Chapter 195 - Deception
Much to Ryan's surprise, he found the dungeons pretty deep inside Nashville. However, he didn't find any sign of other monsters aside from those three. That was quite unexpected given the size of the place…
"Shit… the smell here is terrible. It looks like most people got buried alive, and the monsters exterminated those which escaped."
The streets were dirt with dust, debris, and some stains on the ground that were probably signs of dry blood. Aside from the nuked cities that Ryan never checked, that city was probably in the worst situation of all cities that he saw before. He didn't know why, but the inhabitants didn't have any chance to fight.
"The least I can do for those who fall is to seal the dungeons, but… should I do that? Do I have to do that?"
Ryan recalled the conversation with Lilith and began to second-guess himself again. Should he try to work hard to exterminate the monsters when his intentions weren't that honest? He worried pretty frequently about the things he could do for his world, but Ryan couldn't help but wonder if that wasn't just a mechanism of his head to make him feel good about himself. After all, he abandoned many groups of survivors. If he truly wished to improve the world's situation, he would have made a lot of more difference if he had worked with everyone in Shreveport.
"Shit… why do I have to think about such things now? I don't have time for this…"
That was what Ryan got by listening to the words of a demon: doubts. To make matters worse, the more he tried to think those were empty words, the more his consciousness convinced him that it wasn't the case. In the end, the best option was not to think and only fight. However, even that made Ryan wonder if it was enough… he didn't want to become like a monster who seeks power and nothing more.
In the end, Ryan just gave up about forgetting such a thing and just entered the giant bees' dungeon. As expected, he easily cleared the dungeon. A single arrow on the head using his special arrows had been enough to kill the boss. After that, Ryan used his mana potions to summon ten slimes. At the same time, he gave the order for them to use the only Fireball. When the next bee appeared, the creature died almost instantly.
"I guess ten of those are enough to defeat ordinary monsters, as for the boss… maybe fifty."
Ryan didn't want to wait for a full day to test that theory. In the end, he summoned only thirty more because he knew the skills would level up quite a bit in the meantime. Finally, after dealing with that business, Ryan opened the treasure box.
Congratulations! You have cleared the dungeon and obtained its treasure! As a reward for your achievement, you can obtain one of three following classes: Mercenary, Elementalist, and Monk.
Please be aware that clearing this dungeon again won't give you the chance to unlock the other remaining classes. If you want to obtain them, you will have to search for those in other dungeons.
Ryan was left speechless… he imagined that such a thing would happen someday, but now that it happened, Ryan couldn't help but let out a long sigh. He already has those three classes, so that Ryan wouldn't gain any new skill or status points. He will get some status points, but only that.
"Whatever… let's just move on."
Congratulations! You have become a Level fifteen mercenary!
The following skills will level up five times: Focus, Morale, and Tackle.
Your health and strength increased by ten points, your endurance, stamina, mana, and mentality increased by five points.
Things could have been worse, but fortunately, the class leveled up, and Ryan still got some increase in his attributes. Unfortunately, Ryan didn't have time to celebrate because the ground began to tremble, and he could hear a lot of noise coming from outside the dungeon.
"Shit… that really happened."
Fortunately, Ryan didn't use all his potions. So, he would be able to fight against the army. In fact, killing them will be easy while crossing the dungeon since they won't have room to run away. However, even though Ryan waited for a while, not a single monster entered the dungeon.
"So, monsters can't really enter dungeons… not even those who are small enough. Why? They used their dungeons to invade Earth, so… maybe they can't use dungeons like that when they went to another planet using a dungeon that was theirs."
It seemed like a convoluted explanation, but it made sense in Ryan's head. Humans could use all dungeons since their goal was survival and not an invasion. However, the moment they use a dungeon to invade a certain planet, they will only use that same dungeon to come and go.
Ryan headed toward the entrance of the dungeon to confirm that. As expected, the place was surrounded by reptilians, but they didn't seem ready to fight, and a stranger individual seems their leader. The creature was just like the other monsters. However, that one had a pair of red long swords on his back. The creature was also using full silver armor. The equipment seemed like it had been made using some creature's parts since the blocks of metal looked like scales of a monster.
"Come forth, human," The monster using silver armor said. "Our master wants to have a word with you."
That was a nice try. Ryan couldn't help but laugh a little. In the end, he took a few steps back until he disappeared in the darkness and prepared one of his special bone arrows. That creature was definitely a boss, and Ryan was quite sure that he could steal its equipment or at least kill it with a single good attack. However, the monster did something unexpected.
"Here are some gifts as the sign of goodwill of our master," The monster said and then threw away his swords to inside the dungeon. "Come with us, and you might receive even more."