A strong opponent

When they entered the gate, it was evening in the sky. So, they quickly put up a tent and lit a bonfire to cook ramen with a huge mushroom.

"Taerun, are you sure they are edible? They look so blue."

"Yes, it's edible. Can you pass the salt, please? I need to balance the soup a bit."

"Yeah, sure."

  The smiles will surely follow the fire after the sun is set.

"Hey, how did you know that there's a hidden gate deep inside the sewage?"

"I discovered it. Anyway, don't get frightened by what I'm about to do." Taerun touched the mark on his hand with mana and a creature came out from it. It looked bigger than yesterday so he assumed it might've got affected by his recent increase of level.

"Waaa!! Whaaat is that?"

"It's my familiar. Isn't she cute?"

"Kiyuuu!! Kiyu!! Kiyu!!"

The little lizard-like dragon with tiny wings jumped on his lap to have some cuddles. The golden eyes of the dragon were so beautiful that the light of the bonfire was reflecting on those like mirrors.

"Taerun, just what kind of monster is that?"

"It's my familiar you damn brat. We're connected to each other."

   I should let her hunt around his dungeon for two days. It's important for her to level up too. And I think I should give her a name too.

"Your name will be Kiwi from now on."

[Congratulations on naming your familiar. The understanding between you and your familiar will become stronger.]

   I didn't expect that…

"Kiwi, can you bring herbs that look tasty?"

The small creature lifted her right hand and said, "Kiyuu!!!"

"I guess that's a yes. But be careful around monsters. Don't hurt them. Just take the herbs and come to me."

"Kiyuu!"

The little dragon left by wiggling its tail and jumped inside a deep bush of the jungle.

"Are you sure that creature is going to be okay alone? And the night is getting cold as the time is passing."

"Yes. She's going to be alright. And the temperature drops down to zero at night. But since we're hunters, this won't bother us. Let's finish our dinner, shall we?"

   When I came here as an E rank, I felt like I was going to die due to the cold. It was so cold that I almost froze my fingers. And the monsters were still stronger than the average F-class monster. They sure gave me a hard time defeating them. I was so lucky to survive and get out of the dungeon with all of my limbs intact.

  'What a harsh life I spent back then,' he mumbled.

Taerun quickly put out the fire right after their dinner. Because the fire attracts monsters at night. For not having Sato properly trained with his spear, Taerun decided to spend 6 hours of sleep instead of jumping right into the battlefield.

The smiles and mini grasshoppers might look so weak. But when it comes to numbers, an A-class novice can also get crushed by the swarms. So, bringing an untrained hunter into a dungeon is nothing but leading him into the pit of hell.

But if a trained hunter with years of experience is present, he can turn the table in no time.

The hidden dungeons are different from normal dungeons. A normal dungeon has a limited zone with limited monsters and a limited amount of magic stones.

But when it comes to a hidden dungeon, it's a different case. There are only 2 hidden dungeons ever recorded on the pages of history where hunters saw no limitation on the vast land.

There were no restrictions inside and no time limitations. But there was a catch.

Nobody knows where an S-class monster is going to pop out from.

Taerun took out a new sword from his inventory and placed it beside the rock he was sitting on. Because there was no guarantee of when a monster would attack him.

Suddenly, Kiwi jumped out from the bush with a huge fruit in her mouth and ran closer to his owner.

"Kiyuu!"

"Oh my, you're here already? What is this?"

[Item found.

Name: Kepka

Strength 4^. Agility 3^. Mana 3^

Effects: 2 hours.

Can be created into A class power up potions]

   So my dragon has good eyes to pick up herbs. I will get rich in no time.

Taerun picked all the herbs that his dragon brought all night long and stored them inside his inventory to sell it later. Soon, the sun came up and Sato woke up with a drooling mouth.

"Oh, you stayed awake the whole night?"

"Go wash yourself and bring your spear. I'll teach you how to stab and slice your opponent."

"Okay."

   The monsters are usually inactive at this hour, so it will be best to strike the iron while it's hot.

The spear technique was simple, but it was really hard to master all of them. Taerun was never able to level up in his past but despite his miserable situation, he tried to learn every weaponry inside his training hall. From swords to modern guns, he learned about everything.

But nothing good came out of his harsh training. He was stuck on level E even after training for years.

   Heh! But I can level up now. So my skills are going to level up too. Since I know how to wield every weapon, I can become a great instructor right?

Taerun took out a spear from his inventory and spin it around his body to warm it up a bit. "This is pretty light. Being a C class is convenient to play with a spear around my body."

"How are you doing this? That's so cool!!"

"You're ready for the action. Okay then, I've already made a target over there. Try to hit it with your spear."

"But where's the sharp blade? It's just a stick."

"You brat! Asking for blades when you can't even hold your stick properly." 

   This is going to be tough. I should kick him in front of a grasshopper.

Sato started to hit the scarecrow to sharpen his moves by following Taerun's instructions. But his moves were too difficult to master. Because Taerun showed him intermediate-level spear technique instead of basic stabbing.

Because, they were inside a dungeon, not a training ground. So, he decided to teach him a more difficult spear technique to make him ready for the afternoon battle when the monsters are active at their peak. 

   I guess he's ready. His movements are better now. And his strikes are heavier and perfect than before. I think he's ready to kill his first monster.

He climbed down from the tree after picking tons of fruits and herbs and said, "Oi, go and wash up. We're going to the starting field."

The reason why we didn't see any monsters is because of Kiwi. She might look like an innocent harmless creature. But her killing intent is much higher than mine. All the monsters were scared to get closer because of her.

"Taerun, are we going to kill monsters now?"

"Shus! Keep quiet. This isn't a normal dungeon. Just keep calm and follow me."

The deeper they were going inside the forest, the lighter the trees were becoming. And small monsters became visible to their eyes. It was grasshoppers.

"Let's go hunt some monsters. And don't forget to collect the monster core from their body."

On a riverside, some monsters were gathering around to drink some water. The small grasshoppers were having a meal beside the river and they quickly noticed some movements inside the bush where Sato and Taerun were hiding.

"See? They might be weakling creatures, but their senses are sharp. You go ahead, I'll take care of the right side."

"Okay. See you later."

Sato jumped out from the bush and straight ran into the group of grasshoppers while Taerun slowly walked away somewhere else to fight something else. Because he saw something last night and decided to keep his mouth closed. It was a C class monster and the same level as well. 

The dungeon doesn't have any limitations. So, Taerun walked far away from Sato to fight it with full rage. He was excited.

"I never thought that I'd be fighting with a C-class monster in my whole life. Since I'm a C class as well, I can withstand its attacks and clear the dungeon before Sato clears it."

Taerun quickly went inside the cave following its footsteps and went inside to search for the monster.  The cave was dark but in his eyes, it wasn't dark. His familiar connection made the dark cave so bright that the dust on the rocks was visible. He felt as if the sun was shining inside.

    My senses got better after I came here. This cave is full of mana and it's a huge opportunity to gather the outer mana inside my body. I am sure there are thousand year old mana stones everywhere. 

But his misfortunes were something that sticks under his shoe like chewing gum. A faint blow of air fell on his shoulder from behind and he felt the chill down his spine. He was sure that an A-class monster was behind him.