D-Rank Dungeon Raid

Lilia's face twitched at the sound of his words. She found his words too humiliating to bear. She cast Karan a fierce glare with her eyes indicating a meaning along this line, 'In your dreams.'

Lilia had a proud personality that was complemented by her remarkable skill and competitive spirit. She had no intention of admitting defeat to anyone, much alone someone she considered a rival.

Meanwhile on the other side of the room, the rest members of the team had dazed look on their faces as they were still processing the complex scene that had just played out in front of their eyes.

Everything happened in a few seconds, but it felt like several hours had passed. The moves and techniques performed by those two gave them a sense of inferiority but it didn't make them lose hope. Instead, it ignited a burning desire in them to work harder.

Just then, the guild master hurried over to the scene, "Isn't it okay to end things here? This is just a friendly spar and you too must have conserved your true strengths for fear of harming each other right?" He said with a fixed smile.

Karan couldn't help being stunned. He was sure that the guild master witnessed every scene of the battle, and how Lilia went all out from the very start. If not for his quick movements and timely judgements, he would have been in a corner nursing his wounds by now or probably… much worse than that.

It was obvious he was trying to pacify the situation for fear of Lilia getting angered, because he wasn't sure what she might do next.

"Oh, sure." Karan responded with a blank stare.

He had no other choice but to play along with the situation. There was nothing he could do to her in the first place. If she refused to accept defeat, he could only leave her be.

Although the situation was a bit too extreme this time, the guild master was quite impressed by the level of improvement and the competitive spirit the team had shown so far. It things should continue like this, then ranking first place in the tournament was just a matter of time.

After they finished sparring, the guild master addressed them and rectified several flaws in their combat style, as well as providing them some insight into what they may anticipate while completing the D rank dungeon. He had participated in a number of D rank dungeon raids and had a lot of expertise with them as a D rank awakener.

He understood how dangerous the dungeon could be, and he knew they wouldn't be capable of handling it at their current strength. They weren't the ones clearing the dungeon in the first place; there would be a number of D rank hunters there, and they were just supposed to act as support.

After listening to instructions from the guild master, they retired to their separate rooms for a night's rest.

The next morning, the group arrived at the tournament arena. Upon getting there, a lot of participants were already at the scene. Everyone was clad in an armor or apparel, depending on their battle style. Each guild present formed a group of several persons, and they communicated earnestly with one another.

A particular guild stood out, with about twenty members. The image of a ferocious scorpion was crested on their right chests with the name Ghost Scorpion written on it. Each guild had their specific names and logos with most of them adapted from dungeon monsters which they craved their abilities.

The Ghost Scorpion were giant ferocious B rank dungeon monster with exceptional abilities. They had great speed and stealth, and their ghost like physique made them almost impossible to kill. Light was their weaknesses, so they mostly performed their activities in darkness.

The Ghost Scorpion guild took a fancy to their abilities and adopted them as their emblem. They had exceptional numbers and talents in their guild and they also won the first place in the tournament.

Karan glanced to his left and saw the Desert Serpents guild of six. His gaze was immediately met by Derek's who smiled in return. They had managed to come out second in Regan's tournament, thanks to Derek who was the only D rank awakener in the group.

Karan recognized Derek's ability, most especially from the recent defeat he had to them. Derek was a very talented Individual who managed to become a D rank awakener while not even up to the age of twenty. He was neither the arrogant nor voracious type which made him a wordy exemplar.

Karan gave him a slight nod and shifted his gaze to another direction.

The raid team's administrator arrived on the scene a few moments later in an ancient raid craft, a technomagic air vehicle engraved with different runes and formations in which it functioned.

Everyone gathered around the raid ship, but before entering, each party offered the administrator a certain quantity of power stones.

Power stones were crystalline objects that were mined for the quantity of manna they contained. They were utilized in artifact refining, as a source of power for raid crafts, and as an exchange currency.

After everyone were onboard, the raid craft took off at breakneck speed, zooming into the distance in the direction of the designated dungeon.

The trip took a little longer than they had anticipated. Perhaps it was due to their excitement at the prospect of raiding a D rank dungeon for the first time.

After a few hours, the raid craft finally arrived at the destination. It gave a slight hum and glided towards the ground. Getting out of the craft, everyone was greeted by the conspicuous sight of a powerful pillar of light reaching up to the sky.

Karan felt quite amazed by this site. This was his first time being so close to a D rank dungeon, and he could feel that the energy of the light pillar was several times stronger than any E rank dungeon he had ever been to.

It was obvious that the monsters in this dungeon would be several times stronger than the ones he normally faced. This gave him a sense of longing. Just as the saying goes, 'The greater the difficulty, the greater the reward.' As someone who had always longed for greater power, he couldn't wait to face the new challenge.

The raid administrator took the lead and the rest of the team trailed closely behind. The energy pillars of light illuminated their joyfully determined faces as they marched towards the dungeon.

Soon, they arrived in front of the light pillar. It was much larger than it appeared to be from afar, with a diameter of over two hundred meters. The raid leader proceeded to place his right palm through the light pillar. He briefly glanced back at the group before walking into the portal, completely disappearing from sight.

Seeing this scene, the rest members of the group had tightened expressions on their faces. They exchanged short glances before following suit.