The man, sitting in front of the monitors of the control room in the dungeon management office, was enjoying the calmness of the night while smelling his freshly brewed coffee.
“Nothing beats a day without major incidents”. He smirked.
He was used to getting messages from solo warriors who were trying to clear dungeons by themselves in search of fame, or parties trying to clear a higher rank dungeon, but today, nothing has happened and was content with it.
He took a sip from his cup of coffee and grabbed the newspaper in front of him to read various random news. He was not in a hurry. Most of the raids were already finished with no major issues. There was nothing to worry about. So he just enjoyed his coffee while waiting for his shift to end the next morning.
Unfortunately for him, an urgent message popped up from one of the monitors. He was taken by surprise and jumped from his seat.
He went to check the content of the message and was shocked. It was sent from a C-rank dungeon, the Dragon Tombs.
“Did someone try to clear it by himself? Let me check the list of participants.” He shrugged.
As he went through the files of the ongoing raids, he found the list of the ones who went to that dungeon. He was surprised to see a team full of C-rank warriors sending an SOS message.
“Did they mess up somewhere? But even if they did, they shouldn’t have a problem with this dungeon.” He asked with a puzzled expression.
He couldn’t find a proper reply to this dilemma, so he decided to open the message and see it.
As he was going through it, a grim expression appeared on his face.
He was an experienced and seasoned JT, he immediately knew what catastrophe he was dealing with. He never thought of witnessing something like this on such a calm night.
Without finishing the whole message, he took the phone and called HQ.
While talking with them, another message appeared coming from the same dungeon.
“Wait, there’s another message from them, stay with me on the line.” Yelled the JT.
Just when he opened the message and saw the time limit to clear the dungeon, his fears came true.
“The situation just got worst. Find an elite team and send them there ASAP, there’s not enough time. All the participants will die. That dungeon is no joke. It’s a Mythological dungeon”. He exclaimed with a serious tone.
Later on, one of the top-ranked guilds in the world was called and decided to help the stuck participants at any cost. Luckily, they had a JT with teleport abilities, and a team of 10 A and 3 S rank Warriors was sent directly to the entrance of the dungeon.
--Time remaining 10minutes—
“So this is where one of the Mythological weapons appeared. Let’s move quickly guys. Our guild will get the third weapon, and we will surely become the number one guild in the world”. Screamed a warrior at the front.
The other warriors all took their weapons pointing them at the sky and roared.
The new party quickly moved through all the halls and rooms of the dungeon, and in less than two minutes arrived where the surviving participants, who didn’t fight the dragon, were waiting.
“Someone is coming”. Reported a warrior from the surviving squad.
“Is that the Saber Slayer guild banner?” Added another warrior.
“They sent one of the top ten guilds in the world to this dungeon?” Questioned a different warrior.
“Look, the one who is in charge of them is non-other than Vladimir Rasputine. He is one of the users of the legendary mythological weapons”. Mentioned one of them.
“Yeah you’re right. We’ll survive”. Replied a warrior.
Vladimir was a well-built young man in his thirties. He was an S-rank assassin-type warrior. He wore a big cowboy hat that masked his keen eyes. His black leather jacket gave the vibes of a nomad, and his daggers were fixed on his brown trousers.
As the Saber Slayer guild warriors marched through the happy low-ranked warriors, Vladimir noticed the big closed door.
“Where is the scout who sent us the SOS message?” Asked Vladimir.
The C-rank scout moved forward and said “It’s me, sir”.
“Did anyone enter the final room?” Questioned the S-rank warrior.
“Yes sir, some of us already went through that door and then it closed behind them to never open again. We tried opening it a few minutes ago, but it won’t budge.” Replied the scout.
“Damn, we’re too late.” Cursed Vladimir.
Nonetheless, he tried to go near it to check the immovable door. Suddenly it opened.
“What on earth is happening? This dungeon is the weirdest from all the other mythological dungeons that I know about.” Jumped Vladimir with a puzzled look on his face.
Vladimir called his party and decided to move with caution. Only four minutes were remaining, but he wasn’t in a position to rush and reap the price of such a decision. He valued the lives of his men after all.
As he entered the final room, the first thing he saw was the shattered body of one of the participants. He died a gruesome death. Vladimir didn’t want to waste any more time, so he moved directly to the center to look for the monster.
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Just when he moved few steps, he saw a big body laying down, and on top of it, he saw a shadow of a person.
“Jack, use flash in front of me, there’s something I want to check.” He ordered one of his men.
Right when the flash spell illuminated the center of the room, the body was clearer. It was a red dragon, and on top of him was a man holding a sword in his hand that penetrated the body of the dragon.
“That dragon must be at least S-rank. Did he defeat it by himself?” Questioned Vladimir.
The man’s gaze fell on the newly arrived party. Took out his sword and descended from the body of the lifeless dragon.
When he landed, he lost consciousness and fell. Meanwhile, the sword disappeared from his hands.
***
--5 minutes before the arrival of the Saber Slayer guild—
The sword started glowing in my hands. I felt a surge of power going through my whole body. For some reason, I thought I wasn’t my usual self like someone was controlling me and telling me exactly what to do. I somehow trusted in this abnormality that was happening. I had to survive and discover the truth by myself.
The dragon started growling and flew. Then, he charged a fire blast trying to blow up the whole ground.
Before he could even try to fire it, I instantly jumped and slashed his right-wing.
“Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu, Uppercut swallow slash.”
After I landed, I saw the big wing slamming on the ground next to me. I was surprised to see such power from this sword, and how it improved my whole skills. Just moments ago, my secret move didn’t put a scratch on it, but now, a simple attack managed to cut his whole wing from his body.
“This power is the real deal,” I muttered to myself.
A painful screech came out from the dragon as he fell and made a hurricane of dust around it.
“Now this beast can’t fly anymore. It’s time for revenge.” I added.
I readied my stance again and went directly for his eyes. He blocked my attack with his claws, stood back on his feet, and launched a bite attack on me with his big fangs.
I parried his attack, spun around, and slashed his jaw from end to end.
“Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu, nail slash”.
The dragon didn’t succumb to the pain and immediately slammed me with his tail, sending me flying few squares back.
I retaliated immediately and we kept attacking each other for few minutes. It seemed we were at a stalemate, but then the dragon threw me to the sky and readied a fire blast to finish me off.
“This is the worst. I can’t put a stance in the sky and I can’t dodge”. I fretted.
As I was cursing my fate at this moment, I felt losing control over my body and my mind started fading. Someone or something was forcing control over me.
“I’ll finish this for you”. I heard a voice inside my head.
Without a moment of hesitation, I left the one talking in charge of my body. I felt like a spectator.
I took a stance that I didn’t recognize. I was falling on my head, but my body put the sword in front of me like it was diving, and an aura started coming out. My body started absorbing the mana in the room, and just when the dragon fired its blast, the aura protected me and converted the power of the blast into its attack.
“DRAGON DIVE”. I shouted.
I felt the sword impaling the gigantic body of the dragon, and all the aura blast penetrated its inside to instantly kill it.
I didn’t understand what was happening, but I knew that this power was the real deal. I sat down on top of the dragon’s body, trying to find a logic to what was happening, but my mind refused to give me an idea. I was tired and all the damage that I accumulated started flowing back to me.
I saw the door opening and a party entered. I couldn’t recognize them due to the darkness in the room, but someone flashed a light skill. I felt relieved to see humans and that this dungeon was cleared.
I descended from the body and before I knew it, I lost consciousness.
***
--Several days later—
I opened my eyes to a white ceiling. I heard the beeps of a machine near me. I tried raising my head a little bit to have an idea about my whereabouts. I turned my head to the right and saw a machine linked to my body with two cables. Next to it was a liquid being pumped into my veins.
I was wearing blue clothes and wrapped with what seemed like a hospital sheet.
“It seems I am in a hospital. How much time had passed since I lost my consciousness?” I questioned.
I tried going out of my hospital bed, but I couldn’t.
“It seems I didn’t recover yet. Well, it is not a surprise after all that I went through in that dungeon.” I nodded my head.
The memories of the dragon tombs were still fresh in my mind. The fights with the monsters inside of it, the dragon that annihilated everyone, and the new sword that gave me a power I could never dream of achieving in the short term, were all real.
Suddenly I heard the door opened and a nurse came in.
“Ah, you’re awake. Wait I’ll call the doctor right away” Exclaimed the young nurse with a big smile on her face.
A few minutes later, the doctor in charge of me and few other men I didn’t recognize entered the room.
The strange men who came with the doctor were wearing matching black suits and black glasses. They gave the vibes of some government officials.
“How are you feeling?” Asked the middle-aged doctor.
“Not bad. I just woke up, so I need time to adjust to my current situation”. I replied. “By the way, how much time has passed since I passed out?” I added.
“It has been a week since the incident of the dragon tombs”. Replied one of the men who came with the doctor.
“I’m sorry for the late introduction. My name is Liam Taylor. I’m the head of the Human Resources of General Guild. And these two gentlemen here are my henchmen. We came here to ask you few questions about the recent incident.” Said the newcomer.
“General Guild? What’s a big shot who doesn’t leave his office in the Central Area doing here?” I muttered to myself. “So it seems that what has happened was not a normal occurrence”. I added.
“I’m sorry Mr.Liam, but I’m too tired now, and I can’t think properly, and I’m still dizzy, so please can you return later?” I politely asked.
“I’m sorry to disturb you when you only woke up. When I heard of the news, I rushed things. I’ll return tomorrow”. Apologized to Liam while looking at me with a look like he was trying to read my mind and find my intentions.
After our little exchange, the visitors from General Guild left. The doctor told me to continue resting for the day, he’ll send someone to fetch me some food, and he’ll return during the afternoon to check on me.
As he was leaving, I called him back again.
“Can you tell me what has happened to me? Just keep it brief if you want, I don’t mind it, I just want to have an idea about the state of my body.” I asked the doctor.
“Well, to keep it short, you were brought to us in a very bad shape. Your legs were broken. Your chest was burned. You lost a lot of blood. Many ribs were shattered, and you had many bruises, slashes that deformed your whole body. To be honest, I didn’t think you could have healed from all of that even with the help of top-tier healers. You were in a very bad state. But to our surprise, you recovered from everything in a mere two days. Everything was healed. For the time being, you need to restore your stamina and have a good rest. I’ll leave now, so be sure to rest your body and mind.” Explained the middle-aged man.
The doctor left the room and I relaxed on the bed while recollecting all the events I experienced and the information I learned.