Dungeon Raid [1]

At the same spot as last time, he saw the little girl sitting in the same corner, the small box of chocolates enclosed by arms in a tight hug, close to her chest.

Walking up to her, he crouched down with a smile and found her asleep again.

He poked her cheeks with a finger, stirring her awake with her eyes hazy.

Rubbing them, she cleared her vision, and as soon as she saw Amon, a happy smile planted itself on her face again.

"Uncle!" She squeaked with glee.

Smiling, he patted her head and took a gaze at her box of chocolates.

To his shock, the whole box was now empty except for one chocolate bar still safely kept in a wrapper.

"You eat all chocolates?" He asked, while also pointing at the box to make her understand.

Understanding what he meant, the girl's smile suddenly wavered and her body shuddered.

"Y-ye! I s-spread all!" She spread her arms, saying to him that she distributed them all to the people in the streets.

Amon frowned.

He knew that they had probably snatched it from her with force or some fake promise.

He sighed.

At least she wasn't injured.

He looked at her slightly sunken cheeks, indicating hunger, and caressed them with pity behind the mask.

The girl's smile returned to normal and she quickly ran her baby hands in the box before retrieving the final chocolate and showing it to him.

He smiled and took it in his hands before tearing off the wrapper and handing the chocolate to her.

She instantly started to cutely nibble on it.

While she was eating, he explained to her with gestures that he would bring her back food again today.

With a joyful smile, she jumped into his grasp while still eating the chocolate.

Surprised by her sudden action, he still took her in his hands and patted her back for a little while.

Realizing that it was time to leave, he quickly settled her back into the corner.

"Uncle, come back, wait here, okay?" He told her through gestures.

 She nodded obediently and he stood up to leave.

But as he turned, he felt a sudden tug on his cloak.

Looking back, he saw the girl standing and looking at him with a resolute expression.

He tilted his head in confusion but she looked down at the chocolate bar, which was still quite a lot left.

With the little strength she had, she tried to break it apart.

CRACK!

Breaking it into two unequal pieces, she looked up at him and handed him the large piece.

"Uncle, why no eat? Eat, strong." She said, explaining that he should eat it to grow strong.

He was taken aback once again by her kindness.

The girl was sacrificing her hunger for him. She was truly a kind soul.

However, he smiled and patted her head.

 Breaking the large piece even further, he only took a small nibble of it and handed the rest back to the girl.

"Uncle, fine this, you eat that, big." He gestured that he was fine with the smaller piece and that she should be the one eating the bigger piece to grow strong.

Her mouth contorted to a cute 'o' shape before smiling brightly and giving a big nod.

Patting her head once more, he stood up and left the area, heading towards the black market.

*****

[Inside the Black Market]

Amon arrived inside the market using the card again.

Without wasting a second, he quickly rushed towards the [Dungeon Dreamers] building, his cane tapping constantly against the ground attracting the passerby's attention.

Arriving in front of the building, he headed inside towards the receptionist.

"Greetings! How may I assist you?"

"There's a dungeon reservation for today by the name of James Corleone."

Nodding, she quickly started to rummage through some files before settling on a final one.

"Ah right here, the dungeon reservation for [Scarlet Reverie] for the day July 5th, 1789 by the codename James Corleone. Am I correct?" She asked

Amon nodded and she quickly handed him a small card.

"This is our dungeon identification card, please hand it over to the person stationed at the dungeon keeping,"

He nodded once again and she quickly called a helper for him.

The man gestured for Amon to follow him and he quickly started guiding the way.

The man started guiding him to the far end of the building, making him pass various people who were preparing to attempt dungeons as well.

The strange cane earned Amon various looks from the people but he ignored them and focused on the task at hand.

After a couple of minutes of walking, they finally arrived in front of a series of portals arranged in a horizontal line.

Various dungeon keepers stood in front of the portals, identifying solo attempters and also parties that wanted to enter a dungeon.

He was quickly led to a secluded dungeon portal at the far end of the row, where a well-dressed dungeon keeper stood ready.

Handing him the card, the keeper quickly checked it while also taking glances at him to make sure.

"Ah, you are clear, you may proceed. Please keep the dungeon card physically present close to you so that if any mishap happens, we may detect your location to rescue you. Do not store the card in a spatial ring."

Listening to his words attentively, Amon nodded.

Then he looked at the portal in front of him that was whirring alive with distortion noises constantly leaking out of it.

SWIRL! SWOOSH!

Without further ado, he stepped inside the portal to attempt his first-ever dungeon.

As soon as he took a step inside, Amon felt all of his senses distort and a weird feeling came upon him.

He was tossed around like a rag doll as he felt his body being decomposed and composed again and again.

A nauseous feeling welled up in his chest.

But after a long while, he finally felt his senses return to him one by one while his body was rearranged back to what it was.

As his sense of sight returned, he found himself on a large desolate floating island, with a sea of blood all around him.

The crimson sea sent a salty iron smell to his nostrils.

He was finally here in the dungeon.

The Scarlet Reverie.

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