Chapter 260 – Investigating the dungeon.

“Let’s go, boy.”

“Woof!”

Just like many times before Roland and Agni sped through the now open lake of fire. In just a few minutes they were right in the middle. Thanks to Roland’s mapping system that allowed him to detect people along with monsters around here they were in almost no danger of being discovered.

Even if someone popped out now Roland would know it and just go to the other side. His map would inform him about any potential onlookers. The devices that were dug into the ground didn’t only enhance the map signal, they could actually record certain patterns. There was a limit to the memory space so Roland set it up to take a snapshot of any individual that was in the area.

After uploading this information into his armor or another mapping device in his workshop he could see the movement pattern of monsters depicted as moving circles. Everything was color coded as usual so it was easy to tell where the monsters walked through and which were the adventurers.

The dungeon monsters always had a set pattern that was only broken if a person appeared. Yet he was aiming more for the moving patterns of adventurers and used this information to get down the best timing of getting through this lake.

“Okay Agni, it’s your time to shine.”

“Awooo!”

The ruby wolf’s tail wagged around as he was waiting to sink his teeth into some monster flesh. The reward would be the high tier 2 monster mana crystal that now he was allowed to eat. Thus the duo of Runesmith and Wolf entered the passage that would soon guide them towards their usual grinding spot.

…

“Hey… get a move on already!”

“Wait… give me a minute… ugh…”

“Why did you go out drinking if you knew that we had work today?”

“Shit… I didn’t want none of this, that old bastard just shoved this on me…urp…”

“Hey! That’s disgusting, why didn’t you drink a potion!”

“Those are expensive, I can walk off this hangover in no time!”

“Oh really?”

A certain sibling duo was arguing right before entering the dungeon. One was a famous casanova and muscle brain named Armand and the other was the half-elven troublemaker, Lobelia. They were not alone as their group had three more people and all of them were high tier 2 class holders and gold ranked adventurers.

“Here have some water.”

“Ah that hits the spot, at least I know I can count on you, Jasmin.”

A woman with brown hair that was carrying a large bow on her back leaned in to give Armand a wooden water bottle. To the sides of the bottle, there were visible magical inscriptions. Even though the bottle wasn’t all that large Armand was still able to chug down on it for a bit before finally giving it back.

“You’re too easy on him Jasmin, you should let him suffer some more.”

“Screw you.”

Armand gave Lobelia a glare while trying to straighten out. Even though he was literally carried out of the whorehouse an hour ago his stats and skills allowed him to sober up quite fast. The two men that were forced with this task were standing in the front. One looked to be a stocky-looking shield warrior of the dwarven variety while the other was quite large and green.

“Korgak think Arm-and should stop acting like child.”

“Haha, did you hear that, get up and let’s move on you pansy!”

“Aye, move it ye whoreson.”

The dwarf didn’t look to happy about having to move out this early in the morning.

“Shut up all of you and you the most Wedamir, I know you’ve drunk at least as much as me.”

“Aye, but ah not acting lik’ a lassie lik’ ye”

The group started laughing while Armand tried to stabilize his legs. The world was still spinning but slowly everything was returning to him. Wedamir was a dwarf so even though he reeked of cheap booze as well, he was already mostly sober and ready for some action.

“Okay, while the idiot recovers how about we discuss this mission? Don’t you think that it’s a bit strange that the guild master gathered us all up? What could there be down there that requires five gold rank adventurers?”

“Korgak don’t care.”

With a quick reply, the half-orc placed his oversized finger into his nose and started digging. Lobelia narrowed her eyes and turned to the potentially only sane person in this group of five that was the main tracker, Jasmine.

“I’ve heard that there were more people vanishing than usual, think it was mostly around the large chasm area which we are supposed to examine.”

Lobelia nodded while thinking back to the way they were given the mission. First of all, it was strange that it wasn’t an official one. The guild master forced them to take this special mission and even promised some nice rewards which she could not ignore. In reality, she was the reason Armand was even on the case as no one else would probably know where he was getting drunk at.

“Could dark adventurers be involved?”

She asked while prodding Jasmine for answers. Dark adventurers was a nickname for people that worked for the guild but also attacked other members like bandits. These didn’t always have roots in the thieves guild but were more common than most of the citizens realized.

“That’s a possibility but would we even know when we got there? I think the guild master would have mentioned something, I don’t think a dark adventurer would attack us.”

“You’re probably right, then the other option is… a rare monster or a zone boss has appeared?”

“That’s more likely, we should be careful if it’s a boss then it could be closer to tier 3…”

Jasmine and Lobelia nodded at each other after coming to a consensus. Sometimes in dungeons, rare monsters with enhanced abilities and intellect would randomly appear. They came in all shapes and sizes but one thing was clear, they were troublesome.

It wouldn’t be strange if adventurers that were used to the lower level tier 2 monsters were killed by a rare spawn or a zone boss. The first type was mostly weaker but its unique characteristic was that it could move through the entire dungeon region it appeared in. The zone boss on the other hand acted more similar to a level boss and it stuck to a certain area it spawned in.

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“If all the disappearances occurred at the chasm then it might be a zone boss, we’ll have to be careful.”

“I agree, no use losing our lives over it but on the other hand…”

Jasmine wanted to give out a sigh while looking at Lobelia that had sparkles in her eyes. It was clear that she was thinking about the potential rewards. If it was a rare high level tier 2 boss then it would probably drop some valuable rewards. The bodies of those monsters were worth a lot and the higher the tier of the monster the more the guild would pay up as well. It was a quick way for them to get rich but also a fast way of perishing.

“Hah, why do you look so glum, don’t worry I value my life more than some gold coins.”

“I’ll remember that.”

The two women jointly nodded while going toward the two arguing men. Wedamir and Armand had a short history with each other as they were at a similar level. Both of them had a few run-ins with one another even outside the city as they didn’t really have their own party. They were skillful and young but this also brought along bravado that sometimes got them in trouble.

“Are you girls done bickering?”

“Yeah, yeah…stop shouting.”

Armand cracked his neck while leaning away from the tree. While he wasn’t in the best condition he knew that before they reached the lower levels his recovery skills would kick in. Finally, the group of five descended towards the dungeon. It was early in the day but even now some people were coming in and out through the entrance.