We arrived outside the dungeon at the outskirt of the forest.

“Here we are. This is a C-rank dungeon. If we conquer this dungeon, then my father will see me as a worthy heir to the count-dom. It took my younger brother a lot of time to find this dungeon. I bet he gave it to me as a way to suck up to me.”

“Well, you’re the future count after all.” Exclaimed Gloria as she puffed her jelly-like breasts out in confidence. Kel grinned in satisfaction at Gloria’s words.

So, it’s a C-rank dungeon. A dungeon is a cave-like structure that is connected to the world. When you enter it, you are basically entering a different territory depending on the boss monster that leaves there. Dungeons are different from Gates which basically connect this world to another dimension or world.

I’ve been to C-rank dungeons before. Usually, C-rank dungeons can only be challenged by B-rank adventurers or more but a C-rank party is also capable of challenging it. That is only if the dungeon is a C-rank beginner.

Dungeon ranks are divided into beginner, intermediate, and hell. The only time C-rank adventurers can challenge a C-rank dungeon is if it is a beginner or an intermediate dungeon, that is if they are really skilled.

A hell C-rank dungeon can only be challenged by B-rank adventurers or higher. It can also be used as a form of advancement test for adventurers wishing to raise their rank to B. As long as this dungeon is a beginner, then even these idiots can conquer it.

“Ok people. Let’s enter the dungeon.”

We then entered the dungeon. The moment we entered the dungeon, a barrier erected at the entrance.

In dungeons that are C-rank or higher, a barrier appears blocking the entrance. The barrier will only disappear after the boss monster has been defeated or if everyone inside dies. Of course, since a dungeon is unpredictable, people usually bring teleportation scrolls. These scrolls will help someone escape the dungeon if they can’t defeat the boss monster.

Of course, not everyone can afford them since they are so expensive and rare but I’m sure a rich guy like Kel has one or two.

Aargh, why am I thinking about something like a teleportation scroll? It’s not like something will go wrong, right?

After entering the dungeon, it was oddly quiet. No monsters were visible.

Weird! Usually, the moment you enter a dungeon, mob monsters start attacking you.

We continued to walk inside the gloomy dungeon. Luminous stones glowed brilliantly, lighting the way.

Monsters finally appeared. It was a bunch of hobgoblins, which are D-rank. They were the evolved form of goblins. They were the size of a teenage boy around 15-17 years old. They were also much smarter than regular goblins and stronger too.

I should move to the side and let these guys finish them.

“Everyone, take your positions.” Kel shouted and everyone took their positions.

Kel and Gloria stood in the front. Thomas, the archer stood at the back and the healer girl stood next to me on the side-lines. They then started attacking the hobgoblins. Thomas kept his distance and fired his arrows at the hobgoblins. Gloria started chanting for a spell and Kel charged at them, slashing each and every hobgoblin in his way.

After twenty minutes.

“Whew. That was refreshing. It felt really good slashing these hobgoblins, but they weren’t much of a challenge.”

“Of course, they weren’t young master. With your abilities they could never touch you.”

“Oh, thanks Gloria. Your magic wasn’t half bad either. You bombarded these guys so easily with your fireballs.”

“Thank you, young master.”

They seem happy. What a bunch of amateurs. To think they spent twenty minutes fighting ten hobgoblins. Not only that but they didn’t even pull their punches. Everyone knows that when you enter a dungeon, you need to conserve your stamina and mana. At this rate, they’ll get tired or run out of mana before we even reach the boss room.

Sigh, so annoying. Well, at least no one is hurt. The archer guy, Thomas, is really good. He has a good aim and always hits his target. But his arrows aren’t powerful enough to kill them in one shot. Gloria is a good magician who’s powerful without a doubt, but she isn’t good at her control. She can’t adjust her strength and over does it. Kel on the other hand is weak. If it wasn’t for his equipment, then there’s no doubt that he would have lost a limb right now.

His attacks are wide and obvious. Not only that, but he also uses too much strength on his swings and coupled that with his armour; he gets tired rather easily.

“Ok, let move on.”

We continued deep inside the dungeon and we ran into troublesome monsters, Night wolves. Night wolves are more agile and faster than hobgoblins. They are C-rank monsters that are the size of a regular wolf. They have black fur and yellow eyes.

There were seven of them. The group started fighting with the night wolves almost immediately. But this time, they struggled a lot. Since night wolves’ work in a pack, they were able to coordinate their attacks.

But I noticed something weird from these night wolves. They were a bit agitated. It was like they were in a hurry and because of that they charged recklessly than how they would normally act.

Usually, night wolves also known as the hunters of the night, were strong monsters. Their abilities to hunt were shown especially to forest-like environments. Because they could see clearly at the night like daytime, they had no problem at trapping their blinded prey into a corner. So, these monsters shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Thomas let loose his bow. The arrow tore through the air as a whistling sound followed it. This arrow was heading towards one of the night wolves, the Alpha. Surprisingly enough, the Alpha night wolf caught the arrow with its armour piercing canines as it snapped the arrow in two.

A look of shock shot up Thomas’s face as his eyes locked with the deranged monster. It scoffed as it drooled thick gooey saliva before pouncing at the backliner. Kel blocked its mad charge by swinging his sword at full strength at it. Wind trailed as his sword met nothing but air.

The Alpha night wolf was nowhere to be seen. A look of shock and confusion washed over Kel’s face.

“Young master, from above.”

A cautionary yell from Thomas diverted Kel’s attention to the air. The Alpha night wolf was hurtling down at him from above, like a flying squirrel. Without time to block or evade, teeth sunk into his armour. A look of shock appeared on the predator’s face. It was its first time its razor-sharp teeth couldn’t pierce all the way through armour.

Kel, who had a smile of relief on his face, pushed the wolf to the ground before swinging his sword again. The Alpha wolf managed to jump out of the way again. It growled as it looked around its surrounding.

Four of the seven night wolves were already down for the count. Only two remained excluding the Alpha and they were busy sizing up Gloria, who with her magic, annihilated at least three of the night wolves that were down. The other dead wolf was killed by Thomas, who managed to get a clean shot from all the fighting happening.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Alpha, noticing it was at a disadvantage looked behind it. There was a clear route for escape. That was the only way they could escape from this fight and that was by going back the same way they came from. Cold sweat rolled down its dark fur. It then growled even more as if a switch had been turned on.

The other two night wolves also growled loudly as they noticed their leader not backing down. The two charged at Gloria at intense speed. She was able to jump back efficiently, distancing herself from the charging wolves as Thomas fired a dozen arrows at them. In that period the wolves were dodging the arrows, Gloria chanted a spell.

Her wand turned crimson red as fire blazed from it.

“Fire lance.”

With those last words from her spell, a javelin like fire spiralled from the wand as it launched itself to the night wolves. One managed to evade by dodging to the side but the other one wasn’t so lucky. The fire lance impaled it like meat on a skewer. Its blood sizzled as the fire lance burned its insides.

Gloria couldn’t celebrate as the one that had dodged the attack pounced at her gaping its mouth. Blood sprayed as its teeth gobbled at her arm which she had used instinctively to block with. A cry of agony shot out of her beautiful lips.

“Aaraaagghh”

She thudded the ground and as the hunter of the night, which was on top of her, was about to finish her off with a bite to the side of her nape. An arrow bolted from the string and flew in the air, piercing its eye.

Given that breathing room, Gloria gritted her teeth as she casted another spell.

“Fireball.”

As those last words of the spell rang out, a ball of fire appeared from her wand. Due to the night wolf being two steps away from her, the fireball blew its head clean off its shoulders as its lifeless body thudded the ground.

Kel, who was huffing and puffing due to all the energy he had wasted from his huge swings left him exhausted. His previously shiny armour was now covered in dents, bite marks and scratches. It wouldn’t be presumptuous to say that Kel would have been long dead if it wasn’t for his armour.

The Alpha night wolf, noticing that it was the only one left started to back up slowly as its paws stepped on the ground softly. Kel didn’t give it any room and slowly creeped, following its movement. And then, out of nowhere, chill went down its spine.

It thought it had time. But it seemed that time was up. Noticing its sudden change of emotion, Kel charged at it as he pierced its chest. The Alpha wolf thudded the ground with a face that resembled pure despair.

The healer girl managed to rush to the injured Gloria and started healing her. Kel dropped to the ground as exhaustion fell on his shoulders.

I should probably tell master Kel about my observation.

“Excuse me master Kel but may I have a word with you?”

“Tsk, what is it peasant? We have to keep moving so say what you need to say now.”

“I believe the monsters we’ve faced so far were acting a bit weird. So, I think we should take a break and come up with a-“

“I think you are mistaken peasant. You didn’t do anything. My comrades and I have faced the monsters so don’t include yourself.”

Is this guy serious? Well, that doesn’t matter right now.

“I was just thinking that we should rest and review our plan.”

“Our plan is simple and that is to kill every monster we meet. Isn’t that right everyone?”

The others are also tired too. I bet they’ll tell him that they need to rest-

“Yes, huff, huff. You’re right young master. We can still go on.” answered Gloria who was drenched with sweat and blood of the night wolf she blew its head off. The healer girl, after healing Gloria, rushed to my side immediately. Gloria took out a mana potion from her storage bag and drank it, replenishing a tiny bit of her mana.

What?! Are these guys serious? They are all completely exhausted. Oh, I see. They had that kind of relationship with Kel, huh? A relationship where they follow orders and nothing more. Idiots!

“Come on, everyone. Let’s keep moving. We need to clear this dungeon as fast as we can. I’m sure father will approve of me after we do that.”

This guy is so obsessed with pleasing his father that he is blinded by that. Well, it doesn’t matter. If it’s a beginner C-rank dungeon then the boss should be an orc. Even though orcs are tough to deal with but with Gloria’s magic, we should be able to win against it without much trouble. But that is only if she has enough mana to fight.

Well, I guess there is nothing I can do about that. Since I’m just a porter-

*Boom*

A thunderous crash, followed by a gust of wind, slammed near me. Blood splatted on my body as I stood there in a daze.

Huh? What the hell just happened? Why am I covered in blood? Is this my blood? No, it’s not. Then whose is it?

I turned my head slowly to look next to me only to find the healer girl smashed into a puddle of flesh and blood. Everyone was shocked. I could see their eyes slowly fill with despair. I slowly looked up only to find a humongous figure looming over me. This figure was holding a giant club.

An orc? No, an orc doesn’t have horns. And it definitely doesn’t have a lower body of a bull.

Its giant club slowly lifted as blood dripped from its tip.

No way! It can’t be! A minotaur. If a minotaur is here then that means this is a hell C-rank dungeon. FUCK! FUCK! What should I do?

Kel quickly took out a teleportation scroll but before he could rip it to activate it. The minotaur pummelled him with its enormous club sending him crashing against the wall. Blood spewed out of his mouth as his shiny armour cracked all over.

Thomas started shooting his arrows one by one but it was all meaningless. The arrows weren’t powerful enough to pierce it’s thick, iron-like fur. The minotaur just turned and looked at his futile attacks and raised its humongous hoof, stomping him like he was nothing but a mere ant. Blood appeared under its hoof and when it removed it, a disjointed body, no, corpse laid there.

Gloria started chanting for a spell but she was cut short when a huge hand swiped her from the ground before she could finish.

“Let me go! Please let me go! Help! Help me you peasant!” she cried out loud as she wiggled and squirmed like a worm burrowing in the ground.

The minotaur just looked at her futile pleading and slowly squeezed the life out of her, breaking every bone in her body. It was a ruthless sight. Blood spewed out of her eyes, nose and mouth revealing an ugliness that wasn’t there moments ago. She then thudded the ground with her body squashed.

Where was I when this whole thing was happening? I was still standing by the pull of blood of that healer girl, contemplating what was happening.

I don’t get it. Isn’t this guy supposed to be in the boss room? Why is he here of all places? Not only that but this guy went for our healer first. He definitely knew how healers were a nuisance and killed her first. Then he went after Kel who was trying to escape via teleportation.

This guy isn’t a regular monster even for its rank. He’s probably a B-rank monster. But that doesn’t make sense. What would a B-rank monster be doing in a C-rank dungeon? Did someone put it here or was there a mistake when ranking the dungeon? And if this guy is here instead of the boss room, then doesn’t that mean he’s not the boss.

The minotaur then looked back at me. I stood there, frozen in fear as tears filled my eyes pouring like a waterfall.

I guess it’s my turn to die, huh? After it killed all the people that it deemed as threats, it is now coming for the least of a threat amongst the group, me, the porter. I shouldn’t have taken this goddamn job. I can’t even move because of all the bloodlust its releasing.

“S-stinking mo-monster. Huff, huff, d-did you really think you can kill me that easily?”

Huh, that bastard Kel is still alive? I guess it’s thanks to his armour. But with those injuries, he won’t make it.

The minotaur stopped and focused at the injured Kel who was clawing his way in the dirt.

This is my chance. I should run.

I ran the moment the minotaur focused on Kel. Even though my legs felt like jelly from all the fear, I pulled myself together and ran like hell.

“W-where are you running too you peasant? Come and die for me you bastard.” Yelled Kel as the shadow of the club loomed over his head.

*Boom*

The minotaur killed Kel without batting an eye. After, it started chasing me. I ran and ran until my legs became noodles. A dungeon had many hallways so running away wasn’t a problem. But every hallway had monsters. Using my quick reflexes, I managed to move past those monsters easily. The minotaur just charged through them like a bowling ball through wooden pins.

After running for several minutes, I encountered a dead end. The minotaur was closing in like a bull seeing red.

“Come on! Come on! There has to be a secret entrance or something.” I said as I patted the walls and ground.

Dungeons were also known for their many secret entrances. These entrances were able to send someone to a different room inside the dungeon. Of course, you could never know what you would encounter there. You can either be blessed by stumbling in a treasure room or be cursed by stumbling in a room with a hidden monster or a trap.

As I was busy trying to find anything on the wall that can open up a form of secret entrance, the minotaur was behind me. It grabbed me by the neck from behind me and pulled me towards the ground. I hit hard with my shoulder. I could feel that my shoulder was dislocated.

I need to find something. Anything.

I continued patting on the ground and wall as I crawled desperately.

The minotaur approached me and slowly raised its giant club. Fresh blood was smeared on its tip and I knew it was only about time mine was there too.

I kept patting the wall trying to find anything that would get me out of there. It swung it enormous club down at me and as it was about to smash me into pieces. The Goddess answered my prayers and I pressed against something on the ground which flipped a tile of the well paved wall which pulled me into a different room.

“Huff, huff, huff, fuck. I can’t believe I made it out of that. At least I can now breath.”

What the hell is this room anyway? I hope I won’t encounter another monster.

I glossed over the dark room I was in. It was rather small but the good thing was that I didn’t see any monster. All I could see was a treasure chest, shinning at the centre of the room. I picked up my injured body and walked towards the treasure chest. I opened it slowly just in case it was a trick chest.

Light showered my pair of eyes. What was inside this big treasure chest was a torn out old book. A book that radiated in magic and had an alluring title to it. The Phantom techniques.