Kae

Dungeon Diver CH76

On my way home I grab a bite to eat and stroll around Alpine Park for a while to think about the monster I just faced.

It wasn’t the dungeon boss, that’s for sure. My only guess is it was a random mutant spawn, or has something to do with this skill… “Dungeon Walker”. I’m leaning toward the latter.

As I ponder, I come across the old starter dungeon portal. This is the goblin dungeon where I started my journey as a hunter. I grin and jump through.

The fresh air, g...

Dungeon Diver CH75

The Demon looks me in the eyes as our swords clash.

I grit my teeth and watch the sparks fly. I use plunderer while releasing a wave of flames through my blade toward the monster. It lets out a wave of intense intimidation as we test each other’s limits.

My flames glow hot illuminating the area around us. I burst into a massive ball of fire pushing the monster backward while burning its chest and arms. It lets out a roar and disappears into a dark portal behind it.

I smirk...

Dungeon Diver CH74

The darkness around me suddenly dissipated. I can see waves of black and purple energy dissolving all around me to reveal the dungeon’s orange sky again.

I grip my sword tight and keep all of my skills active while staring down the odd sight before me.

This is a completely different section of the boss room. I can sense the presence of Maria and the High Orc we were just fighting almost 200m away now…

“But how..?”

The moment I spoke out loud a portal appeared a...

Dungeon Diver CH73

I wake up after a good night of rest and crawl out of bed. There are birds chirping outside to the rising sun.

I get dressed and open my door to be immediately greeted by a familiar face.

“You ready Jay??”

Maria is sitting on the upper ledge of the apartment building stairs, resting the new High Orc sword across her shoulders. She’s smiling and staring at me with her piercing blue eyes.

“Well, yeah I am. Good morning to you too I guess…”

She laughs. 2023-03-31 21:10:32 +0000 UTC View Post

Dungeon Diver CH72

We walked for another 20 minutes or so.

The terrain changed a little bit. There are much fewer rocks, less trees, and the ground feels a lot harder. It just seems like there’s unlimited flat ground surrounding us in all directions… it’s a bit eerie.

Finally, a new monster appears up in the distance. Rei steps back.

“Both of you should take this one on, High Orc’s this deep in the dungeon can be stronger than the ones you just faced.”

Maria and I acknowledge...

Dungeon Diver CH71

*CRACKKK*

The High Orc roared as it broke free from its ice prison. The dark red aura around its body gave off an immense power that definitely was not present before.

I looked back to see Rei standing close behind us with her arms crossed. Maria had turned back to the beast looking ready to attack again. Her base magic stats are naturally boosted about 2x that of an average person, but I can’t help wanting to jump in and help her.

She yelled the moment I took a step towar...

Dungeon Diver CH70

“Uhh- sure. Sounds good to me!”

Jack left the room and came back around 5 minutes later.

“They should be back from a raid within the hour. You’ll have to wait around for a little while.”

I nodded.

“That’s fine.”

Jack looked me up and down.

“Rei told me you got a new sword at the city center. Want to go to the training rooms real quick? I’d love to see how much you’ve improved! Swordsman to Swordsman.”

I grinned.

“Sure, ...

Dungeon Diver CH69

“Hey! Would you look at who it is?”

I heard a familiar voice behind me and turned my head to see Hudson smiling and waving while walking in my direction. Trailing behind him were 4 hunters I’d never seen before.

“Are these your new recruits?”

He nodded and looked back.

“Yup! Fresh D Class Hunters, it’s my job to train them this weekend.”

“Hey uh- how’s Nessa doing? She’s not with you today?”

Hudson nodded.

“Nessa hit level 25...

Dungeon Diver CH68

We let the crowd die down and disperse before exiting the arena. I kept my mask on to avoid being identified. No one’s going to know who I am, but it’s just better for people to not associate my face with an illegal underground fight ring champ…

Bri leads me into the main market. We walked no more than 500m and made a hard left to a nearby heavy metal door. It’s attached to a staircase upwards. We climbed the stairs and I found myself in the back of an old wooden tavern. I put m...

Dungeon Diver CH67

My vision is blurry, and my clothing is soaked in blood. Even after regenerating most of my body aches with fatigue.

That doesn't matter now though, all I can think about is the man I have to defeat in front of my eyes. My blood is boiling and adrenaline is pumping through my veins. Even though I'm face to face with death, I feel like I can take on the entire world. It's exhilarating. This feeling is what I fight for.

The sword in my hands is glowing brighter than I've ever seen i...

Dungeon Diver CH66

Bri smiled while looking straight ahead at the ongoing performance.

“Theodore is strong. Much stronger than you.”

I gulped.

“Really? Should I drop ou-“

“No. You’ll be fine. As long as you take control of that sword.”

“Take control?”

“Yes. If you let it push you around like that again, its violent nature may consume you.”

I felt my stomach churn as I looked over at my sword.

“S-So that was real? I really killed him in cold...

Dungeon Diver CH65

Xavier stared me down with a cold look as I continued to shoot flames high up into the air through my sword.

The announcer’s voice rang out again. I brought my sword down and let the flames go out slowly as I listened.

“Everybody knows the rules! There is no time limit in the ring, all tricks, magic items, and abilities are allowed! The winner will be decided by knockout, forfeit, or death. We will begin at the sound of the bell.”

I brought my sword forward and pointed...

Dungeon Diver CH64

Bernard walked me up the stairway back to Bri’s room, or better yet, her lair.

“How was your shopping trip? Find anything good?”

She walked towards us as I stepped into her office. Bernard stayed back and let me approach.

“Yeah, I got a few things!”

I lifted the new necklace off my chest while kicking up my right foot to show the new boots.

Bri nodded and walked towards her desk. A large black rectangular box rested in the middle of it. She glanced over...

Dungeon Diver CH63

The underground market seemed to go on forever. We walked for about 20 more minutes, every new merchant stand looked the same to me. Every 100m or so there were doors and hallways that lead off of the main path, but they all either lead up to the surface or were private property.

Bernard finally stopped in front of another small merchant shop and smiled at an old bald man that was half asleep sitting on a small wooden crate.

"Morning Tom!"

The old merchant shook his head and...

Dungeon Diver CH62

Bri pointed at the floor and that same white light started to glow all around her hand. With a swift motion, she threw the orb of light at the floor. It sank right through and disappeared out of sight. She looked up at me and spoke.

“My assistant will come up here shortly, shall we begin?”

“Begin now? I thought I had to win a match for you to make the sword.”

She grinned.

“Well, you need a sword to fight with don’t you?”

I scratched my head awkwardl...

Dungeon Diver CH61

I made it back to the Inn and nodded to the man sitting behind the front desk before riding the elevator up to my room.

After my usual hot shower, I fell into bed and stared at the ceiling thinking about my day.

Maybe the folks at the Tara Guild are a group of good people after all. I wouldn’t mind seeing Nessa and Hudson again. I really enjoyed that boss fight and gained a lot more levels, but I think I’ll try to take tomorrow off from fighting. It'd be better to focus on cra...

Dungeon Diver CH60

I made my way back to the market with a smile on my face.

The guild took the 7 mana from those other monsters, so I think it's fair that I get to keep the big mana from the boss. It ended up being a pretty even split. The Minotaur Horn, on the other hand... I'll just take it as compensation for dealing the final blow to the boss. They didn't even see me place it in my item storage, so it's fair game in my mind.

About 15 minutes later I walked into the square and waved to the old m...

Dungeon Diver CH59

I lifted the large mana crystal up in the air to show them the boss's loot, but the white transfer light already started.

We were all sent back to the dungeon's starting point. I heard Hudson's voice a moment later.

"That was much harder than I predicted it would be. Usually, one buff is more than enough. I'm glad we all made it out unharmed."

I looked at him with mixed emotions. I'm a bit frustrated with him for letting us all go into this potential death trap with him. On ...

Dungeon Diver CH58

I look around to see all my new team members fighting for their lives in battle.

The team of 3 has done some pretty good work on their Minotaur, with a little more time they'll be able to finish it off.

Nessa is visibly exhausted, but she's landed a few good hits on the boss with me so far. If I had to guess, I'd say it still has 90% of its HP left. There's no way we'll be able to beat it with the strategy we're working with now.

I'm out of axes to throw, I left my sword on ...

Dungeon Diver CH57

Nessa and I continued charging forward with flaming blades straight at the mutant boss. The closer we get the denser the air fills up with magic.

The beast is cracking the ground with every step and letting out large amounts of air from its nose while grunting.

The speed of the Minotaur is astounding. I've never seen anything move this fast. Even with my stat buff from Hudson, this beast still has me beat on speed. It's clearly much stronger, and from prior experience with its kin...

Dungeon Diver CH56

Once transferred into the boss room I looked around in awe. This is much different than I expected it to be.

We all stood in a wide open plane with short grass and no trees. There were tall rocky hills blocking off the area acting as walls in all directions around us. It was about 500m long and 500m wide if I had to guess.

The sky is a light grey color, similar to when it's about to rain. The air visibility is fine up close, but it is a little misty when looking far off into the b...

Dungeon Diver CH55

"Hey! What do you mean you're borrowing my skill?"

She giggled and turned back towards me.

"It's my skill called Mimic."

I squinted at her with a confused look on my face.

"Okay? What exactly does it do? How's it work?"

"Well, I can mimic any skill I see. I chose to mimic your fire magic, so its now my skill as well."

I froze for a moment... This could be even more powerful than my skill. She can just copy any skill she sees???

"Y-You can do this as m...

Dungeon Diver CH54

We all moved forward in line and approached the two guards. One of them recognized me.

"Hey, welcome back. Looks like you do have a party."

I nodded.

"Yep."

We all handed our IDs over and made it down the escalator to the D Class platform. It's a mess down here today. There are very large groups waiting by the train platforms but not boarding. Some of them have up to 10 hunters in a single party.

I don't even know how that would be profitable. I guess everyone ju...

Dungeon Diver CH53

I arrived to the market less than 20 minutes later and waved to the old merchant.

"Hey kid, how are ya today?"

"Great."

I took my axe and mana out of my item storage to place them on counter between us.

"Ya know, that's a neat skill. I don't think you were using it when we first met, but I gotta say item storage must be useful!"

I froze in place... how could I be so careless? I've been using my item storage skill in front of the merchant this whole time like it's...

Dungeon Diver CH52

The Shaman looked me up and down with bloodshot eyes. There's a peculiar magic aura surrounding it.

I stared it down as well with my sword pointed straight ahead. I'm sure I could defeat this monster in seconds if I went all out, but I want to see what it can do. I've only read about shamans in comics, this is the first one I've actually seen out in a dungeon.

The monster raised its staff and let out a grunt. Its leather pouch opened up and an assortment of silver orbs came flying...

Dungeon Diver CH51

I let the crowd of hunters go into the dungeon first. I'll take my time and venture a bit deeper today to find some harder opponents. I'm probably not ready for the boss yet, it'll take a few days before i can handle that solo.

There's a large sense of tension from the other parties. This whole dungeon surge thing is a pretty big deal.

Once it was my turn to enter I pulled out my sword and jumped through the glowing blue portal.

I wandered around the Minotaur Dungeon without...

Dungeon Diver CH50

I boarded the escalator down to the train station and made my way back to the main Dungeon Hub.

It's really crowded this time of day. Most hunters are finishing up their raids and heading off to the market to sell all kinds of loot.

I walked outside and started to head towards the market center as well, I am one of those hunters after all. It took me about 10 minutes to make my way over, I walked pretty quickly.

"Hey kid! Welcome back!"

The merchant smiled and looked m...

Dungeon Diver CH49

The injured flaming Minotaurs came charging at me in a fit of rage. These two aren’t the problem though. I can doge their attacks all day and kill them whenever I please. Their leader is the real issue. I haven’t gauged its full strength yet, but its definitely higher than mine.

My best course of action is to take these two out first. I have a few healing potions, I can handle another hit or two… I’ll use the same strategy as before.

We all charged in towards each other. 2023-03-07 19:30:17 +0000 UTC View Post

Dungeon Diver CH48

I stood in front of 3 charging Minotaurs with my burning blade and prepared for an attack.

The monster up front is the most wounded, its about 30m ahead of the other two. The smartest thing to do right now would be to take it out first. I charged in at the wounded beast and let my flames burn bright trailing behind me on the ground.

I have a pretty good feel on these monster’s abilities. They’re tough and crafty with their weapons, but with my magic gear, recent battle experie...

Dungeon Diver CH47

I made it back to the main D Class platform and checked out the list of dungeons.

The Minotaur Dungeon caught my eye. The old merchant said it would be better to challenge this one with a group as a D Class hunter, but I think it’ll be fine. He doesn’t know how many skills I have, they’re more valuable than levels anyways.

I won’t even be challenging the boss either, the normal dungeon monsters will be the perfect specimens to test out my new skill.

I walked through ...