Episode 6: Duo Dungeon (3)

Strolling through a peaceful park located near the University District of Aurelis, two young men could be seen making their way over towards a restricted area of the park. There, a giant blue dungeon portal stood before them.

"Alright, we're here!" Landon's eyes sparkled as he soon swiped his finger to the side, opening up his inventory. "Come on, let's go prepare ourselves!" In the next second, he began taking out his newly bought equipment: an armour plate, a pair of boots, piercings and a bracelet.

"...sigh. Landon..." As the blonde-haired man proudly wore the new equipment, Jace stood off to the side, staring at the man in helplessness. "Did you really have to spend 42 million?"

"Hm? I already told you, didn't I? Think of this as a worthy investment!" he grinned. "Now come on, hurry up and wear the set! I wanna see your new look!"

"Hah..." Scratching his head helplessly, Jace began taking out a pair of black boots, fingerless black gloves and a jacket from his inventory. "You know, I still stand by my words earlier. I don't think this is all worth it..."

"Worth it or not, at least we're equipped with something, right?" Landon did a thumbs up. "Besides' we'll earn back the money eventually! So it really is just an investment. So don't worry about it, I'm not going broke anytime soon!"

"Yeah, sure..." Jace yawned, putting on his jacket and gloves. "What's this dungeon about anyways?"

"It's an E-ranked Insect dungeon!" Landon stated. "It's called Black Spider Cavern, I think? It's not too hard, but from what I've researched, the dungeon is known to like swarming hunters with immense numbers. But, with our firepower, we should be just fine!"

"...huh?" Whilst preparing his pistol and bullets for the dungeon, Jace suddenly turned to look at Landon with a shocked expression after hearing the word 'insect'. "What did you just say?"

"Uh... That we'll be fine?" he blinked.

"...no, what did you say this dungeon was about?"

"An insect dungeon?"

After confirming Landon's words, Jace's expression darkened. "...you know we're a two-man party, right? And you want to handle the swarm without any Magicians???"

"Well, with how much we attack, I'd say we'll be just fine!" Landon proudly proclaimed.

"Ugh... That's not..." he sighed. "Well, it is true. But insects..." His darkened expression turned into that of disgust. "...of all dungeons you chose, it had to be insects of all things?"

"Hmm? Is there a problem?" Landon blinked in confusion.

"Never mind," Jace coughed. "In any case... I'm mostly ready now. So we can go in at any time."

"Alrighty then! With equipment out of the way, let's go in!" Nodding his head in excitement, Landon waltzed right into the dungeon portal. Following up from behind him, Jace followed suit.

...

As the area around them slowly faded out, the two young men were now greeted by the sight of a dark cavern before them. There, spider webs could be seen plastered in every corner of the cave, marking its territory.

"...ugh." Taking a step into the dungeon, Jace's expression was immediately filled with disgust as the smell of rotten eggs entered his nostrils. "It really is an insect dungeon..."

"Huh... So this is what it's like in a cavern..." Making his way forward through the tunnel, Landon looked around the area with interest. "It feels pretty cool in here!"

"...seriously? That's all you have to say about this place?" The young man glared at Landon.

"Hmm? Did you want me to say something else?" The blonde-haired man blinked.

"Forget it," Jace shook his head helplessly, soon beginning to walk further up ahead. "Let's just get this over with. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

"Eh? Lazy Eyes???" Shocked by Jace's hastened steps, Landon called out to him. "Did I say something wrong or something??" In the next moment, he began chasing after the man.

As the two continued their way forward, Jace's footsteps abruptly stopped in place. At that very moment, the young man's attention quickly shifted over towards a nearby rock, soon shooting out a bullet towards it.

Bang!

Right at that instance, a spider randomly leapt straight into it, causing it to explode and spill green ooze all over the rock.

"..." At the sight of the dissipating corpse of the monster, Jace frowned. "I already want out of this place..."

"Woah...! How did you know that spider was going to jump?!" Landon's eyes opened with wide eyes.

"...just intuition," he stated. "Now let's hurry up before—" Before Jace could finish his sentence, sudden echoes of incoherent screeches could be heard resounding through the cavern. "—before more spiders come..."

Greeting the two men, a swarm of spiders began rushing towards them.

"A-Ack... That many?!" Landon cried out.

"...ugh." Grunting, Jace hurriedly activated [ Soul Channeler ], linking himself with Landon. "Landon, with this many enemies, I hope you don't miss..."

"I won't. Trust me!" Readying up his pistols, Landon leapt right into the swarm, beginning to rapidly shoot out a barrage of bullets at the spiders. At the same time, Jace positioned himself to the side, shooting at any pests that attempted to lunge at the blonde-haired man.

Although the spiders were many in number, individually, they were weak. As such, just a single bullet was enough to obliterate one of them. And so, in the end, after a few rounds of bullets, the cluster of spiders that amounted to around 30, were all completely wiped off.

"Woo! We're on a roll with the new gear!" Landon cheered.

"...eh, doesn't make much of a difference," Jace shrugged.

"Huh? But it makes all the difference!" he cried out. "Say, speaking of which... Didn't your set come with a fedora?"

"Yeah, and?" Jace raised his brow in confusion.

"Why aren't you wearing it?"

"..." Seemingly silent in reply, Jace made his way forward, skillfully avoiding the puddle of green ooze whilst doing so. "I don't want to wear it. That's all."

"HUH??? Why not?? Isn't it a part of the set?" Landon looked at Jace in bewilderment.

"...I just don't want to wear it," Jace helplessly sighed. "If you want, you can wear it instead." Stopping at his footsteps in the next second, the young man began to rummage through his inventory, soon taking out a fedora from it. "Catch."

"...!" Abruptly grabbing onto the flying fedora, the blonde-haired man continued to look at Jace in confusion. "Ehh??? Are you for real???"

"Well, I won't be wearing it, so why not?" Jace stated. "Now hurry it up, let's finish this dungeon already. The rotten smell is seriously getting to me..."