The Day

The long awaited day had come. The Clearance in the tripoint border Dungeon began.

Around 5000 Hunters consisting of three different guilds gathered in the 1st Floor Dungeon. They set up a camp in the middle of a field surrounded by pine trees, whereas to the south of the pine trees was a long river. Out of the dozens of large tents that stood in that place, there were three symbols of the flag fluttering majestically.

A white flag with a cloud symbolizing the number nine—Nine Sky—and a blue flag with a symbol of two crossed swords—Siberian Knights. Finally, the flag that fluttered the most. It was black and had a dragon's head painted in gold ink. This flag was the symbol of the only guild that existed in North Korea—the Heavenly Dragon Guild.

The Heavenly Dragon Guild was indeed not very well known in the world; they never had a raid or a fight with monsters in their dens. However, all the guild members were a group of trained soldiers in North Korea. Their mentality, discipline and loyalty were much better than most Hunters in general.

Today's Clearance would become their debut, as well as proof that North Korea had a strong Hunter organization.

At least, that was what they thought.

Among the dozens of tents that stood in that place, there was a large black tent guarded by dozens of Hunters. Inside, the three Hunters had a serious look on their faces. Two of them were men, and the rest was a woman.

An oriental-looking man led the three of them's discussion.

"Miss Wang, Mister Leonid, let's discuss this Clearance plan again."

In the middle of the three of them was a round table with three maps on it. Other papers of Dungeon information were also scattered on the table.

"This is the map of this Dungeon."

"All floors." Leonid arched an eyebrow.

"Right," replied Park Jisung, the leader of the discussion. "All floors. These maps are obtained from the internet. The local Hunters made these maps. They had already explored all the floors in this Dungeon. Of course, not the whole area has been touched."

"Interesting." Leonid smiled. He didn't expect that there would be a whole floor of the Dungeon map. "All the Dungeons in Russia have only been touched by one or floor two. And in this Dungeon, it has already been explored to floor three. The Clearance this time will be very easy."

Leonid then glanced at Park Jisung. "Then, North Korea will prove to the world that they are the first country to conquer a Dungeon successfully."

The middle-aged man's words did not affect Park Jisung. He knew what the man just said was satire, and he didn't heed it.

While the only woman in this tent, Wang Mei, remained silent. Her eyes focused on the three maps on the table.

"As we have previously planned, the 1st Floor will be handed over to the Nine Sky Guild and the Siberian Knights. So a total of 2000 Hunters will be doing the Clearance on the 1st Floor, while the Heavenly Dragon Guild will be in charge of the 2nd Floor."

Park Jisung spoke in two languages ​​alternately. He observed the two guild leaders before him. After making sure they both understood, then he started to explain the details of the operation.

The Clearance would be carried out over a period of two weeks. The location of the Clearance target was only on the 1st and 2nd Floors. The base of operations remained on the 1st Floor. Nine Sky would move to the north and the Siberian Knights to the south on the 1st Floor.

Since the operations were on two different floors, once every three days there would be a Hunter from the 1st Floor who sent food supplies to the Heavenly Dragon Guild on the 2nd Floor.

The guild's job was not only to eradicate monsters, but also to record all the things in the Dungeon; monsters, natural terrain, and including the resource in it. North Korea wanted to evaluate this Dungeon.

During the Clearance, no one should take anything in the Dungeon. Whatever it was. If one of the Hunters was caught taking items from the Dungeon, the guild would be penalized.

"Do you all understand?" asked Park Jisung. His eyes looked at the two of them alternately.

Leonid sighed. "Sure, we understand. We will do as planned. And all the credit will go to Heavenly Dragon." 

The middle-aged man smiled sarcastically. However, Park Jisung didn't care.

"What about you, Miss Wang Mei?"

The short black-haired woman was still silent. Ever since she entered this Dungeon she had sensed something was odd.

"I understand. It's just… isn't this Dungeon weird? There was never an Alpha, no Monster Break, and even a relatively low death rate for Hunters. But look!"

Wang Mei pointed at the 3rd Floor map.

"The 1st and 2nd Floors are 90% explored. These two maps were made over a period of three months. However, on the 3rd Floor, for more than three months, the novice Hunters made a map within a 3 kilometre radius. There may not be 1% of the real territory. Isn't this weird? It's as if everyone who entered the 3rd Floor died."

Leonid didn't understand what Wang Mei said. He could only frown. Meanwhile, Park Jisung remained calm.

"Of course. Based on the information circulating among hunters, the 3rd Floor terrain was a labyrinth, so it was difficult to explore the place. There might be a lot of Hunters who ended up getting lost. That's why we're going to do the clearance on only two floors."

However, the woman still showed doubts. Park Jisung then tried to calm her.

"You don't have to worry, Miss Wang. We've calculated everything. Everything will be fine. We'll get home safely."

Only then did Wang Mei calm down. What Park Jisung said was true. She and her men would only operate on the 1st Floor. There was a lot of information that had already been dug up on this floor. Everything would be fine. But for some reason, her instincts told her the Dungeon was far more dangerous than any other Dungeon she had ever been in.

.

.

.

Isaac stood while staring at the Crystal Core emitting light. The light not only hit his face, but also displayed the projection of a camp standing in the middle of a pine forest. His eyes scanned every detail in the projection; tents, people, equipment, flags, and even the activities carried out there.

Pippi sat behind Isaac and dug up her nose with her little finger. She wore battle armour with an oversized black robe.

"Lord, when are we going to attack them?" The expression on her face was bored. She couldn't wait to have a battle with the humans.

"How many times have I told you? Patience is the key to victory. Taking hasty action will only lead to failure. Even if we succeed, there will be a lot of loss for us."

"Yes, My Lord."

Even though Isaac had the advantage in this battle, being in his own territory and monsters in large numbers, he didn't want to rush to execute them. It was true that having them surrounded at one point would have guaranteed Isaac's victory. Just attacked them continuously and waited until their supplies ran out.

However, it also brought him a loss.

They won in numbers. The 5000 humans who experienced the awakening were the best Hunters. They were experienced. Unlike the Hunter in general.

At least one of them could face three to five monsters. They were able to last a long time facing the herd of monsters.

It was long enough to finish off a lot of the monsters.

Isaac didn't want to waste his monster soldiers on a war of attrition.

'They are like a bunch of sticks, hard to break at once. I need to unravel them, so it's easy to break them all.'

He needed to wait for the right time to finish them off. 

Just as Isaac focused on observing the projection of the Power Crystal, his cell phone vibrated. An incoming call. He put the phone to his ear, then his eyes opened wide. Not long after, his lips curved.

"Pippi, prepare to enter your post."

Instantly, Pippi stood up. The little girl became very excited. "Roger!" She put on a salute pose and her body vanished, turning into shards of light like a firefly.

Meanwhile, Isaac smiled at the Crystal Core.

"Let's get started."