QUEST: Seorak Mountain DUNGEON
OBJECTIVE: Kill the BOSS of the Seorak Mountain DUNGEON
REWARD: Clear the Seorak Mountain DUNGEON
“Well, isn’t that something?”
The cave was wide enough to drive a semi-truck through. The entirety of it was slick, the rocks smoothed by decades of running water. The Guild Master of the Fighter’s Guild was impressed.
“You’re right, Dae. I’m guessing the fight with Nox Viper plugged the flow somewhere up the mountain, drying this cave and the waterfall out.” He could hear his voice echo in the cave. It sounded almost like a whisper, beckoning him to enter. “We might’ve never found it if you folks hadn’t stumbled across it.”
The two grizzled men walked back down to the empty riverbed where four parties of players had gathered. Immediately after discovering the quest, Hana had put out a call to Muho. From there word spread quickly and within the hour, the Guild Master arrived with the other parties in tow.
At his approach, sixteen pairs of eyes focused on the Guild Master. Waiting for orders.
“This is a first-encounter. We’ll be going in blind with no intel on what kind of boss is in there, so we’ll be taking full precautions. If you don’t want to go in, now’s the time to speak up.” A silence answered back from the group.
“Good, then make ready and we’ll head in within the hour.”
***
Willow couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re not coming with us?”
Hana had hoped Dae would change his mind, but knew enough about the man to know better than to attempt to change it for him.
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“Someone has to complete the outbreak quest, just in case,” Dae replied.
“But if we clear the Seorak Mountain dungeon, that quest won’t matter!”
Willow hadn’t spent much time with Dae, not enough to be attached to the old man. But she knew what everyone else knew: Dae was the best fighter in the country. He was a legend.
“If you’re in there with us, then-”
“He’s just as likely to bring the mountain down on our heads as he is to kill the boss,” Jinyoung cut in. “Not to mention… he’s right. With four parties in the dungeon, that’s four less parties out in the quest area. If something happens to us or if we pull out of the boss fight, chances are we’ll all be out of commission. We don’t know how long the water will stay blocked off so we need to move quickly.”
“Then, why-!”
“His reasons are his own, Willow,” Hana said. “And he doesn’t need to share them with us.”
Dae looked up and nodded to Hana in appreciation.
“Good luck in there.”
***
The slippery smooth rocks made progress slow by necessity. The abundance of large boulders made it easier with handholds and places to grip in order to pull yourself along. But after an age of clambering up the rocks, the incline leveled off allowing the players to walk upright through the cave.
At first, the players mumbled to themselves. A mixture of excitement for being the first party to fight the boss of the Seorak mountain and concern with the loss of Dae Han’s fighting power. Eventually, the conversation quieted and as they entered the bowels of the mountain, talk became sparse and the atmosphere was tense.
A clan of sharpshooters, led by a ranger, spotted it first and voiced their discovery to the others. “Up ahead. Incursion.”
The slick black walls of the cave were uniform, but up ahead, a concrete wall with broken windows jutted out of the ground and reached up into the ceiling. It looked unnatural, but there were no seams. As if the wall had simply grown out of the ground.
Further ahead, there were more signs of incongruence as urban structures and objects decorated the cave like the work of some mad designer. A fire hydrant hung from the ceiling like a stalactite and a bus bench lay on the ground.
“Eyes open. If it’s here, it’ll be close.”
Soon enough, they heard. A rhythmic sound coming from deeper in the cave, gently at first but then unmistakably loud enough to denote the size of the source.
“Is that…?”
A sharpshooter leading the pack turned around and held a finger to his lips. It wasn’t easy, but 17 players did their best to make their way through the cafe system quietly.