3 Chapter 2: A Dungeon Appears

"No…!"

She did not even get to finish her words when the smell of blood permeated the whole area. Raydel was frozen with fear seeing the horrid sight as the nurse's body was pushed down onto the floor. The sound of flesh bitten and torn apart slapped some sense into Raydel, so he closed the door as quietly as possible and backed away from it.

Suddenly, he heard a sound from his phone. The screen had a bloody red textbox showing up.

[Urgent Alert: An A-rank dungeon has appeared in your area. It is a 10-story Tower of Babel, classified as the highest danger level. Please evacuate now!]

Tower? In the middle of a rural area like this? He thought, remembering that in the novel, even though dungeons could appear anywhere, a Babel tower dungeon would only appear in urban areas. There were times where a tower appeared in a rural area and if Raydel recalled correctly, the novel described this incident as…

'...while Han was hiding from the world, he cleared all the dungeons in rural areas alone. A lot of them were B-rank or above. Some were even A-rank dungeons in the form of Babel towers that seldom appeared outside of town…'

"..." Raydel was in shock.

"Raydel, what happened?" Jinny who had just woken up asked.

Raydel blinked before rushing toward her.

"Don't panic, okay? There's a dungeon here," he tried to say it as calmly as possible. "We need to get out of here now."

Jinny's eyes went wide open, all her drowsiness disappearing completely.

"What, a dungeon…?"

"I'll piggyback you."

The girl still had not fully recovered her senses. "What rank is it…?"

"Aahhh, don't!"

"Aarghh!!"

Suddenly, screams burst out outside of the room. At the same time, they heard the sounds of doors being opened and the sounds of footsteps running for life from the monsters.

"There are monsters outside," Raydel said. "Zombies. They mainly spawn in A-rank dungeons. If we sneak out without making much noise, they won't chase after us. So, we need to be as quiet as we can, understand?"

Jinny trembled. "What?"

"Whisper if you want to talk. Don't scream."

Raydel carried the shaking girl on his back. She was light, so he had no problems carrying her as he tiptoed toward the door. While he was about to turn the doorknob, he noticed that his hands were shaking.

"..."

Raydel took a deep breath before opening the door as softly as he could.

The hallway was quiet.

He saw no movement from both humans and zombies, but he could smell the strong foul scent of blood. Jinny gasped as Raydel saw the body of the nurse on the floor. She lay twisted in the middle of a puddle of blood. Her neck had deep and large wounds all over and was covered in deep red, showing that zombies have bitten and ripped it apart.

Apart from that, the entire hallway was filled with bodies of patients and nurses lying still. There was even a body lying face down in front of their room's door, as if he was trying to open the door and hide inside but was killed before he could.

Raydel's face turned pale. He didn't even have to turn around to know that her sister had the same reaction, but because she knew well enough about dungeons and their horror, Jinny had expected some death. In this kind of situation, only hunters can handle monsters, so the only thing ordinary people could do was running away.

Raydel walked over the body resting in a puddle of blood and tried to recall where the fire exit was. He had a feeling that it was next to the center elevator.

Splash.

His footstep on the blood sounded disgusting. Raydel tightened his grip on Jinny's legs, trying not to put too much pressure on her splints. He had to walk past the nurse counter which was completely void of people now. Bloody handprints were left on the nurses' station, the phone on the counter was left dangling by its wire and the button to call the guards was covered in blood.

Under the counter was a body submerged in blood.

Raydel's eyes followed the blood trails that led to the center elevator in the large hall. Then, he frowned when he noticed that the… walls looked strange.

He remembered that the hospital walls used to be plastered smoothly with a light color of paint that was pleasing to look at. But now, the walls were huge limestones piled over one another. He reached out to touch it and realized that they were all roughly connected by clay. This was weird. The hospital stayed the same but the walls changed into limestone completely. It felt like he was walking into an ancient ruin.

"Is this the dungeon's arena?" Jinny whispered.

Inside a dungeon or a tower was called 'arena.' This was where monsters and bosses spawned. Arenas came with a condition that hunters needed to complete to clear the dungeon. Now that the dungeon had appeared over the hospital, it began to change the inside of the hospital into an arena.

In the novel 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter,' hunters had to learn how to analyze what monsters and bosses they would find from the characteristics of a dungeon. The author used legends and stories from the real world to design them, so every dungeon and tower would have a story that fitted with its appearance. For example, we could find a boss that was related to the Greek and Roman mythology in a dungeon that had an interior architecture resembling that of the Pantheon.

So, in a dungeon with limestone walls and ruins like this… what could be the boss?

Drip.

Raydel heard the sounds of water dropping. When he looked at the hallway, he saw that apart from blood, there were also puddles of water on the floor.

An arena with water? And with zombies…?

Raydel felt the walls, contemplating.

"Hah..."

Raydel bent down as soon as he heard someone panting. A patient was walking from the north where water level was at his ankles. He had to move through the water to press the button for the elevator, but because of his restlessness, he smashed it with his fist while whispering, "please… please…!!"

The screams of zombies scared Raydel and Jinny so much that they could not bear to watch what happened next.

Two zombies caught him up and mauled him while he was screaming in front of the elevator as its door opened. Inside was a dim-lit light that kept blinking, revealing the bloody scene each time it did. Blood and water flowed into the elevator before the door closed and opened again because an arm of a body blocked the way.

It kept closing and opening like that.

Raydel looked at the area next to the elevator, his heart pumping faster and faster with each passing minute.

The fire exit was right there.

And they had to walk past two zombies.

Raydel carefully put down his sister and hid her behind the nurses' station. Then, he asked her out of desperation, "do you have any artifacts with you?"

Jinny shook her head. "I have nothing. What about you?"

"Me neither."

They did not have any weapons to fight the zombies.

"Didn't you bring your ice skating shoes to the hospital?"

"Mother took it. Do you want to slash the zombies' heads with it?"

In the past, the relationship between the two was awkward, but now that Raydel had changed, they adapted to each other well. At that moment, they sneaked a laugh, just like those who had no idea how to handle this hopeless situation.

"Wait here," Raydel changed back to his serious tone.

"What are you going to do? You didn't think of fighting them bare handed, right? We… we should just wait for some hunters. I'm sure they will arrive here finally."

"No hunters will be here."

"Huh?"

Raydel said something like that because he knew the dungeon's system well enough. He knew that even though there were a lot of hunters, those who were strong mostly stayed in the big city. Dungeons that were not cleared in the first twenty-four hours would mutate and become a danger to the city in which it appeared. That was the reason why governors from each city would set a 'prize' to attract great hunters to help clear dungeons.

But for a small city that had a small income, setting a high prize was impossible.

Without such a high prize, the strong hunters would not care to come and clear dungeons. So, the government had to form a special force to handle these situations. But in fact, it would take a while for the force to come, and even if they did come, it would take a lot of time before they cleared dungeons. Raydel was sure that they could not sit around waiting if they wanted to survive.

"If I push the zombies into the elevator and close the door, we'll be able to run away," Raydel said.

Jinny looked at him with eyes wide open. She mouthed a silent warning, "but it's dangerous!"

They both stopped when they heard a soft whisper.

The whisper came from in front of the elevator. After successfully killing the patient, the two zombies sat and rocked back and forth, whispering something strange under their breath as if saying a prayer. Raydel looked into Jinny's eyes intensely. His sister listened to the whole sentence before speaking up.

"They're repeating the sentence. 'Come forth, our Master. Please, never be submerged under the water of dreams ever again.' Are they talking about the dungeon's boss?"

'Come forth, our Master. Please, never be submerged under the water of dreams ever again'? The unique characteristic of the zombies in this dungeon was saying a prayer? Raydel thought. "Yeah, it could be. It seems like a summoning ritual…feels like a weird cult."

"Like a cult of madmen," Jinny said. "I have goosebumps all over my body."

"A cult of madmen?" Raydel murmured to himself. "A cult… mad people… summoning…"

He looked up at the limestone walls one more time and then, at the puddles on the floor.

"Never be submerged under the water of dreams ever again…?"

He moved, but Jinny grabbed his arms instantly. Raydel raised his hands to stop her before sneaking toward the elevator.

The sound of someone chewing flesh could still be heard. Raydel looked at the backs of the zombies without blinking before he…

Pluckh!

…pushed one zombie into the elevator that was opening.

He pulled the body that was blocking the elevator door out, allowing it to shut together with a loud bang, but it did not move to other floors. At the same time, the remaining zombie stood up. Raydel gritted his teeth and tried to dodge the zombie that was trying to grab him.

"...!"

But the zombie's claws got to his neck first.

Bam!

It threw him against the elevator's door. Raydel gritted his teeth again as he felt the immense pressure pressing down on his throat. He tried to get the zombie's hands out before it bit into him, but everything happened all too fast. His sight became blurry as he gasped for air…

Then, he heard a sound.

The zombie turned around immediately, showing Raydel that a pen was stabbed into its neck. Behind it, Jinny was standing with her splinter lightly off the floor, pushing all her weight onto her unbroken leg. She hopped back out of fear, but before the zombie leapt at her, Raydel pulled the pen out and pierced through its catorid artery with all his might.

He pressed the button to open the elevator and ducked aside before shoving the zombie into it as well.

Bang!

He held the door open with one hand as the other reached in to press for the other floor. Then, when the two zombies were about to charge at him, he pulled his hand back just in time before the light in the elevator went out and its doors slammed shut!

"!"

The entire hospital quaked violently. The elevator doors cut right in the middle of one of the two zombies' necks, causing an explosion of blood and flesh in the blink of an eye.

Both Raydel and Jinny were frozen with shock by the scene. They were not sure if it was a lucky incident or not for the elevator to fall down right at that moment. It did get rid of the zombies for the two, but it also splashed blood all over them.

Something clattered on the floor in front of them.

Raydel picked it up and saw a gray sign the size of a hand. He frowned before whispering, "an artifact?"

An ordinary artifact.

"Is it real?" Jinny mumbled excitedly. She wiped the bloodstain on her face before rushing in to take a closer look at the artifact. "What power does it have? Can you use it?"

The old Raydel remembered how to use artifacts because it was in the curriculum of every elementary school, so he focused his mind on it. Then, the artifact started to change.

It became a dagger.

Raydel clenched his grip on it. His heart was beating faster since they finally have a weapon with which to protect themselves.

"Let's go."

He carried his sister on his back again before kicking the door to the fire exit open.

But instead of a fire exit, he saw another room.

He froze.

The arena in front of him was enormous. Everywhere he looked was limestones piled over one another. The sounds of waves crashing into the shore flew by with the winds. Even though the place had a roof, what he saw looked as if it were a beach under a gloomy sky.

The waves in the ocean moved slowly, panning out into an endless scenery. Raydel saw limestone walls and a boat that was tied to a stump. He walked toward it, recalling that in the novel, any objects in an arena had magical powers. This boat was no exception. When he put his foot on one of the gunwales and ordered it with his mind, it gradually moved to the direction he demanded.

"What is this place?" Jinny whispered.

Raydel looked around, and then, a message box suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Condition to Clear the Tower: Awaken the Boss and Survive.]

This… was the boss room.

"Awaken the boss?" Jinny repeated, shocked. "Can we go back the way we came in?"

But when they turned around, the door that brought them here had already disappeared.

"Raydel," the girl said with a trembling voice, "we can't clear the tower. We're not hunters."

Jinny was right. Bosses in a 10-story tower were A-rank monsters. It would take hunters with great power to defeat them. They might be lucky enough to kill a zombie with the help of a malfunctioned elevator, but surviving a boss was too much to ask from them.

Even so, Raydel squeezed out all the information in his head. He examined the environment of the arena before putting Jinny down on the boat.

"Raydel, what are you doing?"

"Shush."

Raydel looked around before staring at the shore that had the same limestone walls as the hospital, but the difference was that these walls seemed extremely asymmetrical. Normally, the walls were long and smooth, but these walls at the shore were built in a horseshoe-like form. The clay used were filled with mud and disgustingly-green weeds.

The atmosphere felt strangely empty.

Raydel untied the rope and pushed the boat out into the sea. Jinny had a worrying look on her face. The boat shook with the waves that were constantly crashing into it. While pushing, Raydel's foot stepped on an uneven floor. He paused and looked down to see what it was.

A huge door was under his foot.

Suddenly, the door slid open.

The intense smell pervaded the air as a message box appeared in front of him.

[You have successfully awoken the boss.]

Shit!

Raydel jumped onto the boat and ordered it with his mind to move forward immediately. At that moment, the sound of waves emerging from the area around the door thundered across the whole area. A gigantic shadow grew out of the water and towered over them like a mutated skyscraper.

The water sprayed into the air as if they were in the middle of an enraged sea, and Raydel didn't dare to look back at the boss that was following them. He was afraid to death just with its looming shadow. In his ears echoed the sounds of legs swimming in the sea. The boss could just take a step and almost catch up with them. The shadow squatted down like it was preparing for a jump.

"Raydel! We're hitting the wall!"

They had reached the walls of the arena. The boat was heading straight into the distorted limestone walls.

Raydel refocused, and in the split second that he turned the boat around, the boss' head smashed into the wall at full speed. The crashing rumbled and shook the entire tower. Raydel looked at where the boss' head hit the wall and saw a huge crack, so he turned the boat around and headed toward the same spot.

This time, he swerved again, luring the boss to collide into the same place.

Bang!

Raydel pressed his lips together tightly. He was tricking the boss into destroying the tower's walls. In the novel 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter', people could create a hole in the tower's walls by firing at the same spot from both inside and outside. If the condition was not met and the boss had not been defeated, the tower would still stand. But it didn't matter. What he wanted right now was to get out of here, not fight the boss. He tried to use the boss to make a hole on the wall so he and Jinny could escape.

Now, the walls were cracking. Raydel could see the night sky of the outside world through the hole big enough for a person to crawl out. It was located next to the terrace of the hospital's part that was not swallowed by the dungeon.

His heart was beating vigorously. He shouted to Jinny.

"I'll throw you!"

He knew damn well that she would get hurt for sure, but he still threw her.

Jinny screamed as she flew through the hole in the wall. She fell onto the terrace floor and slipped forward uncontrollably. Raydel turned the boat around, stood on the gunwale, and jumped…

"...?!"

Suddenly, a tentacle grabbed him in the middle of the air!

It pulled him back with a strong force. Raydel's heart fell to his feet. When he pulled out his dagger, preparing to slash all the tentacles before him, he heard the sound of someone chopping the tentacles into pieces.

Raydel abruptly turned. His jaw dropped because he remembered that cold, indifferent back in an instant.

Why was the protagonist here!?