Born in apocalypse

"So, what are your thoughts on the dungeon..." Dhruv asked not wanting to waste any more time.

"It certainly is different from the rest we have encountered till now.." Saying this, Aurora began explaining how the dungeons are different from the rest they have entered.

"...So, each floor is progressively getting bigger and bigger... hmmm! Finding the boss will certainly be difficult then." Dhruv concluded from her words.

"Yes, master..."

"What is the monster tier of each floor... what about the boss?" Dhruv asked.

"On the first floor, the monster is of Tier I and the boss is of Tier II..." Aurora explained how until the third floor, everything is similar to a normal dungeon, after which things began to get somewhat different.

’Hmm! So from the fourth floor, the monsters will be mixed of any tier... the highest normal monster is Tier IV... the boss hasn’t been found. Guessing from the norm, the boss should be of Tier V, but that would be too hard for these starting floors. Tier IV should be the obvious answer here.’ Thinking this, Dhruv looked at her and asked.

"So, how do the floors work... do we need to clear the boss before moving to the next floor, or are some of them open from the very beginning?" Dhruv asked, looking at her.

"We have to clear the floor before moving to the next one."

"How many of them are cleared?"

"By the time I entered... two of the floors were already cleared... I have killed the third-floor boss, opening the way for the fourth floor."

"Two floors cleared... hmmm! Who could’ve killed the boss this quickly?" Dhruv thought aloud.

"There is someone named Nemo," Aurora replied, suddenly getting lost in thoughts.

"Nemo... hmm! Well, there wasn’t anyone famous with this name... not human, at least." Looking at Aurora’s reaction, Dhruv couldn’t help but ask if she knew anything about this man.

"Although the first two floors were small, it was quite fast, and I wanted to meet him as well. But interestingly, he was nowhere on the third floor. I wanted to find him before the boss... but unfortunately, we didn’t meet," Aurora replied, showing her disappointment.

’Was she planning to do something with the guy?’ Looking at her face, Dhruv couldn’t help but feel she must have been planning something.

’Whatever...’ Not trying to step into her business, Dhruv moved forward, "Anything else you want to point out?"

"No, master, that’s all," Aurora went silent after saying these words.

While she went to check on everyone’s rewards, Dhruv began thinking about what his next step should be.

Should he directly attack Triss, or should he focus on the quest for now?

Considering the damage he had done to Triss, Dhruv knew the man wouldn’t come out of his hiding place for quite some time. After much thought, he concluded that focusing on Triss at the moment would be a waste of time.

With this issue set aside, the only thing left was to enter the dungeon with full force. Another factor that made Dhruv even more confident in this decision was the rewards.

The Asteries had already received pretty poor rewards for being stagnant in the third quest. And if they didn’t do anything worthwhile, they would only become weaker and weaker.

They had to push their boundaries if they wanted to earn something worthwhile.

[Aurora, there is something I want to ask...] Having made his decision, Dhruv asked some questions to Aurora to be sure.

[There’s nothing wrong here. In fact, I want to suggest this...] Aurora replied, agreeing with her master.

"Nice... gather everyone then," Dhruv asked knowing what to do.

Following his order, the guardians moved and began gathering the islanders. It took them around ten minutes to gather everyone.

Looking at the crowd in front of him, Dhruv opened his mouth, "As you already know, there is a hidden quest going on, and I want to know your thoughts on it. Do you want to participate in them?..."

"Of course we want to go, my lord," Navi said enthusiastically.

"We agree as well," the old man and his group agreed.

They weren’t the only ones; almost all of them wanted to go fight some monsters. While most of the islanders had evolved, there were still some who, because of their classes, had been left behind.

Seeing everyone agree like this, Dhruv couldn’t help but smile.

"Now that everyone is ready to go, there is nothing more to say. Meet with your team members or create your team and come to the portal as soon as possible." Without wasting any time, he called everyone toward the portal.

"Ahhh!... and yes, one more thing. Those who don’t have a weapon and armor yet can come to me. I have plenty of spares."

Having amassed a great amount of weapons from the Crystallce dungeon, Dhruv wanted to use them for good. There was no point in letting them collect dust.

Soon, the group began dividing into teams. There were some Dhruv was familiar with, while some of them had been created recently. All in all, almost everyone found a group to settle into.

Those who were left were the ones who liked to do things alone.

Afterward, those who didn’t have weapons of their own came to him and began asking for one. Doing all this took about an hour. Now, all of them were clad in armor with weapons in their hands.

’Isn’t this beautiful...’ Smiling, Dhruv looked at the group and began explaining how things would proceed.

"The fourth floor has been opened. Even though monsters spawn on the floors before it, we will directly enter the fourth floor and hunt the monsters. Please don’t focus on finding the boss. That will be my and the guardians’ work..."

Taking a deep breath, he turned serious, "Accumulate as much experience as possible. Try to evolve as well... but be safe. If anything happens, connect with anyone through the mark." After explaining a few little things Dhruv finished his words.

Keeping their lord’s words in mind, the group began to slowly move toward the portal.