Hero's Carnage

Lucas looked at his quest progression after clearing the dungeon.

[Hero's Quest: Replenish 'Key to Another World' with mana by hunting monsters]

[Progress: 75/100]

"I am five monsters short…" Lucas sighed, as each monster gave 5 percent progress.

"No, I shouldn't give up so quickly. I still have plenty of time today. I should go to another dungeon and finish my quest there."

After thinking of this brilliant plan, Lucas immediately looked for a taxi before going to the nearest guild to take a look at the bulletin boards.

All public dungeons that are currently available are Novice-rank dungeons except for two, but they're both Advance-rank dungeons, so he cannot enter them, as he lacked the level.

Even if he has the capability to kill monsters in Advance-rank dungeons, the guild would still restrict his access for having insufficient levels.

Lucas checked the private dungeons next. After soloing an entire Intermediate-rank dungeon, he has saved up a good chunk of money.

However, after looking at the bulletin board, he could only see one Intermediate-rank dungeon available, and it was at the other side of the city, which would take him hours to reach, not including the time needed to return to the guild headquarters.

In the end, Lucas decided to visit a nearby Novice-rank dungeon to test his luck.

'I will need at least two other people with me if I want to enter a public dungeon…'

Lucas began looking around the place until he noticed a pair of couples sitting at an empty table and seemingly chatting with each other.

He approached and said to them, "Excuse me, can you help me enter a nearby Novice-rank dungeon? I just need your help for entrance, so you can immediately leave afterward. I will even pay you each 50 dollars if you help me."

The couple looked at him before returning to look at each other.

After a moment of silence, the woman responded, "Make it 100 each and we'll do it."

"...Okay." Lucas didn't expect to be haggled like this, but he really wanted to finish his quest as soon as possible and see what the black key would do once it was fully charged with mana.

Lucas retrieved two hundred dollars and handed them to the couple.

"Cool. Where's the dungeon?" The woman then said.

After giving them the location, Lucas registered their party at the guild before heading out.

About fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the street with the dungeon, and after showing the guards their ID and credentials, Lucas entered the dungeon with the couple.

Once they were inside the dungeon, Lucas did not even bother saying a word to the couple before running deeper into the dungeon, leaving them at the entrance.

The couple didn't mind it at all since they got to earn a hundred dollars each for a 15 minute walk, and after waiting around the entrance for about ten minutes, they left the dungeon together.

After running around for about ten minutes, Lucas encountered his first monster, and it was a goblin.

When Lucas saw this goblin, he realized that he couldn't feel anything towards it, almost like it was only an ant before him.

'Coming back to a Novice-rank dungeon right after an Intermediate-rank dungeon feels really weird, almost like I do not belong here…' Lucas thought to himself.

Meanwhile, the goblin rushed at Lucas while wielding a rusty dagger.

However, right as it entered Lucas' attack range, he swung his sword, cleanly beheading the goblin with ease.

The goblin's head spun many circles in the air before falling to the ground and disappearing.

Lucas picked up the mana crystal before taking a look at the quest's progress.

"Huh?"

Lucas was taken aback by the progress and had to do a double take.

"It didn't move at all? Does this mean these monsters' mana are too weak to replenish the key?" Lucas mumbled to himself.

"Looks like I am not fated to finish this quest today… I even wasted 200 dollars to come here." Lucas sighed while shaking his head, feeling great pity.

However, just as he prepared to leave the dungeon, Lucas heard a menacing laugh from a distance.

"AHAHAHA! LOOK WHO WE HAVE HERE?!"

Lucas turned to face the sound of this familiar beastly voice, and he could see three individuals approaching him with malicious smiles on their faces.

"Hey, you little fucking brat, do you remember what I said to you the last time— that if I ever see you again, I will punish you for what you did to us?! Looks like fate is on our side today!"

These three people were Lucas' earliest 'teammates', Darius, John, and Jenny. After being ditched by Lucas while they tried to take advantage of him as a newbie, these people have a massive grudge against him.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you guys?" Lucas acted as though this was his first time meeting them just like previous, which made Darius fume with anger.

"Go ahead and act ignorant all you want, but I would watch my mouth if I were you since the guild isn't here to save you today, you little bastard." Darius said.

Lucas smiled and said, "Oh, I remember now. You're the three weirdos I left behind at that dungeon."

When they heard Lucas' words, instead of being angry, they actually began laughing their asses off, as they have never seen anyone as crazy as Lucas before.

Darius slowly approached Lucas as he laughed, and once he was right in front of Lucas, who didn't move at all, he stopped laughing and stared at Lucas with a bloodthirsty look on his face.

"Brat, if you think I won't kill you, I have some bad news for you— I have killed before, and I won't hesitate to do it again."

Hearing his words, Lucas looked up and stared at Darius right in the eyes before speaking in a cold voice, "Really? What a coincidence. I have killed people too."

"What?"

Darius' eyes widened with shock, and he could sense a feeling of dread coming from Lucas.

However, before he could distance himself from Lucas, he felt a sharp pain coming from his body, causing him to look down, and to his absolute horror, there was a rusty dagger currently inserted in his stomach.

"Y-You…" Darius looked at Lucas with an expression of disbelief, but before he could properly speak, Lucas swung his sword and decapitated Darius in one swift action, leaving the other two in shock.