid enough to steal from the temple and think I'd get away with it."

"Oh, so you're saying that you never thought or wished for anything? Not even some artifacts..." Hawk tried to probe him for information but stopped after catching Marco's eye.

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"If you two are finished, we should get to it. I don't want to waste any more time on this mission." Marco said this before taking off a backpack and hiding it under a fallen, broken pillar. "Mike put your bag here as well; we'll have to dodge arrows in the dark down there, and these backpacks will slow us down if we carry them."

"Ah, understood." Mike took off his large backpack and placed it next to Marco's, making sure it was well hidden.

"Alright, let's go," Marco said, leading the way to the entrance of the dungeon. But after a few steps, they stopped when they saw a monster crawling out of the ruins.

The monster stopped at the entrance after noticing them. It lowered its stance and growled.

"A Viperwolf?! What is it doing here?" Marco said, looking carefully at his surroundings.

"Could this ruin be their lair?" Hawk asked, his eyes scanning the area.

"I don't think so. I don't see any bones here that these monsters usually keep outside their lair. And the report never mentioned any monsters." Marco said.

"Hmm, maybe it just stumbled upon this place by accident. Look at it; it is alone, which is a bit unusual for Viper Wolves, as they move in packs." Hawk said.

"I guess you're right." Marco nodded thoughtfully, keeping an eye on the Viperwolf as it prowled near the entrance of the ruin, growling at them and showing the tenacity to attack.

"Hawk," Marco called.

"Yes." Hawk nodded and drew an arrow from his quiver, aiming it at the viperwolf's head.

"Wait!"

But before he could fire, Mike interrupted him. He strolled toward the monster with a grin on his face.

"I'll take care of it," Mike said confidently.

Marco raised an eyebrow but didn't object. He shifted his attention toward the carvings on the pillars as if they were more interesting than the monster in front of him.

Hawk lowered his bow and watched as Mike slowly approached the creature.

As he got closer, the viperwolf growled, revealing its sharp teeth, and saliva spurted and dripped on the ground, but Mike remained unfazed, his grin widening as he faced the beast.

When he took another step forward, the viperwolf let out an enraged howl and charged straight at Mike. It leaped high into the air, its six limbs fully extended, claws ready to tear him apart.

Instead of dodging, Mike laughed and, with a quick movement, swung his hammer in a wide arc, aiming for the viperwolf's head. Mike's strike was too quick, and before it could react, the hammer connected with a thud. The sound of cracking bones rang through the air, and the viperwolf was sent flying before crashing into a pillar. It whimpered and continued to shake until it suddenly stopped.

Mike laughed and looked at Hawk. "You see that. That's how real men fight, not hiding and shooting arrows from afar."

"Idiot," Hawk muttered. "It was only an unranked monster, so don't be too happy."

"What..."

Before Mike could lash out at Hawk, Marco interrupted the growing tension between them.

"Alright, let's go." He said this before moving towards the entrance.

Mike glared at Hawk, but after seeing him ignore him and follow Marco, he clicked his tongue, swung his hammer, and sent the blood flying before following them from behind.

After entering the ruin, they descended the rocky floor before reaching the ground floor but were surprised to see the bodies of three ViperWolves.

Hawk kneeled and inspected them, then stood up after a few moments. "It hadn't been long since they were dead, maybe 5 hours."

"I see. Were they killed by the trap?" Marco asked.

"Two of them," Hawk said before pointing to the monster corpse next to him. "But this one died because a sharp blade pierced its skull."

"Huh, you mean..." Mike said.

"Yes. Someone killed it." Hawk nodded.

"I see." Marco lowered his head and looked thoughtful. "You said it had been 5 hours since they died, right?"

"Yeah, roughly."

"So you're saying someone got here before us, met these monsters, and killed them? Is that what you're saying?" Mike said.

"That doesn't make sense. This was a new mission, specially given to us, just one day after the report was submitted." Marco said.

"Hmm, it could be that the investigation department made a mistake and gave this mission to another team as well." Hawk suggested.

"That's plausible. Yeah, it could just be a mistake."

"So what do we do now? We're not going back to HQ, are we?" Mike sounded reluctant.

"No, we'll continue to investigate this place, and if we don't find anything, we'll report back." Marco said.

"So, how do we get through this?" Hawk asked, looking at the dark corridor.

"According to the report, there is some kind of motion detection mechanism that would trigger the trap as soon as we entered the corridor, and it would fire arrows with every step we took." Marco said.

"Hmm, that would be a bit troublesome if we moved together." Hawk said.

"We're not," Marco said, making both Hawk and Mike look at him. "We're going to move one at a time to prevent multiple arrows from being fired at the same time," Marco clarified.

"I see. So every man for himself, I guess," Hawk said.

"You can stay here if you're not confident." Marco looked at Mike, who was unusually calm.

"Are you kidding? Of course, I'll go with you. If I stay here and wait for you, won't I be considered a failure in the test?" Mike said.

"Good. Then, since we're all in agreement, I'll go first." Marco said. "Give me your hammer."

"Ah, why?" asked Mike.

"It's too heavy for you to move freely with, so I'll take it with me and give it back to you when you cross."

"N-No no, I can move -"

"Just give it to him." Hawk interrupted him. "Can't you see he's doing you a favor and probably saving your ass?"

"But-"

"If you're afraid it'll hinder me, don't be," Marco said, snatching the hammer out of Mike's hand and swinging it around like a featherweight toy.

Mike's eyes widened, and before he could protest, Marco moved towards the passage, taking the hammer with him.

"All right, I'm going in. And remember, if you cannot get past the trap, retreat immediately. That's an order."

"Understood." Hawk and Mike said.

"Good; see you on the other side."

With these last words, Marco stepped into the corridor.