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The creature let out a shriek of rage-filled pain as it flailed its snake-like body wildly, the upper half of an unfortunate Awakener enveloped within its jaws.

Thwack!

The Awakener’s body was sent spiraling through the air and into one of the cave walls as an arrow struck the serpent’s eye and the monster suddenly went limp amongst its brethren’s corpses in the dimly lit cave.

Small balls of light floated through the cavern, cast by the mages in the scouting party as the fight had begun.

“Haah, shit…”

Koise let out a long breath and looked over the aftermath of the battle within the cave.

He had already lost a good quarter of his entire scouting party to the creatures in the tunnels by the time they had stumbled upon a nest of snakelike monsters that had stalked them through the dark and picked off stragglers one by one.

Looking at the bodies strewn throughout the cave amidst the monster corpses, Koise estimated that they had maybe half the strength that they had entered the tunnels with.

However, it was too late to turn back.

If he had wanted to turn back, he had his chance to make the call back on the sheer clifftop where he had briefly fought with his prey.

If there was one thing Koise was proud of, it was the fact that he never backed down from a hunt or lost his prey.

Those who remained with him knew that, while they might die on their quest, they would definitely die if they tried to trek back through the monster-infested tunnels alone.

Strength in numbers, or so they say.

Koise idly thumbed over the wood of his bow. He wasn’t sure how the man he was chasing had overcome his injuries and continued unassaulted through monster-infested tunnels so easily, but he at least expected that the man had been given help of some sort.

The problem was, he wasn’t sure what could have helped the man.

Was there some intelligent entity down in the caves with them that had decided to aid the man for some reason? The thought was somewhat chilling. What could live with monsters besides a worse monster?

He debated setting fire to the bodies to delay the monsters that constantly stalked them through the tunnels, but doing so could backfire and the smoke could suffocate them instead.

It seemed a waste, but he came to the ultimate decision to leave the bodies behind and continue tracking his prey as quickly as possible. They could move faster now that there were less of them, at least.

***

I looked at the single quest page on the board and, sure enough, the quest given to me by Lein was detailed on the board, word for word.

It really didn’t give much to go on, but at least I had a fair idea of what the other Awakeners would be doing. I didn’t intend to get in their way, either.

Even though I would be heading into the mountains to where everyone seemed to believe the primary quest dungeon was, I intended to stop and see if I could find Bernard and Velle perhaps trying to clear a smaller dungeon that the dwarf had told me about.

He seemed puzzled that they would go out of their way for little reward, but I at least already knew what their primary motivation was. They weren’t interested in some grand quest, in restoring the city, or in gaining power from the dragons—nothing like that.

Those two were either blindly looking for someone through the dungeons of the world or were truly good people who just wanted to save those who had been trapped by the dungeons in either the initial Merge or through failed dungeon escapades.

Either way, the result was the same: they were trying to clear dungeons and rescue people who might be trapped inside. That was what they had told me, anyway.

I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the idea of going out alone, but I also suspected that getting one of the many other Awakeners to stop at every minor dungeon that was even somewhat on the path to the main attraction would be a tough sell.

“You’re thinking you need a party member, right?”

Sure enough, Lein guessed what I was thinking.

“How about we come to an agreement?”

‘What is it now?’

I turned my head to him and raised an eyebrow expectantly. It was more attention than I had given him so far, and he took it eagerly.

“How about I help you find your friends, and in return, you at least attempt the end dungeon with me?”

An attempt, he said? Then again, it made sense that it was possible to fail or turn back from the main dungeon without having to be trapped, as was the case with some dungeons. It wouldn’t have been such a popular quest and there wouldn’t have been so many Awakeners still around if the thing killed everyone who attempted it.

While I certainly didn’t trust the man, I at least knew that I didn’t have much to steal. He seemed mischievous, but if he were the type of Awakener to kill others, it would have probably been found out by then—especially with how tightly controlled the city seemed to be. Would the city lords really abide letting a murderer walk the streets, killing people who intended to help them with their grand quest?

“Alright… But what can you do?”

I had yet to see any sort of weapon on him. I guessed from his clothes that he wasn’t the type to wield a shield and armor or tank in the front, but that still left a variety of options open.

“Ah, you’ll have to find out. But first… Since we’re partying together anyway…”

He gave me a wink and a smug little half-grin, one of the corners of his mouth quirking up.

“I’ll need to know your name.”

We made the party official with the dwarf, who had promptly gone back to sleep, and soon left the city. We were heading towards the canyon at the end of the snowfield, near the opposite side of the mountain I had descended from in my initial approach.

The snow was well-worn in a fairly clear path through a drift that would have otherwise risen to our knees and significantly slowed our progress. I wasn’t expecting to find Rhil, Bernard, or Velle so easily, of course, but I kept an eye out and examined Awakeners that we passed who were returning anyway.

It was after the fifth or so group of Awakeners that I voiced a question that had been bothering me since the Association.

“These guys are all coming back from defeat, right?”

“Hmm?” Lein, who had been absentmindedly kicking at little drifts of snow in the path just ahead of me, gave me a sideways glance over his shoulder. “Oh, yeah… I’ve had my fair share of defeated returns as well. You get used to it after the first couple of attempts.”

“Couple of attempts? Is it not dangerous at all?”

I had been picturing a harrowing dungeon filled with traps and creatures as the end-point, not… well… something that so many people could so casually come back from.

While some of the Awakeners did look a bit tired or worn, I didn’t spot any that appeared to be gravely wounded or that really even looked too upset.

“The city pays for every attempt anyway, a few just make the daily trek, enter the dungeon, and turn around again to get paid. The dungeon itself is fairly unique—it would be one thing if it were just something that needed bashing, like a ton of monsters, but it changes…”

His voice trailed off as he recalled a memory.

“Changes…?” I goaded him to continue speaking.

“Ah, you’ll see. We’re near the first dungeon that the old dwarf mentioned now, right?”

I checked the notes that the dwarf had given me.

Sure enough, we weren’t far from the entrance to the first dungeon—not far from the narrow opening into the snowy canyon where we were headed, actually. The pathway would be dotted with dungeons here and there, but the dungeon at the end apparently held whatever the city leaders were looking for.

That actually brought another question to my mind. The city leaders were dragons, right? Couldn’t they have just cleared the dungeon themselves? Unless they were barred from entry somehow?

We entered the small cave that served as the entrance to the first dungeon. It was more of a mini-dungeon if anything, and it became apparent why nobody ever really bothered to clear it.

It was a regenerating dungeon, which usually had low-tier rewards, and nobody inside who needed saving. Monsters would simply respawn after some time and the dungeon would reset, ready for someone else to come along and clear it.

Nevertheless, I figured it would at least be a good opportunity to see Lein in action.

We both kind of stared at each other as we entered the dungeon, the goblin in the entryway sort of just waving its club and snarling at us. I knew that it was a different goblin from the ones that had died to every other Awakener that had cleared the dungeon, of course, but it looked kind of pathetic—like it knew what was going to happen.

I gestured towards the goblin while looking at Lein, as if to say, ‘All yours.’

“Haah. Okay.”

He stretched his hands up and approached the goblin.

I watched him intently, eager to see what sort of ability or skill he would show. Neither of us had trusted the other enough to admit what our classes were yet, though I guessed he probably assumed me to be a fighter or rogue type by the big metal sheathe on my arm that I had been wearing since the Relic.

Paf!

Before it could even react, Lein just sort of flicked his fingers and the goblin exploded into charred bits of meat.

He could have just told me he was a mage. Why was it always magic users that were the crazy ones, anyway?