Homebound

"What are we doing here exactly?" Cosmos Chronostasia asked once she hopped off the horse.

In front of her was a huge Zecian Portal that led to an F-Rank Dungeon... except it had a weird energy emanating from it.

A crowd gathered at the foot of the Zecian Portal, there were adventurers of different guilds and they all viewed the Double Dungeon, even the Dungeon Appraisers were there, and based on what Cosmos overheard, they'd confirmed that it was a Double Dungeon.

Cosmos gasped before she realized it. The Zecian Portal in front of her led to a Double Dungeon. There was no doubt about it.

"Can you do something about it?" Rhydderch asked, joining her side as they admired the overwhelming Zecian Aura that leaked out of the Zecian Portal.

Ironically enough, the Zecian Portal was closed on both sides even though Zecian Aura leaked from it.

"What do you mean to do something about it?" Cosmos asked, confused. She was a Platinum Rank Adventurer, but she couldn't just go ahead and destroy such a portal.

In fact, this was the first time she's heard someone try to destroy a Zecian Portal. There were instances in the past where they tried to blow these portals up, but that didn't work so no one tried it any more.

"No, I mean... with your skills, you can create a pseudo-Zecian Portal that leads straight inside the dungeon, right?" Rhydderch Wintermoon asked.

It was plausible, and Rhydderch knew that Cosmos had done it before. That's why he was confident that Cosmos could do it if she tried hard enough.

"No, I can't. You know I can only do that if I've been inside the dungeon, right? Besides, even if I know how to do that, I wouldn't risk creating a Zecian Portal inside a Double Dungeon. It's dangerous." Cosmos complained. "And why do I need to enter the dungeon anyways? This dungeon is owned by the Rilegarthe Guild, right? Then they lucked out, it's a double dungeon and they're already trying to conquer it."

"No, that's not the point. Sigh~" Rhydderch let out an exhale. "Look here, Cosmos, a comrade of ours is inside... and a couple of hours ago, this was just an F-Rank Dungeon. Moreover, he went with mere Gold-Rank Adventurers. There were only five of them."

"What?! What's his name?" Cosmos whispered so as not to garner any unnecessary attention.

"Albrecht. Albrecht Stein. He signed a temporary contract with us. I thought you were aware of that." Rhydderch asked, scratching his head.

"You mean Albrecht? That Albrecht? We signed a temporary contract with him?! I thought he just joined us as an additional porter... you should've said so sooner." With slight annoyance in her voice, she approached the Zecian Portal, ignoring the stares of the other adventurers who were present.

She noticed that the Heroes of Relics were there, but just like them, she was in Platinum Rank so she didn't feel all that inferior to them. The only difference was they were more gifted but in terms of talent, she was on par with any of them.

"I just have to try, right? Then, I'm going in." Cosmos muttered to herself.

Skill 'Portal Activation' activated.

Skill 'Compass of Grace' activated.

Skill 'Hand of Kalacakra' activated.

Since time was of the essence, Cosmos activated all of her skills to aid her in locating the other side of the Zecian Portal. This was a dangerous process. After all, if her calculations were off, her portal might end up in the middle of nowhere.

Everyone could tell that the popular Platinum Rank Adventurer was trying to do something so they gave her the space she needed.

And then the Zecian Portal began to swirl even faster. Even the Heroes of Relics were surprised that Cosmos managed to disturb the Zecian Portal.

But she had no idea why the Zecian Portal reacted to her. Cosmos backed away as the swirling Zecian Portal unleashed more Zecian Aura.

"What's going on?" Cosmos let out,

"What do you mean? You weren't the one behind that?" Rhydderch exclaimed, pointing at the Zecian Portal which seemed like it was about to blow up at any moment.

— — —

Inside Ylsafa's Lair,

Ylsafa the Lightning Fire Lion glowed a nice shade of blue and white before it turned into a cub. It then waddled its way toward Albrecht and purred as it rubbed its face on his leg. The Tamer's Collar shone on the cub's neck.

"I'll have a hard time getting used to seeing that on a B-Rank Beast," Hex said, examining the Tamer's Collar.

"Let's get out of here before another dungeon shows up," Albrecht repeated.

As the group walked towards the Zecian Portal located on the next F-Rank Dungeon, they were still in a daze as if they just woke up from a nightmare.

They just fought tooth and nail against a B-Rank Beast, and they managed to pull through, thanks to Albrecht's 'foolproof' plan.

It was crazy and by far the riskiest plan they could ever think of... but at the end of the day, it worked!

"We conquered a B-Rank Dungeon. What on actual..." Hex couldn't help but shake.

Not only did they gather five sacks of goblin ears, they also defeated the Goblin King and the B-Rank Dungeon Boss Ylsafa.

They were rich as fu—

"..."

"..."

The overwhelming and dreamy situation they found themselves in caused all of them to bawl their eyes out. A couple of moments ago, they already accepted their fate— that they won't be able to go home anymore...

But now, they were going home, they'd be able to come back to their loved ones and family.

And it was all due to Albrecht's hard work and incomparable bravery.

"We're here," Albrecht rubbed his nose as he tried not to cry. However, that still didn't stop a stray tear from falling from his eyes.

Once again, Albrecht put all five sacks of goblin ears and the Goblin King Corpse inside his spatial storage space.

Fwooosh~!

A threatening sound of wind and scattered dust entered the dungeon as the Zecian Portal opened.

It was time to go home.