As Kai and Anun walked down the dank and eerie corridor, Anun suddenly nudged Kai and said, "Look, there are empty potion containers littered over the floor."

"Tsk, don't they know how to clean up after themselves?" Kai frowned.

"They probably gained more loot than they expected so they had to lose some of the weight they were carrying," Anun replied. "By, the way, am I hallucinating, or is that a person?"

Anun and Kai both stopped when they saw a dim silhouette of a person pacing back and forth. As they walked closer, they could see it was a person with blond hair, dressed in white robes looking at the floor, muttering to himself, not noticing the duo's approach.

"Why is he alone? Did he get separated from his party?" Anun asked in confusion.

"HEY, YOU THERE!" Kai shouted. "WHERE'S THE REST OF YOUR GROUP?"

"AHHHHHHH! GHOST! DON'T COME NEAR ME!"

The boy screamed and ran into the portal behind him, almost dropping the staff he was holding in the process.

"Well, that was a bit of an overreaction, huh?" Anun remarked.

"C'mon, let's go in after him. He might be in danger; from the looks of it, he was probably their party's healer, and he just went into the Mini-Boss Room alone." Kai said as he ran after the boy. "Prepare yourself."

"Aye-aye captain!"

[You have slain a Goblin Archer. +15 Experience Points.]

"Looks like I'll need 75 more experience points to level up." Zero remarked as he glanced at his status window. "But this isn't good. I'm getting more tired and hungry as time drags on."

[A heads up, host. Hunger will affect the rate of regeneration of your health.]

"How long has it been since I've entered this dungeon, System?"

[It has approximately been 2 hours, 36 minutes, and 58 seconds.]

"So 23 minutes before I get forcibly sent out of this dungeon, huh?"

As Zero's stomach growled again, he looked at the goblin corpse in front of him and asked, "Are these monsters edible?"

[Yes, host. I do not recommend eating the meat raw, though.]

"Yeah, I know, but I can't start a fire and grill the meat, right?"

Zero walked toward the goblin's corpse and stared at it with hesitation before he took the shortsword and cut off the goblin's arm by the elbow.

This smells so bad... Zero thought in dismay as he stared at the green, bulbous arm. But I have to do it to not starve.

As he closed his eyes and prepared to take a bite, he suddenly heard a loud scream from behind him. He spun around and spotted a teenager around the same age as him, with blond hair and white robes that were dirtied and covered in scratches.

A person? Zero thought before happiness surged through him at seeing another fellow human being within this hellhole. "Hey..."

"(MONSTER!)" The boy screamed before running off in the opposite direction.

Am I that ugly? Zero thought before he chased after the boy yelling, "Hey! Wait, stop! Do you know how to get out of this place?"

Harry wanted to cry. He just ran away from two ghosts that suddenly appeared behind him in the corridor and ran into the Mini-Boss Room where he tripped and fell several times before he encountered a human covered in blood eating a goblin.

That can't be a person! That must've been one of those Skin Grabbers my mum used to tell me stories about! He wasn't a part of our party from earlier and no human would ever eat a goblin!

"(Hey! Wait up!)" A voice called from behind him.

Harry turned his head around and saw that the monster was chasing him with a sword in his hand and with his face and body covered in blood. He then found the hidden strength from within himself to run away even faster.

My mum was right. All this adventuring nonsense about fame and fortune is just bullshit. I should've just studied hard and became a scholar...

Harry's thoughts trailed off as he ran into something and bounced back, landing on the ground.

As Harry looked up, he heard someone say, "Calm down, man. We're not ghosts,"

He saw two teens, one wearing leather armor carrying a sheathed blade on his side, and the other with a staff in his hands, also wearing leather armor.

The one carrying a staff grinned and said, "Man, you're so jumpy. I'm Anun and this is Kai. We're just here to map out this dungeon, not kill you."

The one carrying a blade, Kai, then asked, "Where's the rest of your party? Why are you alone?"

"My party..?" Harry answered. "They went on without me..."

But then, Harry thought of a more pressing issue and shouted, "Wait! There's a Skin Grabber chasing me! Help!"

"Skin Grabbers?" Anun raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a story told to scare children?"

"Trust me! He's chasing after me right now! You'll see!"

Then, right on cue, the trio heard branches snapping as another figure ran into the clearing from the brushes.

"(Hey, I finally caught you. You run really fast, y'know)?" The person covered in blood opened his mouth and spoke some strange-sounding words. "(Oh, there's three of you! Great! Do you guys have any food? I'm starving!)"

The trio looked at each other and Kai unsheathed his blade, while Anun raised his staff and Harry ran behind the two.

"(Woah, woah, woah!)" The figure suddenly raised his hands. "(I'm a friendly!)"

"What is he trying to say? I don't think he's trying to attack us." Kai remarked.

He then looked at the figure and pointed at his mouth and shrugged before shaking his head. The figure stared at him blankly for a second before dropping his weapon to the ground and raising his hands. The figure then pointed at his stomach and then to his mouth before mimicking a chewing motion.

"See! He's trying to eat us!" Harry shouted.

"Calm down, I think he just wants some food. He's already dropped his weapon." Anun responded.

Then, the figure suddenly bent down and grabbed his sword before shouting and pointing at the trio, "(HEY! LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!)"

The trio looked behind and saw a spear goblin preparing to launch a sneak attack. The goblin, having been noticed, snarled and struck with his spear at the person closest to him. Harry stumbled back, but the spear still pierced him in the arm before the goblin withdrew it. As Harry howled in pain, Kai stepped toward the goblin, deflected its strike aimed at him, and sliced off its head with one clean cut.

But then, more goblins began stepping out of the bushes and from behind trees as they encircled the four people surrounded in the clearing. Then, a goblin with leather armor and a metal helmet, who seemed to be the leader of the goblins, raised his sword and let out a shout. This caused the goblins to then rush toward the people trapped in the clearing.

And although Kai, Anun, and Harry spoke a different language from Zero, all four of them had the same collective thought in their heads.

Shit.