In a huge room only lit with torches, a group of 4 was fighting a giant humanoid creature. The creature had red skin and was wearing a deerlike skull as a helmet. It had two tusk-like teeth protruding from its lower jaw. It was almost 9 feet in height and had a very muscular build.

"Shit! My sword is about to break! Lina, cover me a bit!" Shouted a young man at the front, wearing heavy armour and wielding a two-handed great sword. The young man was visibly tired as sweat rolled down his forehead. He was tall and had broad shoulders. No doubt a lot of muscle was hidden behind that armour.

"Jackson! I am also about to run out of mana! Sergey, where are your arrows!?" shouted a young woman named Lina to the armoured man. She was wearing a purple robe and wielding a wand. The woman had long purple hair and sharp eyes. Even the robe was not able to hide her great figure.

"I'm out of arrows! I'm gonna switch to my daggers!" said Sergey, another young man with long blond hair wearing leather armour. He had a slender but muscular build.

Sergey threw his bow to the side and took out daggers, and rushed to the front.

"How can a red orc be this strong!" said Jackson in frustration.

"Do something, Damien!!" shouted the three in unison at the man standing at the very end timidly.

Damien Arbetoz was a thin man with black hair. He had brown eyes and was holding a staff, "Y- yes!" stammered the man as a golden-white glow erupted and surrounded him. He held his staff with both hands and slammed it on the ground.

[Strengthen]! Damien chanted.

The green light dissipated, and the three at the front slightly glowed.

"What the fuck was that!?" shouted Jackson as he deflected the huge crude sword of the orc.

"I-it's a strengthening spell!"

"Ugh... leave him. What do you expect from a 1-star Healer!?" said the archer.

The almost 9 feet creature before them let out an earth-shaking roar.

"Shit, how long is the berserk state going to last!" said Jackson.

10 minutes later...

"... Finally...we got him," Lina said as he sat down on the floor, exhausted.

But not all were happy, "You!" Jackson glared and stood towards Damien and grabbed him by the collar, "You useless waste of a healer! What kind of strengthening spell only raises the stat by freaking 0.9 points! Not to talk about your measly 5 points of heal!" Jackson was furious.

"I- I am very sorry. I tried my best..." Damien said timidly.

"Leave him, dude. We don't want him to complain to the team manager, do we?" said Sergey, leaning against a wall.

Jackson shoved him to the ground and threw him a dagger, "Go make yourself useful and dig out the boss's core!"

Damien just nodded and went towards the carcass of the slain red orc. As he did so, he said quietly, [Status]!

Name: Damien Arbetoz

Level:

Experience

8

769/800

Class: Healer

Health:

Stamina:

Mana:

103/120

79/130

22/170

Strength: 5 Vitality: 7 Agility: 8 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 10 Luck: 5 Skills: [Heal], [Haste], [Strengthen]

'Yes! just 2 more levels, and I can reach level 10 and finally get a skill that's not useless!' thought Damien optimistically. Filled with hope, he started cutting the red orc near its heart.

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...

120 years ago, in the year 2000, Earth was invaded by an alien species. The Krulls, as they referred to themselves, were a foe humans were not even close to beating. They were far stronger than an average human, but also had mystical abilities. For the first few months, humans were massacred in the millions.

The humans soon learned that they came to our solar system not by the use of science but by the use of magic. The Krulls were adept at using the energy of the universe, or mana as it is called now, from birth. This caused them to evolve as a species far differently than humans. But unbeknownst to them, their coming to Earth also infected the Earth with the same energy. This caused Earth to develop a spirit or ego.

Earth recognised the threat of the invaders, and to drive them out, it erupted huge tower-like structures called [Tower of Trials], and by entering this tower, humans could also harness the power of mana. The more floor one cleared, the more powerful abilities one awakened with. With this new-found power, humanity was able to drive out the Krulls, but not defeat them. Before the Krulls left, they left a message saying that they would one day return and take the planet for their own. To prove this, they killed the top 10 strongest fighters of humanity.

To ensure they are not wiped out, humans swore to get strong enough to defend themselves. But by doing so, they invited another disaster. As humanity began to get stronger and the concentration of mana on Earth increased, Earth became "Visible" to other entities. These entities were not from another galaxy like the Krulls, but from another different dimension on itself.

These creatures rip a hole through reality itself and attack Earth under the orders of four mysterious Godlike [Kings]. They are dubbed [The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse] by people. Under them, there are 28 [Lords], 7 under each king. Since their invasion in 2009, humanity only managed to kill 3 of the 28 lords, and none of the heroes that went to defeat them returned to fight another day. Most died, while others became disabled.

These fallen heroes came together to create the [World Hunter Association], an organisation dedicated to training and overlooking the threat of [Dimension Dwellers]. It did not take long for private organisations to show up, called [Guilds], throughout the world.

Earth is currently in a peaceful era as of 2120. Although humans went through countless disasters, they were able to rebuild, persevere and, importantly, adapt.

...

"Come... on!" Damien was struggling to cut the thick hide-like skin of the red orc.

"Hey, hurry up!" commanded Lina, "Ugh, there is so much dirt in my hair it would take hours to wash it all off!" she said, complaining.

"Oh, suck it up!" Jackson said, annoyed, "My sword is almost broken. I bought this beauty with a year's worth of savings, it would cost at least a few thousand to repair, and that is if it can be in the first place," he said with a sigh.

"Why was this orc so tough anyway? We have defeated red orc bosses before, but this guy was way too strong for a D-rank dungeon," said Sergey.

"Well, I don't care since I got more XP from it. I am almost level 25! Although I would have reached level 25 if it wasn't for that leech taking XP for doing diddly squat!" said Jackson scowling towards Damien.

"Forget it. Getting the chance to enter a C-ranked dungeon for babysitting him for a day is worth it, And the Orichalcum from that sword will sell for a lot, and not to mention this!" Sergey said as he took out a book from thin air…

"You lucky son of a gun! You got a skill book!" said Jackson excitedly. Lena also turned to look at the book.

"Yup, sadly, it's a warrior class and not a ranger class skill, though," sighed Sergey.

"Sell it to me!"

"Hmph, no way, cheap-ass! But as I was saying, we made a profit."

Jackson was disappointed, but he agreed, "You're right. The fee of the District 87 dungeon has gone up, so getting in for free is great!"

"Can you guys stop talking about dungeons for a few seconds! You're giving me a headache!"

Meanwhile,

"Finally!" cheered Damien as he could finally open the orcs' chest.

Right on top of the still heart was a glowing red gem. This was the return stone needed to get out of the dungeon. Damien used his knife to pry the gem out. As he did that, he saw something strange.

Right behind the return stone was a glowing purple gem, 'What is this?' wondered Damien as he poked the gem with his knife.

'This is definitely a return stone,' thought Damien at the red gem in his left hand, 'But what is this?... a second one?'

Damien shook his head, 'What am I saying? This is definitely not a return stone. The colour, shape and the size are all different.' Compared to the spherical glowing red orb the size of a small ball, the other gem was purple diamond shaped and only a couple inch in length.

Wanting to ask his party member about it, Damien went to take out the purple gem, and as soon as he touched it, he was blinded by a quick flash, "What the!?" Damien screamed in surprise.

"Hey, why are you screaming?! Can't you even do a simple task!?" shouted Jackson.

"No, it's just..." Damien rubbed his eyes, but when he opened them, the gem stopped glowing.

'What happened?' questioned Damien as he used more force to pry the gem out, but when he did so...

Crack! The now stone-like gem shattered into a million pieces.

'Oh shit!' Damien was dumbfounded and then scared for his life, 'If they find out I destroyed a gem that who knows how expensive it is...they... they...' Damien did not dare to finish his thought.

Damien quietly threw away the pieces and came to the party as if nothing had happened.

"Ok, let's go!" said Jackson as they held hands, but as Damien was about to do so, but he was slapped away, "No way I am letting you touch me with those hands! You smell like orc piss!"

Before Damien could say anything, Jackson grabbed his shoulder and smashed the return stone.