"Man, it's really peaceful here, isn't it?" Leo was leaning on Tiger while looking at the lake and the massive iceberg.

HONK! HONK! HONK!

"Are you sure about that?" Blue turned to the side where two of those giant penguins were gawking at each other.

"Ok, maybe not really peaceful, but it's still pretty nice."

"Well, if you could have some music playing on headphones, I would agree, but with those things around, I don't want to risk it," Hera added.

"Yeah, maybe in the dungeon, it will be better. I mean, no one said anything about dealing with penguins inside there, did they?" Alex turned to Hera.

"Not really, but they did say we need to protect the guy who's inside. If we are thinking about protecting him from something, it makes sense that monsters would be around. Hera looked around and saw a small wooden cabin near the trees by the lake, "Oh, there is the entrance."

"That cabin? Really?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, that's what they said. We need to enter through the door, and then we will enter the dungeon," Hera explained.

"Can we see what's going on inside?" Alex asked.

"Maybe, no one said anything about that. But we can just go there and see. I mean, if there is a wall around it, nothing can come out of it either," Hera started walking towards the wooden cabin.

The house wasn't big, but it wasn't particularly small either. Just by looking outside, it was easy to see at least one wall splitting the cabin on the corner, meaning that the structure would have at least two rooms. Curious about what could be inside, they tried to look to the windows, but oddly enough, they found none. The only part of the house that had any semblance of a way inside was the front door. The weird part was that if they tried to touch the cabin, they wouldn't feel the wood, but instead an invisible wall just one centimeter away from the actual cabin. This felt much like the walls on the edges of all rooms.

"I guess this is how the system made sure that no one would destroy the dungeon," Leo mumbled.

"Yeah, but is that the same for all dungeons? Like, are they all protected?" Blue asked.

"I have no clue. I never actually tried to destroy a dungeon. I mean, who would be that stupid?" Leo shrugged.

"Yeah, and I guess it makes sense for the system to protect some of the things it created. It already does that with some stuff," Hera thought about her guide skill and how the system made sure that no one could harm the guides.

"Like what? As far as I'm aware, the system doesn't protect anything," Leo replied.

Hera froze. She had to come up with something that the system was protecting aside from the guides, or she might end up wasting one of her strikes in such a stupid way. Her thoughts moved at light speed, but there was nothing she could think of as a good answer. Luckily, Alex intervened without even realizing the panic brewing inside Hera.

"I mean, Earth, the walls in each room, the wall that divides the MAZE. There are things that the system seems to be protecting, even if we don't understand why. I think that the towers that showed up in the 25th layer are also protected. I remember reading an article that talked about how it was impossible to do any damage to that, and the only way in was the front door," Alex replied.

"I didn't know that, but I guess it makes sense. By the way, have you seen the thing about the new role?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, performer seems weird, but considering how many actors, musicians, and whatnot are around, it makes a lot of sense," Blue nodded.

"True, but I'm still curious what is the point of going to the tower. Do people actually get something out of it?" Alex asked.

"I don't know, I didn't look too much into that, but there has to be something, right?" Hera said.

"Yeah, even the people in the coalition are not that sure, and we have members who went there," Leo shrugged.

"We can look that up later. Shall we go inside?" Blue pointed to the wooden door in front of the cabin.

"Sure. Can someone help me look that up later? I'm curious about the tower now," Hera asked as they walked toward the cabin.

Blue pushed the door open and entered a simple room. There was only a table, a single chair, and a small counter with an odd stain that seemed to be blood. Connected to this mix of kitchen and living room, there was another door to the side. It was open, revealing a simple bed and a closed chest. When all of them got inside, along with Tiger, who had to squeeze through the entrance. The door closed, and a notification appeared in front of everyone.

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Would you like to enter the Tip of the Iceberg dungeon?

[Yes] [No]

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They all pressed yes, but nothing happened. The group was still inside the cabin, and there was no new door or something that showed a change.

"Are we in the dungeon?" Blue asked.

"I think so. Maybe we need to get out of here?" Alex suggested.

"I mean, there is nothing else to do now," Leo shrugged.

They opened the door and were met by a grey-haired dwarf who stumbled back when seeing the humans.

"Who, in the name of all hell, are you people? And what the fuck are you doing in my house?" the dwarf with a thick Scottish accent asked.

"Oh, sorry? We didn't know this was your house," Hera replied. Despite the oddity of the situation, she wasn't fazed. Maybe because the man was a dwarf or because they were warned about dealing with someone, but seeing him here wasn't that much of a surprise for her.

"Who else lives in this godforsaken place? Fucking hell, when it's not those damn penguins yelling all night long. I still have to deal with you a lot. What the hell do you want?" the dwarf pushed the group aside and walked inside the cabin.

"Penguins don't yell. It's more of a honk," Blue said.

"Oh, excuse me. I'm not a fucking hunter or a researcher who wasted my life studying birds that can't even fly. If you know so much about those things, make them shut up!" the dwarf huffed.

"I didn't mean it like that. It's just that it's a honk, not a yell. It's like saying that a dog yells, they don't they bark!" Blue gasped.

"The fuck is a dog?" the dwarf turned to Blue with a confused expression.

"That's not important. I'm really sorry for disturbing you. May I ask for your name?" Hera tried to change the subject so the dwarf wouldn't be that angry anymore.

"Finlay," the man replied without even looking at Hera.

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Hera, these are Leo, Blue, and Alex. That one is Tiger."

"Yeah, yeah. Why are you here?" Finlay asked.

Hera turned to the group, hoping to see if anyone had any ideas about how to answer that question, but everyone seemed just as lost as she was. "I'm not sure. We just stumbled here. Is there anything we can help you with?"

"You came here without knowing who lives here and just offers help to do anything? Do you think I'm stupid? Fuck off, I don't have time to deal with you, and if that asshole of a king starts complaining, tell him to come here himself, so I can tell him to go fuck himself in person," Finlay scoffed.

"What king?" Alex asked.

"Don't play dumb with me, girl. I know very well who sent you here. I'm not going back to that fucking place, not after what fucker did," Finlay scoffed.

"What did he do?" Blue asked.

"You are kidding me, right?" Finlay turned to Blue with his eyes wide in an angry expression.

"No, I really don't know what you're talking about, and I think that's the same for all of us," Blue replied.

"Ok then, you don't know that asshole. What do you want? A prize? Not having to deal with that dick is more than enough of a reward. Now get lost. I'm busy," Finlay slammed the door shut.

"Is he really the guy we have to help?" Alex asked.

"I think so. When I talked to the people in town, they said that there was only one person inside the dungeon. He was kind of grumpy but nothing like this. Or at least, I didn't get that impression from the clerks," Hera didn't know what to say. This was really weird, and the quest still was nowhere to be seen. It was almost like the MAZE was refusing to give them the dungeon quest for some reason.

"So what? Do we keep pressing or try something different?" Alex asked.

"Well, the quest is to help him do something with the iceberg. I think we could take a look at it first, and hopefully, it will show up," Leo suggested.

"I mean, we don't have many options here, do we? I'm guessing that to leave the dungeon, we have to go inside the house again," Hera looked back to the cabin and then towards the lake. For the first time, she noticed the differences in the area.

The lake was smaller than what it was outside the dungeon, or at least that's what it looked like because the iceberg covered almost all the water inside it. The water was also much farther away from the cabin than it was outside the dungeon. More differences were evident. The beaches almost didn't have any rocks or pebbles, the surrounding vegetation was more lush and vibrant, and the penguins were only present in a small area by the cabin. However, the biggest difference was still the iceberg. Not only it was wider, but it looked much taller than the one Hera and the others arrived at. Hera didn't have any doubt that the dungeon had something to do with the size of the ice.

"Are we going to have to climb that thing?" Blue pointed at the iceberg.

"What?" Leo turned to the controller.

"I mean, the name of the dungeon is 'Tip of the Iceberg' wouldn't that have something to do with the top?" Blue asked.

"I mean, that's as good as a guess as any, but it could also be the bottom. Like technically, that would be the point farthest away from the middle, right?" Hera said.

"Not necessarily. If we were thinking about sailors, the tip would be just the closest part to the ship. The tip is too subjective to say it's here or there," Alex added.

"Going there is still the best idea we have right now, so let's go take a look," Leo shrugged and started walking towards the lake.

Everyone followed along, trying to figure out why they didn't get the quest or if there was something they were missing. However, there wasn't anything that stood out. They looked around the lake for the next 30 minutes, but even when getting close to the penguins, nothing happened. They even tried splitting up to see if anyone could find something but the results were the same. There was nothing around aside from the cabin, the iceberg, and a small flock of penguins. They all gathered near the lake after being done with their search.

"So… what do we do now?" Alex asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we should just go back to the cabin and talk to the guy again?" Blue suggested.

"I don't think we need to do that," Leo nodded to the back of the group.

They saw Finlay coming down from the path leading to the cabin. He sighed when he saw the group and dropped his bag by his side, "Fucking hell. You lot are still here?"

"Yeah, we don't actually know how to get back," Blue replied.

"Cross the lake and follow the path. You will eventually reach a doorway."

"Yeah, that's not an option," Alex replied, she had already gone to that side, and less than a kilometer away from the lake, there was an invisible wall blocking the path.

"Then you can stay here and hope I can finish my work before dying," Finlay replied.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm building a new doorway."

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You have found a dungeon Quest

Finlay believes he can create a doorway to a new room in order to escape from the grasps of the dwarven king. Help him complete his work.

First completion rewards:

50 000 gold, crafter gift

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