Date: March 15, 2020 - 6:25 pm

Location: Prussia

It has been three days since the sudden outbreak of monsters all around the world. There were more than a hundred different reported locations of monster outbreaks, which in total resulted in more than 14,000 deaths, with many more injured. There were many reports of red portals which seemed to be the origin of the monster outbreaks, but follow-up investigations around the reported locations of the portals found nothing. The Earth Alliance has begun compiling and analyzing the reports and are currently considering the unified actions that all member nations may need to take. As of now, each country afflicted by a monster outbreak is conducting their own investigations, but because no traces were left behind of any of the monsters other than the massive destruction, they were making little to no headway. Around the world, the most the countries could do was interview the eyewitnesses and send out agents to gather more intel. This resulted in one particularly tall, young woman receiving her second round of questioning at the police station.

“So, to summarize, this is what happened. On March 12, some time between 9:30 and 10pm, a red portal suddenly appeared outside of your bedroom window, which was located on the second floor of an apartment building on 8th Street. Monsters resembling black bears, but with red patterning and claws, came out of this portal, some of them crashing against the outside walls of the apartment building. One of them even managed to crash through your bedroom window. You pushed said monster off your window sill and it fell onto the concrete below, smashing its head into the pavement. The monster…died and turned into a black mist-like vapour?” asked the officer seated across from the woman.

“Yes.”

“You continued to observe these monsters continue to pour out of the portal. This continued for several minutes, with a total of…four more attempting to jump through your window?”

“Three or four.”

“You’re not sure?” a second officer asked, this one standing beside the seated officer.

“Uh, yeah, maybe three or four. Up to five, including the first one,” she replied.

“Right, got it.” The seated officer made a note on his laptop.

“So, this whole time while you were staying in your bedroom, watching the monsters coming out of some magic portal and pushing off other monsters that tried clinging onto your window sill?” the standing officer asked.

“Yes.”

“Why did you not call the police?” the standing officer continued his questioning. The young woman hesitated to respond.

“Ms. Tanenbaum, please know that you are not being charged or investigated for any crime. Officer Schumacher and I just want to make sure we are getting the full story here,” said the seated officer.

“...I just didn’t think to call the police,” she eventually replied. “Can I leave soon?”

“Of course, but please, could you just answer a few more questions for us?” the seated officer asked.

“...Okay,” she finally complied after fidgeting slightly in her seat.

“Thank you very much, Ms. Tanenbaum. So, continuing from what you said earlier, you saw the monsters that landed safely on the ground spread out in all directions. From what you could see, they did not attack any of the parked cars, mailboxes, or other objects on the street below.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“What some of them did try to do was claw at the apartment building’s walls?”

“Yes, like they were trying to climb it.”

“But they were unable to do so?”

“Yes. They growled at us, too.”

“Us?” Officer Schumacher asked.

“...At me.” The two officers looked at each other.

“Was there someone else in your room, Ms. Tanenbaum?”

“No. I was alone,” she replied, trying to keep a straight face.

“I will remind you again, Ms. Tanenbaum, you are not being charged or investigated for any crimes. But, if you are holding onto any information that could help paint a fuller picture of what happened on that day, it would be greatly appreciated.”

“...Can I leave soon?” Just as Officer Schumacher was about to speak up again, there was a knock on the door outside. They turned to look, and then another officer stepped in.

“What?” Officer Schumacher asked.

“They say to let her go now,” the new officer said, while walking towards them. Officer Schumacher looked like he wanted to complain, but the new officer came in close and whispered something to him. Officer Schumacher took another look at the woman and then shook his head with mild irritation.

“Well, thank you very much for meeting with us again, Ms. Tanenbaum.” The seated officer thanked the woman and took out a contact card. “Please, if anything else comes up or you recall anything else, call us again and we will arrange another meeting at a convenient time for you. You can also contact me directly if you want to talk right away…about anything.” He slid the card across the table. She took the card and pocketed it.

“Where’s my cake?” she asked.

“Follow me, I’ll get it for you,” the new officer responded. The two left together and the seated officer saved his document before closing his laptop lid.

“Can’t believe we just let her leave like that,” Officer Schumacher commented.

“This was a voluntary meeting, we had no right to keep her here longer than she wanted to. Otherwise we’d need a warrant or some other grounds to go on.”

“You know she’s hiding something.” The seated officer got up and picked up his laptop.

“Yes, but some of those secrets might be about something we have no business digging into.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Also, the last you need is another complaint filed against you,” he said, shifting the conversation.

“...You heard what he whispered to me?”

“I could guess. Come on, let’s take a break.”

“She better come back.” The two left the room together. “I mean, she was there when the giant monster showed up as well. I heard that thing tore through three police cars.” The other officer still said nothing. “It also smashed down most of the apartment building’s front wall. Apparently she’s the only surviving tenant on that side of the building. How many blasts did it take to bring that thing down?”

“Karl.”

“Yeah?”

“Just shut up, already.

***

A half hour bus ride later, the young woman and her box finally made it to their destination for the night. On the grounds of one of the city’s many churches was a detached building that served as an orphanage. The building was housing for the orphans and the church ran this orphanage. This is but one of a few orphanages run by the dominant religion of this country.

She rang the doorbell on the orphanage’s front door and waited. It opened a few moments later.

“Angela?” a man dressed in priest robes answered the door.

“Yes, Father Stefan.”

“It is quite late to visit here.” The priest spoke with a bit of unease.

“I was delayed a lot by…some things. But, I came here with a cake to celebrate Miel’s birthday.” Angela shyly smiled as she tried to emphasise the box she was holding. “It’s a big one this time, so that the other children can have a piece as well.” Father Stefan looked at the box, but said nothing.

“The younger children…have already gone to bed.” The priest looked like he was about to close the door on her.

“That’s fine, I will leave the rest of the cake for them to eat tomorrow,” she replied. Father Stefan hesitated a little longer before responding.

“Alright, come in.” Father Stefan let her in and started leading her to the kitchen. Angela hummed as they made their way there. She set the boxed cake onto a table and then turned around to leave.

“I’ll go get Miel,” she said. The priest suddenly grabbed her arm to stop her. She turned around in surprise.

“I think Miel is busy right now. Best let her finish first.” Angela was confused by his statement.

“...I think she can take a break for this…” Angela said, not quite figuring out what the priest meant.

“It probably won’t be long. Have a seat. I will go and bring in the other children for you to talk to while you wait.” Father Stefan attempted to pull her back to the table but couldn’t move her even an inch. It was almost as if she was rooted to the floor.

“Father Stefan…are you saying…Miel is meeting someone right now?” Angela asked, barely masking her rising anger.

“It won’t be long,” was his answer. Suddenly, the orphanage shook. The priest let go and looked around in panic, thinking it was an earthquake. Angela knew it was not. She immediately sprinted to Miel’s room with incredible speed. Angela arrived in record time and right as the door suddenly flew open. There was a middle-aged man dressed in business clothes, one hand on the doorknob and his other arm holding his suit jacket. Angela recognized the man, but he did not, as he was only desperately focused on running away. He tried to shove his way past but found himself knocked back instead, as if he just tried to run through a wall. The man looked like he was about to shout at her when he seemed to finally recognize her as he lay with his back on the ground. Angela saw a red portal in the corner of the room, but found nobody else other than him.

“Where’s Miel?” she asked angrily as she reached down and grabbed his shoulder.

“A- ah!” he cried out in pain from her grip, so she loosened it.

“Where is she?” she asked again. The man pointed over to the red portal.

“Sh- she suddenly fell inside of that thing. It looked like she did.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“She fell onto it, and then suddenly just disappeared!” The man attempted to get back on his feet but failed to move her hand off his shoulder. “L- let go, Angela! We have to get out of here right now! Monsters could come out of that thing!” Angela said nothing. She examined the man’s attire and made a mental note of a couple things: his tie knot did not look to be hastily done and he had a belt on. She released her grip and went over to the portal. The man immediately got up and ran out the room.

Angela brought her hand over to the portal, and just when she was about to touch it, information suddenly entered her brain.

Dungeon Information

Rank: D

Max Occupancy: 10

Time Remaining until outbreak: 47:58:03

Enter the Dungeon? [Yes/No]

“Yes,” she said aloud. Angela’s vision suddenly went blank and she felt the ground below her vanish as she experienced a second of weightlessness. Then, her feet were on solid ground again and her vision returned. She suddenly found herself standing on grass, and a few feet away from her, she saw a teenage girl in the middle of picking herself up off the ground.

“A- Angela?”

“Miel!” Angela immediately went over to help her up. “Are you okay?” Angela took note of Miel’s appearance. She had on socks, pants, and a blouse. The blouse’s buttons were completely done up, but it looked like the collar was slightly stretched. Miel seemed to notice Angela analyzing her.

“Angela, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I came here to find you,” she answered, as if this was obvious.

“Haven’t you heard the news? It said the monsters that destroyed your apartment building came out of a red portal! You were so lucky to not be there when it happened.” Angela’s eyes shifted to the side.

“Yes…” Angela struggled to continue her response.

“Alright, let’s just hurry up and get out of here before those monsters notice us.” Angela didn’t notice earlier, but further up ahead were a great number of large bushes, and from between them, one could see creatures that looked like black bears. A lot of them. However, unlike the ones that rampaged throughout the world, most of them were just lying on the ground, perhaps napping. The few that were moving about were doing so very casually, as if strolling. If one did not have prior knowledge, one might have thought them to be relatively docile creatures.

“Okay…” The two of them turned around to face a red portal. Miel held hands with Angela and then touched the portal with her other hand. Her hand went right through it. Angela also tried to touch it, but her hand went straight through as well. She also received a mental notice.

Unable to exit the Dungeon. Defeat the Dungeon Boss or wait for the Dungeon Outbreak.

Angela was puzzled. Not by the requirements of exiting, but from thinking about the earlier monster outbreak. From what she remembered, monsters started coming out of the monster almost immediately after the portal appeared. But, this one had a time limit on it. Before she could think more on this, Miel spoke up.

“It looks like our only choice is to try and survive.” Miel’s voice trembled slightly as she spoke. “If I remember right, there was a timer. There were three numbers, maybe? I can’t really remember but I think the first one was forty-something.”

“Forty-seven.”

“So, you saw the timer as well?” Miel asked.

“Yes. I also remember being asked if I wanted to enter.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“...Why did you enter the dungeon?” Angela’s tone was very serious. Miel was a bit taken back.

“I…” Miel thought to choose her words very carefully, “it was an accident.”

“I heard that you fell into the portal.”

“Heard? Ah, yes, I did. I accidentally fell into the portal.”

“How did you fall?” Miel tried to look away but Angela just moved over so that they were looking at each other again. “What happened?” Miel knew exactly what Angela was asking about.

“It’s not what you think, Angela,” she began, speaking slowly. “Father Stefan brought Mr. Tolle here today without telling me first. I met with him to discuss some things, but I knew you were coming today, so I planned to have him leave after just talking for a bit.”

“What would you need to talk about with him?” Miel considered whether she could spin a believable lie. “I told you that you shouldn’t be doing something like this.”

“But, we could use the money-” Suddenly, they could hear the bushes nearby rustling. One of the bear-like creatures walked past a bush and looked up at the two of them. It wore a curious expression, as did Angela and Miel. They both waited to see what it would do next. It took another a few steps forward, but did not show any signs of hostility. It seemed to walk around the two of them, staying about twenty feet away the whole time. After completing a semi-circle around them, it turned around and simply walked away.

“What is it doing?” Angela asked, mostly to herself.

“No idea. The news said they would attack any person on sight.”

“They do,” she replied, as she started to follow it.

“W- wait, what are you doing?”

“I don’t want to take any chances. Maybe it just wants to tell the others and they will all come at us together.” Angela had very good reason to be suspicious about the monster’s actions. No matter how docile they appear now, the scenes from three days ago were unforgettable.

“Are you planning to stop it somehow?” Miel asked with panic, as she chased after Angela. She grabbed Angela’s hand and she stopped moving for a moment.

“Yes.” As gently as she could, Angela forced Miel to let go and she continued after the bear-like creature. After moving about twenty feet away from their original position, the monster suddenly stopped in its tracks. It turned around, and growled at her. Angela continued moving, unperturbed. Miel ran after Angela, thinking she had to do something, but unsure of what. The monster charged at Angela right as Miel was about to reach her, and after a quick slap to the side of the face, the monster’s head separated its neck. Blood splattered everywhere, but quickly disappeared, along with the rest of the monster's body.

“W- what?” Miel gasped in disbelief. Angela received a new update.

D-rank Dungeon Monster Core obtained. Item added to Inventory.

She had never seen this before, but she ignored it for now.

“I’m sorry, Miel. I lied.” Angela spoke with genuine remorse.

“Y- you lied?” Miel was still in the middle of processing what just happened when another monster seemed to take notice of them.

“Yes, I actually was at my apartment during the monster outbreak.”

“O- okay,” Miel let out, trying to stay focused on both Angela and the monster at the same time, while still sorting out Angela’s revelation.

“I didn’t want you to worry.” The newly arriving monster growled at her and made its approach. “I suddenly got some mark on my chest and words kept popping up in my mind, mentioning stats and Skills.” The monster charged at Angela and she effortlessly killed it with a smack.

“R- really?” Miel’s mind started to clear up and she went over to Angela. “Do you think that means I can do that, too, then?” Angela blinked at her. “I also suddenly got these weird messages. It started right after my side started to burn. The portal suddenly appeared a few seconds later.”

Miel proceeded to explain to Angela everything she remembered, and Angela reciprocated. Angela also showed her the tattoo-like mark that also suddenly appeared on her body. She undid the top buttons of her shirt and revealed a small black cross on her upper chest, right below her collarbone. Miel hadn’t seen her mark yet, but she pulled up her blouse and revealed what appeared to be the profile of open jaws filled with sharp teeth. The profile was limited to only the lines immediately above and below the rows of teeth so they could not figure out what animal it was supposed to be.

Angela also asked Miel if she received any notice when she killed the two monsters. Miel said no, so Angela then proceeded to help her out. She went over to the next monster and smashed all four of its legs. She then restrained its mouth so it couldn’t bite. Angela told Miel to try hitting it, which she did without a single comment about this out-of-the-ordinary brutality. However, her punches couldn’t kill it. She tried kicking it too. Other than leading some to believe a great bit of animal cruelty was occurring, Miel failed to do much else. Finally, Angela decided to break the beast’s neck. It died, and Angela obtained another D-rank Dungeon Monster Core. As Angela pondered more on what the Inventory was, another notification suddenly appeared.

Inventory

D-rank Dungeon Monster Core x 3

She still didn’t understand what that meant.

“Oh, I suddenly got something!” Miel exclaimed.

“A monster core?”

“What? No, it says my Stamina increased.”

“Is that it?” she asked simply.

“Should there be more?”

“...Let’s try again.” Angela subdued another monster and this time, with greater determination, Miel stomped on its head until it finally died. As a result she gained more stat points and acquired two new skills: Unarmed Combat Training D and Instinct C.

Angela continued this process with several more monsters, and any fear Miel had at the beginning disappeared. She did not directly question how Angela was so much stronger than her and just focused on continuously gaining stats so that she could fight them one-on-one by herself. All this time, as they hunted the monsters, for whatever reason, although the monsters were prepared to attack when they came close, the other monsters who saw the events unfold didn’t seem to care at all. They were apathetic to both the killing of their own and the impending inevitability of their own demise.

Miel eventually wanted to try fighting a monster on her own, having killed the last one with a single kick. Her blows were hard enough to knock the monster off balance and she swiftly finished it off as it went to the ground. She was ecstatic about her victory. Angela thought that it was a bit out of character for her. Miel usually had a rather forward, even sometimes abrasive personality, but she wasn’t one who would get into physical confrontations. Although, it’s not like Angela was one who got into fights either. She just always tried to be pragmatic about things and to avoid worrying about things that are too much for her brain to handle. Just as Angela figured it was time to stop worrying about these things, Miel started talking aloud.

“D-rank Dungeon Monster Core? Inventory? What’s that? Hmmmm.” Angela was about to talk about it as well when Miel suddenly produced an object out of thin air. As if by sleight of hand, she was now holding something that looked like a red marble.

“How did you do that?” Angela asked, her confusion clear on her face.

“Well, it said something was in my Inventory so I just thought that I’d like to take it out to see what it looks like.” Miel answered as if it was obvious that this was the first thing one should try.

“Really?” Angela tried to do the same. She imagined herself withdrawing the items out of her Inventory, and her hand was suddenly overflowing with red marbles that spilled onto the grass.

“...That’s a lot more than me.”

“I don’t think I can fit this many in my pockets.” As Angela said this, Miel’s marble suddenly disappeared. “Where’d your marble go?”

“I just thought about putting it back into my Inventory.” Angela did the same and sure enough, it worked. She thought about the Inventory again, and she saw the same number of D-rank Dungeon Monster Cores listed. Angela marveled about this new discovery and wondered where the items actually went. “Come on, let’s keep going.”

After about an hour, they killed the last monster in sight. Then, they returned to the opening of a large cave, conspicuously placed in the centre of the field of monsters. Miel’s Instinct skill let her know that this was best left for last as they circled around finishing off the monsters. Honestly, common sense for most people probably would have told them to come back at the end.

The mouth of the cave was about fifteen feet across at the base and ten feet high. It was certainly large enough to house a particular D-rank Dungeon Boss. Angela could see Miel had grown much stronger, but from her firsthand experience, she knew Miel wouldn’t be a match for that giant monster.

“I think it might be better if I go in alone,” Angela suggested.

“What?! What if you get surrounded in there?”

“It’ll be fine. If it’s really too much for me, I’ll come back out.”

“All the more reason for me to come as well, then. It should be easier to get away if we work together.” Angela didn’t agree with Miel's reasoning, but she always disliked arguing with her.

“Okay, but, I’ll lead.” The two entered the cave. Further into the cave were lit torches on either side. Miel went to take a closer look, and when she waved her hands in front of them, she noticed something strange. The air around the torch didn’t feel hot at all. She also contemplated sticking her hand right into the fire, but quickly dismissed the idea of taking such a risk.

The cave started to gently slope downwards and then gradually declined steeper. After a couple minutes of walking, there was a sudden sharp turn that led to a much wider space underground. There were torches spread out all around the walls of this wide, circular space, but the main source of lighting came from above. The features of the actual light source were indiscernible, as it appeared as if sunlight was simply shining down from an open roof. Napping in the center of the cavern was a giant monster, at least twice the size of an adult polar bear, but with black fur and metallic front paws that ended in red blades. Streaks of red fur also patterned its back, shoulders and sides. It opened its eyes, revealing yellow pupils.

Angela decided to make the first move in and charged forward before the monster got off the ground. Miel followed, either bravely or recklessly. The bear pushed itself off the ground with its front paws and slashed at the charging Angela. Despite how easily she dominated the monsters outside, Angela was a terrible fighter, and could only think to try and block the attack by pushing with her hands. The palm of its metal paw collided with her hands and she managed to actually knock it back. However, Angela lost her balance from the impact and fell over.

Miel rushed in to help by delivering a flying kick to the monster’s head. The monster shuddered slightly and Miel managed to actually recover from the flying kick and landed on her feet. However, it was a shaky landing, as Miel could feel that she injured her foot against the monster’s head. The monster growled at Miel as she quickly tried to back off. The pain in her foot caused her to stumble after a backstep, and the monster brought its mouth forward, ready to snap its jaws into her. Just as it was about to bite into her, Angela jumped in and grabbed her. The monster’s front teeth tore into Angela’s back and right shoulder. Angela screamed out in pain as the teeth started grinding into bone. Bearing through it, Angela struck the monster on the face with the back of left hand. The monster let go and Angela fell to her knees, on top of Miel.

The monster moved its paws to cut off their escape as it growled at them, seemingly intent on finishing them off with its jaws. Miel tried to will herself to move and help but she was paralyzed with fear. She looked with horror as the monster bit down on the same spot. Drops of Angela’s blow splashed out of the open wound as its teeth dug into her flesh again. Miel couldn’t see exactly what was happening, but it was obvious. Angela refused to cry out again and continued to grimace as more blood flowed out of her wounds. At that moment, Miel was torn between cursing her overconfidence and praying for her miracle. Despite being raised in a church-run orphanage for nine years, Miel wasn’t the least bit religious. However, if it meant saving Angela, she was willing to become a believer or do anything else necessary.

Something akin to a miracle did occur. However, not at that exact moment. No, this was something that happened three days ago, when the monsters suddenly appeared outside of Angela’s apartment. She awakened as a Dungeoneer and acquired new skills after pushing several monsters to their deaths. Among them was a unique skill that allowed her to survive back then even when the Boss appeared and destroyed the building she was inside. A notification appeared in Angela’s head and she smacked the monster on the side of the face again with the back of her hand. This time, there was a cracking sound. The monster let out something that some could mistake for a whimper as its head was rocked to the side.

Angela stood up and swung her left arm out at it. There was another cracking sound, followed by a more pathetic whimper. Miel watched as several of the monster’s teeth fell to the ground, dirtied with a couple small pools of black blood. Angela turned around to face the monster directly. For just a second, the monster seemed to shrink back in fear. Then, it let out a growl and attempted to put on an intimidating face again, marred by the missing teeth and bloody cheek. The monster tried to slash at her with one of its claws, but she punched it on the snout before its front paw could get even a foot off the ground. Even more teeth fell out this time and its nose was clearly broken. Then, she relentlessly pummeled it with only her left hand. There were a number of times where it would have fallen to ground if it were not for the impacts from her barrage that continued to rock its body. Soon, she found herself punching right through the usual mist-like vapour instead of a toothless, bloody pulp of a face, the monster having already died one or two punches ago.

After a moment of silence, Miel went over to Angelica to check on her wounds. She thought it looked serious and they hurried back to the red portal, both having received the notification that it was now possible to exit the Dungeon, the Dungeon Boss having been defeated.

They exited the portal together and found themself in Miel’s room again. They were making their way to the orphanage’s washroom, which had a first aid kit, when they passed by the kitchen. Angela paused.

“What?” Miel asked with great concern. “Are you having trouble standing?”

“Happy Birthday,” she said numbly. Miel stared back blankly. “I forgot to say it earlier.” Miel still looked confused. “I got you your favourite cake. It’s over there.” Angela pointed at the box that was still lying on the kitchen table. During the awkward silence, they could hear that there was some sort of commotion going on outside. Not too surprising, since the portal was likely reported quite some time ago. Finally, Miel let out an uncertain laugh.

“Thanks, we’ll eat it later.”

****

Skill of the Day: Avenger

Rarity: Five Stars (Unique)

Description: A Skill perfectly suited as a gift for one who is physically weak and modest, but strong at heart. As the namesake of this Skill implies, this is a Skill that effectively enables one to have their revenge. When the Skill’s active effect is triggered (usually by receiving direct or indirect damage), the power of the user’s attacks against the target of vengeance is doubled and the power of the target’s attacks against the user are also halved. Additionally, this Skill permanently raises Strength and Magic (passive). The bonus to Strength and Magic increases with an increase in Rank, starting at 100 Stat points at Avenger C.