The Manaverse

Southeast of the Slatewell Safe Zone

Granite City

The Radiant Crusaders were, to say the least, drained; emotionally, physically, and mentally. After being forced to kill babies, them being Monsters making only a slight difference to some of the team, they had almost lost their Guardian and highest damage dealing team members permanently. Add in the sheer quantity of Monsters that were slain without a single level up, and they were done.

Jut had Alex flash the Monsters' death notifications through his vision without blocking his sight once they reached the river bank.

Beetle - Monster x 45 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Beetle - Monster, level 0 - 1 x 20 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Dog - Monster x 18 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Dog - Monster, level 0 - 1 x 11 has died.

You gain Skill Experience

You gain Experience.

Snake - Monster x 3 has died

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Snake - Monster, level 2 x 2 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Bird - Monster x 4 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Frog - Monster x 2 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Cat - Monster x 43 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Cat - Monster, level 0 - 2 x 26 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Spider - Monster x 40, has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Spider - Monster level 0 - 1 x 29, has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Scorpion - Monster, x 59 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Scorpion - Monster, level 0 - 3 x 31 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Scorpion - Boss Monster, level 0 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Rat - Monster x 77 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Rat - Monster, level 0 x 40 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Rat - Boss Monster, level 3 x 2 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Rat - Elite Monster, level 4 x 6 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Rat - Elite Boss Monster, level 4 has died.

You gain Skill Experience.

You gain Experience.

Thanks to Alex's keen intellect, all the of species were grouped together instead of having to see each encounter one by one. Seeing the list made Jut twinge. It started to bubble around in his head, something heavy and dark.

How many Monsters did we kill today? Alex didn't keep him waiting.

467 by my count, if you include the 4 Joy and Nox killed and the 3 Gunther and Lily killed while they were away from the group.

I see.... In a single day. More like in less than ten hours, Jut and the Crusaders had taken the life of a little over ninety creatures each. If he added the pets, it was closer to fifty-eight a piece. That was between five and nine creatures per hour per teammate.

Thinking back, Jut's personal kill counter was well over a thousand since the beginning of the initialization of the System. That was a little under a month before. He, personally, had killed with his own hands or weapons over thirty living creatures a day in that time.

Of course, this count includes the Dungeon which was sketchy at best given the risk of death was nil in there, but that did not lessen the magnitude of the act. Which, in itself, was not the hard part for Jut. It was what the future signified for him that he was having an issue dealing with.

If he had to keep up an average of thirty kills per day until he reached his sixties, he would reach over half a million creatures that he would kill. Considering the populations inside the Lairs and Dens and Jut's mind was reeling. Would he kill over a million? two million?

Then he allowed himself to wander into the thoughts of what those Monsters might have done if he had not been the one to kill them? How many more people would have died during the wave? After all of the close calls he had a long the way, the possibilities were endless and his thoughts began to spiral.

A firm hand on his shoulder had Jut looking up at Brick. They had fallen a little behind the other Crusaders, who were just out of easy ear shot.

"You okay, boss man? You look like you just survived a gun fight for the first time." While Brick's tone was light, his expression was understanding and knowing.

"I- well, yeah. I'm fine. I was just considering the number of lives we've taken today and it kinda became a thing. No worries." Jut said with a small shrug and a head bob.

Brick shook his head. "It's okay to not be okay with the killing. We both know that despite being Monsters, they still bleed. However, they are Monsters. If we don't kill them, they will kill us. Until I see a Monster choose to not kill one of us, Hell, even if we do, we still have to take them out. That doesn't mean you have to be the one to do it."

Multiple thoughts, retorts, agreements, and a lot of confusion coursed through Jut in that moment. He wasn't sure what to think or how to feel. Then three faces crossed his memory and Jut understood something about himself he had not known before. Not really.

Jut shook his head. "If everyone thought that, no one would step up to do it. I also don't want to see people die. Not like on Day One or during the pre-Lock Down wave. Not if men like them had to die first."

Brick smirked and nudged his Guild Leader. "And that thought is exactly what made those three men so great. None of them wanted to fight, not Monsters nor men. But they understood that somebody had to." His expression turned thoughtful before he continued. "You've already set yourself up to do all this without having to be the one doing it, you know? Being the Guild Leader and all. So, it's just a matter of time before you can kick back and relax while grunts do the job for you."

Again, Jut shook his head. "No way, man." He nudged the Guardian back. "They'll just free me up to join you in hunting dragons."

Brick chuckled and gave Jut a thump on the shoulder. They talked a bit longer about unimportant things and Jut felt a bit better. Then, they came to a fork on the bank that was made by a small trail.

"Was that there before?" Diggy asked, pointing to the trail.

The Crusaders looked at one another in confusion and everyone pulled up their maps. They had not passed their original path through the trees yet and this new path was on the map. Yet, none of them remember seeing it before.

The path was not there when we first passed by. Your Lore of the area proves this.

Alex flashed an almost movie quality like recording in Jut's vision that showed the exact spot when they passed through before. After it faded, he examined the new opening carefully. There was a slight divot where a tree in his Lore had been.

"Wouldn't ripping a tree from the ground up heave more soil than this? There's not the remains of a stump under here at all." Jut felt the soil. "I'm guessing not any roots either."

No one had any suggestions or ideas. They came to the conclusion it was magic until proven otherwise. What else could they say?

"Should we follow it?" Jut asked.

He rolled his own eyes in his mind as hard as the team rolled theirs in real life, all while groaning.

"Yes." Was chorused by the group and they made their way down the new path.

It wasn't until they were further down the path that they noticed the destruction Jut had been looking for. Trees were not missing. They were tipped over or shattered. The underbrush was smashed, crushed, or burnt in places. It gave Jut the feeling of a moving battle.

The team moved slowly, walking down the path while remaining quiet and listening for movement. Yet, nothing popped out at them. Instead, they eventually reached a large clearing.

The clearing itself was nothing special. In fact, it looked like a natural clearing with only a few of the bushes along the middle being destroyed. It was the object next to said path of destruction that made the entire team freeze.

"Is that the Dungeon?" Brick asked.

Isabelle shook her head. "Not the Safe Zone's Dungeon, no. The mass in the portal is a different color."

Sure enough, the very familiar Arch that was filled with a swirling energy was not light blue but red. However, it was unmistakably a Dungeon Portal. They could feel it.

They slowly approached, Joy, Isabelle and Jut being the most on guard as they scanned the tree line. When they arrived, Jut touched the swirling mass of energy.

Challenge the [Dungeon]: The Valley of Fire?

Yes No

When Jut confirmed the choice, another window appeared over the first.

This Dungeon is at capacity. Please try again later.

"At capacity?" He repeated aloud.

"No way." Brick said. "There is no chance that many Adventurers entered this place."

Joy tipped her head. "Did it say what the capacity of the Dungeon was? Maybe it's lower for some reason?"

"That seems likely. This is a wild Dungeon. Maybe it's rules are different." Diggy suggested.

"Either way, we either make a camp here to see if someone comes out, or we head back and report this to the Adventurers' Guild" Jut said as he looked to his team.

However, the decision was taken from them as a figure strolled out of the Dungeon. He was tall with dark hair, wearing what had to be Safe Zone Dungeon chain mail. He was a handsome man, the kind that knew they were. It was in his posture. The man saw them and looked around for a long moment before striding up to Brick.

"My good sir. Have you seen a man wearing cloth armor around? His robe is dyed a magnificent blue, so he would have been hard to miss." The man's gaze turned tight before his smile widened. "Ah, it's the glorious specimen from the Radiant Crusaders." He looked over the rest of the party, his eyes losing their joviality. "And the race traitor too. Come to seek entry to Cassanova's Delight now that we are the first in the region to clear a wild Dungeon?"

To Jut's surprise, Brick's expression went neutral the moment he saw the man. He must have recognized him.

Who is this guy? Jut asked Alex.

Prior to the Lock Down ending, Jut had stopped by the City Hall. There he was able to look through the public records of the Safe Zone's registered teams. Each provided a short summary of each person with their head shot. However, since Jut didn't want to read over every entry, Alex had him briefly scan each page. They had said the following:

As long as your eyes have seen the information, I can add it to your Lore. If I focus all of my attention on the task with you, it will be no problem.

Now, Alex could bring any registered Adventurer forward in his vision. Why he was unable to pull the Lore up with a thought on his own was a bigger question that he left unconsidered as Alex answered his first, revealing the man's identity. The window was a Lore Book page.

Name: Charles Stanton

Role: Guardian

Team: Cassanova's Delight

Position: Team Leader

Alex's chat window also opened over the page.

He's that guy Diggy told us about. The asshole who questioned his worth to our team while we were finishing off the Boss of the Dungeon.

Oh, right. That fuck. Jut almost smiled at Alex's use of the term "our" but didn't want to miss anything.

While Jut had delved into that information, Brick had responded to Charles.

"The first, huh? That's awesome. What kind of Dungeon is it?" Brick smiled but it did not reach his eyes completely.

"It was a rock tunnel, similar to the Lairs only bigger. There were multiple different bosses but each was a different species. We had no problem taking them down. We got treasure chests at the end, just like in the Crypts." Charles bragged.

While Jut thought the guy was blow hard, he had a hard time not feeling a little impressed. If They were the first to clear a wild Dungeon in the area, the System had to have given them something good for the deed.

"That's some good information. Thanks, man. We will have to give it a shot." Brick said, moving to the portal. "Wait, still full? How come?"

"We destroyed it. You'll see." Charles said with a cocky grin.

Brick was forced to back up as three people exited the Dungeon and gathered around Charles. They were all Human men. If Jut had to categorize them, they would be the pretty boys everyone envied and hated in high school. They represented the major nationalities as well, with none being the same earth race. Their outfits were all dyed rich, vibrant colors too, looking like a partial rainbow.

The arrogance that exuded from their postures and expression was evident before any of them spoke.

The black man was the first to speak. He was built large and powerful, like a star athlete. His leather armor was dyed a solid red and he had a giant, two handed sword strapped to his back. "Where's Gerald?"

A man of Asian decent, who looked closer to a k-pop idol than anything else, made a show of looking at the tree line while his eyes glowed green. He was wearing a leather outfit closer to hunting gear than battle armor that was dyed a similar green color. A bow was strung on his back. "I don't see him nearby, but a few somethings went Northwest."

A Spanish man crossed his arms and looked slightly irritated. He was wearing chain mail but the gambeson under his armor was dyed a metallic black. "Why does he always wander off? We should find him, he is our healer."

"Yeah, let's go, gentleman." Charles agreed then turned towards the Crusaders. "I'd say it's been a pleasure, but it hasn't. Farewell, Radiant Crusaders." Despite not saying anything harsh or cruel, his tone made the words sound like an insult.

The rest of Cassanova's Delight did not even acknowledge the Crusaders before they left the clearing. They passed down the path the Crusaders would have followed if they hadn't stopped to investigate the Dungeon.

Isabelle gasped. The rest of the team did so as well when they looked back at the Portal Arch. It had begun to crumble and fall apart. The energy dispersed into vapor. Less than a full minute later, the Arch had disappeared completely as if it had never been there at all.

"They actually destroyed it." Jut said quietly.

"I hate those guys. They are always a bunch of dicks." Joy cursed as she rolled her eyes.

"Dicks or not, they put in the work. After we cleared the Dungeon the once, they cleared it three times." Brick shrugged. "They take it too far, sure, but they do deserve some recognition."

Isabelle groaned and crossed her arms. She shivered. "They always try to hit on all the healers all the time. I'd say it's creepy more than anything."

Diggy remained silent.

Jut steered the conversation back to their goal. "We should get back, check in with the guild, and anyone who wants to get food at the orphanage is welcome to come, per Magatha."

The Crusaders continued to bash the other team all the way back. They returned to the river bank and followed their original trail back to the Safe Zone. The guild was much busier than it had been in the morning with the tavern half packed to the brim. They received their rewards of coin from the receptionists for the three requests they completed before they walked back out into the mid afternoon light.

Not one of them even mentioned the orphanage, but they all followed Jut and Brick there anyway. It was the first time the team had casually gone to eat as a whole group when there wasn't Guild business, training, or Dungeon runs to discuss. Jut was actually looking forward to it.