Luke ordered a drink from the cafeteria and stayed close to the powerful party Carter had spoken about. He sat on a round wooden table, close to that of the three members of the guild which had an insignia of lion on their weapons, and even outfits.
***
Carl was supposed to be a good scout, even one of the best, I had told him not to go too deep into the hole but he won’t listen."
A man with broadcast shoulders spoke facing the other members of the party.
"You are right." " Another spoke with certainty, he had barely spent three years in the guild and this had happened already.
"Should we wait for the guild to send another scout and pause the whole quest entirely?"
The other two people, whom the broad shoulder man was speaking to, fell into contemplating thoughts weighing the effect of both choices.
Luke listened to them for a longer period of time which helped him grasp the nature of the situation the party was in.
Currently seated in the tavern were three members of the main party, two were the front liners, while one was a mage, their names were Crest, Corin and Marion who were B rank hunters in a silver ranked guild.
They were here to complete a quest which was considered A rank by the guild and by far one of the hardest quest in their guild board. They have been sent on this quest personally by the guild.
And were even supposed to earn double the compensation for the quest if they were able to complete it successfully, the guild were currently building another branch in the uncanny hill village and thus wanted to clear it of the monsters that resided there.
Since that was the side of the bargain they had agreed with the chief of the village in exchange for land.
As the three fell deep into their thoughts, luke finally intervened.
Initially, Luke did not intend to take such a risk so early in the game and did not wish to involve himself in the raid on the dungeon until he understood if he could really die or respawn just like previously in the game, however, after he had heard the worldwide notification , he felt uneasy as he decided to take a slight risk, there was no time to slack after all.
" Excuse me gentlemen, are you talking about the problem in this village? Pardon me but I could not help but overhear that you might be planning a raid to clear the dungeon. Luke spoke his voice transformed through the mask.
I am a traveller who has decided to take on this mission, do you mind if I join you?" Luke said in the voice that sounded like that of an powerful being as he could see the two adventurers beside him flinch with suprise on seeing his mask.
The shock In their faces lasted for about two seconds then vanished?
As of they had all come to a certain conclusion.
Crest the broad shouldered man spoke first, you must be one of those hunters, who believe in the legend of the undefeated one right?
Luke who didn’t really perfectly understand the question, said "yes? "
As though asking a question rather than answering one. He then continued, "I wouldn’t mind joining you on the raid, as me myself want to see the dungeon finally cleared. "
Crest’s eyes narrowed, he was about to ask a question when Luke interrupted already aware of the question he was about to ask and spoke, "I won’t be taken any percentage on the compensation just the loot. I will be your new scout."
"That sounded reasonable enough to Crest as he immediately replied when would you be going to scout?"
"Tomorrow. "
Luke answered the question with surety and I will bring back information on the dungeon by noon, and with that said they had an agreement.
Luke had come up with a vague theory on why people of the village seemed surprised when they saw him. The core of the theory was that he was wearing the exact same armor or mask the undefeated one had always wore and probably there was a prophecy or myth tied to the dungeon in the uncanny hill which stated only the undefeated one can clear the dungeon which was the reason why it was A rank to the hunters.
The reason why the suprise left their faces was that they realized he was probably some hunter who impersonated himself for the sake of becoming the actual undefeated one, which in a way was actually true. Luke stood up from the round table and approached the inn section of the tavern. Finding his way to his designated room and retiring there for the night.
The next morning Luke was already on his way to the slope of the hill side.
It took him about 40 minutes to finally reach his destination, the ground was still covered by the lawn, meters away from Luke was a large hole, the hole the scout and many others had not come back from, these past years.
Just as he approached the periphery he could hear the deep growl of monsters coming from within the hole as five pairs of green eyes suddenly stared at him from the darkness of the chasm entrance, five grotesque creatures making their way out of the hole and began circling Luke.
"Holy shit"
Luke cursed as he inadvertently willed his common bright sword and planted his feet in the lawn below taking an awkward battle stance.
[Forest thrall] ( Level 5 ( HP : 70/70 )
[ Forest thrall] ( Level 4 ) ( HP : 60/60 )
[ Forest thrall] ( Level 6 ) ( HP : 84/84 )
[ Forest thrall] ( Level 2 ) ( HP : 35/40 )
[ Forest thrall] ( Level 4 ) ( HP : 57/57
The creatures looked hollow and glazed all over, their eyes glowing with a soft green.
Sprouting from their back and joints were thick vines and red blooming fungal caps.
’What are these.’ Luke asked himself, as he had not seen anything of the such in mythos, their body was clumsy, moving with rigid, jerky motions. And then, the first lunged forward.
At this point, luke knew he had made a bad and terrible choice.