Some time ago, inside the dungeon.
"Hey! Stay with me, you fucking bastard!" Alena, a freelance mage, cursed under her breath, dragging a man in a bulky armour with her. "I warned you to eat less, but no! You just had to turn into a blob!"
"Leave... me..." Jackson, the man in the armour, mumbled, his mind slowly fading.
Alena and Jackson were level 15 freelancers who worked with guilds on a contractual basis. Since they had the same circle, they would often be teamed up and, over the years, had gotten to know each other quite well.
Today was supposed to be just one of the many times they entered a dungeon together. Only this time had they stumbled upon an irregular Dungeon.
Jackson had opposed the idea of entering the place, but under Alena and the rest of the party's insistence, he joined them. It was a mistake he immediately regretted once they encountered Ratlings.
Once again, Jackson suggested they should leave, but everyone else, including Alena, declined. While he was dead set on going, he did not want to leave Alena alone and continued with the expedition.
However, their luck got worse and worse. They knew it was the end when they encountered a level 27 minotaur as the dungeon boss.
The Minotaur looked famished and on the verge of dying. That's why the party decided to take it on, sell its corpse to the Scribes guild for research, and get some money from them.
It didn't take long for them to realise that even a weak Minotaur was still a Minotaur. Three minutes... that's the time it took for the boss to kill most of their party with only Alena and Jackson alive.
But even then, their condition wasn't any better. While protecting Alena, Jackson had one of his arms blown away. Even then, he couldn't protect Alena entirely as she got hit in the abdomen, breaking a couple of ribs.
By some miracle, Alena successfully cast a flare spell, blinding the Minotaur long enough for them to make a break for it. However, the Minotaur was faster than them and had nearly caught up to them.
Suddenly, Jackson's legs gave away, probably due to excessive blood loss from his severed hand.
"I... can't feel... my legs... anymore. Go on, leave me... behind..." he weakly mumbled, unaware of the Minotaur's raging footsteps rushing toward them.
"Fuck!" Alena cursed yet again while casting a low-tier healing spell on Jackson. "I'm sorry! I should have listened to you earlier."
The greed of stumbling across an irregular dungeon had blinded her. Now that they were on the verge of dying, Alena realised that no amount of riches was comparable to her life.
Not only that, but she was aware of Jackson's family situation, which brought her more guilt. If he were to die in the dungeon, there'd be no one to help his family, and it would only be a matter of time before they joined Jackson in the afterlife.
If only she hadn't been insistent, they would be outside, telling the folks about the irregular dungeon and sharing a laugh. But thanks to her, everything was officially fucked.
"How can I leave someone who didn't leave me?" Alena spoke bitterly, realising she had run out of mana. She took Jackson's sword and prepared to face the Minotaur by herself.
Alena knew she was only putting up a fight in vain. Even if the Minotaur was weak, she had no chance against it. Yet, she stood there, waiting for the beast to appear.
She didn't have to wait for long. A slow huffing sound came from the direction they had just escaped from. Alena peeked through the tunnel and saw the Minotaur slowly approaching them. Its glowing orange eyes had locked on her.
As soon as the Minotaur's eyes found them, it uttered a guttural scream before rushing towards them. Alena might have taken the sword to fight the Minotaur, but after hearing its scream, she fell to her knees, blankly staring ahead.
Within a moment, the Mimotaur stood over her, mere moments away from bringing her weapon down. Scared of death, Alena closed her eyes and waited for the blow... but it never came. The only noise that came was a loud thud of something falling.
Still scared, Alena slowly opened her eyes, only to find a strange sight. The Minotaur's sword was on the ground, mere an inch away from here. The sight shook her, but what she saw next made her dumbfounded.
A man wearing a black cloak was on top of the Minotaur, stabbing what appeared to be knives into the Minotaur's eyes.
"What are you waiting for? RUN!" The man yelled, and without wasting any time, Alena grabbed Jackson and dragged him to the exit.
"H-Hold on for a while! I'll get some help once we're outside!" Alena exclaimed before disappearing into another tunnel.
"Do whatever the fuck you want," Adrian scoffed before leaping from the Minotaur's back. "By the time they get here, this fucker would be dead, and I long gone."
Adrian initially intended to exit the dungeon while the Minotaur was occupied with the stranger, and his decision to engage the beast had nothing to do with the pitiful divers but his greed.
It was the first time Adrian had seen such a weak Minotaur in his life. But that wasn't the reason he decided to hunt the beast.
As he saw the creature, it got registered in the [Monster Codex], which meant if he managed to slay the Minotaur, he would get a guaranteed organ drop.
Adrian was willing to risk his life for a part of the boss monster's body, as he knew it would be worth it.
"Only a fool would waste a golden opportunity like this," Adrian said quietly as the Minotaur struggled to remove the knives Adrian had plunged into its eyes.
Adrian kept talking to himself while retrieving the crossbow from his inventory. "Plus, thinking of all the experience points and loot I'd get from killing this dull monster got me all excited."