The world twisted and folded around them. A moment later, the hunters of Peerless Guild, the cold-eyed members of Shadow Clan, and the ever-smirking Tyrone Gardon stumbled out of the shimmering portal and into an entirely different world.
The air was thick, heavy, and filled with the scent of damp earth and ancient wood.
Towering trees, each easily twenty meters tall, loomed over them like silent guardians. Their gnarled branches twisted toward the heavens, casting long, ghostly shadows on the moss-covered ground.
The light that filtered through the dense canopy above was dim and sickly green.
A palpable sense of unease settled over the group.
Kyle narrowed his eyes, scanning the surroundings with the sharp instincts of a veteran hunter. It didn't take long to spot it a narrow, straight path winding forward through the forest, cutting through the dense undergrowth like a scar.
At the end of that path, looming like a yawning maw, was a massive cave.
It was wide enough to swallow a small village whole, its entrance framed by jagged rocks like teeth. From the dark depths of the cavern, an oppressive chill seemed to seep out into the forest.
The message was clear.
The dungeon's true beginning awaited them inside.
And the first challenge... would start here.
Without wasting time, the Peerless Guild moved forward in formation, their weapons drawn, senses sharpened. Shadow Clan followed behind them at a cautious distance, their black armor blending into the shadows cast by the trees.
Tyrone Gardon, ever the showman, narrated in a low voice for his audience.
"A lush forest... a dark cave ahead... and two rival guilds brimming with tension. Oh, this is going to be juicy, folks."
His voice, though light, couldn't pierce the heavy atmosphere pressing down on everyone.
As they advanced cautiously toward the cave, the ground beneath their feet suddenly began to tremble.
A low, grinding rumble echoed through the forest.
Then, without warning, the earth split open and monsters began to emerge.
From the cracks in the mossy ground, strange, grotesque creatures clawed their way up.
Archaeospores.
Roughly human-sized, their bodies were made of stone-like material, cracked and pitted, covered in patches of slimy moss. Their skin oozed a greyish mist poisonous gas that twisted the air around them into a toxic haze.
Dozens of them at least twenty appeared in an instant, forming a wall of monsters between the hunters and their goal.
The forest came alive with the hiss of their breath and the sickening sound of their bodies dragging against the earth.
Kyle didn't flinch.
Without needing orders, the C-Rank, B-Rank, and A-Rank hunters of Peerless Guild immediately surged forward, snapping into formation.
Weapons gleamed.
Spells crackled in the air.
The S-Rank hunters, along with Kyle himself, remained at the rear, standing calmly with arms crossed.
They were here as insurance, not as frontline soldiers.
Kyle trusted his people.
They had trained for this.
By his side, Alina, his ever-efficient assistant, quickly activated her artifact a hovering crystal tablet that displayed detailed information about the enemies.
Her voice was crisp and clear as she read aloud:
"Enemy type: Archaeospore. Classification: A-Rank beast. Capabilities: Emission of highly toxic gas within a five-meter radius. Warning: They can summon poisonous plants from underground to entangle and poison targets. Physical resilience: Medium-high. Weak points: Core located near the upper spine visible when they release gas."
The hunters nodded, processing the information even as they prepared to engage.
Alina continued, her voice sharper now:
"Remember avoid prolonged exposure to the gas. Kill swiftly, stay mobile. Don't let them summon the poison vines!"
The battle line tensed.
The archaeospores hissed and began to advance, moving with a lumbering, eerie synchronization.
The first clash of steel and power against stone and poison was about to begin.
And high above them, unseen by all, the dungeon itself seemed to watch... and smile.
The poisonous mist spread like a creeping tide.
The moment the archaeospores exhaled their toxic breath, the A-Rank hunters of Peerless Guild moved without hesitation.
"Shields up!" barked Captain Arlen, the leading A-Rank among them.
At once, translucent barriers of shimmering blue light sprang to life, forming a massive dome that covered not just themselves, but the B-Rank and C-Rank hunters as well. The A-Ranks gritted their teeth, maintaining the barrier against the thick, suffocating gas that churned against it like a living beast.
Inside the barrier, the B-Rank hunters sprang into action.
Swords flashed.
Axes gleamed.
With battle roars that echoed through the ancient forest, the B-Ranks surged forward like a tidal wave, cutting through the mist toward the archaeospores.
The strategy was clear: decapitation.
Every blade aimed for the monsters' heads right at the upper spine where their weak points had been revealed.
Sparks flew as enchanted steel met hardened stone.
Each swing was deliberate, each strike fueled by countless hours of training and a desperate will to survive.
Several archaeospores reeled backward, cracks splintering across their mossy exteriors as their cores were shattered in swift, brutal blows.
Meanwhile, from behind the safety of the shield, the C-Rank hunters unleashed hell.
Fireballs the size of cannonballs roared across the battlefield, crashing into clusters of archaeospores with explosive force. Ice Crystals, sharp as daggers and cold enough to freeze blood on contact, rained from the sky, impaling any monster that tried to retreat or reform.
The forest floor became a battlefield of fire and frost.
Steam hissed as flames met ice, and the archaeospores howled in agony, their bodies crumbling under the relentless assault.
Within minutes, the twenty monsters had been reduced to little more than shattered rubble and scorched moss.
Cheers began to rise among the Peerless hunters.
They had fought as one coordinated, efficient, fearless.
However, not everyone on the battlefield shared their enthusiasm.
The Shadow Clan hunters stood silently off to the side, their black cloaks untouched by battle, their cold eyes watching the fight with disinterest as if the entire engagement had been beneath them.
Tyrone Gardon, ever the opportunist, chuckled lightly into his hidden microphone, his voice carrying a mix of amusement and genuine surprise.
"Well, well, folks," he whispered to the live audience watching from the comfort of their homes. "Looks like the Peerless Guild actually has some bite to match their bark. Maybe... just maybe, they've got a fighting chance in this dungeon after all."
He gave a dramatic wink to the nearest floating drone camera before slipping further back into the shadows, careful not to get in the way of the real action that was yet to come.
Kyle, watching from the rear, simply nodded.
This was just the beginning.
And his Peerless Guild... would rise.
The carnage of the archaeospores still echoed in their ears when the hunters of Peerless Guild stooped to gather the crystalline cores left behind gleaming fragments of stone infused with toxic mana. Each crystal promised powerful alloys, enchantments, and stat-boosting foci, and the C- and B-Rank hunters worked quickly to stow them in reinforced pouches.
Even as they scavenged, wary eyes kept drifting toward the Shadow Clan who, true to form, lingered motionless at the forest's edge, neither joining the collection nor daring to snatch a single shard. Trust, it seemed, was as scarce as daylight in this place.
Pushing onward, the path curved into a moonlit glade. There, the air crackled with heat and a low, lupine howl split the hush. From the underbrush sprang seven Beast Orphs: wolf-like monstrosities rippling with green fur, collars of fiery red mane, and eyes blazing embers of pure flame. Their leader, a towering S-Plus Rank terror, bore a single blazing core embedded in its chest an invaluable Fireheart Crystal coveted by every fire type hunter.
Before the hunters could react, the pack lunged in a synchronized blur 180 km/h claws tearing through the shadows, flames dancing on fur like living torches.
Arlen, the squad's A-Rank shieldmaster, slammed his tower shield to the ground. A dome of crackling blue light flared up but the Beast Orphs unleashed a gout of fire in unison, fracturing the barrier in a shower of sparks. The hunters were thrown back, robes singed, armor scorched.
From the rear, S-Rank rogue Vera Nightclaw darted forward, two spectral daggers swirling like comets. In a heartbeat, she somersaulted through the shattered barrier, her blades meeting fur and sinew with wet, roaring slashes. Sparks flew as her daggers bit the Orph leader's neck just enough to stagger the beast, to crack open a seam for the others to exploit.
Emboldened, the C-Rank Hunters handpicked by Alina unleashed twin torrents of fireballs and ice shards. One volley incinerated the flanking Orphs, the next froze another mid-leap, ice splintering its spine like glass.
With the frontline broken, the B-Rank bladesingers Thorne Ironhand and Mira Windscar surged in, their swords blazing with thunder enchantments. Thorne's greatsword cleaved through an Orph's ribcage in one arc, while Mira spun like a maelstrom, blades whisper-fast, severing limbs that snapped like twigs.
As the leader staggered, Vera vaulted onto its back, thrusting her daggers into its core crystal. Simultaneously, Kyle, who had watched from the rear, leaped forward in a dancer's grace, his obsidian longsword carving a final, decisive slash beneath the creature's flaming mane. The Orph let out a roar that shook the glade and collapsed in a smoldering heap.
A moment of stunned silence followed. Then:
Alina's voice rang out in relieved triumph.
"No casualties. Not a scratch on a single hunter."
A cheer rippled through the Peerless ranks.
Behind them, the Shadow Clan remained statuesque neither applauding nor advancing, their masked faces unreadable. They simply watched as the Peerless hunters harvested the Fireheart Crystals, their green-and-red shards glowing like dying suns in the hunters' clasped hands.
Kyle stepped forward, raising his voice above the crackle of dying fires and the hunters' celebration.
"We move on," he declared. "The cave awaits and with it, the Dungeon Boss."
With swords and spirits blazing, Peerless Guild pressed deeper into the forest every step carrying them closer to legend… or oblivion.