Two days later.
The city of Rambosa.
This massive yet relatively unknown city was located in a small kingdom called Traona.
It was one of the few nations known for allowing multiple races to coexist without issues.
All races, ranging from demi-humans to elves, could be seen wandering the streets of this magnificent nation.
Each one proudly represented the culture of where they originally came from.
Aside from their nationally known reputation for breeding the most adventurers of any nation, they were also considered the most peaceful.
It was a starting point where most adventurers would go to hone their skills without fear of being killed easily.
As such, this particular map was super famous amongst the newbies just entering the game.
Even though not a lot of people knew about it yet.
Those who did immediately made their way to the map. They assigned themselves jobs as adventurers and slowly farmed their XP before they could even think to explore the other maps.
Or at least, they thought so.
The region was known to have 25 different starter dungeons for players to conquer before they could advance to the neighboring town in said kingdom.
Of the five dungeons, only one had not been broken. It still had its cities locked, with players being unable to access it.
This particular dungeon was called the Dungeon of the Shadow Victim. A being said to be the leader of powerful knights and owning the highest rank of a tutorial dungeon, the C-Ranked Dungeon.
Standing just outside the dungeon were four individuals.
Their bodies shimmered with blue light, indicating they had only just entered the instance.
Once the light dimmed down, it fully revealed the individuals who appeared not too far away from the entrance.
First was a man with a long beard, carrying an axe that went along with his massive body and height. This was Ligard, a level 25 fighter class.
The second was a level 18 mage class. A woman wearing a long red robe with a matching red hat on her head which did nothing to cover her exposed thighs.
A level 21 archer was the third guy, dressed in green with a bow at his back and two arrow sacks strapped to the side of his waist.
Finally, the last of them was a rogue class who wielded daggers strapped to his forearms. Not a single one of them took a race outside of being human.
Right before them was the dungeon they were going to explore. The Dungeon of the Shadow Victim.
It was surrounded by large rocks, sitting right in the center of a deserted land.
In between the two massive rocks was a door. It sat right on top of a white glowing platform that indicated the dungeon was most likely running on a form of high magic.
At a distance, they could see the nearest city. Though it was completely cut off from them, so no matter how hard they tried, they would always be blocked out.
That is, unless they killed the boss of the region.
Looking at the door, Ligard was the first to speak.
"So this is where the damn boss is hiding." He stepped in front of the group, resting the axe-shaped weapon against his shoulder.
The archer spoke right after.
"Tsk, is that an instant teleportation? Most tutorial dungeons just have an opening you can walk straight into. And this one has an instant teleportation, like a high-grade dungeon."
The mage lady chuckled a bit.
"This is actually funny if you think about it. A tutorial boss having this much gear and hype only to turn out weak later on. The game was made to be hyper-realistic, right?"
They all looked at her.
For a minute there, they stood and thought about it. She might actually be right.
The real problem might just be the minions. If the minions are able to do that, maybe the boss was just a weak creature, seeing how abnormal the entire thing was.
This thought suddenly boosted their morale even more.
"If we clear this, our reputation will be more famous than before. This is exactly what we need if we are going to climb the major rankings." Ligard uttered, his eyes still glued to the somewhat floating door.
"We are ready when you are," the rogue member uttered, a grin on his face.
"Right. Let's go!"
…
The very next second, after they stood on top of the glowing plate, they found themselves getting transported inside the dungeon.
As soon as they arrived, a large screen played right before their eyes.
{You have entered the C-Ranked Dungeon. Kill the boss of this dungeon in order to advance.}
Ligard looked at the system for a good time.
When a player kills a dungeon boss, they are granted two options.
The first was to make the boss respawn so a next wave of players can do the same. This gives the player a boost in stats and also items.
The second was to let the boss be killed permanently. This deducts a large sum of XP and grants no immediate reward but also places you with a title that grants the power to summon the boss at will.
That was exactly what Ligard intended to do.
The feature was only available once the dungeon had gotten to the rank of C. As such, it was perfect. He would be killing two birds with one stone.
On one hand, he would be eliminating the threat and opening the new region for the people. On the other hand, he would be granted the chance to summon the abnormal dungeon boss at will. Assuming the boss had a capable ability.
"Wow, look at this place. It's kind of cool for a tutorial dungeon, no?" The mage woman spoke, walking around slowly to get a good look at her surroundings.
Her statement caused the rest of the party to have a look as well.
The dungeon interior was completely different from what they had expected.
Instead of the usual dark, stone-walled, monster-filled tunnel they were used to, this place was an open field bathed in an ethereal, soft grey light.
The ground was covered in fine, black dust, and a perpetual, chilling wind whistled through the vast, empty space.
In the distance, massive, broken pillars jutted out of the ground like the skeletal remains of some ancient, forgotten city.