"Marcus… This is bad. Tenpo-Ippo planned to kill us all before we even got here." Marie said, moving a body over with her shield. The corpse was nearly cut in two by some serrated blade.
Marcus could smell the blood. Iron filling his nostrils. He could smell the sweat leaking from his squadmates foreheads… He needed to calm them all down.
"Calm yourselves. We're fine. These men were killed fairly recently, but it seems like they didn't go down without a fight… We should be able to get out of this." He said, leaning down next to the nearest body to the Gate's now closed exit. His body was face first in the dirt, a slash against his neck… His head wasn't attached. The blood was barely dried. This man died…
"41 minutes ago…?" Vanessa said, her eyes darting around the room, looking at… Something. Marshall was doing the same.
"What was that?" Marcus questioned, confused at what they were looking at.
"The Gate opened 41 minutes ago before closing after we entered…" Marshall responded, no longer eating any of his snacks. He couldn't stomach to eat more with all the corpses around.
Marcus rubbed his chin as he listened to their words. This man had died around the same time the Gate reopened. But the rest of the corpses were older than that…
"We're not in here alone." Marcus said, standing up after realizing just what had happened.
[Investigation 30% Complete.]
"They have a kill squad inside the dungeon. They wait for whoever to enter to finish their business. This dungeon strangely only reopens every 40 minutes. It takes about a minute to enter through a gate." Marcus began to explain, that is before Geraldine interrupted.
"But it would take longer for someone inside to escape because of that mechanic. Allowing whoever is outside to cut off anyone from escaping with a pre-fired attack."
Marcus stood up, eyes surveying the room around him. Now that he knew the type of danger they were in, he needed to focus. What should he do first, he thought. Find the enemies inside, or prepare for the attack from the outside?
His mind was racing. Eyes continuing to dart about until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Geraldine's hand.
"Sir. Calm down. You don't need to do everything yourself. You have us here as well." She said, eyes looking into his own. Eyes filled with… Trust.
Clearing his throat, he nodded. This wasn't that much different from when he had to lead the Porter squads. Maybe a little more deadly, but… "Alright. Epsilon, listen up." He made his voice slightly louder to catch all their attentions, the four of them nodding and walking over.
"So, I have two ideas. But it's entirely up to you guys on what you want to do. But we need to do something—"
"Marcus. That's not how a leader speaks." Marie said, her pupils still those swirling swords, a big grin creeping onto her face…
"Alright. Here's what we're going to decide on! Either we go find the bastards waiting to ambush us, or we do some gorilla tactics and setup traps for the bastards outside!" He yelled, the rest of the squad listening deeply to what he said…
"I believe we should go hunt down the threats already inside." Geraldine said, hand gripping her Cross-Ballista harshly.
"I… I'm a little scared. I believe we should set up a good defensive area!" Vanessa immediately said, the fear wafting off her.
"Ugh… I don't want to move around much… But we should hunt down the enemies." Marshall stated, even with disgust on his face, he knew leaving the kill squad was risky.
"Hunting them down is safer." Marie said, slamming her hammer against her shield.
Vanessa immediately deflated yet again, frowning as he gripped her staff tighter. She obviously didn't feel good doing this.
Marcus sighed, placing a hand against her head and giving her a few pats. "Calm down. We're all here for you. You'll be alright."
Vanessa's face immediately turned a bright red as she felt Marcus's hand against her head. She would mutter something underneath her breath before nodding in agreement.
"Alright. All of you make sure your gear is everywhere it's supposed to be. I'll find these bastards." Marcus would sigh… He needed to wear that item again.
Opening up his system, he'd look through his inventory for the item he took off specifically because of the effect and synergy it suddenly had with Sword Resonation.
[Yellot's Hunter Earring has been equipped.]
[Sword Resonation with REDACTED Blade has reached 99%]
Marcus felt something changing deep within him. A strain pushed against his eyes, his fingernails suddenly hurt the most they had in years, and the bed of hair already on his head felt as if it had suddenly gotten a tiny bit longer… Strange.
The strangest thing of all was that he felt his canines straining against each other, as if they had gotten longer…
Once the strange feelings subsided, he leaned down and looked at himself in a pool of blood…
[Special Effect Synergy Found]
[The Administrator is one step away from awakening THE INNER BEAST. Do you wish to continue?]
"No…" he responded, looking at himself in the makeshift mirror. His hair had gotten even longer than it was before—more spikes, more unkempt—reaching down to his back at this point. His eyes were now slit like a wolf's, yellow in color… Opening his mouth, he lapped his tongue against his canines… Sharp as knives.
[Transformation held off.]
[Administrator Koa has earned a new skill.]
[Release the Beast (SPECIAL)]
[The user will unleash their inner beast, transforming into their true form in the process.]
[Duration: Indefinite until de-transformation is proc'd by the user.]
Looking at his system window in confusion, he felt the eyes of his squad on his back.
Slowly standing up, he turned to them all, smiling awkwardly. "Sorry about that, y'all. Just had to equip an item to get us started." But as he faced them, he saw that they didn't exactly mind his new look.
Marie in particular had that same look she did when they were at home… like predator to prey, licking her lips. "No, it's fine… I like this look if it isn't permanent."
"It's not," he replied, sighing.
Geraldine seemed more surprised than anything else. But she couldn't take her eyes off his newly clawed fingers…
Marshall started eating again, using his new look as… motivation to do so?
And Vanessa had the craziest look of all. Marcus couldn't tell if she was scared or aroused.
As he cleared his throat, the rest of the party snapped out of their trances and locked in, watching him turn around and lean back down onto the dirt of the floor.
He gave it a sniff.
[The Hunt Begins.]
[Hunting your prey…]
He found a scent.
"Got something. It's a female Hunter… Maybe 30 years old…?" he said out loud, sniffing the air even more to track her scent.
Now that he had this new partial transformation, once he caught her scent he could see a red smoke in the air, leading somewhere...
"Jackpot." Standing up fully, Marcus turned his head to the group, nodding.
They all nodded back, seemingly understanding the assignment.
Now with the green light, Marcus immediately started running after the scent, the ground cracking where he was as he disappeared for a split second.
He felt strange. This was the first time he actually ran without teleporting first after adding his new agility stats… He was so fast. Running at least 50 miles per hour faster than normal…
But looking to his left, he saw Geraldine keeping up with his speed. He could hear Marie and the cousins not far behind him either… Good. He wouldn't have to worry about leaving them behind.
[Tracking the scent.]
Marcus followed the scent like a bloodhound, moving through the mines at swift speeds, as Geraldine got slightly closer and yelled out to him.
"Sir, we're getting a bit deep into the dungeon! We should be encountering the Jewel Goblins soon!" she called out, Marcus's eyes widening as he heard those words.
He forgot. He was a new Hunter, so he had forgotten all about the secondary danger of the dungeons. Thinking on it for a second, he yelled back an answer, "We'll take out any Goblins we encounter! We aren't that far from the scent by now!"
[Scent nearby…]
They'd been running for a good five minutes by now. They still had around 25 minutes left to deal with their rat problem before having to deal with their cat one.
Marcus saw the scent gathering all in one area not that far up ahead. Coming to a skidding halt, Marcus held his fist high above his head.
Geraldine stopped in her tracks, looking forward in confusion. "Sir…"
"What is it? What do you see?" Marcus questioned, the rest of the group arriving a second later.
Vanessa placed her hands on her knees, gasping for air like she just ran a marathon… Well, they probably did. Marcus didn't really pay attention to how far they ran.
Marshall was way skinnier than he was when they entered the dungeon. He had lost at least 100 pounds during that small run… Maybe that's why he ate so much. He stuffed some M&M's down his throat, and around 50 of those pounds returned.
Marie seemed fine. More than fine, honestly.
"Buildings made by modern man shouldn't exist in a dungeon." His train of thought was broken as he was handed a pair of binoculars by Geraldine.
Looking through them, he saw exactly why she was so confused. There was some sort of fully functional base or house inside the dungeon. Standing outside of it were a group of five Tenpo-Ippo group members. But instead of that classic gold color for their armor, they wore all black and didn't even bother to wear helmets.
"That's the kill squad," Marcus said, handing Geraldine back her binoculars.
Rubbing his chin, he considered how they should do this. The enemy was at least an extra 160 or so feet away… His effective range wasn't that far anymore—
"Oh, I have an idea." Turning to the group, he grinned.
"Who here has some sort of long-range ability?" he asked, expecting everyone but Marie to put their hand up.
But when he saw that everyone did, his jaw dropped. "What?! You have long-range abilities, Marie?!" he asked, causing Marie to look at him in confusion.
"Uh, I can use magic, Marcus. My class is an offshoot of the Paladin Class…" she said, scratching her head in confusion.
Sighing softly, he shook his head and got back to his plan. "Whatever. Here's what we'll do. The enemies aren't expecting it, so we'll all deal as much damage as possible from this distance. We'll keep pelting them with long-range damage until they either die, or they somehow get close enough for close-quarters combat. That fine with everyone?"
Marshall and Vanessa nodded.
Geraldine immediately got into position with her Cross-Ballista, using her quiver as a stand for her weapon.
Marie nodded as well, fastening her shield to her back and holding her hands together, blue energy surrounding both. "Ready."
Marcus sighed, placing his duffel bag down in front of him. He needed to get this set up.
Unzipping it, he grabbed one of the blades inside before turning back to the kill squad. "We all ready?" he asked.
"Ready!" the rest of the squad said in unison.
Marshall took out a protein bar, gulping it down. Once finished chewing, he held his hands high above his head, white energy appearing in both. The more he charged whatever he was charging up, the slimmer his face got. Inch by inch.
Vanessa didn't even need to charge up her magic, a large fireball appearing behind her, shaking and unstable. Sweat ran down her forehead as she kept her magic in place…
All that was left was for Marcus to start their attack.
Taking a deep breath, Marcus pulled the blade back past his head, his arm shaking as he aimed it straight for the woman he had tracked all the way down here…
"Let's do this!" he yelled, throwing the blade straight for her. A shockwave sounded out from the small hill they stood on.
As soon as the sword left his hand, the woman's eyes immediately darted toward their location. He couldn't hear what she said, but she was about to scream—until she was hit with a bolt of energy straight to the face. Another shockwave sounded out as Geraldine shot her weapon for the first time in front of her new squad, taking off the head of the woman and leaving her blood splattered against the now-crumbling wall.
The kill squad immediately tried to run toward their newly seen enemies, but there were only four left. The next fell to his knees as the sword Marcus threw came rising back past him, cutting his Achilles.
"Boom!" Vanessa finally let go of her fireball, the giant ball of flame moving at impossible speeds right for the man who fell.
BOOM.
The massive explosion sounded out, one of his fingers coming flying past Marcus's face. "Woah!"
Three left.
The last three seemed to be far more competent. They dodged the shots from both Geraldine and Marie, the energy bolts flying past them as they used acrobatics and superior speed, the explosions shaking the entire mine.
"Guys! They're getting close!" Marcus yelled, as Marie strained to get any more mana out of her fingertips.
Shooting a bolt in front of the enemy instead stopped the closest one from immediately advancing, and when that happened, Marshall finally cast what he had sacrificed being fat—and becoming chubby instead—for.
"Sickness, yo!" he yelled, the white mist attacking the enemy's nostrils. The man began to choke, grabbing and scratching at his neck, spitting up blood and mucus before scratching out his own jugular and falling to the ground…
Two left.
"That's fucking disgusting," Geraldine said dryly, shooting the corpse one more time with her Cross-Ballista, making sure he was dead by blowing his body in half.
Marshall chuckled, nodding as he ate another pack of M&M's and immediately bloated back up a tad bit. "Yes. It's some of the only attack magic I can do. I'm a healer, so… making people so sick they kill themselves is the most I can do other than Toll the Dead…" he explained.
Vanessa gulped lightly as she watched the last two enemies get closer and closer… "Marcus?! They're no longer in my effective range! I can hurt us all if I cast when they're so close!" she yelled.
Marcus looked down at his newly clawed hands. Thinking on it for a second… he was their main melee DPS. Now was the chance to try out his new stats and these new claws without it seeming like he was showing off.
"I'll deal with it," he said, rushing forward toward the enemies with a batshit insane smile.
"Be careful, Marcus!" Marie yelled, watching the man's jacket get smaller and smaller as he ran toward their enemies.
Now that the group was without their leader, all of them took a deep sigh of relief.
"His aura is too much in that form… I'm surprised I didn't throw up…" Marshall said, the rest nodding along with him.
"Seconded," Vanessa said, watching their leader attack the two Hunters who were still unscathed.
CLANG.
The sound of steel rang out through the room as Marcus clashed with the first Hunter, his claws slashing against the mana shield and sending the man skidding backwards.
"What the fuck is that strength?!" he yelled. Marcus didn't respond, just swinging at him again from the left, nearly taking the man off his feet with the sheer force of the blow.
An onslaught of claws continued to attack the man, leaving him no opening to strike back. His shield began to dent from the impact, and his arm started to turn to jelly.
But then he saw it—the light at the end of the tunnel. An opening on Marcus's right side, right under his armpit—!
SQUELCH!
The man's thoughts were literally pulled out of his brain by Marcus's claws as he walked right into the trap. Just as the Hunter was about to attack, Marcus grabbed the man's short sword and used his off-hand to stab through his eyes, grasping onto his brain and pulling hard…
Marcus's blood rushed as he felt the hot, red liquid cover his hand and forearm…
"Joe! No!" The last Hunter was a woman, two daggers in her hands. She rushed forward next, throwing another dagger toward Marcus, making him dodge to the right and out of the way.
Now up close, she began to slash at him just as he had done to her friend, his claws and her blades clashing over and over again. They both dodged the lethal attacks with either the most minimal movement possible, or by backflipping away to get out of danger.
"Die!" she yelled, slashing downwards, causing Marcus to dodge backwards, stepping over Joe's body.
"Fuck… You're pretty good, rat," he complimented, starting to circle her, his killing intent becoming palpable in the air.
She felt her heart beat even faster, sweat running down her forehead like a waterfall. But she had to focus. This man wasn't human. One wrong move and she was toast… At least, that's what Marcus could gauge from her expressions.
Shaking out his hands, he faked an attack to the left, making the woman flinch back in anticipation… She did the same to his right, Marcus lifting his leg and arm to parry the attack if it were to happen.
After a bit more prodding, the two came to a standstill, a few feet away from each other. Daggers ready, claws ready, they—
KAPOW!
The sound of another explosion echoed throughout the mine as the woman's entire head burst into red mist, Geraldine taking the shot…
"Wha—… Are you fucking kidding me?! It was getting good!" Marcus yelled, turning to Geraldine with his hands held up high in confusion.
The bronze-skinned woman shrugged, slinging her weapon onto her back and strapping her quiver back to her thigh.
Marcus sighed, rubbing his face with his clean hand before taking off Yellot's earring.
[Yellot's Hunter Earring un-equipped.]
[Reverting back to prior state.]
[Sword Resonation: 96%]
He slowly turned back to normal, the claws reverting to his normal fingernails, the excess hair falling off and gathering in a pile at his feet, and his eyes painfully shrinking back to their natural size and color. "Jesus Christ… That's fucking terrifying."
He could no longer smell every single thing around him. Just… some things.
Taking a deep breath, he grinned ear to ear. "Good. Back to normal."
He looked back to the group and teleported back near them, but not directly beside them. He still needed time to train his ability. The ground cracked beneath him, but it didn't blow up like it used to a few days ago…
"How much more time do we have left?" Marcus asked. Marie looked at her watch, rubbing her chin in thought.
"Hm. About… fourteen minutes?" she said, the rest of the party nodding. It seemed like Marcus was the only one who didn't keep track of the time…
Sighing, Marcus looked back toward where they came from… If they ran back, by the time they got there, it would be at least five minutes until the Gate reopened. Then they'd have to either fight immediately or it would be proven that they were just paranoid…
"Do we want to head back and get ready to fight? Or do you guys have a better idea?" he asked, causing the group to look at each other before they all began thinking…
Marie spoke up first. "Let's go fight them head-on. If we're going to die, we die with honor!" she said, pounding against her chest with her fist.
"Yeah! Let's go!" Vanessa agreed.
"Alright then." Marshall nodded along, gulping down an entire bag of his candy before slamming his fists together.
"I agree." Geraldine nodded as well.
With everyone in agreement, Marcus said nothing else. He turned back toward where they came from and immediately began to sprint that way.
The rest of his squad followed after him…
[Five minutes until the Gate reopens.]
Marcus stretched his legs lightly as he stood in front of the Gate, watching as the mana signature got stronger…
Geraldine loaded an actual bolt into her Cross-Ballista, her headphones on so loud that the entire group could hear the reverb from where they were standing.
Marie stood even further up, in front of Marcus, her shield stuck into the ground as she twirled her hammer in her hands. Ready for whatever may come.
Vanessa stood beside her cousin Marshall, both of them just staring at the Gate… There was no reason to charge up their magic just yet.
[Gate reopening…]
The mana went into overdrive, swirling all into one place on the wall that made up the Gate.
"Come on! Let's do this!"
On the 41st minute, the Gate opened, and a golden boot stepped through…
"Oh, Marcus~! We're ready to raid!!!!"
STAT SNAPSHOT
Name: Marcus Koa
Classes: Level 3 Porter, Level 10 Breaker Swordsman, Level 2 Jumper
Titles: Squad Leader (B-Rank), Admin (EX-Rank)
Role: Main DPS, Administrative Power
Health (HP): 1375 / 1375
[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength (STR): 55
Constitution (CON): 60 (+15)
Agility (AGI): 50
Intelligence (INT): 30
Wisdom (WIS): 35
Magic (MAG): -6
Charisma (CHA): 18
Leadership (LDR): 24 (Granted by Jacket)
Displacement: 5 (Static)
Unallocated Stat Points: 0
[CLASS ABILITIES & SKILLS]
Lift, Carry, Dash [Upgraded], Sword Resonation (96%), Bag Packing (Lv. 4), JUMP (Lv. 3), Break The Blade [Class Skill] (NEW), Break The Chains [Class Skill, Combination] (NEW)
[EQUIPPED GEAR]
Weapon: REDACTED Blade, Redmane's Scimitar
Chest: Legionnaire's Breastplate (Rare) | Effect: +70 ARMOR
Outerwear: Suhojadeul Squad Leader Jacket (Rare) | Effect: Grants LDR stat
Accessory 1: Duffel Bag (Unranked) | Effect: Ownership transferred. Holds 15x blades.
Accessory 2: Yellot's Hunter Earring (Unequipped) | Effect: Grants [Release the Beast] physical transformation.
[ACTIVE QUESTS]
Investigate the Untimely Deaths of Squad Epsilon (D-Rank)