Born in apocalypse

"W-wait, what do you mean by ’the thunder is a monster’? That natural calamity is a... monster?" Dhruv asked, trying to be one hundred percent sure.

"Yes, Master, it’s a monster. Not just any monster, a middle-rank tier V monster. The reason for the lack of soldiers in the town is because of that monster. Many of my soldiers have died caught in its thunder."

Aurora sighed, remembering how powerful that thing was.

’Fuck– Fuck... now it makes sense.’ Dhruv gulped a mouthful of saliva as he remembered his near-death encounter with the thunder... no, the monster.

As he began to think about the monster, all the anomalies finally began to piece themselves together. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

It now made sense how that thunder had appeared out of nowhere. He could now understand why it was so powerful. It now made sense why, despite being that powerful, the illusion monster had to hunt while hiding.

It wasn’t its lair... like he had thought so. No, it was forced to adapt because of the thunder.

’The corpses whose cores were wiped from their bodies. Was that the work of the monster as well?’

Dhruv thought, remembering how after the thunderstorm they had found corpses devoid of cores. At that time, it didn’t make any sense but now... now there was nothing that made more sense than this.

After killing them, the thunder absorbed their cores and left their corpses lying there, probably because it couldn’t get enough essence from eating the corpse. It wasn’t worth the hassle.

"From your expression... it seems you have met the beast, Master," Aurora asked, observing Dhruv.

"Unfortunately, yes. We have met it," Dhruv nodded, not wanting to remember the interaction.

’So he survived even after meeting the monster...’ Aurora couldn’t help but be impressed by the survival skills of her master.

"Sigh! And from the interaction, I suppose you don’t want to meet it either," she muttered, looking at him.

"No... why would I want to meet it... let’s just pack everything and close this dungeon. That fu... I mean it would ultimately die without me lifting a finger, wouldn’t it?" Dhruv replied, really pleased with the plan.

"That would have been nice... but I don’t think it would let us leave the dungeon without a fight, though!" Aurora replied, looking at him.

"Why!?"

"Because, like every monster, it wants to evolve further. It wants to reach perfection. The monster attacks anything that seems valuable enough. I think it attacked your group because you were with them," Aurora reminded him.

"Is that so..." Now Dhruv was getting pissed off by the monster.

He would have forgiven the monster if it had attacked the duo because they were on its hunting path... but to think that it was only there because of him. And now, of all things, it was going to block his path.

’It dares to block my path... hehehe!’ A smirk appeared as Dhruv made up his mind.

"Seeing how you are familiar with that thing, I guess you know quite a lot about it," Dhruv asked, looking at Aurora.

He was going to attack it but not without preparation. Fighting a tier 5 beast in its own lair is going to be challenging but not when he knows everything about it.

"Yes, Master, I know quite a lot about it," she replied, a similar smirk appearing on her face.

’Are we going to fight a tier V monster now!?’ Azarex couldn’t help but feel left out from the conversation. He wanted to give some opinion but unfortunately, he didn’t have one.

Sighing, he continued listening as Aurora began mentioning the hunting pattern of the monster, what type of attacks it uses, how it moves, and what weaknesses it might possess.

Because she hadn’t fought the monster head-on, she didn’t have every piece of information... but what she had was enough. Enough to tip the scale in their favor.

’Well, this will be a perfect practice partner for my tier IV evolution,’

Dhruv thought as he organized the information. After thinking about it for a few seconds he looked in her direction and opened his mouth,

"I think we got too sidetracked... let’s hear how the tale continues," Dhruv mentioned, still interested in her trials.

"As you wish, Master..." With a little disappointment, Aurora began her story once again.

"As I’ve mentioned, like everyone else, I also got a tier VI. With the tier VI guard, I began roaming around my designated area to get a better idea of what I’m dealing with..."

Saying these words, she paused for a moment as a hint of confusion appeared on her face.

"I think lady luck favors me as during the wandering, I happened to come across a crystal deposit..." She remembered it as clear as day.

"A crystal deposit?"

"Yes, Master... our planet has a great deposit of highly refined crystal which sells for a lot throughout the cosmos. There is even a saying on my planet: ’To get rich, find the crystal within.’" She chucked a bit.

"Meeting a crystal deposit this early on the trail means I was certain to win the competition..." Aurora paused, hesitating to say the next bit.

"You okay?" Seeing her hesitation, Dhruv asked.

"Yes, Master! It’s just that I can’t help but feel that my finding the crystal deposit is just too perfect... too coincidental. It is almost like it was placed there for me to find it," Aurora confessed.

’Ohhh! Is that so... someone is pulling the strings from behind,’ Dhruv thought.

"Do you think perhaps this was your parents’ doing, in order to let you win the trial?" Dhruv asked, trying to get any sort of confirmation.

"Maybe... who knows. I would have asked the same question but fate... it has different plans," Aurora muttered, remembering the last days of her trial.

"Because I was not interested in evolving that much, I was going to pass my year in this city... but something happened. At the end of the trial, someone came to the city." A frown appeared as she muttered.

"A man came into the city and proposed me a contract. The terms of the contract were that if I won, I would get a Tier VIII monster core, and if he won... I would have to do him a favor."

She sighed.

"Feeling that something was shady there, I was never going to accept it... but to my horror, I never even had the chance. And before I knew it... I was here."

"Trapped in the dungeon... with my whole city."

"...I had become a dungeon boss."