Alden had finally reached his destination.
It had been a few hours since the alley incident, and his mind was calm now.
After leaving the scene, he had taken a Mana-Train to get here—a village located roughly 600 kiloters from Valloria.
Portals didn't connect every small village to the city—maintaining them would just bankrupt the entire empire.
So, Alden had no choice but to take public transport.
He could have booked a cab if he wanted, but it would have just cost more ti and money.
So he decided to take a man train.
Mana-Trains weren't anything special.
They were almost identical to their counterparts on Earth, except they ran on mana instead of electricity or fuel.
Dismissing unnecessary thoughts, Alden walked toward the portal site.
There was a Dungeon Association outpost standing there.
There were two n within. Their strength in Initiate Rank.
Their uniforms were slick black, and their posture was professional.
Alden didn't even say a word as he approached.
He simply pulled out his Academy ID and flashed it. The staff would have already been notified of his arrival.
One of the officers barely spared him a glance before taking it.
Then, his eyes wandered over to Alden's appearance—no armor, no visible weapons.
His lips twitched.
Another cocky brat.
He had seen too many of them.
Rich and talented students who thought dungeons were just another playground.
Still it was not his problem.
Without any comnt, he handed Alden a black bracelet.
"Take this." The man simply said. "This is a location tracker."
"If you don't co out of the dungeon within two days," the officer continued "We will send a rescue team."
The mission gave him two days to completely clear the dungeon but he didn't have any intention to take that long.
He was going to clear it within a day and spend the remaining day in Black Market.
The officer exhaled, pointing towards the portal.
"Go ahead. Try not to die."
Alden didn't respond.
Hsi gaze was already locked onto the glowing red portal.
It pulsed faintly and the light within shifted like a living heartbeat.
It wasn't mana—it was sothing more…
It was chaos.
He felt a slight shiver down his spine.
To be honest, dungeons like these could be cleared easily by the association, but they were left alone for a reason.
They were used as training grounds. This dungeon was reserved for the use of Astria Academy only.
There were many types of dungeons.
This one was a Recurring Dungeon.
Unlike permanent dungeons or one-ti rifts, Recurring Dungeons had a fixed cycle.
If left uncleared for a certain amount of ti, monsters would flood out of it in waves like any other dungeon.
But there was one difference.
Unlike so other dungeons which vanished permanently after clearing Recurring dungeons didn't.
These dungeons would just go dormant for a few months, vanishing before reappearing again.
Alden took a deep breath.
The dungeon awaited him.
He finally stepped into the portal.
The world around him warped as he vanished from his spot.
__
After Alden vanished only the two officers of association were left behind.
They were looking at where Alden stood monts ago.
"No armor, no weapons… just another rich kid thinking he's invincible." One of the officers muttered.
"Give it a day. Either he'll co crawling back or we'll be taking out his corpse from the dungeon." The other officer responded.
Neither of them expected Alden to return unscathed.
They had seen far too many foolish people like this which had made their emotions numb to such things.
Dying in dungeons wasn't rare after all.
__
For a brief mont, everything was weightless for Alden.
His vision kept twisting.
Then finally—
His feet touched the solid ground.
The distorted space around him returned to normal.
He felt nauseated but he controlled it imdiately. He couldn't afford the luxury. This was not a safe place.
Alden exhaled, his eyes scanning surroundings.
The dungeon was a cave with fungi and moss which glowed with blue light.
They were the only source of light within the dark cave.
The atmosphere was damp.
The air was filled with the scent of moss and sothing… tallic.
Blood?
The mont he arrived, a system notification appeared in front of him.
[System Notification]
[Dungeon: Crimson Fang Cavern]
[Rank: F]
[Type– Recurring Dungeon]
[Objective: Eliminate the Dungeon Boss]
Alden dismissed it.
The cavern was too quiet.
Yet, Alden felt it.
His sense picked up a movent from the front.
Sothing was watching him.
Just then he heard a sound.
A beastly roar.
Monster.
With a thought, his sword materialized in his hands.
He took a step forward.
Then—the attack ca.
From the darkness, a figure lunged.
It was fast.
Alden sidestepped, his body moving on pure instinct.
A blur of claws slashed through the air where he had just stood.
He spun, raising his sword in ti to et the creature's next strike.
Clang.
Sparks flew as tal t hardened claws.
The creature—a Crimson Fang Wolf.
It was a Beginner Initiate Rank beast, its eyes glowed with malice. Its fur was blood-red coloured. Saliva was dripping from its mouth.
A second wolf erged from the shadows.
Then a third.
Alden clicked his tongue.
'Pack hunters, huh?'
The three wolves circled him, their bodies tense, waiting for an opening.
Alden didn't even activate his abilities. There was no need to waste mana uselessly.
A normal hunter would have hesitated here.
But Alden?
He took a step forward.
All three wolves attacked him at once.
His sword blurred—one clean stroke.
The first wolf never saw it coming.
Blood sprayed as its body collapsed, a deep gash running down its side.
He wasn't even using his sword art as that too consud much of his mana and ntal strength.
This was purely raw strength.
And he had sothing he wanted to try.
Sothing which he had been training as he wanted to maximize his use of Sword of Chaos.
The second wolf leapt at his back—
Alden twisted his body as his blade transford into a spear mid-motion.
A single thrust—precise and more importantly lethal.
The spear pierced straight through its skull.
This was sothing he had been trying recently.
Although he had decided he was not going to learn any other weapons before mastering the Katana.
He just felt it was a waste to not use such great ability.
So he tried sothing different. Instead of mastering different weapons.
For now he was just training to be able to surprise his opponent for one lethal strike by transforming it.
He was not going to train his weapon art with different weapons, he was just going to use it for surprise attacks for now.
The third wolf didn't attack imdiately.
It hesitated seeing its partner dying so easily.
But it was too late.
Alden was already upon it.
His spear reverted to a katana as he slashed horizontally.
One slash. One kill.
The final monster dropped as the silence returned to the cavern.
Alden exhaled.
These were just the first wave.
There were many more the deeper he went.
He started walking deeper into the cave. Soon enough he entered a huge clearing where a calm lake was present.
That was not the only thing surrounding the lake.
Pack of Crimson Fang Wolves.
Alden scanned the number.
Twenty.
The real hunt was only beginning.
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