Arrogance

"It's been going smoothly."

Volkan said to me as one of the rookies killed another dire wolf. Since their strength came from their numbers even rookies had no trouble defeating when they were alone.

"I guess you could say that."

My voice was opposite of his cheery tone. All of my experience clearing this dungeon told me that something was wrong.

"Maybe I am just being a pussy."

I said in a voice only I could hear.

"You said something, Burak?"

Volkan asked to me. I couldn't be bothered to answer him.

"We been walking for some time. Boss also is close. We should rest and give instructions to rookies."

"Yeah, that would be nice."

He raised his arm.

"Halt! We are taking a break before the boss."

As he said boss, I could see the exciment in their eyes. Killing the boss meant that clearing this dungeon. When it was killed, those rookies would be officially Hunters. So their exciment was natural. Finally being seen as adults and being able to earn money seemed captivating when I was in their position.

"It's been 4 years."

Due the new system they were 2 years older than what I was in my first clear.

"Can I eat with you, sir?"

While I saw her approaching me, what she said suprised me.

"Sure."

"Did your mother send dız… Oww!"

Doğukan couldn't finish his sentence due me smashing my head into his nose.

"I told you to not get behind me."

I saw Leyla gigling.

"Come on. Stop messing around and eat. We don't have all day."

I sat down and pulled what I am going to eat. I also offered others too. Ayla looked in confusion.

"Are you a city girl?"

I asked, jokingly.

"Yes."

"This is dızmana. We make our own bread. You do this with bread dough."

While I only saw it as just pastry, others liked it.

"This is pretty good."

She looked like a squirrel with her mouth full.

"Good luck trying to replicate it. I tried it."

Leyla said. After quickly pushing what I needed to eat I go up.

"I will be scouting boss area."

"Isn't it dangerous?"

While Doğukan and Leyla just nodded because they knew how boss worked, Ayla asked.

"Boss has a aggro range. If you are sneaky and have good eyes, you can scout the area. Doing it is quite common."

I explained. I also signed Volkan. He nodded. While I didn't liked him, it didn't mean that I would created disorder in a dungeon raid. I moved silently, in a forest I knew very closely. My first dungeon wasn't this one but this dungeon was the probably one I had the most experience. Since I also was the one scouted most of the time I had no hesitation. I only stopped several times to listen voice of the forest. Only creature lived here wasn't dire wolves. Birds, small rodents, several species of deers also lived here. But none of them were monsters. They also were afraid of humans. Which was complete opposite of dire wolves. They attacked any human on sight. Nearly all monsters were like that. Only exceptions were some high leveled or mutated monsters. But I never saw that kind of monsters. If I saw them… Well, that would be probably last thing I would ever saw. A D rank hunter would be no much against those kinds of monsters. But seeing them in a D rank dungeon couldn't even be joked about. Mutations usually are caused by unusual or high concentrations of mana. If those things were detected here, this dungeon would be ranked higher.

"Which is impossible."

Since I personally cleared this dungeon. Also I didn't think goverment would mess up that badly.

"Okay, maybe they can."

After a quick thinking I changed my opinion. While I personally didn't get screwed over by goverment more than any other person, this didn't meant that I had full trust in them.

"They would sit in their offices while sending us the dungeons."

I met some hunters supporting goverment and saying that they would die for them. While I didn't said anything out loud, I thought they were dumb.

"Only people I will die for is people die for me."

Doğukan, Leyla and my family? I would die for them without a second thought. For others… Yeah, let's just stay there.

"What is that?"

I looked at the carnage in front of me. I didn't got closer. Something told me to stay away.

"This is a herd of Calm Moose."

Calm moose were called calm moose due how chill they actually were. They weren't classified as monsters and they didn't attack unless provokeded first. Some of hunters even rode them and do selfies. Since they were also quite big even pack of dire wolves could kill one or two at a time. But this is…

"Not just killing for eating."

I saw a lot of gore and blood in my time as a hunter. But not like this. Those creatures were ripped apart. Seeing herd of nearly car sized animals made me feel small and weak. I quickly ran back to group. We had to retreat. I ran fast despite the vines wrapping me and branches breaking my skin. By the time I reached them, I breathed heavily.

"Captain. Doğukan. Leyla. You need to come right now."

While my voice was loud, I still managed to sound calm.

All of them seemed suprised. Some of the rookies tried to get closer to listen but Leyla shot a look at them. They stepped back.

"Something is very wrong. Calm moose herd is dead. Ripped to pieces."

I saw the shock overtake their face.

"All of them?"

Doğukan asked.

"Too many pieces to really understand. Whatever did it is not something normal. This is not from this dungeon."

"What do you mean? Show me, first!"

Volkan said to me. I grabbed his shoulder.

"Look at me. There is something in here that can kill a herd of car sized animals. We need to go. We don't have the power to protect ourselves let alone those rookies."

He frowned. He freed his arm from my grasp.

"I am the leader of this mission. If something happened, I need to see to decide what will do."