*Swoosh!*
As soon as Soren entered the portal, he felt his body pulled through a narrow, suffocating passage, as if the world itself was rejecting his presence, before he felt the gravity return.
*Thud!*
Soren landed lightly on the ground and imdiately lifted his head; his eyes scanning the field around in extre alert.
Fortunately, this ti, the place they appeared wasn’t the nest of so monster.
Rather, Soren saw that they had arrived in a barren land, an endless stretch of cracked earth scattered with broken ruins and uneven stone structures beneath a dull, lifeless sky.
Even the air felt dry and heavy, carrying a faint tallic scent. It gave the impression of an ancient, abandoned battlefield.
Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.
A brief second passed before Evan, Aurelia, Sylvia, and Aria appeared right behind Soren, their figures slightly tense.
Only after confirming that the area was clear did they breathe a sigh of relief.
"Hah... thank God there are no monsters around this ti,"
Sylvia said, just as a prompt from the Voice of the World echoed through the air.
---
[You have entered an E-rank Dungeon: Gryathorn Outpost.]
[Dungeon: Graythorn Outpost]
[Rank: E]
[Type: Survival]
[Origin: A small settlent established by the Graythorn Orc Tribe, a warlike but low-tier mountain orc faction known for raiding abandoned human ruins.]
[Objective: Survive within the dungeon for 4 hours]
[Primary Threat: Graythorn Orc Warriors]
[Elite Units: Graythorn Heavy Warrior | Graythorn Berserker]
[Boss Unit: Graythorn War Chief]
[Boss Level: Lv. 30]
[Ti Limit: 04:00:00]
---
[Note: Your presence has already been detected by the Graythorn War Chief. Be careful, as the enemy is already aware of your arrival.]
[You can leave the dungeon at any ti as long as you are not in combat. However, leaving early will forfeit the dungeon reward.]
---
"What? Survival-type dungeon?"
The mont the announcent reached their ears, everyone’s eyes went wide, their faces filled with bitterness.
How could it not, when the dungeon they had landed in was actually a survival-type?
In a competition ant to determine who could conquer an E-rank dungeon the fastest, using a survival-type dungeon was almost a joke.
’So, is this how you’re trying to stop us?’
Even Soren was a little surprised after seeing the information. No wonder Darius had so confidently announced the D-rank clearance token as the reward.
"Hey, Soren. What should we do? Are we even in the competition now?"
Sylvia spoke, still in shock.
In her view, this dungeon required them to survive for four hours straight. That ant no matter what they did, their clearance ti was already fixed.
Didn’t that an they had already lost the competition?
No matter how weak the competing team was, they wouldn’t take four hours to clear the dungeon, would they?
"In the first place, what is a survival-type dungeon doing in this competition?"
"Yeah, isn’t this cheating?"
Aria chid in alongside Sylvia, while Aurelia looked visibly upset. Evan, on the other hand, looked awkward.
"I feel like Darius clearly did sothing behind our backs. I never liked his attitude in the first place," Sylvia said, recalling how he had mocked her in class before.
"But... wasn’t Professor Ruther running this competition? He couldn’t have overlooked it, could he?"
Aria asked, confused.
"Who knows? Maybe even the professor is in cahoots. I don’t like his eyes either," Sylvia countered, making Soren roll his eyes. He had to admit, Sylvia did have a sharp sense.
As she suspected, Darius probably had dealings with Professor Ruther. But that wasn’t their concern right now. Even if they went back to complain, no one would believe them, and they might even be mocked for suspecting a professor. That wouldn’t help at all.
So Soren didn’t care and clapped his hands loudly to grab everyone’s attention.
"Okay, stop chattering. Complaining won’t solve anything. We’re already inside the dungeon, so complaining does nothing."
Soren’s words silenced Sylvia and Aria.
"But... aren’t you angry? You seed eager for that D-rank clearance token. Now we’ve already lost the challenge," Evan said lightly, confused.
In his opinion, the one who should be worried was Soren. After all, he was the only one truly eager for this challenge—but he had lost before it even began.
"Heh... who said we’ve already lost?"
Soren rolled his eyes as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world.
"What do you an?"
Sylvia, Aria, and Evan looked at him simultaneously, their eyes a bit confused.
After all, was there any hope now that the dungeon objective had already been announced?
"Are you perhaps thinking of... Purge?"
Aurelia, however, seed to notice Soren’s thought as her ember-like eyes shone brighter.
"Purge?"
The mont she spoke, the other three teammates also widened their eyes.
In a dungeon context, Purge ant a complete extermination of every hostile entity inside.
No survivors.
No skipped monsters.
No dragged-out ti.
It implied total dominance, not just clearing the objective, but wiping the entire area clean through force.
Generally, this kind of action was done by large guilds to level up their mbers. They would take their ti completing the dungeon before attacking the boss, in order to gain the maximum benefit from each hunt.
However, it could also be used in certain circumstances.
If the objective of this dungeon was to survive for four hours straight, they would be sward by a massive number of monsters constantly, without a single mont of rest.
But that didn’t an the dungeon had an unlimited supply of monsters spawning from nowhere.
Instead, the sheer scale of the horde was so overwhelming that the ’Voice of the World’ classified it as a survival type, likely to prevent hunters from being unfairly eliminated.
However, if soone was capable enough, why waste four full hours?
"Hehe... Miss Aurelia really does have a keen sense. Yes, I am indeed thinking of a purge."
Soren smirked slightly, his eyes growing colder by the second.
"Without a doubt, this survival-type dungeon is the worst one we could have gotten in this competition. I don’t know if we’re being cheated, but if Darius thinks we’ll admit defeat so easily, he is sorely mistaken."
He focused on the vast wasteland ahead, his eagle-like eyes locking onto the enormous army of monsters advancing from afar.
"So what if this is a survival-type dungeon? As long as we kill every last monster inside here in the fastest ti possible, wouldn’t we still beco champions?"
His voice carried such confidence that not a single mber dared to counter him. Truly, he had changed. His aura felt noticeably different from before.
*Hroooom!*
At that mont, a deep, ancient war horn echoed across the wasteland, its rough, primal tone rolling through the air.
*Roar!*
Simultaneously, the monsters answered with loud roars, while the ground beneath them began to quake violently, signaling the advance of the monstrous army.
Soren, however, showed no panic. His sharp eyes focused on Evan, Aurelia, and the others.
"As I said, we still haven’t lost this competition. Although we are slightly disadvantaged, as long as you follow my plan, I guarantee we will complete this dungeon ahead of everyone else. But..."
Soren paused.
"For that to happen, you all must trust and follow without question. So... what do you think?"
"Do you all believe in ?"
His eyes were a bit solemn.
If he wanted to clear this dungeon fast and win this competition, he couldn’t do so without their help. Their trust and cooperation were extrely essential.
"Yeah..."
"Of course!"
"O-Okay, but make sure to retreat if anyone gets injured. Life is the greatest wealth."
Surprisingly, though, all his teammates nodded at the sa ti without even a pause.
Evan and Aurelia even looked pumped, ready to finally unleash the full strength they hadn’t been able to show in the E-rank dungeon before.
Looking at their shining eyes, Soren realized he seed to have underestimated them a bit. After all, they were still elites, even more powerful than him.
"Haha... good, good. Then it is decided. We will purge the entire dungeon with absolute force and complete this challenge ahead of everyone else."
But that only made him satisfied as Soren laughed loudly, amid roars of monsters in the background.
With such teammates by his side, what did he have to fear?
He could barely wait to unleash his new SS-rank skill and decimate these abominable creatures with absolute force.
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