Dungeon Hallow

Shensin Guild Building

A strong earthquake shook the city of Hatdov, the capital of the kingdom of Ardesdale. The inhabitants were panicking and running for their lives, shouting for help as they rushed out of their homes. Some people chose to lie flat on the open ground to avoid the danger.

Birds were also flying away from the trees, flocking to safer places.

Erix and Genji chose to remain hidden in the bushes where they were hiding. Erix wasn’t afraid of the earthquake, but he still crouched down to protect his head. It seemed as if he already knew what to do in such a situation.

The commotion of the frightened people could be heard by the two men, causing Genji to appear very anxious.

A few seconds later, the earthquake stopped, leaving fear and trauma for some people. Erix and Genji immediately came out of their hiding place. They saw people around them heaving a sigh of relief and expressing gratitude.

“Hey, kid, I have to go now. There’s something I need to do. Maybe we’ll meet again some other time,” Genji said with a serious look at the frightened people, and then he hurriedly left Erix alone.

Erix remained silent, watching his departure. But within a few seconds, Haruka’s face appeared in his mind, and this made him rush to the hospital.

His steps were fast, filled with anxiety. The merchandise scattered in some shops and some fallen poles didn’t matter to him. His mind was only focused on Haruka right now.

He passed through a street where he was chased by restaurant staff and retraced his steps when he was chased for holding onto a cat girl’s tail. Finally, he arrived back in front of the hospital.

Lucius came from the opposite direction, and they both entered the hospital building and headed straight to Yura’s room.

Erix hurriedly opened the door to the room. Inside, Haruka and Aunt Izumi were hugging Takeru, who was scared, while Yura sat quietly on her bed, unable to do anything.

Erix was relieved to see that Haruka was alright, although fear still haunted her. He and Lucius immediately entered and calmed the four people down.

Suddenly, someone entered the same room, shouting quite loudly, “Izumi…! Takeru…! Yura…! Haruka! Are you all okay!?”

“My husband…,” said Aunt Izumi, who recognized the person very well. She immediately approached her husband and hugged him while crying.

“Dad!” Takeru immediately approached his father.

“Uncle, you’ve come,” Haruka said, smiling sweetly to welcome her uncle.

After kissing his wife’s forehead, Yura’s father approached his eldest daughter on the bed. He was deeply concerned about her condition. His heart was clearly torn, but he covered it up with false composure.

“Dad…,” Yura lamented with a sad smile.

“Dad? DAD?! Wait a minute… this is your father?!” exclaimed Erix in disbelief. “This greedy uncle is your father?”

“What?! I’m being called greedy by this lewd boy!” Yura’s father retorted, not taking it lightly.

“Master, do you know him?” asked Lucius.

“Yes, we met this afternoon, AND he extorted me thoroughly,” Erix replied somewhat annoyed.

“That’s your own fault for being too lewd.”

Haruka burst out laughing. She never expected a meeting like that to happen. “It’s like fate,” she said, which was immediately greeted by Yura and Aunt Izumi’s laughter.

One hundred and eighty-three days had passed, equivalent to six long months that Genji had spent away from his family. It was quite a long time for Takeru to live without his father by his side. Now, this small family was reunited, and their happiness radiated warmth throughout the room.

In his heart, a feeling of jealousy and envy began to stir within Erix. He had never felt such closeness since her mother’s death, and his father had turned him into a robot programmed solely for business.

Aunt Izumi and Haruka recounted several recent events, including Yura’s rescue and the unfortunate situation that had befallen Erix and Lucius. Genji would not allow Erix to stay with his wife after the lewd incident that had occurred at the market earlier. However, he could not leave the people who had saved his child just like that.

Genji was drawn to one of Haruka’s stories: Erix and Lucius had purified the Goblin Temple Dungeon. To him, it seemed highly improbable since purifying a dungeon required forming a raid composed of four parties consisting of three-star shensin at the very least. However, Erix and Lucius had accomplished it on their own, despite not being shensin themselves. He could not estimate the extent of their abilities that allowed them to defeat the dungeon boss.

As everyone basked in the long-forgotten joyous atmosphere, suddenly, the ground shook once more. An aftershock had arrived, and it was even stronger than the previous one. The unexpected natural disaster stunned everyone after the relief they had felt from the first earthquake.

As a result of the tremor, cracks appeared on the walls of the hospital. Panic erupted inside the building as people saw the cracks. Erix quickly picked up Haruka and jumped out of the window. Genji hugged his wife and Takeru, then followed Erix. Lucius carried Yura and trailed behind. Soon after, the ceiling of Yura’s room collapsed, destroying everything beneath it.

They landed safely with the people they carried. Despite jumping from the fourth floor, they didn’t sustain any injuries. This made Genji even more curious about the two young men.

People poured out of the hospital in panic, some carrying patients and the injured. They all gathered on the open ground in front of the hospital.

It wasn’t only there; other places were experiencing the same thing. Buildings’ walls began to crack, and some pillars collapsed, hitting nearby houses.

Ten seconds later, the earthquake began to subside, leaving only debris in its wake. Some people appeared traumatized, with some too afraid to stand. Several royal soldiers tried to rescue civilians and guide them to safer locations.

“It was quite strong; maybe a 5 on the Richter scale,” Erix guessed.

“I don’t think so, Master. Judging from the damage, it was probably around a 6.5 to 7 on the Richter scale,” Lucius explained.

“Wow, that’s pretty big. It seems like you two are accustomed to earthquakes,” Genji remarked.

“Indeed, Uncle. Sometimes I feel tremors in some of my houses,” Erix replied nonchalantly.

“Several houses? How many houses does he even have?” Genji muttered, slightly irritated.

Suddenly, a loud siren could be heard from the center of the city. It was a sound that signaled danger was imminent. All of the citizens wondered what the siren meant.

“A call to all shensin in every corner of the city… A call to all shensin in every corner of the city to gather at the Guild Union Shensin Building right now!” a woman’s voice echoed from the loudspeaker attached to the tower of the Guild Union Building. “Once again… A call to all shensin in every corner of the city to gather at the Guild Union Shensin Building right now!”

“Haruka, you should go!” Yura said.

“But…,” Haruka hesitated to leave her family.

“Don’t worry, I’m here,” Genji said.

Haruka nodded understandingly and hurriedly left.

“I’ll come too!” Erix exclaimed and followed Haruka.

“Hey! You’re not a shensin,” Genji interjected.

Erix turned around and grinned widely.

“What’s with that silly smile?” Genji grumbled.

“I think it means ‘I can handle it’,” Lucius said.

“Huh? Handle what?” Genji complained. “You’re not shensin, but if you want to become one, you have to register at that Guild Building first.”

“Thanks for the info, Uncle. We’ll take our leave now.” Lucius ran after Erix and Haruka.

*****

Shortly after, Erix, Lucius, and Haruka arrived in front of the Guild Shensin building. There were already many shensin gathered there. Not only humans, but shensin from other races had also arrived. Elves with their weapons and Tiger Humans with their swords on their backs. And of course, they were all experienced and great shensin.

“Haruka, you made it,” a long blonde-haired elf greeted her. She looked sexy in her short skirt and Robin Hood hat. She also carried a unique engraved arrow on her back.

“Tias, you’re here too,” Haruka said, approaching her.

“I think I’ve seen you before,” Erix tried to recall the familiar face.

“She’s the elf we met in front of the Goblin Temple Dungeon that time, Master,” Lucius answered, remembering her.

“I haven’t had a chance to thank you yet,” the elf said to Erix. “Thank you for helping Haruka. You’re right, I’ve been a bad friend.”

“It’s alright, don’t mention it. I’m sure you had your reasons that you couldn’t explain,” Erix replied, unfazed.

“Her name is Tias Vieri El Redcedar. She’s my friend,” Haruka introduced.

“Name’s Erix, nice to meet you,” Erix introduced himself.

“Lucius Ventus,” Lucius said quietly.

Suddenly, Erix remembered something and pulled out a small green stone, about the size of a fist. He handed it to Tias. “This is yours. Judging by your elf friend’s expression when she saw it, it must be very valuable to you. I can’t use it, so I’m returning it to you.”

“Tias, that stone…,” Haruka recognized the green stone.

Tias’ hand trembled as he took the stone. “You managed to conquer the Goblin Temple without using this item?”

Erix nodded, surprising Tias with his answer.

The stone that Erix returned to Tias was no ordinary stone. It was a magic item, a Redcedar family heirloom. Upon closer inspection, there was an orchid flower embedded in the stone.

As it appeared, the stone was called the Dream Orchid Emerald. It was an extremely rare item that was very difficult to make. If used, it could defeat any enemy, no matter how strong. But Erix didn’t use it, yet he was able to purify the dungeon. This made Tias curious about the abilities of Haruka’s two new friends.

Tias suddenly remembered something he wanted to tell Haruka. “Haruka, when you purified the Goblin Temple, your name should have been the only one listed, right, because they both weren’t shensin. You should ask for a level up check.”

Haruka agreed with his friend’s suggestion. The three of them immediately went to the Guild Building, leaving Tias to be engulfed in various complicated thoughts.

Inside the building, they approached the receptionist at the tall desk near the left wall. A blonde elf, similar to Tias, was standing there.

“I would like to request a level up check,” Haruka said.

“What is your name and class?” the pretty elf asked.

“Murakami Haruka, and I’m currently a Cleric,” Haruka replied.

“Alright. Please wait in the lobby, I will call the Class Cleric Master.” The pretty elf turned to Erix and Lucius. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“We want to register as shensin,” Erix said, trying to act cool as he ran his fingers through his hair.

The pretty elf smiled. “Alright, please wait a moment.”

“Puff,” Lucius stifled a laugh.

“What!” he exclaimed

“You were hitting on the elf,” Lucius chuckled.

“What’s wrong with that? In this game, every gamer can speak directly to an elf. This isn’t cosplay,” grumbled Erix.

Haruka looked at Lucius strangely. It was as if he had two personalities. Sometimes he acted as a servant, and other times he acted as a friend. It made Haruka doubt the true identity of Erix’s servant.

Lucius noticed Haruka’s scrutiny but didn’t seem to care.

The pretty elf left them and went about her business. To the right was a lobby area, where they immediately sat down in a row of empty chairs that had been set up.

On one side of the lobby, there was a notice board covered in posters. Many shensin stood there to read them. Erix knew exactly what board it was and what kind of news was usually posted there, but he wanted to start a casual conversation with Haruka.

“What are they looking at there?” Erix asked, nodding towards the notice board.

Haruka turned her head and followed his gaze. “Oh, that’s a side job for shensin. It’s a request board. There are various requests, such as finding an item or killing monsters with payment according to the difficulty level. Although it’s a side job, the income is quite good,” she explained.

Suddenly, the beautiful elf from earlier appeared from the hallway, followed by a young human woman with white hair and a thin white hood covering her head. The woman wore an all-white dress with shiny gold accessories, and she was stunningly beautiful.

The two were left speechless by the woman’s beauty, which they likened to that of a goddess. Although they had encountered many attractive women and high-profile celebrities before, this woman’s beauty was incomparable. Erix even confessed to himself that she was more beautiful than Haruka.

The woman then approached Haruka and silently led her back to the hallway from which she had emerged, leaving the two men staring until she disappeared from view.

“She’s a human, right?” Erix asked without turning his face from the hallway. “She was stunning.”

Lucius nodded, equally stunned. “Yes, Master. She’s indeed beautiful.”

The beauty of the woman completely diverted their attention. Even the receptionist elf kept calling them, but they didn’t hear her at all.

“Hey, you two! I’ve been calling you for ages!” she shouted, still no response. “Uh oh. They became deaf.”