“You’re right!” Yin watches one of the escalators on the left and I keep an eye on the two from the right. There are already some people standing at the top, but I can’t tell if they came from the subway or if they just decided to stay there because there’s space. Turning to the purple-haired dude, I ask him a question.

“Hey, did you see anyone come from underground?” I point to the escalators. He gives me a strange look as if questioning my intelligence.

“What’s it to you?”

“Just want to find some friends is all.” I quickly think of a reasonable excuse on the spot. However, the purple-haired guy just sneers, with a pointed glance at Yin.

“I might consider telling you. If you let me spend some time with her…” He grins while licking his lips. “What a nice piece of…”

*Smack!*

“OW WHAT THE HELL!” He whirls. While I was deciding to kill him or not, Yin has already punched him in the face. As a Lvl. 20, specializing in agility, her speed is insane compared to the average Hunter in this room. “Woman did you just hit me?”

“So what if I did? You deserved it.” The beautiful oriental girl smiles innocently while drawing her katana with lightning speed. Before the man can even get his hand on whatever weapon he has in his pocket, she levels her blade at his throat. One wrong move and he’ll never speak again. “Uh uh. I don’t think so.”

“Haha…” The man gulps nervously and winces as Yin’s blade presses against his Adam’s apple. “You wouldn’t kill a man for having a loose mouth, right? I’ll tell you who came from underground so why don’t we just forget about what I said…I’m Jensen okay! Let’s be friends! I want to be your friend!” He does a 180 degree turn from the brooding rebel delinquent look he had earlier. Yin taps him lightly on his gullet with her sword before bringing it back to its sheath. Heh, she learned that from me!

“Fine. Spill it.” She commands.

Damn Yin…when’d you become so badass?

A little bit proud that my student just dismantled another Hunter without me, I resist the urge to smile at the poor man.

“Okay okay! But can I join your party after? What’s your name? Are you two dating?” The man’s curious questions cause Yin’s hands to come dangerously close to the handle of her sword again. Hurriedly, he backtracks and holds up his palms. “W-Wait! It’s okay I don’t need to know! Just don’t!”

“Talk already!”

“Um, yea. So that group over there came up about five minutes ago.” Jensen points with a nervous flick of his purple hair. There’s a group of five Hunters in the corner. One guy, four girls. Immediately I grow curious. Pretty soon being male will not give a large physical advantage because the stat system will make up for your original body’s weaknesses. However, at the beginning of the Calamity, before people understand the System, most parties would be reluctant to take women into a life-or-death fight. They might bring a few girls, but you usually wouldn’t see more women than men. Thus, my guard instantly goes up. Either this guy is very confident in his skills, or these girls are a lot stronger than you’d think. Mentally, I give him the nickname “Harem Leader”.

“Okay. That’s one.” I scan around for the other escalators. “Anyone else?”

“Not that I know of, but I haven’t been here for too long. Some of them might have come up before I arrived.” Jensen clears his throat. “So we’re cool right? I told you everything!”

“Mmm…”

Making a noncommittal noise, I shoulder him aside and move away from the escalator. Unfortunately, the commotion caused by Yin drawing her sword has not gone unnoticed. Several groups of people are definitely whispering about us.

“Come on, Yin.” I grab her elbow, checking to make sure her unforgettably beautiful face is well hidden under the hood. “Let’s get away from the escalator. So, people can’t tell we came from the underground.”

“Good idea!”

We separate ourselves from the escalator, walking towards the center of the room. Luckily, there are plenty of disagreements going on between various groups of Hunters on the first floor of Tiendas Tower so our scuffle is soon forgotten. Looking around, I try to see who’s strong. Anyone that’s made it to the center of the city in time for the opening of the throne room is the cream of the crop of a million Hunters.

That’s no mean feat.

And somewhere hidden in all these people are seven more who possess the System Reward.

It seems we’re not the only ones who are concealing our identity however. Most people are staying low key and avoiding talking to other groups.

“Hey! It’s Mr. Hei and Ms. Yin!” A familiar voice breaks the hushed atmosphere. My eyes search out who has called out our names. Waving us over frantically is a surprising face. Wow…I didn’t think even she’d make it this far.

“Hei it’s them!” Yin breaks out into a beaming smile as she sees who it is. Tatsuya, in his white priest robes, as well as the two salary women, Andie and Penelope wearily flag us down to join their group. I follow Yin as she runs to greet them. Keeping an eye on the surroundings, I catch sight of a familiar person coming out of the one of the escalators.

The corrections officer in full black plate armor, Jian, stomps up the escalator with a dark expression. It doesn’t seem like his journey to find Grom the Unstoppable went well, though it’s impossible to tell from here. Some of the newcomers from the previous fight against the Daemonic Minotaur show up behind him. Including the machete wielding man in a Hawaiian shirt and the wavy red-haired boy, I think they all merged their groups into one.

Quickly, I steer our group away to a corner out of the limelight as I see Jian looking around. He knows that Yin has the System Reward and I don’t want him recognizing us and making trouble before the boss fight. Catching up with the others, whose numbers have been reduced to a mere dozen, I realize that while they have definitely suffered losses, they’ve actually done quite well for themselves. I hadn’t expected the newbies to make it this far, let alone maintain a party one dozen strong. It doesn’t really make sense to be honest. They weren’t strong enough fighters, but maybe they got lucky.

“We’re all at least Lvl. 10 now! And Tatsuya is Lvl. 12! What about you Mr. Hei?” Penelope suddenly asks. The salary-woman surprises me out of my thoughts.

Even this girl has managed to hit Lvl. 10?

“Well I only got this for by hanging out in the back, but I managed to hit one of the undead once!” She hefts her studded wooden bat and shows off the blood on the nails. “Pretty good huh?”

“Mmm…yea. I’m Lvl. 11.” I say without much interest. She nods, happily.

“Oh that’s great! I should have known the companion of Yin would be a higher level than me. But I’m glad the distance isn’t too great!” The girl’s eyes dart over and she leans in conspiratorially, “Say, Mr. Hei. Tell me, what level has that one reached now? She got the reward and she was already so strong before that so I bet she must be at least…”

Penelope holds up several fingers.

“Eh, I’d rather not say. She’s higher level than me though for sure.” I sigh, unwilling to divulge our true combat power. Though Penelope is acting like we’re good friends, to be honest we’ve only gone through a few fights together.

Although, they did cover for us back there. Not that it really mattered since we could have escaped anyway. But still…

“Oh…of course, you wouldn’t want to give away any secrets!” Penelope’s clear brown eyes turn sad and I have a sudden mental image of a puppy. Feeling kind of bad and scratching my head, I check the countdown.

00:02:01

“Okay, the boss fight is going to begin soon!” Tatsuya suddenly calls me over to where he and Yin are speaking. Everyone joins in a little group huddle. “Mr. Hei, I’m glad I wasn’t wrong when I said we’d meet again. You had some excellent shot-calling last time, would you two like to join our party for this battle? We’ll let Mr. Hei lead us of course. Please, accept this responsibility so I can rest easy knowing we are in your hands!”

Tatsuya bows his head and I soon see the others do the same. Ugh, this is so awkward!

“Um, about this…I’m just a regular Hunter so this is a bit much…ouch!” I try to get out of it but Yin, damn that woman, is too sly. She reaches over with the speed of a Lvl. 20 agility type and quickly pinches me in the back. Before anyone else notices she withdraws her hand. The message is clear.

Help them or you’ll be angry huh?

Everyone is giving me a weird look and I feel a headache coming on. Unable to see a way out of this, I nod. “Fine. Yin will join your party. I will direct you guys. But make no mistake! If the boss is going to take someone out, I will not give my life for you! I’m just the shot-caller!”

“You join too!” Penelope tugs at me sleeve with a heartbreaking expression. The salary woman seems genuinely concerned for my well-being. “Last time you weren’t even in the party even though you were the leader!”

“Ugh…that’s…” My refusal is met by a stern face from Yin and the pleading looks from the newbies are too much for me to bear. “Fine, just this once, we’ll party together!”

“Excellent! I think we have a great chance of being the one to kill the boss now!” Andie says with a serious expression. The salary-woman hefts her club. “So, what is Mr. Hei’s plan?”

“Well, I haven’t seen the boss so it’s kind of hard to know right now.” I reply quickly.

“Ah of course, that’s a good point.” She nods, seeming disappointed. Hey, I wasn’t finished yet!

“But! I think we can do this…” Pointing at several people with their dented trash-can lids, I notice that they have upgraded to at least have a club or crowbar in their other hand. “Good, you guys have weapons now. The key point, is that while we don’t know what this boss will be like, just like the Daemonic Minotaur, stronger ‘tanks’ will be in front. But they will avoid engaging! Remember, there is no advantage to being the first to attack. Only the last person to hit the boss will receive a special reward. So, we will hang back and observe the other groups first to find a weakness.”

“Seems like a solid plan.” Tatsuya observes. “But I bet we’re not the only ones to think of that.”

“Many will think the same. But someone will go in first. There’s always someone in a group this big.” My voice turns dark as the countdown ticks down to zero. The barrier disappears and a great roar rings out as several hundred Hunters immediately rush to the middle of the room and try to enter the grand spiral staircase.

“Here we go!”

“Out of the way, it’s our turn to hunt a boss!”

“The System Reward is mine!”

As expected, many people are eager to be the first to lay eyes on the Secret Dungeon Boss. However, there are many who take their time, waiting to see if the staircase is safe before ascending. The members of our party seem eager to go up, but I hold them back.

“One last thing. The other groups which are observing. Make sure to observe them carefully. Some of them will have special skills and weapons from killing the Eight Servants. The boss will not die easily, so don’t rush. The real fight will begin once the boss gets low. Be just a careful of other Hunters as the System enemies. Who knows what they will resort to once the System Reward is in sight!”

“Got it!”

Everyone in our group files up the grand spiral staircase. We’re not the last ones to go up by a long shot, but nor are we close to the first. As we enter the first steps, the true scale of Tiendas Tower is revealed.

“Goddamn! Is the Demon Lord planning on tiring us out by having us run all the way to the top of this thing?” Tatsuya groans as he sees the thousands of steps to the top. “Well, good thing I put some points in strength and stamina!”

“Tch.”

Several of the lower-level Hunters in the party give dirty looks at their leader. I surmise that they put their stats into agility or other stats. We begin to stomp up the grand staircase which leads all the way up to the top of Tiendas Tower. It’s a terribly crowded affair with other parties pushing against you from behind and blocking you in front, like going to an amusement park on a holiday. As I lose sight of the ground floor, I take one more peek behind my shoulder. People are still streaming in, more and more Hunters arriving from all places. The Hunter Counter refreshed when the grand staircase opened.

1,003,521

The number of Hunters has dwindled to an almost even one million.

Doubtless all of the ones that have any balls are trying to push their way to the throne room and lay claim to the boss before the fight ends. This is going to get really complicated with so many people participating. Something doesn’t really add up. None of the previous Secret Dungeons I’ve ever been in have had this kind of messy atmosphere. It’s like the System is having fun trying to squeeze as many of us together as possible.

“I know the System…it has a sense of humor but even for it, this is a bit too much.” I catch sight of a pair of scruffy orange ears poking out of the top of Yin’s jacket. The cat pops its head up and stares back at me and the mass of Hunters rushing to get up to the boss’s throne room. As if bored, it yawns and then goes back inside the jacket. A sense of frustration grows in my chest. “You made me waste a familiar slot but do you even contribute anything? Ugh, I’m going to have to think of a suitable name for your worthless butt!”

Bemoaning the sad state of my companions, a girl who’s addicted to partying up with newbies and a housecat that doesn’t even do anything but sleep, I trudge up the stairs with none of the enthusiasm of the other Hunters.

Twenty-one

Twenty-two

…

I give up counting somewhere past the one thousandth step. We’re literally going all the way to the top of Tiendas Tower. Even with the speed of a System assisted Hunter it takes maybe half an hour of straight running to get to the top. Of course, there’s a big level difference between some of the top Hunters in the city and the rest. However, most people don’t want to leave behind their party members so for the most part, the people who reach the top are the ones who went up first and not the highest leveled Hunters.

“We’re getting close.” Andie points above us. Another few times around the grand staircase and we’ll reach the top. Tiendas Tower is like a giant needle and at the very top, a great disk encircles the shaft like a mushroom cap. Numerous parties of Hunters are crossing over the top as we speak. Yin holds her sword out at the front of the party. I snap my fingers and call out to her.

“Yin, stay back. Let the tanks go first.” I direct. She falls back with a worried expression.

“I’m the highest level shouldn’t I go first?”

“Nah, we need you to save your energy to deal damage. Everyone else will just work on distracting the boss. Its defenses are probably too high for lower-level Hunters to break through.” My heart begins to beat faster as the first of our party begins to cross over the top. I whisper in her ear, “Remember, the System scales its difficulty to match the occasion. With over a million Hunters in the city, this boss is going to be insane. Be prepared for anything!”

*Tap*

We reach the top of the grand staircase. If a regular human had tried to cross so many stairs, even if they were a world class athlete, they’d probably be pretty close to suffering a heart attack at this point. But even the most out of shape Hunters here are only breathing hard or resting every now and again.

The power of the System has changed the human race into something…more.

"Everyone, stay together, but leave enough space to maneuver! Let’s get away from the entrance!” I command. The tanks in front holding trash can and rubber bin lids don’t seem to understand how urgent it is to break away from the crowd. “Push through!”

“Hey!”

“Watch it!”

I take out my cleaver and start pulling Yin and I towards one of the edges of the great platform at the top of Tiendas Tower. There’s easily enough room for 10,000 people up here and more people are coming up by the second. The floor is some dark metal, hard and painful. Up above, a great glass dome covers us so it feels like we’re inside the world’s most massive fishbowl. Staring through the translucent barrier, one can see an epic storm cloud swirling over Tiendas Tower. Occasionally bolts of white-hot electricity come crashing down on the lightning rod sticking out of the top.

Looking around, all I see are other Hunters, slowly organizing themselves into hundreds of parties. In the crowd, I spot the corrections officer Jian in his full black armor, along with the wavy red-haired youth and the Hawaiian shirted man. On the other side of the circular platform, I also spot sight of “Harem Leader” along with the four girls in his party. They occupy a large amount of space for themselves and I notice that every single member of his party carries a blade of some sort.

“So…what now?” Andie looks up at the growling storm which has turned into a swirling vortex above the glass dome. “Where’s the boss?”

*Krang*

Prophetically, a bolt of lightning crashes down on the top of Tiendas Tower at that moment. This close to the heavens its like staring into the sun.

*Kacha*

Cracks appear in the glass bubble as the lightning surges everywhere and the needle which is supposed to conduct electricity shatters. Gradually, pieces of the dome begin to crumble. Shards of glass rain down on us and the howling wind comes in.

*Shuwuu*

Up above, a maniacal laughter descends from the clouds as Demon Lord Belziarde makes an appearance. His blazing red eyes are not of this Earth. A deep corruption from the System flows through his veins as he floats down swiftly like some sort of wizard. Fear hits my gut as all the terrible premonitions I’ve been experiencing ever since this dungeon opened hit at once.

He can use System Flight? Wait…this can’t be right!

“So, you’ve all come to meet me after killing my servants?” His laughter grows louder. “Then I suppose my purpose is decided. Come on then, heathens. Death awaits!”

Instantly his hand opens, parting a velvety purple coat, as god-like white bolts of electricity spread from his fingers. A great spiderweb of lightning forms above us as the last of the glass dome is blown away.

*Kacha!*

The Demon Lord smiles, puffing on his fingertips as smoke curls over us. Down below, thousands of Hunters straighten after throwing themselves to the ground.

“There! Now we can fight without reservations!” The Demon Lord cackles, floating just out of range of melee weapons. Opening his fists, he begins to blast us with lightning over and over.

Oh crap. He’s a mage-type boss who fights from a distance? Does anyone even have a ranged weapon at this point?

“Scatter!” I yell, rushing over and knocking the metal trash can lid out of Tatsuya’s hand. “Run RUN RUN! We can’t do anything to him!”