"Eh?" Ryu stands dazedly toward the other party statement, "... This was just one of your unfunny jokes, right?" Heard nothing except the sound of a ship departing, Ryu shocked his peer shoulders roughly, "Rocky, hey, answer me!!!"

"Sorry..." Slipped past through Ryu's grip, Rocky soon kneeled, banging his head powerfully to the ground, "I'M SORRY THAT I COULDN'T STOP THEM FROM PROCEEDING WITH THE EXPLORATION!"

"I'll surely go back to your side the moment our foot landed again in this city," her promise once again had crossed Ryu's mind, and at the same time, caused his feet to lose its strength, "No way... How could Aya died, she shouldn't have died with protection from you guys..."

Raised his head, Rocky replied with a hint of tears in his brown eyes, "The situation was outside of everyone's expectation."

Still couldn't accept the fact, Ryu fired off a bunch of questions in one breath, "Who's the monster? Was it a demi-human!? What's its race then!!? HOW HIGH DID YOU GUYS ACTUALLY CLIMB THAT IT COULD TAKE MY WIFE LIFE LIKE THIS!!!" The grief and anger, both had devoured his other emotions, Ryu's eyes have turned into a bloodshot, and endless tears are flowed down on his cheek.

"I-it was a vampire, he had hidden its trump card and released it just before he died." Toward the horrified reply, Ryu placed his hands on Rocky shoulders again. "You got memories transfer, right? Share what you have seen to me."

Shook his head, Rocky braced himself to deny the request, "No, Ryu, I'm afraid that it would only haunt you forever."

"DO IT OR I'LL KILL YOU!" Ryu roared, embedding more strength in his grip. Feeling his shoulders could get crushed at any moment, Rocky hastily nodded, "Okay! OKAY! I'll give it to you, just let me free first!"

Following that, Ryu and Rocky closed their eyes, putting their forehead against each other as the latter started to transpires what he had experienced in the last 3 months from his perspective to Ryu's mind.

***

Ryu suddenly found himself standing before a totally different harbor. He can't scan his surroundings as he simply viewed the event from Rocky glasses.

"The city has truly livened upon its name, isn't it?" stated one of Ayano's party members. Suddenly, Ryu's line of sight shook slightly as he also could see Ayano, and the rest of the guys nodded their heads.

"Yeah, they said the dark cloud has covered the whole city ever since it's creation." When Ryu heard her sweet voice, he felt an urge to get out of Rocky consciousness and hugged her even it doesn't give any sensation.

'No, I must stay put for the duration.' After determined himself, the scenery abruptly changed into a tavern. Subsequently, Ryu could see Ayano's group currently sits on a round table while drinking their own type of beverage.

"The Dark city lord was more exceptional than I initially thought."

His peer then added, "Maybe it was influenced by the area condition."

"Yeah, I asked the city resident, they said that everyone above the age of 15 has to enter the Dungeon at least once a month. It was a rule made by the lord." Rocky's voice was echoed deep inside Ryu's mind as he reported this.

"Well, they couldn't cultivate their land without sunlight. That's why they had no other choices except to depend on the Dungeon loot."

"Now that our main concern was resolved, should we do an exploration? Once in a while, I want to see something besides orange bricks when we're inside a Dungeon," the black-haired man complained.

It appeared that everyone had the same opinion regarding this as Ryu underwent another fast forward that placed him into -what he believed- the Dark city Dungeon.

"Should we stop here?" worried Ayano. Based on what's in Rocky mind, they're about to hit the 3rd months of camping inside the Dungeon. If they were to choose, Fire Dungeon was much better than this as the monster in here was literally used the minimum vision to their advantage. Fortunately, its attack could be considered weak in comparison with Fire city monsters.

"What are you saying Ayano, this is our chance to set the record on this city, I heard nobody has ever defeated the 40th-floor Guardian."

"Yeah, the previous material that we got from the 30th-floor Guardian was great, I can't imagine how much we profit from here if we could take down the 40th-floor Guardian."

"But, there's nothing we knew about the monster, they said that everyone who entered that chamber has died, the lord even fixed it as a forbidden zone." Rocky disputed.

"Isn't that because they're weak, we're totally different from them. I heard it's just a lousy vampire, we probably can slay him in no time."

"Look, it's 2 against 3, we should proceed with the exploration then," concluded the black-haired man as he draws out his sword from its waist.

Prior to this, they've already agreed to decide a crucial thing based on a vote. So, both Ayano and Rocky are each forced to prepare their staff and arrow to follow trail their companion.

Arrived inside the chamber, the black-haired man spontaneously pinched his nose as he swore, "Fuck, the stench is too strong that it could give me nausea." The others appear to be in line with the remark as they also started to follow the motion.

[Kuhuhuhu, it's been a while since I had a human's entering my cage.]

The dreadful laugh successfully made Ayano's party shivered a bit.

"It seems this guy has quite a bone in him, let's loot this guy in the fastest way possible!"

With the signal from the black-haired man, the party finally begins its battle with the Vampire lord...

***

Ryu was frozen in his place after he had witnessed the complete scenario of the event. 'Was this my mistake?' He kept reciting that question inside his thoughts.

'This all happened because I insisted on giving the members a reward...'

The Vampire Lord was relatively weak compared to the 40th-floor Fire Dungeon Guardian. But, he was incredibly sly and cunning. If only Ayano's party wasn't blinded by greed and poured all of their attention toward the Vampire, this incident couldn't have occurred.

'What would happen if I persisted in rejecting Laurent's idea at that time?'

'We might've currently flirted with each other or laugh to the heart content in our house...'

'In the first place, why I decided to join Laurent's association again?'

Hour by hour has passed, but Ryu doesn't even have any sign to stand up from his place. The cloud had darkened, and before long, the rain has started to fall on Ryu's face.

"Hey, Ryu, I'm sorry for your wife's death, but we need to reports the exploration to the lord and our peers," Laurent stated. He has been standing silent by Ryu's side all this time. After all, he could be held responsible for the event too.

"No, everything was my fault, there's nothing you could feel apologized about. However... I think I can't go with the association anymore, I'll quit."

"Are you sure?" asked Laurent. He didn't have any intention to stop Ryu as he could sympathize with his feeling.

"It was for the best, I'm afraid that I will kill someone if I stayed in your association any longer."

Standing up, Ryu slowly approached the dock before he jumped directly into the sea. After that day, Laurent nor any of his association members couldn't found Ryu anymore. But, when Laurent saw Ryu's back on that day, one thing he knew for sure, Ryu has turned into a demon.