Arie and I stand about 10m away from the lined-up wooden tables waiting for the rest of our team to make it out.
The rippling light that seems to be Rodrigo’s doing distorts the view of the dungeon at large. I want to see what we’re up against, but it’ll have to wait.
The first to arrive is Maria. She appears out of thin air from the rippling illusion of light with a grin across her face still glowing blue.
“You two finished before me again? Well, it was a fun fight anyways!”
She spins a serpent’s fang on a long black string around her finger while walking over and standing next to me.
The next to arrive is Nessa. Arie and Maria look very surprised as she walks over to us without a scratch on her.
“That stealth skill doesn’t work so well when I can literally see trees being crushed to bits in front of my eyes. I don’t know what I was so worried about!”
I laugh and give her a warm smile.
“I guess you’re right… It was pretty easy to track.”
I used other means to do so, but watching the plant life being crushed probably did the trick just fine.
She grins and walks past me whispering softly while giving a sly wink.
“Thanks Jay.”
Mere seconds later, the green-haired healer comes strutting towards us with a confident, but serious look across her face.
“Now that one was a challenge.”
Abby lets out a sigh and eyes the tables behind us eagerly, she looks exhausted. Maria puts an arm around her shoulder and giggles.
“Let’s go sit down and save a seat for the others.”
She looks up at me, then I give her a firm nod. Nessa follows as well, leaving Arie and me to wait for our final teammate.
The tan-skinned archer turns to me.
“Did all of you come to the exams together?”
I chuckle.
“No, I only came here with Maria.”
He nods and doesn’t reply. I continue.
“I knew Abby and Nessa prior to this test though, Bruce is the only new teammate. Plus, you of course. Did you come here with anyone?”
He lets out a sigh.
“No, I came alone.”
I tighten my lips.
“Assumed so.”
We wait in silence for a moment longer, then I speak up again.
“So… where are you from? Your home village, if you don’t mind me asking.”
I hear an audible gulp as Arie turns to me.
“You’re the strongest hunter I’ve met in this exam so far… and… your team seems to trust you very much, can I trust you too?”
He looks at me again with the same saddened stare from earlier.
I nod firmly one time and look the hooded archer in the eyes.
“Sure, as long as I can trust you.”
He lets out a sign while whispering in a low voice.
“I grew up in the Dark Continent. I’m only here to find trusted allies and rise through the ranks of the Hunters Association. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
By the end of his sentence, the tone became very serious… almost angry…
I reply.
“Understood. Well, I- I don’t fully get why, but I understand you have your reasons…”
He nods and turns his head back towards the rippling light and grins slightly. It feels like a small weight has been lifted off his shoulders. I smile back and turn to wait for Bruce as well.
Internally, my mind is moving rapidly trying to piece this new puzzle together. The Dark Continent is a lawless country that’s mostly closed off to the rest of the world. It’s known for having monsters roam free and is home to a variety of crime syndicates, that’s what I’ve read in the newspaper at least.
It is literally blocked off from all civilized society. About a decade ago, several of the A-Class Hunters teamed up to surround the quarantined area with what is now known as the “Great Ravine”. It’s a massive kilometer-wide, endlessly-deep hole in the ground that stretches hundreds of kilometers around the entire continent.
This is used to keep dangerous monsters from escaping to any protected countries. This keeps many humans trapped there too. It’s very uncommon to find anyone entering or leaving that place. Apparently, Arie grew up there…
While deep in thought, the wall of rippling light in front of me starts to move and a grinning tank walks out with a shield by his side and a bloodied war hammer over his shoulder.
“Hey! Hey! I made it to the final round!”
I can’t help smiling, Bruce always lightens the mood.
“We all made it, glad to see you in one piece!”
He lets out a laugh and throws his hammer into the item box around his waist, then pats me hard on the shoulder.
“I’m starving! Let’s sit down and get some grub!”
“Haha- Sounds good.”
I turn to Arie to give him a reassuring nod.
“Let’s take a well-deserved break.”
The three of us walk over to the table that the girls prepared. They already have mountains of dried food and water bottles at the ready. MP and HP potions are lined up and a few items are being passed around.
Abby is the first to wave us down with a face full of food.
“Hey!! We all made it through, come on! Have a seat!”
The six of us take a load off for the next two hours. We fill our stomachs, lay down for a bit, and make guesses about what this final test could possibly be.
Every minute that goes by builds my excitement. This is the final test… it has to be hard… right? Everyone that’s made it this far is much stronger than any regular C Class hunter would ever have to be.
Most of the C Classes I’ve met were well under level 300. This exam is different from the others, Rodrigo even said so… That the Hunters Association is testing for something specifically this time around.
As I digest my food, as well as my wildly scattered thoughts, more and more hunters appear from the dungeon’s entrance to sit at the various tables all around us.
I hear the A-Class examiner’s voice wake me up from my daydreams. He’s standing on top of one of the tables and attempting to get everyone’s attention.
“Everyone, everyone. Please, listen up! Only 73 of you have arrived so far, and according to my monitors, there are some stragglers, but they may take hours to arrive. If they do, great we have 27 more slots. If they don’t that’s unfortunate. There’s no time limit for this final test, so if we begin now, there’s no huge advantage for all of you.”
The hunters begin gathering around and chattering softly to each other as Rodrigo continues.
“This is your final test and happens to be the final dungeon in this labyrinth…. Well, there is the boss floor above us, but none of you are ready for that.”
A small grin appears across Rodrigo’s face, and I see a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. This is the first time I’ve seen him show any signs of genuine emotion. He continues.
“You may group up into teams of as many hunters as you wish, there is no hard limit. Your only objective is to clear the boss room…. Together.”
The crowd of hunters erupts in confusion. Rodrigo slowly nods and continues.
“As I said, this is the last dungeon floor. It will be a tough challenge, but not impossible. Plus, there will be a twist at the end. While in the boss room, I will be giving every hunter a personal handicap based on the data accumulated from my monitors. It will force you into difficult situations, relying on your trusted teammates to cover for the abilities you lack.”
Irritated whispers come out from the crowd. Rodrigo carries on.
“I will personally be watching each and every one of your fights with this final boss. If you can take it out as a team following my handicap rules, you shall pass. If even one team member dies or breaks the rules, your whole team will be disqualified. Understood?”
Nods and replies of agreement follow as Rodrigo counties to speak.
“You may train for as long as you need, but considering you all made it this far I assume you aren’t the types to wait around. There will be no handicaps while training so go all out. I encourage you to try out some unorthodox fighting methods in this dungeon, you may need the practice sooner than you think. I will be waiting at the boss room portal to run down the rules with you one last time and watch your final fight.”
He lets out a sigh.
“I would appreciate it if you didn’t kill each other on this floor, but I guess it’s still not against the rules. Anyways, good luck. I’ll see you at the boss room for your final test.”
With a smile, a flash of light blinds me and the bearded man disappears. The rippling light surrounding us dissipates and the full glory of the dungeon becomes very clear.
Those tall red towering mountains of rock from before look like ant hills compared to the monstrous peak before my eyes. The jagged mountain of endless dark red stone pierces through the sky higher than my eyes can even see.
Rivers of red-hot molten rock slowly gush down the sides of the towering structure as it gets thinner and thinner the higher it rises up into the jet-black sky.
A few winding trails lead up the mountain. My eyes follow them upwards in awe.
“So this… is the final dungeon…”