Participation

(Beast Slayer Guild)

Katsuya examined the quest wall while countless papers hung from it.

One of the papers caught his eye as he reached out and grabbed it.

{Participation in a B-rank dungeon raid.

There will be Three A-rankers, two B-rankers and one C-ranker participating in this raid. We need one more participant in order to have a full party.

To whoever accepts this quest: Contact me at 864-291-519

Raid will take place on 5\23\2025 }

"The date says it's today. I should probably give this person a call. Hopefully they didn't already start the raid."

Katsuya pulled his phone out of his pocket and started dialing the number.

He pressed the 'Call' button then held the phone up to his ear as it rang.

A man with a somewhat joyful voice answered the call.

"Hello? Is this about the quest I put up at the guild?"

"Yes, it is. I accepted the quest put up. I'll head over to the dungeon as soon as you give me the location." Katsuya replied.

"That's great. We could use an extra hand. Wait, first tell me your name and rank. I won't accept another person lower than B-rank."

Unfortunately, even though Katsuya was now on the level of an A-ranker, he was still in D-rank. Katsuya needed the money he could earn from this quest desperately so, he lied.

"W-well, my name is Katsuya. I'm an A-ranker."

There was silence from the other end. Katsuya began getting nervous, wondering if the man knew he had lied.

Suddenly, the man replied, talking in a joyful voice.

"Well congrats! You're accepted. The dungeon is in the cold forest. Once you arrive there, I'll text you direction on how to get to the dungeon. Well, Katsuya, I'm looking forward to meeting you."

"T-thanks, I'll head over right away."

Katsuya hung up the phone, letting out a sigh of relief.

"For a second, I thought he saw straight through me. But, was it really okay for me to lie?

--------------------------------

(Forest)

['Sora' has added new quests]

{Quests:

1.Kill a 7 Monsters| 0/7| Prize: Random skill

2. Retrieve an item from a monster | Prize: Level capacity +1

3. Clear a dungeon | Skill Choose}

"The quests I get are always so simple." Katsuya thought to himself.

Buzz

Buzz

His phone began vibration as he looked down at the screen.

{Time: 1:24 P.M

You have received 2 new messages from: 864-291-519 }

"I hope the directions he gives are easy to understand."

He tapped on the messaging app and started reading what was sent.

{Message: Follow the river upstream until you come across a small-looking shack. It looks small, but don't let it fool you. It's the dungeon entrance.}

{Message: Also, if you get there before us, don't go in. Just wait for us.}

Katsuya looked all around in confusion to where the river was.

"Sora, where is the nearest river?"

A female voice inside of his head then replied.

"1.4 Miles straight."

A look of uncertainty shot onto his face.

"Umm...that's kinda far. You're not lying to me, are you, Sora?"

A voice then came from behind.

"No, I'm not."

Katsuya jumped back in surprise as he did not expect anyone else to be there. As he looked to where the voice had come from, he was surprised.

Standing against a tree with her eyes closed, was a woman with long white hair and smooth pale skin. Her eyes were red and she had on a leather jacket with blue jeans and shiny black boots. If Katsuya was being honest, he thought she looked as if she belonged in a biker gang.

"And you're supposed to be...?" He asked in confusion, expecting her to say her name.

She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"You really don't know who I am? You're the one who named me."

Katsuya stood still with a puzzled look in his eyes.

"Um, sorry, I don't remember having any kids." He replied.

The woman leaned over and yelled at him.

"You Idiot! I wasn't referring to being your kid."

Katsuya was still puzzled as he tried to remember who she was. He though that she was probably an old friend from middle school, so he pretended to remember her in order to avoid making her feel forgotten.

"Wait, I think I remember you now…."

She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

"It's about time."

"...You're an old friend from middle school."

She looked at him with an angry look in her eyes.

"I'm not that either."

The woman grabbed her face in disappointment as she continued.

"You're obviously bad at playing the guessing game so, I'll just tell you who I am. I'm Sora, your A.I"

Out of all the possibilities, Katsuya was not expecting to hear her say that. He was visibly shocked.

"You're what?"

She grabbed her face in disappointment once more.

"Gosh, you're clueless. When people get an A.I skill, their A.I's gain the ability to materialize when their owners reach level twenty. If I take damage while in this form, I'll disappear and go back to your mind. So technically, I can't die until you die."

Katsuya stared in surprise at her, before slowly letting out a sentence.

"I...had no idea."

"So anyway, When you want me to de-materialize, I'll go back to your mind.

Also, I can't fight like I'm another adventurer. Well, at least not until you reach level fifty. Once you do that, I'll tell you more."

She began skipping in a steady pattern until she passed him.

After realizing Katsuya was still standing there, she turned and looked at him.

"Do you wanna find the river or not?"

"Sorry, I'm going." He replied.

Katsuya proceeded to follow her.

--------------------------------

15 Minutes Later…

They both arrived at an area where a nice blue stream flowed.

Katsuya kneeled down and looked at his reflection in the water. As he stared into the reflection, he noticed a small red fish swimming in the water.

"That's kinda cute." He thought to himself.

"I wouldn't stand too close to that thing." Said Sora.

"Huh? Why not?"

There was a big splash of water as the fish jumped into the air.

As Katsuya's realized this, he saw that the fish had glowing red eyes and knife sharp teeth.

The creature opened it jaw wide and chomped down on his cheek.

"That's why." Sora replied.

Katsuya yelled out in pain as he yanked the fish off of his face. He squeezed it tightly in the palm of his hand and threw it back into the water.

"That was one aggressive fish." He thought to himself.

Sora began talking as she walked away.

"Well, you already know how to get to the dungeon from here. I'll be going back to your mind now."

Katsuya watched as she slowly disapeared as light-blue pixels showed.

Suddenly, she was gone, just like she never existed.

He stared at the spot she once stood, wondering if he had hallucinated her entire existence.

Katsuya roughly shook his head then looked at the river.

"I better get moving."

---------------------------------

There was a small old-looking shack. There were holes all over the outside of it and the entire structure looked extremely unstable.

As Katsuya began to approach, he noticed five men standing outside.

One of them was pretty tall. If Katsuya had to guess his height it would be

"Seven feet and seven inches tall"

The man had red-colored eyes and orange hair. He wore A big red coat and black pants.

The other man that stood next to him had black-colored eyes, long blue hair and wore blue chest armor. Hanging on his back was a white cape.

Katsuya walked over to them.

The other men all wore somewhat normal clothing.

"Is this the right place for the B-rank dungeon raid."

The orange haired man wore a serious look on his face as he walked over to Katsuya and asked.

"Are you Katsuya."

A sweat ran down Katsuya's face, he was clearly intimidated.

"Y-yeah, that's me" He nervously replied.

The orange haired man's face brightened up as he put his hand on Katsuya's shoulder.

"Aha, I thought that was you. Glad you came. I'm the guy you talked to on the phone. My name's George and I'm an A-ranker."

George then pointed at the man with the white cape as, telling his name.

"That's Jay,also an A-ranker. The other guys are also part of the team. One A-ranker, two B-rankers and one C-ranker."

"Nice to meet you all," Katsuya replied.

He turned his head looking at the old-looking shack.

George noticed this and walked over to it.

"Curious, are you? I meant what I said about being in the dungeon entrance. Look, I'll show you."

He faced the shack and slowly brought his arm back and quickly pushed his palm against it. The wind violently shook as the shack tore apart, blowing away.

On the floor was a big dark hole with stairs that lead down.

"See, I wasn't lying." Said George.

Katsuya was still surprised by the fact that the party leader's hand was enough to shake the wind.

George walked over to the hole and placed his foot down on one of the steps as he turned back, facing the rest of the team.

"Alright boys, lets go."

--------------------------------

(B-rank Dungeon)

The tunnel they walked in was extremely large in all areas as they walked.

"So, how long have you been an adventurer, Kid?" George asked.

"I'm actually kinda new to this job. I started less than three weeks ago." Katsuya replied.

George chuckled then kept the conversation going.

"It's pretty impressive for somebody as young as you to already be an A-ranker. I'd say that one day you may even be S-rank, Silver if you're lucky. How many dungeons have you cleared before?"

"Well, this is actually my second dungeon." Katsuya replied.

"Kid, you got a lot to learn."

The reply that George gave, kinda reminded Katsuya of the conversation he had with Genzo before his death.

Jay suddenly shouted.

"Stop!"

Everyone stopped walking and turned to face him.

"You sensed monsters?" George asked.

"Yes, quite a lot of them. Up ahead." Jay replied.

George turned back around, staring up ahead as he pulled two machetes out of his coat. His eyes gleamed red as he smiled.

"Jay, I'm going to slash away at the monsters up ahead. Launch a magic attack when I give the signal."

A crowd of noise came from up ahead, sounding like a bunch of people tapping their fingernails on a table all at once.

Crawling on the floor towards them, was a large group of giant centipedes.

As the creatures got closer, George wore a grin on his face.

He rapidly swung his machetes at the creatures, killing one with every swing. Green blood gushed out from them as they were cut down, left and right.

"This guy is on a whole other level than me." Katsuya thought to himself.

George jumped to the side as he shouted to Jay.

"Now!"

Jay held out his palm towards the creature as he chanted a spell.

"Blue Fire: Melting Blues"

A hot blue flame shot out and immediately turned the creatures to ash.

"Good work, Jay. Shall we continue walking?" George asked.

"No, something feels off." Jay replied.

They continued talking as Katsuya began thinking to himself.

"Now that I think About it, something does feel kinda weird. It's almost like we're being watched."

A Drop of wetness fell from the ceiling, landing on top of Katsuya's head.

He touched the top of his head where the wetness had fallen. As he looked at his hand, he immediately knew something was wrong. On it, was a green goo, looking like saliva from a monster.

He slowly looked up at the ceiling and saw where the wetness had come from.

Up there, were tons of giant centipedes. Countless creatures jumped down, then attacking the team

"More of them?!" George shouted.

He began swinging his machetes, cutting down the centipedes that jumped at him. Before Katsuya knew it, the entire team was engaged in combat with them.

Loud screeching noises came from behind as he quickly turned around.

His eyes widened as a centipede's mouth was inches away.

Katsuya's reflexes kicked in and he quickly weaved to the side, grabbing the creature's face and squeezing it with great force.

"Monster, activate!"

[Your skill 'Monster' has been activated.]

Still squeezing the monsters head, he brought his other arm back then Swung his fist into its face. Its head exploded as if it was hit by buckshot.

(Man Eating Centipede: Hp: 0/8,432)

[Leveled up] [Leveled up]

[Leveled up] [Leveled up]

From above, another screeching sound was heard. Katsuya lifted his head and a centipede jumped down at him.

He grabbed the creature's face and slammed it into the floor.

"I'll show no mercy to any monster I come across." He thought to himself.

With great force, he slammed his elbow against its face.

(Man Eating Centipede: Hp: 0/8,432)

[Leveled up] [Leveled up]

[Leveled up]

Katsuya turned his head, watching the rest of his team as they fought.

"Do they even need my help?" He asked himself.

For the most part, the others seemed to be handling creatures with medium difficulty.

One of the men fell on their backs, being knocked down by one of the creatures. The centipede crawled its way over to him and opened its mouth wide, attempting to bite the man's face.

Katsuya pulled out his dagger then threw it through the air, hitting the creature's head. The creature was instantly decapitated.

(Man Eating Centipede: Hp: 0/8,432)

[leveled up] [leveled up]

Katsuya walked over and picked his dagger from the floor. He then shot a look at the man he just saved.

"You're this team's C-ranker, right? You should only stay in dungeons where you could keep up with the monsters, Just a suggestion."

Katsuya did seem somewhat rude but he only said that, hoping he could save that man's life by preventing him from going to higher ranked dungeons in the future.

Silence filled the air as the other finished fighting the centipedes.

All that can be heard was the sound of heavy breathing as the others had fought with all their strength.

George placed both of his machetes back in his coat.

"Alright boys, let's keep going."

He began walking further ahead while the others including Katsuya followed.

--------------------------------

After twenty minutes of walking, they arrived in a pretty strange area. There were trees everywhere that had bright green leaves. On the floor around was dirt and grass. Berry bushes grew everywhere. About 100 feet above them, was the ceiling which had great big crystals that lit up the area.

It looked exactly like it could be a real forest, disregarding the fact this was in a dungeon. There seemed to be no clear path to take as this area spread out for miles in all directions.

"Looks like we're gonna have to split up into teams." Said George.

He then continued explaining how this would work.

"Each team will take off in one direction, walking for three hours or until they reach another path. We'll all meet up back here when the time limit is up?"

All the others shouted, replying.

"Yes!"

George began splitting the members among two teams.

"Alright, since I'm almost equal to two A-rankers, I'll only take the two B-rankers with me. The rest of you will be in the same team together."

He began walking into the forest as he called for his two teammates to follow.

"My team, follow me."

"R-right! Shouted two of the men as they followed him.

As they disappeared into the forest, Katsuya counted his teammates.

His team was made up of two A-rankers, one C-ranker and himself.

"So which one of us is going to be the leader?" Katsuya asked.

"Let's decide who's the oldest. I'm twenty-nine."

"I'm sixteen." Katsuya replied.

"And I'm thirty-one." Said Jay.

There was only one more left, the C-ranker.

As they all looked at him, he replied.

"I'm twenty-one."

Jay was the oldest, meaning he was now the team's leader.

"I guess that means I'm the leader. Okay, let's begin our walk."