Chapter 6

The Minotaur Dungeon

“Jeehan, your mama loves you and will never leave you. Don’t believe what they say about me, ok.” a middle age woman with long hair and a pale face said as she hugged the young girl.

When Park Jeehan was young her mother had been caught up in a lot of debt. Her mother had frequented a lot of gambling parlors and owed a lot of money to all sorts of people. Her mother’s depression grew due to the constant threats her family was receiving.

One day on Jeehan way home after her school, her neighbors had gathered in the front of their house murmuring with each other.

“They say Mrs. Park hanged herself. She had a lot of debt after all.” Said one of the housewives.

“Shhhhhhhh. Her daughter is here.”

Young Jeehan rushed into her house but her father grabbed her and hugged her tight.

“Papa, what’s happening? Where’s Mama?” asked the worried young Jeehan to her father.

Her father pulled himself away from Jeehan and held her shoulders. “Mama is gone. From now on I need you to be strong. It will only be the two of us now, so we have to take care of each other. Don’t worry, everything will be fine Jeehan, your papa will never leave your side.” Her father said with a comforting and soothing voice.

At that time, Jeehan hadn't fully realized what was really happening but somehow she felt the loneliness her father was trying to hide and at the same time a feeling that nothing will ever go wrong as long they have each together.

Her father sold their house hoping it could pay off his wife’s debt but it wasn’t enough. They went to her father’s friend who owned a dojo.

“We will stay here for a while, remember Mr. Lee?” her father said while pointing to a muscular old bearded man.

Jeehan nodded.

“I’ll go back to our house for a while I need to get something.” Her father said as he left Jeehan in the dojo with Mr. Lee.

Jeehan somehow felt an unexplainable sadness as her father turned his back on her, a sadness that made her hands tremble and blurred her eyes with tears.

Her father didn’t come back the next day but the news of his suicide did. The loss of his wife and their house had taken its toll to her father and finally he decided to take his own life. He died knowing that his friend Mr. Lee would take care of his daughter a lot better than himself and his wife did.

Jeehan was left all alone. Grief enveloped young Jeehan and tears were flooding her eyes. Young Jeehan couldn't even begin to understand her emotions. Anger, that her parents left her despite their promises or sadness due to the fact that she will never see them again.

Mr. Lee adopted Jeehan as his own and trained her in the ways of fighting. She immersed herself in fighting to overcome the trauma she had suffered, to fill the void in her heart and to feel again.

When Jeehan was 15 years old she applied to the academy and got accepted. She showed exceptional fighting ability and was praised a lot by her instructors. She thought her life was finally coming around but she was wrong. Her past had caught up with her. The loan sharks had found her and started to threaten her to pay the rest of her mother’s debt.

Mr. Lee whom she considered to be her grandfather and her only remaining family, wanted to sell his Dojo to pay her debt but she strongly refused. She went to the academy to ask for an advance on her stipend but the bureaucrats in the academy refused because it was a lot of money.

On her way out of the academy. A lean, tall and weak looking man approached her.

“My name is Lt. Kino. I have heard you need some help. I have a proposition to make to you, if you choose to accept it you could pay off your debt.”

The strange man told her the existence of a secret division and asked her to join and perform a specific quest in Lost Earth.

“Work for me and your debt will settled.” Said the stranger.

Jeehan agreed to join and didn’t mind the consequences. All she wanted was to save hergrandfather’s life’s work, his dojo.

***

We resumed the hunting of foul gnomes as if nothing had happened. YunJee gave me pointers when she noticed something out of place with my movements. The battle was so easy that I don’t know if I had gotten stronger or the foul gnomes were just easy preys. I had gained 5 levels from hunting foul gnomes. "Character Info."

Character InfoNAMECrippleLevel15ClassNoviceHP

MP300/300

250/250Physical Attack

Magical Attack14-15

8-11Stamina45/100Defense6AttributesStrength25Intelligence25Agility25Dexterity25Vitality5+10Wisdom5Remaining Attribute Points: 42

The experience I gained from hunting the foul gnomes was not the same as before hence we decided to look for stronger monsters. We quickly found ourselves some malevolent gnomes which were bigger than foul gnomes and wore basic armors. The malevolent gnomes are lvl 16 and wield a dagger and a wooden shield. The malevolent gnomes hunt in group of three so Yunjee kept the other two busy while I dealt with the third one, Mano a Mano.

Fighting someone with a shield was a completely different experience than before. They could block and counter my attack so easily. I swung my sword to see the reaction of the gnome, it completely blocked my vertical swing and push back my sword while lunging his dagger at me. The gnome’s defensive capability was efficient but its attack was rather slow. I could see his dagger coming from miles away. I dodged its attack and sidestepped to my left trying to avoid its shield equipped on its left arm. I stabbed the gnome in its neck but my sword didn’t go through.

Critical hit.

I knew one more attack should do it but I didn't attack though, instead I waited patiently for its next thrust. The gnome tried to stab me but I dodged it again and slashed his neck down to his chest. The gnome fell down and Yunjee told me to deal with the next one. I slashed and stabbed the back of one of the other gnomes consecutively, while it was busy attacking Yunjee. Only one remained but Yunjee killed it before I could attack it.

“I think your sword is broken. You should check your weapon before initiating an attack. ” Yunjee said.

I looked at my sword and saw a crack.

Copper Sword

Durability: 0/10

Damage: 0-1

Weight: 20

Description: A sword suitable for starting adventurers.

Yunjee took something from her bag. I was excited because I know it can only mean one thing. A new sword.

“Here take this. It is either brand new or fully repaired, it depends on your point of view.” Yunjee said.

She handed me a new sword and I was ecstatic.

Yes, a new sword. To my disappointment it was another copper sword.

I frowned and when I looked at Yunjee she was smiling as she turned around.

“Let’s go set up a camp, it’s getting late. Monsters are far stronger during nighttime.” Yunjee said as she leads the way.

I followed her and noticed something odd. We could have chosen one of the hills we passed by as a camp but Yunjee chose not to.

Something doesn’t feel right. What is she planning? I did not bother to ask. We continued walking and reached a certain hilltop. The hill was covered with green grass and surrounded by trees of varying sizes. The clouds tried to hide how vast the mountain ranges was from the sparkling eyes of the stars.

“This will do.” She said while looking at our surroundings.

Being disabled I learned the importance of being critical, of not accepting the way things are and the value of asking questions and the only question that was running in my mind was why did she chose this place?

“Stay here for a while, let me hunt some food.” Yunjee said.

And now she is leaving me, something is really up. I must not let my guard down.

“Hey do you have anything that could produce a fire? A flint or something.” I asked.

She hesitated. “Hmm, Okay.” She took something from her bag and handed me a flint before she left.

Okay, Yunjee. Let’s see what you are trying to pull. For all I knew she might be luring monsters in my general direction. I collected some twigs and branches and started a fire and I hid myself behind a tree. The fire might lure some monsters in but the smoke should mask my scent. I equipped my brand new sword and waited. Okay Yunjee give me your best shot.

***

The Birek Mountain Range is located on the west side of the kingdom of Mercia. It has numerous mountains and hills covered with thick forests and grass. At one end of the Mountain range which is the southern part of the Kingdom of Mercia was a wide river and to the east was the Capital of UAN territory, Elaros.

There are a lot of monsters and dungeons in the Birek Mountain Range. Some were still undiscovered by the UAN soldiers and adventurers and some acts as a training ground for the Academy Cadets.

“Ari, are we really going to try that dungeon again?” asked Mari worriedly as they walked to one of the hills in the Birek Mountain range.

“Last time, we were wiped out you know.” Ken said while checking the string of his bow.

“But we were about to finish it.” replied Ari.

“Nope.” John said while polishing his shield.

“Nada.” Both Ron and Rin said smiling.

“Not even close.” Joan said as she walked past Ari.

Erica shook her head.

“Come on guys, we were at the last stage, the boss stage.” Ari said.

“Yeah, but I don't know if we even scratched the boss hard enough.” Ken said.

“Ari, it is also nighttime now. Monsters gain massive bonuses during this time.” John said.

“Actually, monsters are penalized when they are exposed outside during the day.” Said Zath in a low voice.

They all turned to Zath for they were surprised to hear him saying something. Zath rarely talks in the game and in real life.

“What’s the fucking difference?” shouted Van. “Look, let us go already, I have a score to settle to that overgrown cow.” he added.

“Wait, hold on. Zath was trying to say that dungeon monsters are always at their peak, since they don't suffer some penalty for being outside . Is that right?” Joan said as she looked to Zath.

Zath nodded.

“Then, there is no more problem, right John?” Asked Ari.

"Yes there is, how about that Blinding Light?" John asked

Ari scratched his head. "I don't know. I am good at fighting but not much on thinking."

"Yeah, we know." Ken said.

The rest nodded.

"Hey, you guys were supposed to say ’you are not that bad, Ari' or something." said Ari. "So does anyone have any idea on how to deal with the blinding light?"

Even if Ari was the leader of the squad, the planning and others stuff wes performed by other members. Still, they respected Ari and his fighting prowess that had saved them numerous times.

"We could hide our healers and ranged members and only come to them when we need to heal." Joan proposed.

"Yeah, that could work. Good thinking Joan." Ari said.

"But that would take us a lot of time since we have to constantly check our HP and run back to the Healers in case it dropped too low." said Ken.

"Yeah, but at least it's better than being wiped out you know." Ari said.

Everyone nodded.

"Come on, let’s go already." Van said.

***

I hid behind a tree as I waited for Yunjee, all of a sudden, I felt something cold on my neck.

“Move, you die.”

A group of people arrived at the campfire.

“Someone is here. This fire is new.” said one of them. When they looked around, they saw one of their comrade trying to push someone closer to them.

“Hey it was you. You are Cripple, right? What are you doing here?” asked one of the young men.

“I was resting here when I noticed someone was approaching, so I hid.” I said. I think this guy's name is Ari.

That was a lie of course, I didn’t heard any of them but one of them noticed me hiding. He must be an assassin.

“You don’t have to hide from us, we are all UAN citizens here. Zath leave him be.” Ari ordered. Zath dropped his blade and stepped back and faded into the dark.

“We were trying to finish a dungeon here.” said Ari while pointing to something near my camp fire. “There’s a hidden entrance there. By the way, you’re more than welcome to watch while we kick the Minotaur’s ass. You should come maybe you could learn a thing or two from us.”

If this is what Yunjee was planning. Well played Yunjee. I didn't expected this.

“Ari, we cannot protect him inside. Remember what happened last time?” protested John.

“He doesn’t need protection if he just stays in the back. And besides this time we have some plan and on how to defeat that cow.” Ari said.

Oh boy, it seems the chances of me dying on this one are very high. I should ran away now.

Ting.

Yunjee: Follow them.

I instantly looked around trying to look for Yunjee. She must have been observing me from a far. Oh, great. Now you want me to follow them.

Cripple: You know you could have told me about them earlier instead of me being found out.

Yunjee: Say you followed them inside the dungeon and they didn't know you were in the Birek Mountain Range and then you were caught following them. That wouldn't look good, right? They would suspect you were a spy or at least some creepy stalker.

Cripple: That's assuming I'd get caught.

Yunjee: Trust me on this, they would have found you. They have a talented assassin with them, the one who had caught you earlier hiding behind a tree.

Cripple: So you just want me to follow them?

Yunjee: No, I want you to watch them. It is a good opportunity for you to learn something.

“Is there something wrong?” asked Ari while trying to look around just like I did.

I must have spaced out for a second there. Following them inside the dungeon is very dangerous, if some stray monsters were to choose to attack me. It would be better to stick with them so that I can properly watch their battle.

“Oh no, I thought I heard something. Yes, I would like to come with you, if you would have me. I promise you I can take care of myself.” I said.

“Sure, that’s it then. Let’s go team!” Ari shouted.

***

Two figures were standing on one of the hills in the Birek Mountain range observing something.

“So that was your plan all along, Lt. Loki.” Asked the smaller figure.

“When in the game, my dear Yunjee call me Loki, just Loki.” Loki said as he continued to observe something from a far.

“How did you know Ari’s squad would try to challenge the dungeon again, sir?” asked Yunjee.

“Well, Ari is a simple-minded idiot and a fighting maniac. He seeks stronger opponents to fight and when he finds one, he will not stop until he has defeated it.” Loki replied.

“That still doesn’t explain why you wanted them to meet, sir.”

“Who? Ari's squad and young Kira?

"Yes, Sir. I mean Loki."

"The Minotaur dungeon is one of the hardest dungeons in Birek Mountain range. The Minotaur has two special spells that makes it very hard to defeat. Even 10 lvl 50+ players would have a hard time if they don't know how to deal with it.”

“I know that, sir. Ari’s squad chance of defeating the minotaur is very low. My question sir is, why do you need Kira to be there? What can he possibly do inside? He’s only lvl 15 with no class and a cheap ass sword.” asked Yunjee.

Loki laughed. “That, my dear Yunjee, is what I hope to find out.”

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Proofread by ShadowOfHAvoc.

This guy is awesome. Thank you SOH.

In case there are still some mistakes, that would be my fault. I added some details in the proofread version.