Dante woke up at dawn, a habit which came from the dungeon's training he had in the past. A joyful expression could be seen on his face.

"The Awakening powers of the Death Mark aren't to be trifled with, it's been less than a day and I already feel as if I was reborn..."

All his senses had sharpened, with Dante's skin becoming a lighter shade of red. He could feel a great power coursing through his veins.

"I should be at the bottleneck to the Commander level... This is madness, in just a day I reached the level of those geniuses groomed by my Dungeon..."

Dante was shocked, just yesterday he had been in the late stages of the Soldier level and now he had arrived at the peak of the Lieutenant level! This meant jumping an entire level!

The gaseous Spiritual power of Soldier levels had turned liquid, a hallmark of the Lieutenant level.

He only required an opportunity for a breakthrough now!

"Hahaha, i wonder what will be the first bloodline ability I'll awaken..."

All martial practitioners regarded the Commander level the true beginning of their Martial path.

The Demon race walks the path of bloodline manifestation, awakening their ancestor's power to create a brand new path which can lead them higher than their ancestors.

At the Commander level, a demon had his first opportunity to awaken his bloodline ability, so this level was said to be the real beginning of a demon's cultivation.

...

Seeing that Dante had woken up, Rayleigh decided to ask him something which had been troubling him for a while.

"Dante you always talk about those Dungeons but you never explained to me what they really are, can you tell me more about them?"

Dante was dumbfounded, who didn't know about Dungeons in this era?

Even the silliest of country bumpkins knew what they were!

"Master I really don't know what to say, I never expected someone to ever ask me this question..."

Rayleigh was displeased by his disciple's reply and it could be seen by the coldness in his voice as he replied.

"I asked you a simple question, you just need to answer it."

Seeing his teacher's anger, Dante replied as respectfully as possible. He basically copied what his history teacher taught them in class.

"After the Great War of three thousand years ago, the Dungeon System was established. They are the keepers of the world's safety and order. There are a 165 Dungeons spread around the world's Five Continents and the ocean.

The Dungeons aren't all equal in power but they are differentiated into different tiers, with the lower tiered dungeons being subordinated to the higher tiered ones.

There are..."

Dante was about to conclude his explanation by giving Rayleigh some actual numbers, when the alarmed voice of Theodore, the refined young man from the day before, sounded throughout the caravan.

"READY YOUR WEAPONS, WE ARE BEING ATTACKED BY A BATTALION OF HOBGOBLINS!"

Worry flashed in Dante's eyes, normal Hobgoblins were comparable to the intermediate stage of the Soldier level, even with his current power it would be a hard fight.

If he was surrounded by many of them, it would be impossible for him to survive.

Fortunately there was that near General level elf guarding him...

Wait, where did he go?

Wasn't that elf here less than a minute ago?

"Fuck, he's protecting that lass named Theodore and the other merchants... I will have to rely on myself to survive this."

...

Hobgoblins were one of the great tribes which had developed from the great Monster race.

Initially, Humans believed that Demons and Monsters were the same race as both of them have similar looking Orbs.

However, that belief was shattered by the extensive research done by one of the greatest human scientists to have ever lived, Isaac Galileius.

He discovered the differences between the two races, making a great contribution that all the other races acknowledged!

That was the first time a scientist's research was acknowledged unanimously by all races!

If Demons walked the path of bloodline manifestation, Monsters walked the path of evolution!

The first path used the power of the ancestors to attain greater heights while the second path was completely self-reliant!

If Demons were known for their great power and wisdom, Monsters were renowned for their savagery and brutality!

Even if they didn't have friendly relations with the other races, no one dared to make a move because their ruthless actions were backed by tremendous strength.

...

"Dante you have to be careful, my conservative estimation is that the enemy's leader should be a late stage Commander level monster. The elf on our side should be able to deal with him and a few other high ranked monsters, the real deal are those 600 Hobgoblins.

A drop of water is harmless but many of them can make a flood, he's trying to overwhelm us with numbers.

Do your best to survive this ordeal."

A hint of worry could be heard in Rayleigh's voice, they had joined the caravan for less than a day and they had already been ambushed by a battalion of Hobgoblins.

Rayleigh found it suspicious but decided to leave it for later.

"Yes teacher, I will my best to survive."

...

The caravan's fighting force numbered to a little more than 200, even if you added in the private guards of the merchants they would still be outnumbered 2:1.

It was at that moment that a cold voice sounded in my head.

[D level Mission: Kill 60 Hobgoblins and their Hobgoblin Shaman.

Rewards: 50 merit points, a peak Mortal grade weapon.]

It looks like I won't be able to hide until the end of the battle...