Chapter 20: The Dungeon's first guests

Frost moved in closer hoping to see more clearly. At this point he could only see a few shadows moving within the edges of Northrend Forest. The shadows grew larger and clearer as they moved, they were heading right for the dungeon.

Four figures quickly appeared from the forest and entered the open snow-covered plain allowing Frost to get a good look at them.

At the front was a tall human with rough features and short black hair. He was armed with a sword and shield and adorned with leather armour. The sword appeared rather crude and well used but recently sharpened, his shield was made of wood and covered in some sort of monster skin, it too looked well used considering the number of repair patches it had. His leather armour was in one word simple, no fancy design just simply leather clothes with extra padding.

Following the human was two beastmen of the cat tribe, they had grey fur, long tails, and yellow cat eyes. The two of them were a fair bit shorter than the human but were dressed in a similar style albeit with a hole for their tails. One was armed with a wooden bow and held a quiver full of arrows on his back whereas the other had two daggers sheathed at his side, an archer, and a scout.

Finally, at the rear was a dwarf and the shortest of the bunch but much more muscular. He had red hair and a massive red beard and was armed with a giant two-handed hammer that was longer than himself. He too was dressed in leather armour protecting his chest, arms, legs, and feet.

A group of average adventurers, a scout, archer and two fighters, fairly common. None of them were geared with metal armour, Frost didn't know if this was due to being unable to afford it or perhaps metal armour wasn't highly desired in this climate.

"Adventurers!" Frost exclaimed with joy once he could clearly see their faces. He fully expected to wait several days before he'd see his first intruder, but it hadn't even been an hour and there's already four of them. He struggled to contain his excitement as he smiled wildly and clenched his fists. Now he knew why Maya quickly dragged him back.

Maya was also smiling just not as unreserved as Frost; she detected the party of adventurers moving in the distance and quickly sprang into action. It was in their best interest for Frost to remain hidden as part of the dungeon. She peered towards the screen examining the four adventurers gauging their strength before letting out a pleasant sigh. The adventurers weren't anything special, Frost would have no issue killing them himself if need be.

Frost and Maya watched the group of adventurers as they drew closer and closer to the dungeon lying in wait for their prey.

Maya knew the rough strength of the party due to her overwhelming power; Frost however had no clue; he could only base it off their appearance and equipment until they actually stepped into the dungeon. After which the dungeon would show their daily DP amount giving him a more accurate idea of their abilities.

Adventurer's POV

The rough looking human slowly walked towards the mountain ahead of his companions as if protecting them.

"Boss look!" The scout beastman quickly shouted as he pointed towards the dungeon's entrance. Before them lay a giant stone gateway that led into the mountain.

"Eh!" The boss appeared stunned when he noticed.

"That wasn't there a few days ago, was it?" The human turned to his party members to make sure he wasn't forgetting.

"No boss"

"Mn mn" the two beastmen shook their heads in response.

"Don't remember that being there the last time we passed through the valley." The dwarven adventurer recalled the last time their group passed through the valley on their way to the Glacial mountains. They passed by this very mountain but there wasn't anything unusual about it and there certainly wasn't a giant stone gateway.

The adventurers were currently on a quest to hunt a frost wolf, it was commissioned by their local guild in Furano and had a rather good pay out, all the requester wanted was the monster crystal and claws. Meaning they could keep the pelt for themselves, talk about a jackpot. They were lucky they saw the request get put up allowing them to accept it before others got the chance.

Usually, they wouldn't get to keep any of the monster parts and the pay would also be less, plus they'd get deductions for damage e.g., if they cut up the pelt too much. The person who commissioned this must have been some rich moneybags who didn't care for the pelt, probably a noble or some kind of alchemist. John the party leader didn't bother checking who the client was before immediately accepting the job.

They had passed by this mountain last week while on another quest to hunt winter boars but since John graduated to D-rank they spent all their money celebrating and needed a high paying job quickly.

"Strange" John pondered on what the gateway could be.

"Ah!" The dwarf exclaimed loudly as he realised what it was. John and his beastmen companions quickly turned towards him in response.

"What is Thorin?" John asked, he was still clueless and Thorin's sudden outburst gave him a fright. Thorin took a deep breath to calm himself down, if he was right this opportunity that befell them could mean a lot of money.

"I think it's a monster lair." Thorin slowly emphasized the last two words.

"M…m…monster lair," a bomb went off in their heads. Monster lairs were areas of dense mana created by the Dark God that spawn monsters. Whether it's a goblin lair or dragon lair it always means money for the locals.

Monsters would be continually summoned until either the source of mana was destroyed or depleted, but no one with any sense would willingly destroy the source otherwise they'd become enemies of the surrounding towns and villages. In fact, many large towns were created due to a monster lair being established nearby. Adventurers would repeatedly plunder the lairs killing monsters in return for money at the guilds, and the guilds would then sell the materials to businesses for commercial use, a constant flow of money. Of course, they're downsides to monster lairs as well, if said monsters are too powerful it can cause the local areas to be overrun but eventually it just calls for stronger adventurers to come over, ones that don't bother with anything less than C-rank.

Thorin's explanation made sense since monster lairs could appear anywhere depending on the Dark God's whims as they say. Usually, an area would be transformed to allow monster occupation and this sudden entrance into the mountain fit the possibility. No way someone could hollow out a cave with such a large entrance in a matter of days, least of all without anyone knowing.

The more they thought about the idea the more excited they became, just bringing back knowledge about a new monster lair resulted in a hefty reward, the more detailed it was the more money they'll get. John couldn't stop his lips from turning upwards.

"Let's put our current quest on hold and investigate, Jack do a quick sweep." Luckily their current quest had a fairly long-time limit otherwise they'd need to pay a fine. John looked towards the scout beastman known as Jack as he ordered. The smile had receded from his face, he started treating this situation seriously, if one of his friends got hurt it'd be his responsibility since he was the team leader.

"Got it boss." Jack nodded before slightly crouching and moving silently towards the cave entrance. He closely inspected the nearby ground for any monster tracks which would highlight any monster types they might encounter. Seeing no tracks and not smelling anything, he moved closer to the stone gateway drawing his daggers in preparation for an attack.

At this point his colleagues could only nervously watch in a battle-ready stance ready to move at the first sign of trouble. Being a scout was dangerous work placing you in great danger if you were detected. It took a lot of talent to be a good scout, finesse was required. Anyone can swing a weapon but not anyone can remain undetected as they moved.

Once Jack reached the dungeon's entrance, he closely inspected the ground and walls as well as sniffing the air. He was once again examining for any monster activity. 

Finding nothing he half smiled, and half frowned, finding nothing meant that this monster lair was very, very fresh. Not a single monster had left the lair as of yet since there wasn't any tracks or lingering odour. This was good news as it meant they were the first group to find it however it also meant that they had no idea what type of monsters they might encounter within. With their strength even multiple frost wolves would be dangerous let alone something like a dragon.

Finished with assessing the dungeon, Jack quickly returned to safety amongst his companions to announce his findings.

"Well how is it?" The other beastman, the archer asked inquisitively. This beastman was called Fen and was childhood friends with Jack, they both grew up together in Furano and were the same age.

Jack ignored his friend's question and looked directly at John since he was the team leader. Once John nodded giving him the go ahead, he began telling them what he found.

"So, you're saying that it's most likely a monster lair that's just opened and we're probably the first ones to find it." John summarised the information he'd been told since Fen was struggling to understand.

"That's right boss."

John placed his hand under his chin as he processed his thoughts. He was deliberating whether or not to enter the monster lair or return to the guild with their current information. Although the money did seem enticing, if they were dead how could they spend it. He sighed in regret, even though he'd been promoted to D-rank their party was still considered rather weak.

"What do you guys think, should we risk it?" John couldn't come up with a firm decision by himself, so he asked his party members.

Without hesitation Fen replied, "Do it do it do it!" While fist pumping. Unlike everyone else he didn't sense the danger.

"I think we should enter, if it's too dangerous we can always leave." Jack answered with determination, he didn't want to pass up a chance at easy money. After hearing their answers John then turned towards Thorin the one who's opinion he cared about most given his knowledge of monster lairs.

"I agree with Jack we should enter, even if we returned to the guild and said a new monster lair showed up, we'd need to have some information at least otherwise it'd be pretty pathetic." Thorin was aware as much as John about their overall weakness but felt that they should attempt it, they were adventurers after all. Overall, they could be considered slightly talented since each of them were only in their early twenties, including Thorin and John even though they looked middle-aged.

John let out a deep sigh before smiling and nodding vigorously. He agreed with Thorin and felt they should try.

"Alright let's do it but I want everyone alert and ready you hear, no one dies got it." He sternly shouted like a drill sergeant. His party members strongly nodded while smiling.

Fen placed his hand on Jack's shoulder and looked at him seriously causing shivers to run down Jacks' spine.

"W…w…what do you want, why are you looking at me like that?" Fen's gaze terrified him.

"Don't worry brother if you die, I promise to take care of your sister." Fen thumped his chest with pride as he made a solemn vow to his brother.

Jack was suddenly filled with anger, his face turned red, and he swung his fist, smacking Fen right on the nose without mercy.

"Like fuck I'm letting you anywhere near my sister you bastard!" After punching he proceeded to kick his so-called brother, venting his anger all the while Fen was sniggering and pleading at him to stop.

John and Thorin looked towards one another before bursting out laughing. Same old Fen they both thought. Even though they were very tense a moment ago a single line from Fen cut right through it.