40 Episode 8: Grave Under (1)

Beep...

As the monotonous sounds of a ringtone rang out in Jace's room, the uneasy feeling within the young man's heart slowly grew. He knew not of the reason as to why he felt so troubled, but all he knew was that he needed the call to connect.

Beep... Beep...

"..." Whilst waiting for the other party to accept, Jace frowned.

Beep.

After another moment of silence, the call finally connected.

"Hmm? Lazy Eyes??? What's up???" As Jace heard Landon's voice from the other side of the call, the tense feeling within him relaxed. "I didn't take it that you were the kind of person to call first! Did something happen?"

"Ah. It's nothing..." Jace coughed, realizing that he had no business with Landon today. "...I uh, wanted to confirm whether we're not going out to a dungeon today?"

Although Jace already knew that today was a 'rest day', he held back on telling the true reason as to why he called. After all, what he was feeling right now was on the lines of uncertainty. It was best not to let it be known.

"Huh??? Don't you know that we're on break today???" Landon's laugh echoed into Jace's ears. "Hahaha! I didn't think you'd still want to dungeon after the amount of gates we went into the past week! Whose the addicted one now???"

"Ahem... Right, a break," he sighed. "Well, from what I can recall yesterday, you still wanted to continue clearing dungeons today. So, I was just wondering what a dungeon addict like you would be up to right now?"

"Hmm? Well, since everyone's on break for a few days, I'm gonna be training!" he chuckled. "I still need to get better aim after all!"

"Well, I guess that's reasonable," Jace shrugged. "Are you going to be training with live targets or in a shooting range? Honestly, if you're still up for it, we could still head out into a dungeon later today."

Jace knew not of what he was saying.

"Pfft. What's going on with you today, Jace?" he laughed. "It's so unlike you to want to go out to a dungeon willingly! Are you really the Lazy Eyes I know?"

"...ahem," he coughed.

"Hahaha! Well, on a serious note..." After a few more rounds of laughter, Landon's tone of voice abruptly shifted into that of nervousness. "Err... How do I put this..."

"...?" Jace raised his brow in confusion at Landon's words.

"Well, I uh, am actually going out to a dungeon tomorrow..." Landon awkwardly stated. "I-I'd invite you and the rest, but... The dungeon's rights that my brother got me are held by the Hunter's Association. S-So there are limited spots..."

"...huh?" The black-haired man blinked. "...you're going out to a dungeon tomorrow?"

"Y-Yeah..." Landon uttered. "Don't take it the wrong way though! If I could've invited you guys, I would have! But again, there were limited spots..."

"...I see," Jace's expression grew troubled as he heard Landon's explanation. "Though, why so suddenly?"

To Jace, he didn't think that Landon was the kind of person who would go into dungeons without his friends. Thus, to suddenly hear about Landon's upcoming dungeon expedition tomorrow, he felt apprehensive about it.

"Ah, w-well, It's just that I had to fill in a spot for my brother!" he coughed. "Though, you don't have to worry about it. The dungeon will be a breeze with me around!"

"..." Jace remained silent for a few seconds, soon sighing out the next moment. "What's the dungeon about anyways?"

"Hmm? Oh! It's a ghoul-type—" As Landon was about to continue with his sentence, a random inaudible voice echoed from the other side. "Oh, whoops! Looks like I have to go now. Catch you later!"

"...what?" As the call with Landon ended, Jace was left speechless. "...did he just say a ghoul-type dungeon?"

The short moment of relaxation that Jace had felt when he first heard Landon's voice abruptly disappeared. Now, it returned to that of unease. More so, he was feeling especially conflicted about the situation.

"...just what the heck's going on?" he frowned. "A ghoul-type dungeon? That has to be a coincidence, right?"

To randomly hear the word 'ghoul' from Landon's mouth reminded him of the sudden headache that he had earlier. Was it merely a coincidence? He was unsure. He had hoped that the call with Landon would've put him more at ease, however, it was the contrary.

"...why is Landon suddenly going to a dungeon without us?" Jace furrowed his brows. Although Landon had already stated his reason as to why, it felt off. Would he casually accept to fill in for his brother when he was the kind of person to prefer hanging out with his friends? "Ugh... Just what's going on here? What does my dream have to do with this?"

While in deep thought, Jace felt another sharp pain in his head, reminding him of the nightmare from earlier.

"..." With a frown, Jace glanced towards his phone which was still on Landon's chat. "Even if he's addicted to going out to dungeon runs... This is still suspicious."

Though Jace may not have known Landon for long, he was sure of one thing. He liked to enjoy the moment with his friends, attempting to include them in everything that he does if possible. To remain secretive all of a sudden, there was more to it than meets the eye.

This was especially true after the random dream that he had gotten.

"...sigh." Scratching his head in helplessness, Jace sighed, exiting out of Landon's chat. "...this is a dungeon with rights held by the association, right? Hah... What are they up to this time?" Scrolling through his contacts list the next moment, his eyes landed on a contact named [ Bryce ] in his list. "...let's just get this over with."

...

As the afternoon sun shone through the bustling streets of Aurelis, a young black-haired man could be seen silently making his way through the crowd. There, he took a sharp turn to the left, heading into a less busy street.

"..." With eyes fixed on his phone whilst walking, Jace casually glanced around the area, seemingly on high alert. "He said that the dungeon's gate was here... But why are there so many people around?" As he continued looking around the area, a voice rang out in the distance, catching his attention.

"ALRIGHT! Is everyone ready?!" Turning his head over towards the direction of the voice, Jace noted that there were a few men in black in the vicinity, all standing in positions in front of a barricaded fence. "If so, I'll start the briefing!"

"...ah. It's over there." Without any hesitation, the young man began moving towards the barricaded area. As he got closer, his eyes spotted a group of hunters beyond the fence.

"Okay. So as you all may know..." As the man in front of the group of hunters began the briefing, Jace sneakily blended into the crowd. "This is a highly-valued gate. It is a B-Ranked Ghoul-type dungeon."

"..." Whilst lazily listening in on the briefing, Jace scanned the front of him, noting a prominent blonde-haired man standing amongst the 10 hunters before the blue portal. "Ah. There he is."

"Now, although ghouls are the weakest monster archetypes amongst the high ranks, I'll have to remind you all not to let your guard down!" he stated. "They can be extremely dangerous when they're in groups. So be sure to not let them crowd together!"

"Yeah, yeah!" A hunter from the party shrugged. "We know this already! So, let's just start the grind, yeah?"

"Sure you do," the man at the forefront of the group laughed. "Go on and continue with your preparations. We'll head in as soon as everyone's ready!"

"..." The blonde-haired man in the crowd anxiously looked around, not at all talkative.

"Hmm... So it really is a ghoul-type dungeon..." Jace frowned, discretely scrutinizing the hunter party before him. "...it really doesn't look to be a coincidence, huh? But... A dungeon like that isn't at all endangering. So, how could the situation possibly have gotten that bad in my dream?"

The reason why a ghoul-type dungeon, especially that of just B-Rank, was highly valued in the hunter community was due to one factor: Its farmability for mana cores. With easy-to-kill monsters and an almost endless wave of them, they were among the best ways to gain plenty of B-ranked mana cores and other miscellaneous dungeon drops in one go.

Whenever a dungeon like that would pop up, the top guilds in the country would stop at nothing to seize the opportunity to acquire the rights to enter the dungeon, leading to extreme competition.

In which case, the association would often times step in to prevent any unfair play, oftentimes taking the rights of the dungeon for themselves and then distributing them fairly to the hunter community via lucky draws or bookings.

The ten hunters before Jace were the lucky people who got the opportunity to enter the dungeon.

"This is really strange indeed..." Jace's brows furrowed as he continued thinking of the matter. "I still don't exactly know what's up with the dream I had..."

"Alright! Let the dungeon conquest begin!" While in deep thought, Jace heard the man's loud cry, indicating that the dungeon run was about to begin. "Let's go!"

"..." As Jace saw that the party members were slowly entering the dungeon portal one by one, the young man began to silently move away from the crowd. "Well whatever it is, I guess I'll have to find out myself."

In the next moment, Jace made his way over towards a secluded area not so far from the barricaded fence. There, it could be noted that there weren't many bystanders or hunter associates in the vicinity.

"Great... This is the perfect place," Jace nodded his head, now locking eyes onto a hidden area beyond the barricaded fence. "Let's begin then."

Without any hesitation, the black-haired man activated his skill—[ Phantom Mirage ], instantly blinking through the fence. At that second, his eyes hovered towards the blue dungeon portal in the distance, soon blinking again towards it without interruption.

And so, just like that, he too entered the dungeon.