Fifth day of the escort quest.

Four days have passed since we were attacked by bandits. Other than repelling the wild beasts and uninfected monsters, nothing noteworthy happened in those days. It was rather peaceful.

We dropped off the bandits we caught with the knights in one of the small towns that we passed through. Apparently, their group is called “Virta,” a wanted group—dead or alive—with bounties on their heads. They kidnapped, stole, violated, and killed all the women they captured.

“Death would be too light for these animals,” Gretta spat.

Capturing them alive was the wisest decision. Even though the idea of having a slave is frowned upon on this kingdom, it’s a different case when it comes to criminals who took the lives of other people. They will be working in the mines for twenty hours a day with minimal food and water for the rest of their lives.

On top of the prize reward from their bounties, fifty percent of their price as a slave will go to the adventurers who caught them. That being said, adventurers or bounty hunters has no obligation to capture them alive. If they do not have the capacity to do so, they could just finish them off and bring their heads to the knights.

Their boss has bounty of two-hundred thousand oires and each of his thirteen lackeys has a bounty of fifty thousand oires. Along with their price as a slave that cost a hundred thousand oires each, we made one-million five-hundred fifty oires.

Merchant Warren said that he doesn’t deserve to be part of the cut for the rewards as he did nothing and he is just a client, so we just divided it into two.

Seriously… The amount we got is too much, this is more than the reward of the escort quest.

As a side note; slaves from unpaid debts are treated far from how the criminals like the Virta group are treated.

Right now, we’re having a lunch at the side of the road where wagons and carriages mostly pass through. We’re all eating together, including the wagoners and the merchant and his wife.

“Greo, you should really take a skip-rank test,” suggested Randal.

“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it too; I just can’t find the right time. Maybe after this quest, I’ll do that.”

“Ohh! Don’t forget to tell me when you do. I’d like to watch it.”

Our conversations continued for a while before we resume our travel.

*****

Day eight of the escort quest.

We mostly just enjoyed the scenic route; a large field of flowers, long rivers, and tall mountains. Luckily, the weather was consistently sunny so we had no troubles travelling.

When the night came, we decided to spend the night in the designated stop and there, we met a travelling merchant with her three escort adventurers.

The travelling merchant calls herself Rola. Her merchandise are mostly leatherworks like armors and boots. Besides that, she also sells spices. And because of that, we only had to hunt some wild beasts to enjoy a good meal.

Three adventurers are escorting her. Their leader is a rank Gold-I, level seven mage. One of his member is a female rank Silver-II, level three archer and the other one is a male rank Gold-III, level four tank.

They were quite friendly. We exchanged useful information with them like; what kind of monsters or wild beasts are up ahead or if there are any bandit groups that are lurking on the way.

*****

Day eleven of the escort quest.

So far, it’s been peaceful. No monsters nor wild beasts are appearing. No bandits approached us either.

“It would be nice if we reach Shimmer town like this,” said Merchant Warren.

“Dear, that’s what they call a ‘death flag,’ you know?” Rebuked his wife, Yumi.

“Eh!? Is it!?”

“Don’t worry mister, the reason we’re here is to make sure you reach the destination safely. You can count on us,” declared Randal, placing his right hand on his left chest.

“Ohh! How dependable.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

But…

Little did we know…

That that would be last day of our peaceful travel.

*****

It happened instantaneously.

The surroundings darkened, the sky was dyed red and the road beneath us cracked open, swallowing us all.

When I woke up, I was alone in a small room. I tried talking to Hollo to no avail.

There’s also nothing in this room but two torches on both sides of the door, mossy rocks and damaged wall and ceilings.

Is this… a dungeon? But I’ve never heard of a dungeon swallowing anyone above ground…

Dungeons are categorized by the color of their gate. The darker the color, the stronger the dungeon is. The darker gate means that the mana inside the dungeon is dense, caused by powerful monsters.

It starts from white, yellow, blue, red, and black. Each gate has a rank requirement to enter.

White gate dungeon requires at least a Silver-I rank adventurer. Yellow gate dungeon requires Gold-I rank adventurer. Blue gate dungeon requires Platinum-II rank adventurer. Red gate dungeon requires Diamond-III rank adventurer. And Black gate dungeons requires Diamond-I rank adventurer.

Raiding a dungeon requires at least a minimum of fifteen adventurers and every adventurer can keep every treasures they find inside. Adventurers tends to clear most rooms first before they defeat the dungeon boss and clear the dungeon. Once the boss is defeated, everyone in the boss room will be teleported right back at the entrance and the dungeon will be closed for a few weeks and reset everything inside. Once it reopens, a new floor will appear.

Meaning, there should only be one entrance in the dungeon.

“Just what the hell happened…”

I was hurt, but not enough to impair my movements. But even so, I still drank a health potion just to be safe. We split the forty health potions and forty mana potions to four of us before we left the house. They also have their magic bags with their sleeping bags and emergency rations inside, so they should be fine in the meantime.

“My only worry is the other party and the merchant and his wife.”

While thinking of what I should do next, I walked out of the room and was greeted by a dark corridor. I went back in to the room and took one of the torches.

It was very eerie, there was nothing but darkness and silence on this long corridor. All I hear is my own footsteps and the crackling of the fire from the torch.

“Where does this even lead to? The room I was in earlier was at the very end, so this was the only way forward…”

I walked for at least an hour before the corridor split into two.

Now, which way do I go?

On the left side, the path has a red mist and blood all over it. While on the right side, there is only a normal fog, bones, and a bunch of armors and weapons laying around.

“None of these path looks peaceful…”

I chose the less violent-looking path on the right.

As I went deeper and deeper, I started hearing rattling of bones. I immediately moved the torch from my right hand to the left and took out my dagger from my waist.

Unsurprisingly, an armored undead skeleton with a sword and shield came charging at me. I tried to kick it back when I parried its attack, but it was able to block my foot with its shield.

Its strikes aren’t powerful, but they’re fast. If I let my guard down even for a moment, it would deal continuous damage to me in a span of few seconds.

Damn it! It’s pretty hard to fight while making sure the torch won’t die…

If I lose this torch, I’ll be walking aimlessly in complete darkness. Moreover, I’m sure this skeleton can see in the dark, it would be too disadvantageous for me.

Since I only have the aptitude for water and earth magic, I won’t be able to make my own source of light either.

I was trying to save my mana just in case an emergency happens, but whatever, it will be an emergency if I lose my only source of light anyway.

“[Water Ball!]”

Just as I thought, its attacks are fast, but his agility is not the best, so he can only block attacks but not avoid them.

Huh? Can’t I just…

“[Earth Spike!]”

The spikes erupted beneath the skeleton, piercing and shattering its bones. Without its legs, the skeleton collapsed, breaking into several pieces.

“This spell uses more mana than the rest of my magic. I should use this sparingly.”

I have mana potions, but who knows when I’ll need them the most. I need to save them for now, my armor can help me regenerate my mana fast anyway.

After defeating the weird skeleton, I resumed my march.

Am I really inside a dungeon? As far as I know, dungeons are supposed to have maze-like interior, not a straight and wide corridor. There aren’t even traps in here, let alone multiple rooms.

While thinking how weird this place is, I continued walking until I encountered a wall.

Hmm? A wall? Wait, no!

I reached out to touch the wall, but it pulled me in instantly. When I opened my eyes, I saw a light in the distance.

Without any second thought, I approached light and encountered two large doors at the end of the corridor. In the middle of both doors is a golden orb that grows brightly with a faint hint of mana in it.

This must be what opens these doors.

I’m getting chills. I can feel something sinister behind these doors. Whatever it is, it’s nothing good.

“This is the only way, huh…”

I don’t really have any good feeling about this, but there’s nowhere else to go. I better make some preparations first.

*****

“Alright. This should be enough.”

I took out three health and mana potions and placed them in the pocket on my waist. With this, I wouldn’t have to reach out in my magic bag when I need to use one.

While resting, I also sharpened my daggers using the whetstone from my magic bag.

“I brought whetstone but not fire starters…,” I sighed.

After making sure that all my gears are in good conditions one last time, I went towards the orb and poured my mana in it.

When I did so, the ground shook and the doors slowly opened. And what met my gaze was hundreds—no thousands of armored undead skeletons.

All of them are neatly lined up. At the very far back of the army of skeletons are the giant skeletons. Of course, just like the small ones, they’re also armor and are equipped with different weapons.

The room was lit, but I can’t see anything that could be lighting up this room.

Before I could compose myself once more, a hoarse voice echoed in the room.

“Come closer, human.”

The army of skeletons gave way, opening a path for me.

Although feeling uneasy, I reluctantly walked on to the path they opened.

The room was vast, with a high ceiling. Its only support came from six pillars that seemed to be placed randomly.

It took me at least a good minute before I reached the end of the skeleton army.

There, I saw a shadowy figure sitting on a throne.

“Tell me. What brings you here, human?”

Kuh…! Such intense mana. Simply being exposed made go down on my knees…

But I stood my ground and forced myself to speak. “I… I also have no idea… We were travelling normally when all of a sudden… the ground swallowed all of us…”

“All of you?” He asked. “The only outsider here is you.”

“…Huh…?”