CHAPTER 21: FINAL CHECKS

Wade fidgeted as he followed the rest of the party down the hall.

He could still feel his breastplate pinching uncomfortably at his ribs, but he ignored it. Instead, his focus was on his chest, trying to keep it from beating out of his chest.

Adrenaline was surging through his veins, and his hands shook, but he hid it.

The feeling in his chest wasn’t fear. He’d long since discarded fear. He didn’t need it, especially if he wanted to become the richest man in the world.

What he was feeling right now was excitement. After all, at the end of this dungeon run was money. All he had to do was survive till the end of it. Then, he’d have money to start working on making more deals.

More deals meant more profit. And more profit meant personal dungeon keys. And personal dungeon keys meant even more profit.

He smiled, looking up.

Sebastian led the way, his giant axe strapped to his back. Following behind was Ingrid and Rowan, with Wade bringing up the rear.

They’d finished sparring in the practice yard, getting the blood flowing. Now, it was time to enter the dungeon proper.

"Wade." Sebastian spoke up from the front. "Are you familiar with the layout of the dungeon?"

Wade frowned. "The layout?"

Sebastian looked back, and on seeing the confusion on Wade’s face, turned to Rowan. "You didn’t tell him?"

Rowan grinned sheepishly. "I forgot."

Ingrid scoffed.

"You forgot." Sebastian said flatly, his hands twitching. "No matter. I can explain it now."

He glanced back at Wade as he walked. "Shattered Hall is a single floor dungeon. And each layer has three rings."

Wade frowned. "Rings?"

"Yes." Sebastian nodded. "Think of them as circles drawn inside each other."

"Each dungeon is different and the higher the floors it has, the more difficult it is to clear. This one has a single floor, and that means three rings."

"The rings are partitions of energy that seal away monsters, however, the moment you step foot into a layer, the timer starts counting down. You have only twenty minutes to defeat the monsters of the first ring, before the second ring disintegrates."

"It doesn’t matter if you’ve defeated all the monsters in the first ring or not, the ring goes down after twenty minutes. Then twenty minutes later, the third ring goes down."

"Each subsequent ring has a slightly higher number of monsters. That means each ring that follows after is a bit more difficult than the one that comes before."

"In a higher floored dungeon, the time between rings dropping gets lower and lower the higher up you go. But for this one, it means we have a time limit of twenty minutes to kill all monsters in the first ring and prepare ourselves before the second ring drops. Understood?"

"Yes, Captain." Wade nodded.

"Good."

Before long, they reached a gate. Guild soldiers stood before it, armed to the teeth.

Sebastian presented them with a document. "We’re here for the Shattered Hall dungeon."

The lead soldier took the document, studying it, before allowing them entrance.

As they stepped through the gate, a beam of light passed over them, scanning them. The soldiers simply watched on, saying nothing.

They stepped into a corridor. It was wide and filled with numerous doors, each one with a pair of guards standing on either side of it.

Wade followed his party down the corridor, reading off the names on the doors. Finally, they arrived before a door that read, "Shattered Hall."

Sebastian presented their document to the guards again, who checked it, before opening the door.

With a nod, Sebastian walked in. Ingrid and Rowan followed, and Wade took a moment before he joined them.

The moment he stepped into the room, the familiar cold feeling he’d gotten from when he’d first seen the awakening stone swept over him.

The room was empty, except for a single, wide door standing opposite them. The door was closed and would’ve seemed like an ordinary door, if not for the light leaking out of its edges.

Wade stared it, not knowing what to think. "I... was kind of expecting something different."

Rowan chuckled. "The dungeon isn’t really inside this building. The door is just a gateway that takes you into the dungeon. The dungeon itself exists in a dimension sitting atop our own."

"Oh." Wade said, surprised. "How does that work?"

"Well, dungeons appear in the wild. When defeated, a dungeon shatters, leaving behind a core. If the dungeon is to be destroyed forever, the core would be destroyed. But if the guilds don’t want that, they simply harvest the cores and bring them here." Rowan explained.

"All they need to do is regrow the dungeon inside their walls, and there you have it. A gold mine in which you simply have your adventurers mine for you. A profitable venture for them."

Wade stared at the door, his eyes wide. "So guilds can move dungeons?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Rowan chuckled. "And since adventurers cannot level up unless they kill monsters inside dungeons, it serves as an incentive for adventurers to also delve into dungeons instead of focusing on quests alone. Whoever owns the dungeons controls the flow of power."

Wade blinked, taking in what he’d just learnt. The more information he got, the more he could understand why some beggars preferred to die on the streets than join the guilds.

One was a slow death from hunger on the streets. The other was a fast death, after enriching the pockets of the guilds.

He exhaled at the thought.

"Time to suit up." Sebastian finally spoke, pulling off his axe from his back. His armor rattled from the movement. "We’re going in ready."

With a nod, they all began to arm themselves.

Wade unsheathed the sword from his back, holding it before him. With his breastplate around his torso and his skills at his fingertips, he was ready.

Beside him, Ingrid had her bow in one hand, and an arrow in the other. A quiver sat on her back, filled with arrows. She was lightly armored, wearing only a dull, rusted looking breastplate, and what looked like knee pads over her trousers.

As for Rowan, he pulled his trusty staff out of his inventory, his armor appearing on his body with a flash of light. Seeing the look on Wade’s face, he grinned. "I simply equipped it from my inventory."

"Ah." Wade nodded in understanding.

"Into formation." Sebastian ordered, and they fell into their formation.

Sebastian stood at the front, with Wade and Ingrid behind him, and Rowan holding the rear.

With that done, Sebastian gripped the handle of the door. "Ready?"

"Ready." They chorused.

Sebastian pulled open the door, filling the room with light.

In front of them was a curtain of thick most, glowing with a bright light. It shone, promising both great risk and great rewards.

And with a final breath to calm themselves, they walked into it.

A/N: I’m back! Apologies for the lack of updates. I fell sick, and had to take some time to recover. However, I come with good news. This book has been contracted, which means you can also support it with your golden tickets. Thanks in advance.