“We are going to the sixth and last Dungeon in our scope area, don’t get overconfident because of the others Dungeons and stay in the formation.” Tuan, the only dark-skinned elf in the adventurer group, said, to only be ignored by the vast majority of arrogant humans that got cocky after successive triumphs on the quick Dungeon Dives of the first day the Dungeons were localized with beacons.

Tuan shrugged seeing their attitudes, deciding to give up on them should they met the Soulkeeper today. At least he was already paid and as the leader of the group, he was the one to kill all the Dungeon Masters they meet with exception of one of an Uncommon Dungeon that was determined to be the new city’ source of income on this region in the border of his home country.

His PP, People Points, reached a whopping five hundred and sixty points thanks to killing the Dungeon Masters. The only way to him die today would be to a Rank B Monster to appear, which wouldn’t occur since if this area was so dangerous he, a Rank C, wouldn't be the one to be sent as a nanny for these greenhorns.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t crush the Dungeon Cores as they were to be sent to the Adventurer Guild as rewards for someone reaching the Rank A or for some impossible mission nobody wants to do because of the risks.

Thinking about the Dungeon Cores made him look to his bag to see if all four of them were still there. “One, two, three…?” Tuan tilted his not-so-handsome head, did he count wrong?

When he was going to count once again, the scout lass shouted to him. “Leader Tuan, we have arrived at the last Dungeon.” Nitclod, the scout, said. “Should we rest a little before entering?”

“Yes,” Tuan answered and made the newbies rest outside of the cave that has the beacon. He was glad that lass had a good head on her shoulders and always obeyed him. Different from the other seven greenhorns.

Tuan picked the odd rectangular white tablet the Ex-Phantasmas gave him to constantly report his progress to his superiors on the Adventures Guild in the new provisory capital where the Prime Minister lives.

He will never cease to be amazed by the wondrous powers the Ex-Phantasmas had. They gave him an object that could contact with anyone that also had the same tablet and even made that strange warping gate that transported him and the others eight greenhorns to this location close to the border more than two million kilometers away from the provisory capital.

Both of those things will make ‘miracles’ on a war. As gathering information and mobility are one most important things in any fight.

The world could have passed through the tragedy known as Aldar Rof, with the closest translation of the Humans’ confusion language being ‘the Destruction of the current Age’, which was the arrival of the Invaders and death of all ‘current’ rulers of the world’s countries.

But Tuan couldn’t let his himself stand still and grieve or cry like the others commoners, he needs to adapt to this new era that haves beings from other worlds coming to mess with his world.

The proof of this was how it only took eight tries to him make the tablet work and do his report, a new record that made him puff up his chest and set his sights on a higher ground, a milestone that would be marked forever in his life.

Make the tablet work in only five tries.

…

Better set to six tries. Tuan thought while his grey hair blew in the afternoon’s refreshing wind. The wind gently tickled off his pointed ears. What a good-

“Leader, could you stop grinning at the air? It is scaring me. I am worried about your sanity.” Nitclod said, turning her head full of blue hair to the sides to not watch the shameful behavior of Tuan.

Tuan coughed in embarrassment and tidied his full plate iron armor before shouting as he saw the sun approaching the ground to mark the time as the sunset. “The rest is over. Let’s go. Nitclod, go scout the Dungeon.”

“Aye aye, sir,” Nitclod said jokingly as she saw his embarrassment.

Entering in the formation as the frontline, Tuan turned back and perceived how the only two magicians of the group were just flirting with each other instead of doing their job of lighting the way.

What Tuan wouldn’t do to finish his job quickly and go back to his house to drink, those greenhorns were too arrogant just because they were noble’s sons and daughters. The only comfort on his mind was that should any of them die without PP left, on his contract is explicitly saying the Prime Minister would protect him from their parents’ anger.

It isn’t his fault that they never do their job properly like he asks them to.

As their group entered the Dungeon and Nitclod went to scout, Tuan felt everything was out of the place in this Dungeon, it is too normal.

The Dungeon until now was only a normal cave with only the size of the entrance and the presence of stalagmites and stalactites as something special in this god-forsaken Dungeon. Tuan couldn’t hear even critters, everything was too silent and without life. Even the others Common Dungeons they went had some basic ecosystem and adornments.

Everything was odd, as if-

“AHH!” An adstringent scream sounded from Nitclod’s position at the front where she is scouting.

Tuan worried about the safety of the only not arrogant member, rushed at her side while the others useless greenhorns struggled to keep with his pace. “Lass, are you-”

“Leader. Look. Isn’t it the cutest thing you already saw in your life?” Nitclod said with widened and shining green eyes, showing to Tuan an orange colored squirrel with nuts filling its mouth to the brim. “Can I keep it for me? There is no way such fluffy squirrel is a Monster from the Dungeon. It must have reached here for a mistake while searching for nuts.”

The newbies began to laugh and joke with Nitclod. “Come on, Nitclod. Someone like you would be able to take care of a wild animal?”

“We worried about you for nothing.”

“But it is just so Nitclod to do these silly things.”

Tuan sighed, these children-

Suddenly Tuan’s honed instincts and experience gave a straight kick to his face to destroy his laidback reaction to seeing a squirrel in a Dungeon, a place where Monsters were supposed to exist and attack you from the shadows…

Fear began to crawls over Tuan’s skin as he perceived the truth, the tranquility and sense of nothingness on the Dungeon together with a harmless squirrel. Everything just points to two things, this Dungeon know about the concept of strategy and that this situation is, “a trap! Run-”

Tuan’s shout was too late as he saw with his own green forest eyes, an ebony armored hand come under the earth where Nitclod was and smash Nitclod’s head on the ground. As everyone was distracted by the squirrel and principally because of the flat sound of Nitclod’s brain exploding and becoming motes of light as she had eighty PP, three oversized Monsters similar to ants with their strange four legs on the section between their abdomen and thorax came from under the earth too and advanced on the direction of the newbies at the sides of the formation.

Regrettably, these three newbies being attacked didn’t have even ten PP and it was shown when the ant monsters tried to mimic the ebony armored hand and crushed the brains of the newbies, and this time scarlet blood and grey matter flowed from their hands as the bodies without heads dropped dead on the ground without becoming motes of light.

Four people died in only two seconds and only one of them had PP enough left to be revived at the spawn point set by the Ex-Phantasmas, and that thought woke up Tuan from his stupor. “IN FORMATION! If you don’t want to die, stay behind me!” He shouted with Qi present in his voice as he prepared his shield and sword to fight the three Monsters that retreated after succeeding in their attacks from fear of Tuan’s shout filled with Qi.

With a sudden motion, the owner of the ebony armored hand appeared and glared to Tuan with its companions standing behind it as if the buffy different colored ant was their boss.

Tuan closed his eyes and opened them to relax and be filled with determination to defeat the enemy at his front, that one must the [Named Monster] of the Dungeon, it is fine. The newbies can be still cowering in fear but we still have the numeric advantage. If we stay calm, there is no way we will lose to these mindless monsters.

Or at least that was what Tuan thought before seeing the Monsters Ants one by one raise their hands and went into the stance taught on the Royal Military Academy to fight against armed opponents.

Legs slightly bent, hands opened at the side of the head, and weight put forwards to get instant acceleration to kill the enemies before they even raise the weapons.

That was the stance Tuan’s noble friend always used to defeat him.

“Impossible, how they-” Tuan took a step back only to make a male newbie behind him that pissed himself tumble to his own piss. “R-Rank C!” Tuan said as he saw a pitch black big fox that looked like more as a bear tearing off the neck of the female sorceress and she not becoming motes of lights, since she had at least two hundred PP.

The attack of the fox touched by crackling azure lightning wasn’t over as it howled and from its body, a torrent of electricity as if it was a beam of light attacked the other male magician that was with a stupid smile and in tears seeing his lover dying. Burning his body and frying his brain.

From the initial nine people that entered the Dungeon only three were still alive. “It has a [Class]. Retreat!” Tuan screamed before having his weapons throw to the sides by the ebony armored ant that took the chance he was looking to the fox to do exactly what its stance was best for. By hitting the wrist of his right arm and taking using pure force his shield that was strapped to his arm.

This isn’t the normal strength of a normal Rank D monster, Tuan thought as the ant used two of its thicks legs to kick him at his stomach, making him puke over the ant’s legs despite the full plate iron armor protecting him.

Everything went black to Tuan as he saw the other two newbies dying by the black fox and him soon following after them.

[You lost 500 PP.]

[You have 60 PP left.]

[Reviving you…]

Tuan stood up without his weapons at the spawn point provided by the Ex-Phantasmas in a place outside of his home planet and before he could talk, he was transported to the place where all the Adventures had being forced to choose as a relay point, the Adventurer Guild.

“...Leader, it is just you?” Nitclod on her ranger’s uniform asked him when he appeared the at transportation platform.

“Yeah… the rest died to the Monsters.” Tuan patted Nitclod’s head and picked his bag where he had put the Dungeon Cores. “At least we still have those, let’s go talk with guild master. We need to deliver those four Cores…?” Tuan’s voice faltered as he opened the bag and took all the contents from it, finding three Common Dungeon Cores with forms of pyramids.

“Huh? Where is the Uncommon Dungeon Core?!”

Leonhardt looked to all his notifications while looting the bodies of the people that entered his Dungeon, since if he just absorbs everything he will lose the precious weapons and other miscellaneous objects, and he doesn’t trust any of Monsters to be careful enough to not break something.

[Intruders detected!]

[You earn 290 DP in total for the invasion.]

[Disabling...]

And there were the notifications he earned when the intruders died.

[Level Up! You are now an Initiate Dungeon Master Level 14 42%]

[Potential tripled. Mana and Essence’s limits tripled.]

[You reached the max level of Mana Regeneration Lvl 13 and Essence Regeneration Lvl 13 permitted to your Rank.]

[Common Dungeon Traits Unlocked.]

[You gain another slot for Named Monsters.]

As Leonhardt was searching through the clothes of the sorceress that died by Dhasharan, he found something he thought he wouldn’t see sooner than another Dungeon meeting.

“Why did this woman have a Dungeon Core?” Leon said holding an emerald Dungeon Core in the form of a cube.