Sylas watched the countdown tick down to zero as the System clock hit 12:00. He looked around at the others, seeing they were also confused.
"I expected a message or something." Sylas sighed as he prepared to continue their journey.
Their team had trekked over to Jackie's car only to discover the battery was dead. With no way to charge the battery, Sam had suggested going to the agriculture department.
Receiving weird looks, "I've seen them pulling wagons full of plants before. Wagons are better than nothing." Sam justified herself. Sylas, Diana, and Jackie chuckled at Swain over complimenting Sam to boost their morale after realizing their journey was going to be much longer than they anticipated.
They journeyed back in their original direction to the agricultural building, eventually finding the wagons in the sprawling garden located behind the building.
Sylas's question from after his fight with the squirrel had been answered during their maddened hunt for prey to increase their levels. Sylas smiled softly to himself as flashes of the day's fights appeared before his eyes.
Zombies, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, coyotes, and a fox. Packs of these creatures were slaughtered by the group. All the creatures attacking on sight and much larger than their normal forms.
There weren't any difficult fights so far with there being neither high level opponents, higher ranked opponents, or packs large enough to be considered a horde. Still, the group was leveling up slowly, but surely.
Sylas had made it up to level 8, and Jackie remained the lowest level at level 5. Swain should be leveling soon, but the System didn't offer an experience bar for them to check their own progress. Instead, Sylas was estimating Swain to be a bit behind him based on previous level timers as well as himself getting a bit of experience from using [Bossy Words] in each fight.
Swain had made a great contribution when he pulled a rabbit off his axe. He showed the group a notification he received:
[Would you like to butcher the level 3 [Rabbit]?]
When Swain selected yes, a bright light engulfed the rabbit carcass before both the light and carcass disappeared.
[You have received 0.1lbs of [Rabbit] meat.]
Sylas figured the System's butcher gave them around ten percent of what an actual butcher would be able to harvest, but since they didn't have the knowledge to butcher it themselves, he accepted the fee.
The meat went straight into the inventory of whoever used the butcher feature, but they soon learned that System weapons and armor were the only objects they could put in their inventory. Once they removed the meat, they weren't able to put it back.
Coming back to his senses, Sylas spoke to the group "Alright, back to our dorms. Let's get mo-". He trailed off as he was speaking when he felt a pull towards his right. The pull wasn't physical, but felt as though something was calling him.
"Follow me." Sylas spouted as he suddenly sped walked towards the corner of the building they were next to in the direction of the pull. Rounding the corner, Sylas could see what was calling out to him.
Standing alone in the middle of the pathway was a stone arch. The stones looked ancient yet regal. They were stacked atop each other with no visible compound tying them together. IT was strange, but the stranger part of the arch was the blue swirling energy that made up the inside of the arch.
Sylas could tell this mysterious arch had called to him as he felt the pull become more intense as he approached. Using [Analyze], he had his questions answered before he could even think of them.
[Dungeon]
[Difficulty: 0]
[Environment: Apocalyptic Cityscape]
[Enemies: 1 type, Demonic, Tier 0]
[Completion Conditions: Survival, Defeat boss]
[Completion Reward(s): Survival Utility Item]
"I…" Sylas paused to think with a serious look on his face, "I want to go in."
He looked at each person while they investigated the dungeon and thought about his words.
"I don't know what the limit of Tier 0 is, but I'm willing to bet level 10 is when we go to Tier 1 and get a class. I won't make anyone go with me, but I think this is the best way for us to get strong and quickly."
Sylas said all he had to say. He wouldn't force anyone to go with him, but he hoped they would all go. It was risky, but he felt it was the correct call. Dungeons were supposed to benefit them as long as they could clear the conditions.
Sylas looked between Swain and Sam to try and tell what they were thinking. He was worried they would think he's crazy for trying to go into a dungeon the moment one had appeared, but his fear was quickly abated.
"I don't know why you're looking at me like that. Of course I'm coming. Who's going to protect you while you tank the floor if I don't go?" Swain laughed boisterously. Sylas could see a little hesitation in his eyes, but felt warmth emerge in his heart.
His gaze drifted to Sam who scoffed, "Did you forget our vows? You die, I die. We're ride or die, bitch." Sylas chuckled remembering his family friends, whom his parents made them invite to their wedding ceremony, gasping during Sam's vows as she said those two sentences verbatim.
He addressed Diana and Jackie with a soft smile adorning his face. "You can wait out here with the wagons if you want." But Diana lightly said "I have nothing to lose." while Jackie just nodded after Diana spoke.
"Then let's put our wagons in the building so nothing stumbles into them while we're in there. I'm not sure how long it'll take afterall." Sylas led them over to the door where they slowly brought their wagons and parked them in a hallway. There wasn't any food on them to attract creatures, but it was better to be safe.
Standing in front of the dungeon, Sylas gave out a warning. "Be ready for anything when we step though. We might be thrown into a fight immediately." He stepped into the blue swirl as soon as he finished speaking.
Sylas felt mana engulf him as his vision blacked, then a sense of vertigo hit him like a truck. As he was reeling from the dizziness, he was suddenly standing on asphalt.
Around him were decrepit buildings which looked like they had been abandoned for years. Plant life wasn't growing over them, but there were cracks in the walls, windows were shattered, signs were barely hanging on or smashed on the ground. There was black sand piled against most of the walls and inside any open door looking like it was blown there.
"This looks like a main road in a large city" Sylas mumbled to himself as he looked at the skyscrapers lining the asphalt road he was standing on. A blue screen popped into his vision as he was taking in the scenery.
[Welcome to the dungeon]
[Completion Conditions: Survive 5 waves and defeat the final boss]
[Wave 1: 5:00]
Sylas watched the timer tick down to 4:59 and understood they had five minutes to prepare for what was coming for them. He stood there for a few more seconds before realizing no one else had shown up after him. He started to panic a little as a lone magic type with no Area of Effect (AoE) skill was unlikely to fare well against an onslaught of enemies, especially when he didn't even have a melee weapon.
"Sylas! Sam!" He heard shouting from a distance so he replied back. "Swain! Come here!"
After a few seconds, Swain came out of a doorway. He was a little dirty, looking like he fell in the black sand, but with the black sand all over his face, Sylas could pretend his awful mustache wasn't actually there.
"You're looking good," Sylas chuckled. "Shuddup!" Swain growled in return.
"At least it's easy to find our way back to the lovers." Sam laughed as she turned the corner of the street with Diana and Jackie in tow.
Sylas shook his head as the women approached. "Alright, we have a little over four minutes until the first wave starts. We don't know what to expect, but we need to fortify the entrance to one of these buildings. Hopefully, the enemies will come from the street, not the building, so we can funnel them into a smaller area."
Everyone split up to find anything considered even slightly helpful. Sylas picked a storefront that didn't have a door anymore and had a metal gate where the window used to be. The four minutes flew by as the group gathered random items that hadn't completely broken down yet. They piled the signs, a broken table, and some clothes racks into the doorway leaving enough room for them to walk through for now.
"Girls, go inside and get ready. Swain and I are going to see what's happening out here first and then we'll be in."
[Wave 1 begin]
[50/50]
The group heard deep howls that sounded like they came from the bowels of hell from every direction. Like they were teleported there, Sylas could suddenly see large black dogs with orange-red streaks along their body appear and start moving towards their location.
[Juvenile Hellhound]
Sylas [Analyze]d as many as he could, seeing they were all [Juvenile Hellhound]s and between level 1 and 3. He was about to head into the building when the girls ran out, toppling the items they collected as Sam came out last.
"They're in the building." Sam panted as her heart calmed down. Sylas glanced around, "Over here." He led them to a 30 foot stretch of building that was just brick, no doors or windows, so they only had to pay attention to 180 degrees around them.
"Swain, you're on the left and will have the most area to cover. Sam, you're next to him, but far enough away not to get hit by his axe. Diana, on the other side of Sam with the same rules for her bat. Jackie, you're back here with me for now. I'll send [Rotting Bolt]s as much as I can. This is just like every other fight. Let's fucking do it."
Sylas set the game plan and immediately fired a [Rotting Bolt] at an approaching hellhound. The hellhound whimpered as it fell, skidding across the ground, and quickly stopped moving.
"These guys are weak. Take it as easy as you can and save your strength." Sylas shot another bolt as he was speaking, watching the counter go down to [48/50].
Swain let out a bellow as the first batch of hellhounds got in his range. He swung his large quad headed axe into the pack, taking out four hellhounds at once.
[42/50]
Sam and Diana also met their enemies, but they had significantly less hellhounds on their side. Swain was posted on the side where most of them spawned and even those towards the middle were attracted to Swain because of the noise he was producing.
Diana had exchanged weapons in the morning. She gave Jackie the bat she was using and instead had two large knives from the cafeteria in her hands. Sylas watched as she gracefully danced through the hellhounds, running a knife under the throat of hellhound after hellhound.
Sylas nodded at Jackie, who knew what the nod signaled. Diana had danced into the midst of the enemies, leaving her position open. She had been doing the same thing since she started using the knives so Sylas and Jackie were used to it.
[30/50]
The counter fell quickly at first, but was slowing down as there were less hellhounds pouncing at the same time. They were coming out of buildings so they were staggered instead of mobbing the group all at once.