Chapter 2: The Network

Awaken by the sound of metal clanging oza groggily sat up and let out a yawn... Once his eyes adjusted he saw zeke with a bag wiping the sleepiness out of his eyes he finally asked...

"What the heck is that?" oza stood up and did some stretches

"Armor duh, i got big news! We were invited to go to one of the dungeon raids!"

"And the armor is for that said raid?"

"Yeah and get ready we're heading there ASAP"

Oza smiled and fixed his bed head and got the necessities done.. he looked in the bag and saw a cloak and some lightweight armor... he threw them on and at the bottom was a dagger he was good at handling them so he picked it... Zeke came out of the bathroom and soon wore his armor as well which resembled a knight...

"Looking sharp oza you ready for our first adventure in the dungeon?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

Both of them exited their apartment and made their way to the city of danario.. while walking zeke had some interesting things to tell oza

"So while you were sleeping I did some research about the dungeon."

"Lay it on me."

"They say that it's always growing and repeating."

"So like in games?"

"Yeah, so the monsters always come back after a certain amount of time has passed."

"That's good to hear"

"Oh and we can choose which portal we go through.. it's separated by portals.. and the recommended portals are the ones who emanate lower magic"

"Wouldn't that cause a bit of chaos since everyone is heading to the same dungeon?"

"I asked the same question their answer was it's a completely different dungeon every time you enter."

"So everyone has a different dungeon every time they enter huh.. it is like one of those game raids."

"Yep! And let's enjoy our first raid buddy!"

"So you were invited to this raid?"

"Yeah, and I agreed... they told me to bring you along too since it's our first raid in danario."

"How many are participating?"

"Just 10 including us... since it's a low tier portal 10 was what they needed."

"Well let's hope we do good on our first raid." zeke fell silent for a sec but went back to his cheery self

"Yeah, buddy."

Oza thought that the pause was weird but let it slide.. arriving at the portals they saw a small group waiting by the entrance.. zeke called out to them and it seemed that he had already been acquainted with the men...

"Oh right! This is oza he's the friend I talked about."

"It's nice to meet ya i'm daniel and i'm the little leader of this group.. You're pretty lucky to be friends with an A rank hahaha" Oza awkwardly chuckled and scratched his neck...

"Yeah i guess so..."

Daniel then laughed and made his way towards the front he went to say a small speech making the men in the group clap and cheer for him.. soon he introduced both oza and zeke but they all flocked to zeke since he was an A rank.. after the whole fiasco daniel told everyone to prepare for the dungeon raid and soon everyone entered with oza being the last one to do so...

'This dungeon doesn't seem like and 5th rank..'

The eerie silence wasn't helping.. everyone was quiet even the ever so noisy and cheery zeke.. they arrived at a big door daniel then spoke up

"Okay this is the boss room it seems and it looks like the monsters are resting so this is our chance  to take it out!"

Everyone cheered and so they continued daniel leading the way and everyone preparing their respective weapons.. Once the door fully opened they all saw the boss sitting at his throne the human like creature was huge and had this bored expression on it's face not really amused with the adventurers in front of him.. the door then suddenly closed shut trapping the ten people inside.. daniel suddenly panicked

"What the hell!? This wasn't part of the plan!"

'Plan? What plan...' oza thought to himself.. daniel suddenly ran towards the door and tried opening it

"It won't budge dammit!"

The monster made it's move and a name hovered above it..

"The fire king.. thamuz.." oza said out loud.. making everyone else panic.. everyone tried opening the door but to no avail..

"This was supposed to be a prank! But we didn't expect the door would be sealed!"

Zeke looked at everyone concerned he then directed his attention to oza who was confused.. before he could speak the king suddenly spoke..

"Who dare trespass in my throne room!" his voice shook the whole room scaring everyone by the door.. "Speak up! The person to answer my question will be pardoned!" daniel then smirked and ran up

"It was I Daniel.. i'm very sorry thamuz I meant no disrespect" he bowed down.. thamuz grinned and said..

"You.. will be the first die."

Daniel was confused but before he could react a blade had impaled him right through the chest killing him instantly.. oza looked at what just transpired and one word alone could describe what everyone including him was feeling.. fear..

"I'll make you mongrels a deal!" no one dared answered so thamuz continued "I will let everyone else leave this throne room unharmed i swear as my pride as king."

"What's the catch!?" a random guy said..

"One of you will be a sacrifice."

Everyone wide-eyed at what he just said.. fear turned into despair.. everyone suddenly started pointing fingers.. making a mess of the whole thing.. zeke terrified fell to his knees mumbling to himself..

"Why did i agree to come.. i just wanted to go on an adventure.. now i'm going to die.."

oza looked at everyone panicking... but suddenly all eyes landed on him..

"You! You should stay!"

"W-why me?!"

"Your only a G rank! We're all C ranks! The only reason we invited you was because your friend told us too!"

"T-This is stupid! Zeke help me out he-" oza looked towards zeke who was ignoring him and joining the crowd of desperate adventurers.. "Z-zeke..?"

"I'm sorry oza but.. but i don't want to die.."

Oza looked at all of them and his anger just reached it's limits.. but before he could defend himself thamuz spoke up

"So humans! Is this mongrel your sacrifice!?" everyone then simultaneously answered

"Yeah! Take him!"

Thamuz gave a hearty laugh and soon the door opened.. everyone scrambled out of there.. oza tried escaping too but the door slammed in his face leaving him alone in the room with thamuz.. and all hope in oza went straight out the window..

"Hahaha! You mongrels sure are entertaining! In desperate situations between life and death humans will do anything to survive even sacrificing one of their own.. It's quite amusing"

"I'm going to die.. My best friend just betrayed me.. what a cruel fate.."

"Mongrel as a king I know what it feels like to be betrayed by people you called comrades... but as a sacrifice i will make your death as quick and painless as possible call it mercy of a king if you may."

Oza looked dead already.. thamuz unsheathed his sword and prepared to kill oza who stared at the whole at the center of the room.. he closed his eyes accepting his death.. but he then heard a female voice...

"You want a second chance?"

"Yeah.. i do.."

"You want to get revenge?"

"Yeah.. i do.."

"Then stand up."

"Even if i could.. i'm a G rank nobody.. no matter how hard i struggle it'll all be in vain.."

"Prove them wrong.. Use that pent up anger.. and use it as motivation against those who wronged you. Remember, You have something you need to do."

Oza wide-eyed and remembered a girl smiling at him..

"Remember, you need to survive.. and in order to do so.. you need to kill thamuz.. Now.. stand up.. and fight!"

Oza opened his eyes and grabbed his dagger and tried redirecting the blade and he somewhat succeeded.. he rolled away gaining some distance between him and thamuz

"You dare defy the mercy I thamuz has given you?!"

"Take you mercy and shove it somewhere else!"

This comment pissed off thamuz and soon he swung his sword destroying the pillars around the throne room.. suddenly a menu popped out of nowhere while oza was dodging thamuz' attacks

~~~

'New Event Quest! (Survive the fire king's wrath!)'

Kill The Fire King Thamuz! (0/1)

Rewards:

??

??

??

~~~

Oza confused disregarded the whole thing and continued his dodging

'Think how can i kill this bastard..' as he tried running away from thamuz he then directed his attention to the pit at the center 'if.. if i can make him fall down that pit i'm for sure going to kill him.. but how..' Oza dodged again and again

"Stop this useless struggle mongrel!"

oza then saw the pillars and thought of them as perfect way to trip thamuz..

"If you can catch me i'll let you kill me off!"

Oza then ran towards the pit and in a blind rage thamuz fully sprinted after oza.. as he was doing this oza climbed over the pillar and jumped thamuz tried stopping but the momentum caused him to step on the pillar making him slip and fall into the hole.. leading to his demise

"Curse you mongrel! I will kill you someday!"

Oza who had managed to stab his dagger in the cracked wall survived.. he climbed up and laid on the floor beside the pit..

"I.. survived..?"

He then heard an audible thud in the pit.. when he sat up a congratulation suddenly appeared in front of him

'Congratulations! You completed (Survive the fire king's wrath!) Collect rewards?'

"..Ok.. Collect."

~~~

'Rewards for completing event quest!'

Fire king's long sword!

Fire king's armor set!

21 Points!

~~~

upon collecting the rewards oza heard a ding and four pop ups saying he leveled up..

"Level Up?"

Oza then remembered the rewards he collected but they didn't appear anywhere..

"maybe.. Hub"

A menu appeared displaying words like weapons, clothes and etc.. the sections weapons, clothes, and skills had exclamation marks on them so he opened them.. he then saw the long sword and armor set ..

"This thing acts like a game inventory.. so how do i take these out?" Oza shook his head and got his priorities straight.. "First i need to get out of here.." but before exciting the menu he opened his stats and saw the class tab had change..

~~~

(Oza's Profile!)

Name: Oza Shizaki

Age: 19

Class: Jack-Of-All-Trades (New!)

Level: 5

HP: 1,500/1,500

MP: 200

~Stats~

Strength: 15 (Physical DMG)

Defense: 15 (Physical Reduction)

Magic: 15 (Magic DMG)

Resistance: 15 (Magic Reduction)

Speed: 15

Spirit: 15 (Health)

Focus: 15 (Mana)

Available points:"33"

~~~

Oza looked at the class which had the word new beside it and was confused on what it meant..

"Jack-Of-All-Trades?"