Two men sat at a table in a bar-like room, the air filled with foul language, laughter, and the scent of alcohol. One of the two leaned forward, setting his glass down and wiping his mouth.

"Say, Garth, you heard about the new dungeon that opened up? In the forest north of the main entrance to the city?" He asked his companion.

"Ah, yeah. Alice's party just left to investigate. They found it and claimed the right for a first clear." Garth replied, a finger on his chin as he thought back.

"Yeah, but did you hear they brought little Skarlet with them? She's only like seven right?" He asked, pointing out the oddity he'd noticed when they had left.

"Wait what, why would they do that!?" Garth exclaimed suddenly, stopping before sipping on his best Ale, he set his glass down and gazed at his friend in alarm. His blue eyes were wide, droplets of alcohol caught in his beard reflected the light from the magic lanterns lighting the guild hall they were in.

"Yeah man, I couldn't believe it. Though it's the strongest party in Aguris, in a new dungeon like that, they should be able to protect her." He replied, leaning back his brown eyes skimmed over the contracts on the quest and bounty board. He brushed his blonde hair from his eyes and smiled.

"Hey Garth, there's a contract to collect some magic grass that grows in a meadow right next to where the dungeon appeared." He suddenly said.

"Andy. . . You suggesting we cut in on that dungeon?" Garth asked seriously, but Andy shook his head.

"Naw, more like give it a glance while doing the contract. I wanna see what it looks like, we won't cut in just check out the entrance." Andy assured him, smiling as he finished off his drink and stood up.

He headed over and grabbed the contract from the board, then he approached the receptionist.

"What can I do for you Andy?" She asked with a smile, pushing her long brown hair out of her eyes as she took the contract from him. "Interested in the new dungeon huh?" She asked upon seeing it.

"Ah, Charlotte, no idea what you mean." He chuckled, nervously "Just felt like doing a simple job today."

"Yeah, yeah, just remember the rules." She lectured as she wrote down his name, and the quest he'd accepted for the records.

"Of course, you know I'm not a troublemaker like some of these guys. Besides I can't help but worry a little about my fishing buddies even if they're the strongest in the city." Andy leaned on the table and gave her a charming smile. She cleared her throat and pointed behind her, her brown eyes seemed to be silently asking him a sarcastic 'seriously' Andy backed out of the way of the person behind him while waving.

"Be back soon, hey, wanna catch a meal when you get off?" He asked, she shooed him off with her hand before responding with a "We'll see".

He headed back to where Garth was standing, he'd slung his sword sheath onto his back and was ready to go. "You look happy."

"Well, I might have a date when we get back." Andy replied as he led the way out of the guild, they headed towards the front gate. Passing the Lord's mansion he caught a glimpse of a little girl picking flowers, she seemed about four.

"Did the lord have a daughter?" Andy mused as they passed.

"Yeah, I believe her name was Maria. Though I expect he's frustrated to not have had a son." Garth replied, frowning.

"Well, maybe, but a daughter can succeed the estate as well." Andy pointed out causing Garth to rethink for a moment.

"True, but that doesn't change the fact that most consider a male heir to be ideal" Garth rubbed the back of his neck, frowning slightly.

"Ah, right, for the country of light. . . There's a lot of prejudices here huh." Andy sighed with a heavy expression as he thought of the young girls father.

"What about her mother?" Andy spoke up, this caused Garth to pause in thought.

"Actually, now that you mention it. I've heard the rumor that she's a silver haired beauty. Absolutely stunning, and a charming and kind person. Though recently she's not left the house. From what I heard she used to play in the yard with her daughter." Garth explained, his face scrunched in thought as he dragged out the rumors from his memory.

"Hmm, I wonder if her mother is sick."

"I believe her name was Stella, she's a foreigner. The Lord met her while on a trip out of the country." Garth added a bit more information. "No information has reached me about her current condition, we can only speculate I guess."

Shielding his eyes from the sun as he left Aguris's front gate, Andy led the way towards the forest across the way. The herbs he needed to pick and the dungeon both originated from this forest. He was looking forward to this dungeon, having only recently reached C rank he needed some stronger opponents in order to rise higher, the same was true for Garth.

The forest wasn't too thick, the sun easily passed through the canopy of leaves, though this wasn't necessarily good for their current commission.

"So, you know how to find mana grass right." Garth asked suddenly, causing Andy to chuckle.

"What? You think I'd accept a quest I couldn't do?" He asked, "Mana grass reacts to magic, if we just use a bit of magic near it, it'll glow."

"Oh, handy." Garth replied, he smiled wryly as he couldn't push Mana outward cause he wasn't a mage.

"Yeah, It would take us forever to find it if it was just different grass. Though it's been recorded to only appear further in." Andy explained, as they got closer to the center of the forest. The trees began growing closer together, dimming the afternoon sun's light. Andy took out a staff and began emitting a small mana pulse from the tip as he waved it from side to side. There was a reaction almost immediately, a small patch of mana grass glowed dimly in the shadows created by an arched tree.

"There, see, wasn't so hard." Andy mused as he began collecting it. "We need about four bundles, each patch of grass tends to only contain a certain amount. These are the bundles."

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"So this is bundle one of four." Garth clarified.

"Yeah, I know you've not done herb collection before. So I'll mostly take the lead on this one." Andy assured his friend.

"Hey, we're near that dungeon." Garth suddenly exclaimed, gazing to their left. Andy followed his gaze and saw an old cemetery.

"Oh, it's an undead type." He spoke with interest, heading towards it he got a better look. It was a traditional stone cemetery with headstones and mausoleums, though one thing stood out, dragons. No not real dragons, stone ones, carvings and statues of dragons decorated the cemetery. At the center was a monolith with what looked like history carved around it, spiraling upwards. Text he couldn't read and glyphs of dragons and the races fighting. At the bottom was a door, that was probably the entrance.

"Damn, wish we could head in there now." Andy grumbled as he turned away from it. Though secretly he was excited. This is great! This was a dungeon with carvings of dragons, a pretty high bar for a new dungeon. Though, the dungeon design tended to indicate it's potential rather than what it actually contained meaning that currently it was probably filled with low level lizard monster undead. However if it was left alone, they would likely grow to become lesser dragons and wyverns.

"Hopefully the other adventures higher up understand the importance of letting the monsters in there grow. If we could get the monsters in the dungeon higher ranked then the monsters in the vacinity of Aguris then the adventures who out grow the general monster rank of this area wouldn't just leave and instead still have somewhere to get stronger." He spoke excitedly as they searched for more grass.

They managed to collect three more bundles and were about to pack up and leave when suddenly the forest lit up as every patch of mana grass in the area didn't just glow but shown brightly.

"What the hell is this dense Mana!?" Andy exclaimed as he gazed around trying to find where it was coming from, Garth drew his sword however it was suddenly just gone. The mana disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, like it had been sucked away.

"Umm, we'll need to report this to the guild. . . Come on let's go!" Andy hurriedly began packing while Garth kept watch, but nothing out of the ordinary occurred. They headed back the way they came, coming across the dungeon once more. Andy stepped up over the ridge and gazed into the graveyard, though nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"Well that's everyth-" Andy was cut off by a scream, from the direction of the dungeon. "Ah hell!" He exclaimed as he realized something. . . "FUCK!" He pulled out his staff as Garth was already leading the way. "Damn it all! I did not wanna deal with a dungeon mutation, especially knowing that they brought Skarlet with them." Andy was still grumbling as they leaped into the graveyard and approached the monolith. At that moment someone burst from the entrance, stumbling, they barely dodged a boney claw that tried to drag them back in.

"What is that!?" Andy exclaimed seeing the power and speed. He activated his mana sending it through the beast to get an understanding of it. This was called inspection, it was a spell discovered a long time ago by a genius magic researcher.

Though all he received back was a mental image of a red dragon decaying and falling before rising with a purple aura flowing around it.

"Shit! That's a red dragon zombie, that things like rank ten or something we'd need an A rank or S rank adventure party to deal with one of those!?" Andy exclaimed as Garth grabbed the person who was trying to escape and tossed them back. He tried to block the monster's claw, but it only forced his sword away with pure power. He was thrown back, dodging out of the way.

"It's trapped at the entrance for now, if we collapse it the dungeon should recede and reset. It'll be a future problem in like ten years, but it should be an easier dungeon then!" Andy called out, Garth nodded activating a Beserk martial art. A skill where a warrior fills his body with mana so it can outperform its own limits. He then dashed forward and slammed his sword against the beast, forcing it back a bit as they both skidded past the doorway.

Garth leaped back and dashed for the door, Andy was already amassing one of his most destructive spells.

Garth brought his sword to the front, Parrying a bony, clawed hand, he slid forward and smashed his shoulder into the chest of the best. A screeching, grating sound rang out as the undead dragon's claws scraped the stone floor.

Garth frowned in annoyance as he ducked under another slashed, stepping back a bit before ramming into the creature once more, that horrid sound rang out once more. And pain tore through his shoulder as a blow from its claws grazed him.

Garth backed up once more and charged, Mana filled him and power exploded as he slammed into the beast, a feeling of surprise clouded his mind as a new pain bloomed from an unexpected part of his body. Oh, huh, this is my limit, this is my death. Garth thought despondently, he glanced over his shoulder at his long time friend Andy, he smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

Andy's incantation broke, he stumbled over his words, he watched as Garth activated another martial skill. His friend charged, but the undead dragon seemingly had learned and quickly reacted. Andy watched helplessly as his friend impaled himself on one of the large claws, turned around and with a bloody smile. Andy choked as he saw that thumbs up, his friend giving him encouragement even as his life ebbed away.

Andy gritted his teeth, the mana from his spell swirled around him and began to break apart due to his loss of control and concentration. But as it did, emotion poured out from him, his mind blurred and he began to mix the energies in the air. The mana flowed around him like he was bending the air, that very same air began to vibrate as the mana condensed and took on a beautiful purple color. He didn't realize it but he was advancing forward as a mage, taking the first steps to becoming the powerful wizard and Guild Master of the future.

Andy's eyes sprang open, he didn't realize when he had closed them. The purple Mana had formed into the strands, like a web, spinning and curling together to form a complicated magic circle. It's split into three pieces, three triangles that rotated outwards. Threads of purple interrupted from the tips of those triangles informed a fourth circle in the center. Fire erupted around the edges and in the center as it seemed to carve a glyphs into the air itself.

The magic circle collapsed into a spear, the air was roaring with power, and with yell of pain, and sorrow. Andy threw the sphere, an attack that would later be named. Gungnir, the unstoppable spear.

Boom!

An explosion rang out, the spear had obliterated the entrance and destroyed the ground itself, as it began to crack and sink. Clouds of dust and smoke begin to rise and Andy stumbled backwards. He turned his head to look at the person that he had saved, through that pain, sorrow of losing a friend. The soft smile Grace's face as he gave to the young terrified eyes a little girl. Daughter of his best friend, Skarlet, the unfortunate victim of this terrible incident.

He approached her, lifted her into his arms and took some distance from the crumbling dungeon. As the smoke cleared, there was a ravine left where the dungeon used to be. Or maybe it would be better to call it a gorge, as if a Giant had reached down and gouged out the Earth in a straight line with a single finger.

Andy smiled down at the girl as he started to walk, she clung to him desperately. Even as the tears trembled in his eyes he kept smiling and comforting her. You're my responsibility now, that is the debt I owe your family. I will protect you. Those were the thoughts going through his mind as he trekked back towards town. I will remember you my friend, you wouldn't want a fuss to be made so I won't do anything drastic. But, you'll forgive me for an elaborate funeral at least. Our promise as adventurers, I'll keep it. A bottle of Ale shared over the grave on the eve of passing. I can at least do that once a year. Andy's thoughts lingered on Garth, he was a humble man, as adventurers they'd talked about death plenty. They made a promise about their destined deaths. It was simple.

"Nothing grand, no monuments. We aren't heroes. Just, once a year break a glass on my grave would ya. Doubt the ale in the after life could compare to the drinks shared with my mate." Andy sighed as a tear finally escaped, while he remembered the words his friend had said. "Yeah, the ale up there would probably be pristine and high quality, not really your style huh?" He laughed he couldn't help but laugh, a sad laugh.