A slow grind upwards

Josh put down the plate that once had a full british breakfast on it on a table ahead of him and he took out his phone

"Hmmm no E ranks"

"Should i join a D rank?"

"No,no that just invites danger"

"I still have the crystals"

Josh scartched his chin

"Ugh going to that god forsaken building again"

Josh got up put on his jacket and left his home

....

Josh found himself once more standing in front of the Hunters Association Center and in front of the crystal atm

"Ah shit i have them in my inventory"

"Ugh i can't take it out of nowhere in the middle of the street"

Josh looked around to find an alley where he could take the crystals out in privacy and he found exactly that

Josh opened his inventory and looked at it

He looked back and forth between his inventory and the gate

Josh shaked his head

"No,no,no,no"

"But the rewards oooh"

"The rank of a gate is mostly based on the size so this should be fine"

Josh walked in

....

A darkness befell Josh's eyes

"Ugh"

Josh took out his phone and turned on the flashlight

He found himself in a curving corridor

He couldn't hear anything and as such he took a step forward

After that one step Josh could hear something scurrying ahead of him

Josh stopped walking to be able to hear better what is happening ahead of him

The scurrying got closer and closer

Until a goblin came running out of the darkness straight at Josh

....

Josh stepped back but there was nowhere to dodge the corridor was too tight

The goblins dagger tore through Josh's shirt and pierced the skin of his lower abdomen

The breath was taken out of his body and a sharp pain appeared

Josh fell down to his knees trying to catch his breath

"Yup this hurts"

The goblin scurried away leaving Josh alone bleeding in the darkness

"Oh man"

Josh leaned againts the wall of the corridor and slid down into a seated position

....

"Is this is it?"

Josh looked up

"Aaah just my luck, died to a goblin hah"

Josh looked down and closed his eyes

The loss of blood was getting to him

...

Something slithered close to Josh

Or perhaps Josh's mind was playing tricks on him

"Just let me die in peace"

Josh's body fell to the side and his head hit the cold hard stone floor of the corridor

...

A breath

Fresh air

Eyes wide open

Roof

Wooden roof

A house?

"A house!"

Josh sat upright

"Didn't i die?"

He looked around

Nothing except a window, and the bed he was sitting on

His head throbbed as he touched it

He looked at his abdomen

"No wound,no scar"

"Heaven?"

"No"

There were sounds outside of this building

And those sounds weren't too enticing to Josh

Hisses and slithering

It got closer and closer until

...

The door opened and a snake monster came in

A Naga

Nagas resembled giant snakes with heads and arms that bear a humanoid resemblance. They typically ranged from 2 to ​6.1 meters in length and weighed around 91‒230 kg. Though some are known to be over 30 meters in length. Their saliva is known to contain healing properties, and are very sought after in medicine.

It held Josh's clothes in it's hands

"What the hell"

A B class monster was standing right in front of Josh's eyes with his clothes in its hands

"I must be dreaming"

Josh has never heard of a friendly monster before

...

It laid the clothes in a neat square with his boots on top in front of its massive body after that it didn't make a move

"Uhhhmm"

"Could you leave?"

It didn't budge

It didn't look like it understood his language

"Well this is going to be awkward"

Josh got up and walked over to the quiet beast

He felt the breath of it on his skin and a chill went down his spine

This is very weird Josh thought as he was putting his clothes on

...

Josh now fully clothed stood in front of the the beast

The beast slithered back through the door and showed Josh the way

Now outside a fresh breeze of air hit Josh's right cheek as he now found himself in the middle of a Naga village

....

The Naga that was in the house with Josh now grabbed his arm and started tugging him away towards a huge wooden building with bone ornaments on it

Well this is it goodbye cruel world

....

Now inside the Naga threw Josh down in front of a massive stone table

Am i going to be sacrificed?

Well that would suck

A massive Naga slithered from a back room

It had a crown made of gold, and what looked to be an ornamental armor

...

"Welcome human one"

It spoke

"Don't be frightened, we offer a gift'

It slithered to the back room and came back with a vial

It placed the vial on the stone table

"Itsss the gift"

It looked to have some sort of liquid inside

"Take it back to the cassstle"

Well don't mind if i do then

...

"Wait what is this?"

"Sssaliva, it hasss healing propertiesss"

"Oh"

"It isss how we healed you

It showed its cut snake like tongue

"One lick and two daysss all healed up"

"Ummmm okay?"

"You ssshould go now human"

"Pleassse esscort him youngling"

...