Chapter 1 - The Dungeon in the Elford Village

In the continent of Erzania, the sky shone brightly as a black bird flew through the sky slashing through the winds. "Hey, stop right there you thief. How dare you try to steal my corn in broad daylight?" a voice yelled. A man was chasing the bird at full speed trying to get a hold of it.

Hearing the yelling man, an old man came running towards him. "What happened, Fujio? Is it the Black Jia again?" the old man asked.

"Yes, Mr. Village headman. It's that beast again. It has been stealing corn from my fields for a week. I have tried my best to catch it but I wasn't successful. I don't know what to do. If this continues, there will be more of them and we will run out of food supply," the man complained.

"Don't worry, Fujio. I have posted a quest at the adventurer's guild about the Black Jia. The adventurers will be coming soon."

"But this happens every year. How can we, the people of this poor village afford to post quests every time? We don't even get proper food sometimes," the man grumbled, "If only that dungeon wasn't here, then the monsters wouldn't have gotten attracted to our village."

"Don't worry. Haven't a group of adventurers already taken the task of clearing the dungeon a week ago?" the old man comforted him, "I'm sure they will be able to complete the mission."

"But it's already been a week since they entered the dungeon. Do you think they can survive? I have heard that it is an A-rank dungeon," the man continued.

"Don't worry. They are professional adventurers. I'm sure that they will be able to clear the dungeon."

This was the month of July, the month of prosperous harvest for the kingdom of Aleston. Aleston was the southernmost kingdom of the continent. Though the kingdom was filled with riches, there were still poor villages like Elford village, in which Fujio currently resided with his family.

These villagers were barely holding onto their lives by growing corn. Though they had a good yield, it wouldn't last long. The reason why it was so was that the kingdom applied heavy taxes to its citizens. So most of the poor villagers struggled to live a good life.

Among those poor little villages, Elford was special because it held one of the kingdom's prestigious dungeons. This was the other reason for the loss of harvest.

A dungeon is a hidden space which is homed by monsters which are foreign to this world. That is, these monsters did not belong to this world neither were they created by the gods of this world.

It is said that the dungeons are the creation of the demon king who invaded the world thousands of years ago. Though the demon king was defeated by the heroes thousands of years ago, his creations, that is, the dungeons and the monsters still remain.

Being the house of monsters, the dungeon also hosts powerful artifacts and legendary weapons. Every dungeon has its own dungeon boss which rules over the dungeon. The dungeons being homes to the monsters attract other homeless monsters causing them of head towards the villages such as Elford village.

The humans being greedy about the rare artifacts and the weapons head into the dungeon and kill the monsters to get the weapons. They are called adventurers. And the supreme body that keeps the adventurers in control and hands out quests to them is the adventurer's guild.

Every major city or town has its own adventurer's guild. Not all the adventurers are greedy. There are even the ones that wish to protect the people whole-heartedly. Over the centuries, hunting has become a popular occupation and adventurers earn a lot. That is what attracts people to become adventurers.

There have been countless times in the past when the adventures have taken upon the Elford village but none of them seemed to have been able to clear it completely. All they could do was minimize the number of monsters gathered in the dungeon and barely make it out alive since clearing this dungeon was thought to be basically impossible.

The same was to happen to today's raiding party too. However, ...

"Hey, everyone, ready? We are about to step foot into one of Aleston's biggest dungeons," a harsh yet mature voice roared guiding others into the battle. He seemed to be the leader of the party.

"Why did we have to bring a weakling along? Won't he just be a burden?" a lady among them spoke up.

"We need someone to do gather the materials when we're engaged in battle. That's why Leroy is here," the man replied.

All the lady could do was glare at the young man standing behind her as if warning him not to get in the way of their battle.

The young man could feel it, her criticism towards the weak. But he couldn't do anything since they were stronger than him, or atleast he thought they were.

After what seemed like ten minutes, they were now ready to enter the dungeon. The entrance of the dungeon seemed to be decorated in blood as if warning them not to enter.

Well, it wasn't anything new to them, though. Dungeons usually had similar atmosphere, So, it was only normal for them to proceed without being warned.

The party entered the dungeon finding their way to the monsters and the legendary items.

Soon, their very first challenge appeared, the poison bats. But there was a problem.

"Hey, aren't the poison bats supposed to be D-rank monsters? How come they are so big here?"

"Yes, they are supposed to be D-rank but they seem to have been effected by the dungeon's mana."

"Are you sure that it's safe to proceed?"

"No more talks, jump into battle," the leader ordered as he jumped into battle slicing the poison bats around.

But what followed, left them stunned.

"Gaah," they screamed in fear as they noticed the giant poison bat king hanging upside down from the ceiling of the dungeon. It was so big that all they could do was wish that it wouldn't wake up.

"We're leaving," the leader ordered.

To be continued...