When Alex opened his eyes, he found his limbs tied to the bedposts, spreadeagle. For obvious reasons, this wasn’t how he expected to wake up.
Not only that, but seated by his bed were Elaine and Efa, wearing only their undergarments.
"Alex, it’s quite unfortunate, but you failed your mission." Elaine caressed the young man’s chest with a smile.
"And as punishment, it is time for you to die by snusnu," Efa cooed seductively.
"W-Wait!" Alex replied. "How did we fail? What happened?!"
However, the two pretty ladies didn’t give any reply and simply ravaged the young man and sucked him dry.
"Awww..." Alex painfully opened his eyes and raised his hand to rub his head.
He had fallen from his bed, and it was enough to wake him up from his sleep.
"A dream?" Alex muttered as he looked at his surroundings.
The room was rather dark, with only the faint light of the magic lamp illuminating it.
’What time is it?’ Alex groggily reached out to the magic lamp to increase the brightness of its light, allowing him to see his surroundings more clearly.
Squinting his eyes at the clock hanging on the wall, he could tell it was almost ten o’clock.
He still felt very exhausted, understandably so since their expedition in the dungeon had been taxing. However, he believed that the dream he had woken up from significantly contributed to his tiredness.
"Death by snusnu..." Alex muttered. "What a way to go."
He had almost forgotten the consequences of failing his mission.
The dream he just had was painfully realistic, reminding him of the fate that awaited him if he failed his mission.
’I should meet up with the others first,’ Alex thought as he took a healing potion from his storage ring and drank its contents.
The punishment waiting for him if he failed had been too scary, so he decided to drink a potion to ensure he was in his optimal condition. A minute later, the exhaustion and body pain he felt completely faded.
He then left his room and headed downstairs for some food before starting the trial.
When he arrived, he saw Charles, Dim Dim, and Cairo eating together.
"You’re finally awake," Cairo said with a smile. "Did you have a nice dream?"
"... That’s one way to look at it, Master," Alex replied before taking a seat.
Since it was already late, the innkeeper was no longer taking any orders.
But food had never been a problem with Dim Dim around.
The Dim Sum God took out a few bamboo steamers filled with shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, turnip cake, and sticky rice dumplings.
Starved, Alex quickly grabbed a dumpling and happily munched on it. He had skipped breakfast and lunch, so this supper was practically his first and last meal for the day.
"So, what are your thoughts regarding the upcoming trial?" Cairo inquired. "Have you prepared your heart and mind?"
Alex chewed and swallowed before replying. "Truth be told, Master, I’m afraid. I’m painfully aware of how difficult this trial would be."
"You make it sound like you’ve experienced it yourself." Cairo could tell his disciple wasn’t lying, and he could even vaguely sense a subtle unease emanating from the latter’s body.
Alex only smiled. If he told his master that he had already experienced it countless times in the past, his master would struggle to believe him.
Charles Lambert’s tutorial quest had been deemed impossible to clear. And although Alex had cleared it once, he believed it was purely out of luck that he had happened to continuously make the right choices and pick the right paths.
"Dim Dim." Dim Dim patted Alex’s hand as if to tell him that everything was going to be fine.
The Dim Sum God was very sensitive to the feelings of the people and creatures around it, so it could tell Alex was quite worried about their upcoming dungeon expedition despite trying to look calm on the surface.
Those were the words that Dim Dim said just now, effectively calming the young man’s troubled heart.
Back then, he had to clear the dungeon alone. But this time, he had dependable comrades who would weather the storm with him.
Aside from him, Charles, and Lavinia, everyone else in their party was Rank 3 and above.
Roselia was even a Rank 4 Horizon Striker. Technically speaking, she was stronger than Cairo.
But Ranks weren’t everything.
Sometimes, someone could surpass the difference in Rank if they were talented enough.
Alex had seen at least six people in ELO who could do that, and they were none other than the three main Heroes and the three Heroines of Story Mode.
Whom he would meet in Frieden Academy if he was lucky to survive the Dungeon of Beginnings.
"Oh, look like we’re not the only ones who are up."
Alex, Cairo, Charles, and Dim Dim looked at the direction of the stairs and saw Elaine and Efa walking towards them.
"Did you sleep well, Alex?" Efa playfully asked as she sat beside the young man. "Did you perhaps see me in your dreams?"
The corner of Alex’s lips twitched. He had indeed seen Efa in his dreams.
He had seen her everything, and after that, he had died.
"Oh, was I right?" Efa smirked. "You’re getting a little red, Alex. Did you perhaps have a naughty dream about me?"
"O-Of course not," Alex insisted. "Dim Dim, give Efa and Elaine some food, so they won’t go hungry later."
"Dim Dim~" the Dim Sum god asked the two Adventurers what they wanted to eat.
A few seconds later, it summoned bamboo steamers containing the food closest to what Efa and Elaine wanted to eat.
"I didn’t know chicken feet could taste so good," Elaine remarked after taking a bite. "Dim Dim, you’re amazing."
"Ahem!" The Dim Sum God raised its body, happy that it was being praised.
Efa also ate with a satisfied look on her face and complimented Dim Dim as well.
Not long after, Lavinia and Roselia also descended from the stairs and joined them for supper.
Everyone appeared somewhat relaxed and even seemed to be looking forward to this dungeon run that they would be doing in a few hours.
’I wish I could be as calm as them,’ Alex thought. ’Perhaps this is the confidence of the strong.’
The young man watched his team chat happily with each other, enjoying the calm before the storm.
Fourth floor of the Dungeon of Beginnings...
A cocoon suddenly spawned in the location where the Mini Boss, Vraxxis, had died earlier.
The cocoon grew larger and larger until it stood three meters tall. Its body then glowed in a purple light and pulsed like a beating heart.
Half an hour later, the cocoon broke apart, and a stag-like creature emerged from it.
It looked similar to Vraxxis, but there were key differences between them.
Its body was entirely purple, except its stag-like antlers and its eyes, both of which were golden in color.
The creature then roared loudly as if informing everyone that it had finally been born.
The Monsters of the fourth floor of the dungeon felt compelled to heed its call and make their way toward it.
(A/N: This is the rarity hierarchy of monsters in ELO: Common, Rare , Mutant, Super Rare, Named, Legendary, Divine. The higher the monster’s rarity level, the stronger it is compared to the monsters of the same Rank.)
< Aurhorn the Stag of Twilight >
Monster Rank: Rank 3 Boss Monster
Type: Wandering Boss Monster
Health: 6,800 / 6,800
Active Skills: Gleaming Rush, Twilight Bolt, Pulse of the Deepwood.
– Charges forward in a blinding sprint, dealing heavy physical damage and inflicting a brief stun.
– Channels golden energy through its antlers to fire a searing magical blast at distant targets.
< Pulse of the Deepwood >
– Slams its hooves into the ground, releasing a shockwave that damages and knocks back nearby enemies.
Note: The Twilight Stag is no guardian. It is a butcher draped in splendor. Aurhorn’s golden horns rake the battlefield, shattering steel and bone alike. Mercy has no place in the wilds it calls home.
It was a Named Monster that was smarter and stronger than most monsters of its Rank. This powerful creature shouldn’t have been born on the fourth floor of the Dungeon of Beginnings because it was more suited to its lower floors.
However, now that it roamed the fourth floor, one thing was certain.
Any creature aside from the Monsters residing in the dungeon was fair game.
It was an unrivaled force of nature. Only the presence of equal might could stop the Twilight Stag’s mad charge... Or become its next victim, trampled beneath its hooves.