"This is just an E-Rank Dungeon. So strap up and follow my orders. We'll succeed easily." A middle-aged man wearing heavy armour said, lifting his battle-axe to thump on the shield once. He was the leader of the party of six that had gathered before a Dungeon Gate.
'Aren't we risking our lives too much? We're just F-Rank Hunters.' The youngest among them, a youth that was twenty years old thought.
"Seems you're not convinced, Ying." The leader said, patting the youth's shoulder, "We have a balanced party this time. And I've conquered this Dungeon many times."
"Leader, the brat's just worried he would drag us down. Unlike us, he's inexperienced." A cocky voice resounded from one of the twins of the party. He had a long sword while his twin sister held a wand, forming the damage dealers of the party. At his words, his twin sister chuckled.
"You're being rude." A female wearing a cleric outfit glared at the twins, "Ying is pretty good for his age."
She stared at the twins before turning around, "Unlike a certain two that hit their limit decades ago."
"Bitch, we became Hunters only two years ago." The girl among the twins emitted killing intent.
"Meyn, it's fine. Let's not fight before we raid the Dungeon." Ying held back the cleric, Meyn who seemed intent to fight the twins already.
"Alright, that's enough from everyone. We can address our dissatisfactions after the raid. Time is ticking. If we delay any longer, the Dungeon might collapse and result in a wave." The leader of the party, Trovar said.
No one complained after that, grumbling silently as they entered the Dungeon, feeling a chill when a wave of mana slammed into them.
"Hmm, the mana here feels a tad stronger than usual. But it's still within our capability." After some contemplation, Trovar addressed everyone, "It's doable. Let's proceed."
'Alright, everything is in place now.' The Secondary System sighed in relief, having already taken root within Ying. It had taken time to adjust within his body, ensuring the Hunter System fragment in his body wouldn't even notice its existence.
Following that, it spent a lot of Mental Energy modifying the Dungeon. Why, you ask? To create the situation in which it could reveal itself to Ying.
Aieee!
"Haah…" Trovar gasped for breath, bringing down the battle-axe as he cleaved the last of the monster into two. He then looked around, noticing that the rest of the party members too were exhausted, "We'll rest here for five minutes before targeting the Boss."
"Heal!" Meyn said after downing a potion, unleashing a wave of healing energy that replenished the stamina of everyone and healed the injuries they sustained.
"Guh!" Ying grunted in pain, watching the deep cut on his arm heal little by little. Though, by the time half the cut healed, the healing energy subsided as Meyn collapsed.
"I'm sorry, I need to recover my mana." Meyn apologised and drank another potion to replenish her mana, hesitating as she stared at Trovar, "Leader, that was the last of my mana replenishing potion."
"What about the rest?" Trovar looked around, seeing everyone shake their heads in response, "It seems we're all out of consumables."
He then took out a device, a Dungeon Timer, frowning as he spoke, "But if we don't kill the Boss, we won't earn enough to make a profit in this raid. Besides, there's only ten minutes left before this Dungeon breaks. We need to kill the Boss before that."
"We can do it, leader." Ying said, feeling confident for some reason, "I'll target the Boss's achilles heel right at the beginning using my strongest attack. Everyone can kill it after that."
"Alright, we'll do that." Trovar nodded, "Your attack is the fastest among us, Ying. So I'll leave it to you."
Two minutes later, the party pushed open the door to the Boss room, entering a massive dome-like room at the centre of which was a throne. Seated on it was an Orc, carrying a large cleaver. The orc reached a height of 3 metres and looked imposing thanks to the presence it exuded.
Gulp!
Ying took in a deep breath as he hid behind Trovar, masking his presence to the limit as he clenched his short sword to the limit, waiting for an opportunity.
"Wait a sec…this guy…" Trovar muttered in shock when the Orc got up, trembling in fear upon sensing the mana billowing from the other party expanding in quality gradually, like an erupting volcano. "Ying, stop…"
Ying had been concentrating to the limit and didn't hear him, rushing out the moment the Orc sprinted towards Trovar. He jumped into the air, added a spin to his body and almost flew close to the ground, making an arc to the back of the Orc as he unleashed all his mana into his short sword and slashed, "Die!"
Roar!
The Orc screamed in pain as it crashed into Trovar, shattering his shield while sending him flying.
"W-What happened?" The Twins were startled in response, watching the figure of Trovar slam into the walls of the dome. They immediately wished to flee, noticing that the Orc was stronger than they had expected.
"Gah! What…happened?" Ying gasped for breath as his eyes felt droopy, noticing that he was embedded into the walls of the dome, dozens of metres away from the Orc. He gazed at its feet, seeing that his attack had succeeded.
The Orc was indeed struggling to walk, but when he attacked its achilles heel, it retaliated, sending him flying.
"Ying!" Meyn rushed towards him, hurriedly using her healing powers to stop the blood rapidly flowing out of his stomach, "Don't die!"
"Shit! The door closed!" The scout of the team said in alarm, attacking the Boss room's door in vain.
Roar!
The Orc has trouble walking as it crouched forward, held its blade in its mouth and then rushed on all fours, taking most of the load using its arms, and then…
Boom!
The scout was smashed into pulp from the impact as the Orc gobbled his body before turning around to stare at the twins, letting out a beastly grin as it rushed at them on all fours.
