Gate

"Wake up!" Michael shouted, running into the boss room of the dungeon where everyone slept. He seemed overly excited, a broad grin on his face. "There is an event!"

"Huh?" Andrew groaned, sitting up. "Why the fuck are you screaming so early in the morning. Some of us are trying to sleep." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. He had been sleeping beside a large piece of a broken pillar.

Emma and Leonardo, sleeping close to each other, also were awoken by his shout. "Did someone die?" Emma asked, looking around.

"No, shut up!" Michael shouted, his eyes beaming with excitement behind his glasses. "Look at this!?" He shared a system screen with all of them, who rubbed their eyes as they read it.

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Event: Double Exp Period

Description: For the next week, all EXP would be 2x

Time Remaining: 7d 14h

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The sight of this event caused Edward's breathing to quicken as he looked at the next event.

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Event: Level Ranking

Description: Those ranked 1,000 or above will be rewarded accordingly at the end of the month. The higher your rank, the better the reward

Time Remaining: 31d 14h

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These two events solidified his plan deeply in concrete as he stood up. "We should head to the dungeon." He said, looking around.

"I was about to say the same thing," Andrew said, opening up the ranking. "I am ranked 92,874 in the world ranking, and I am level 11. We need to get above one thousand, and the dungeon might help us with that."

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[Level World Ranking]

Rank 1: Kasel Lord (Level 17)

...(Expand to view top Ten)

Rank 19,998,998: Abasi Mohammed (Level 10)

Rank 19,998,999: Edward Smith (Level 10)<-(Your Rank)

Rank 19,999,000: Hecktor Dimwe(Level 10)

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"Wow..." He mumbled, staring at how far down he had gone. In three days of not hunting, he went down 19 million ranks, and Andrew, only one level above him, is at rank 92 thousand. Edward also recognized the person above him as the former rank 6. "...So we both went down." He mumbled, removing the ranking screen. "Damn..."

"Ok, no more wasting time," Leonardo said, fully awake as he stood up. "Time to clear the dungeon."

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The group of six stood under an Umbrella Thorn Acacia, geared for battle. They looked over the plain grassland in front of them, confusion crossing Edward's face. Many meters in front of them was a portal, blue in color, that seemed to exude a cosmic power.

"A portal dungeon similar to duo leveling," Michael said, inspecting the gate to the dungeon closer. "The question is, what is behind that gate."

"Well, we know it is a level fifteen dungeon," Leonardo said, "If you got close enough to it, the level of the dungeon would appear above it."

Michael looked at Leonardo, frowning. "You saw what happened in the dungeon four levels below us. So, what do you think will happen in one some level above us?"

"The magic scroll Edward has would help us kill the boss if it proves to be a problem," Emma said, looking at Edward at the back of the group. He wore his mage cloak, the hood on which cast a shadow on the top half of his head. The cloak fully covered his body, only exposing his feet and his scared right arm holding the 9ft long Friedrich IV silver spear. "Right?" She asked, wanting his answer.

"Yes. It is a Tier 2 Magic that needs 60 defense to defend against. I doubt any monster would have that high of a stat right now." Edward replied, bringing out his other hand from his cloak holding the scroll. "Besides, my explosion magic can kill anything that isn't as strong as a pillar."

"You haven't yet shown us your magic." Ezekiel pointed out, looking at him. He also wore his assassin cloak, holding his short-sword to his right. "You will see it soon enough," Edward replied, taking his arm back into his cloak.

"Well, let's get going," Andrew spoke, walking in front of the group with both of his gauntlets on.

The others silently followed him, none of them speaking about the missing Elizabeth. After she left last night, she didn't return, so they assumed she was either killed or ran away. Whatever she did, none of them cared.

Reaching the blue gate, they could feel the pulling force of the portal pulling on their hair and clothes. With no words, all six entered, finding themselves inside a tunnel.

It looked like an underground settlement of some sort, with tunnels coming out from every direction and fire torches lighting the otherwise dark place. The tunnel was barely enough for all six of them to walk side by side, and the tallest of them, Andrew, had to bend his head a bit so as not to hit the ceiling.

"I guess the monsters living here are a bit sentient. Maybe giant ants?" Leonardo said, holding his massive tower shield in front of him and then moving to the front of the group.

"No. Goblin village." Michael gagged, holding his throat.

Emma gave him a curious glance, "What's wrong with you, and how do you know that?"

The others waited for his explanation. "With my high sense, I can recognize the smell of things I have met in the past. And right now, all I smell is goblins and the smell of urine and excrement." He held his nose, "I should have not gone since."

"So goblin dungeon?" Emma said, smiling. "This should be easy." Andrew nodded at her response, with Leonardo shaking his head.

"It is a level 15 dungeon. Don't get cocky." He said, walking forward to inspect the first tunnel. It led to a room with straw beds, seeing the corpse of three goblins. They seemed to have been stabbed through their throat while sleeping. "Come and look at this," Leonardo called out, stepping away.

The others looked in the tunnel, as Ezekiel said. "There were other people in here before us, and they killed these goblins while they were sleeping."

"And they took our EXP," Michael mumbled, staring at the dead goblins.

They inspected some of the other portals, which led to more room with dead goblins. Whoever came here was so good at their job they didn't awaken any of the sleeping goblins while going on a killing spree, something Ezekiel admired.

They soon reached a path that separated into three different paths. These paths looked bigger and wider than the ones they were in. "I would say we should split up into a group of two, but that would be stupid," Leonardo chuckled, looking a the three different paths.

"Shush." Michael hushed them, his eyes squinting. He stayed silent for a while before saying, "I hear something coming from that path," He said, pointing at the one on the far right.

The others tried to hear but failed. "So, we should go down the other path?" Emma asked, giving up trying to hear what Michael heard.

"I say we go down the path," Ezekiel said, pointing at the one the noise was coming from. "At least there is noise from there, other than the other two silent like the void."

Leonardo and Andrew agreed with him as they entered the far left tunnel lines with torches, Leonardo leading them. They could finally smell what Michael was smelling, urine and excrement. It was so disgusting that they all wondered what Michael was smelling, who was now using his forearms to block off the smell.

After a few meters, Leonardo stopped. He stepped out of the way and pointed. In front of him was a huge gap in the floor, and inside was a human corpse punctured with dozens of spikes crammed within the gap. Looking closer, they saw it was a woman with blond hair, and she wore a cloak similar to that of Edward, but red.

"So there was another group before us," Andrew mumbled, staring at the body.

"But damn. Wouldn't wish to go the way she did." Ezekiel mumbled, staring at her face contorted in pain as she died.

Michael gagged, tears coming down his eyes. "The spikes tips were rubbed with excrement." He mumbled, moving back. "I can't go on any further. My nose would kill me before any monster dose." He said, turning around and walking away.

No one tried to stop him as Andrew looked ahead. "I will lead." He said, looking at Leonardo. "With your shield, you won't see where you are going and might fall into one of these traps."

"Sure." Leonardo nodded, stepping back. "But, you should also be careful. The way she did wouldn't be good."

They continued, with Andrew now leading. They could finally hear shouts that sounded like goblins coming from deep within. Before they could reach the source of the voice, they saw another body. This one even looked worse off than the other.

His head stuck in a pike, both of his eyeballs missing, leaving only a hollow socket with dried blood flowing out, and in his mouth was what looked like a dick. A few meters away, the headless body lay. His dick had been cut off, with a spear going up into his ass.

"Ach." Emma let out a guttural sound, looking away.

"These goblins are savages," Ezekiel narrowed his eyes on the body. "They tortured the man before killing him."

"I think we should return," Leonardo said, wrinkling his nose. "This doesn't seem safe."

Andrew ignored his remark, continuing with Edward and Ezekiel following him. Leonardo and Emma stood still before rushing to catch up. As they moved on, they shouted, and the laughter of goblins got louder, followed by the smell of smoke.

They finally reached the end of the tunnel that led to a bigger cave. Andrew gestured for them to stop before inching closer to the end of the tunnel, making sure to stay close to the dark side to not be seen. Looking into the cave, he was shocked at what he saw.