Rean made his way up the stairs. As he did, his ever-curious mind began a bunch of calculations and analysis.
'I can't believe I let a dungeon boss spell slip past me. I can't even imagine how much better my stats would be if I got that D-rank boss's spells extracted before it died. I guess it takes a while to evolve them and the creature died way too early.'
'That's not happening this time. The first instance I get, this boss will touch my blade and the process will begin. I just have to outlast it and I'm pretty much good. I'll kill it with its own spell,' Rean thought.
'That's the kind of hunter I'm going to become, one who outlasts his opponents in a fight and ends them with their own talents,' Rean proclaimed.
He had made the final step, and now what awaited him was definitely going to be the dungeon boss.
He headed into a tunnel, and at the other end he was greeted by a familiar but unexpected figure.
It was Captain Shom.
"I hoped one of you would make this call," Shom said.
"I just didn't think it would be you. I actually thought I'd be seeing Michael right about now," Shom said.
"So you're disappointed it's me but proud it at least happened," Rean said, sounding somewhat cocky.
"You merely made simple deductions. You're yet to actually do anything. Keep that tone in check," Shom responded.
"Before heading in, I want to ask you something, Captain. Why did you lie that you were monitoring us and going to come to our aid when you've been stationed here for a while? I don't get it," Rean said.
Shom made no comment.
"What if someone actually got hurt? Wouldn't that reflect super negatively and stuff?"
"I'll entertain you. I had no intention of saving any of you personally, but I also had no intention of having any incompetent hunter continue on this team. There will be no reflections for hunters of that level," Shom said.
"No one was going to get hurt. You would know we have matters arranged if you were part of this team's foundation, but you are not. Do not ask for more than you have any right to know."
"I did say I would entertain you this once. In the event any member of the team got hurt, I instructed Michael to immediately step in," Shom said.
This information almost completely shattered Rean.
'Is that how far ahead Michael is? I mean, how does Shom trust him that much?'
Trying to dismiss it off, Rean responded, "Whatever."
Walking past Shom and heading into the boss terrain.
Lying in wait was an egg. Yet to hatch.
This was what's called an instant boss.
Immature bosses in dungeons could be wiped out in their dormant form and the hunters would still claim the complete reward points. It was golden loot, very rare.
It seemed like fate, for some reason, chose to smile on Rean.
"The boss... it's dormant," Rean said.
"It would seem so," Shom replied, entering the chamber mere seconds after Rean.
"What do you do now? How do you proceed?"
"I cut it open, claim my points, and end this raid," Rean replied.
"That easy, huh? Go ahead," Shom said.
Rean grabbed his extension, his mind already racing with thoughts on how he'd use the 10,000 points from the rewards.
'I could max out all my stats instantly. I'd have more than enough points to experiment and figure out what exactly the evolution rate is.'
Rean couldn't hold back his smile as he thought.
Raising his hand with his extension drawn out, he thought about how anticlimactic this kill was going to be.
'It's my first dungeon boss kill and I won't even get to face off. This is cheap. I don't like it,' Rean thought.
Almost immediately, his mind flashed through moments he'd shared with Michael. Rean was silent.
He stuck out his tongue in disgust.
"Screw this, and screw Michael. This team will not revolve around him," Rean said, steeling his resolve as he made the slash, cutting right through the core.
Rean waited.
Then he waited.
He waited.
But nothing happened.
'Where's the pop-up icon? I don't see any dungeon boss defeated claim reward points. Did I do it wrong?'
Shom looked confused as well.
He was a veteran. This had never happened before.
Shom's eyes widened.
"That's impossible," he said.
"You know better than to use mana when slaying a dormant. You've awakened the beast."
Rean didn't get it.
Their extensions had no mana. They were made of a different substance that all monsters were weak to. It had never been heard that a dormant boss got up from a regular slash.
The egg began pulsating.
Something was coming out.
Rearing its ugly head was a humanoid-like bird creature, with a reptile-like head and wings for hands that were bathed in scales like that of a giant lizard.
'How... how did this happen?' Rean thought.
The monster let out a deafening scream, as if to announce its presence.
"It's coming from over there!" Michael shouted, directing Miles and himself toward the boss chamber.
"What do we do now?" Charles asked Lin, who was still in shock.
"There's only one explanation. You somehow infused mana into that attack," Shom said.
"But I didn't," Rean replied.
"If this is how you're going to be, forget ranking high enough to reach Michael. You'll not even see his sister's back with that attitude," Shom said.
"This is on you. You did this. You were given a golden opportunity to have your cake, but you refused. Your try-hard attitude is nice and all, but without the skills to back it up, you're just pathetic," Shom continued.
"They told me you had some special fire within you. It made you eager and pushed you. Now I know what direction that push was toward. I saw your eyes. You were dissatisfied with simply killing the boss as is. You wanted a fight. Now you've got one," Shom ended.
Rean looked defeated.
"Are... are you..." he stammered.
"Are you saying I shouldn't follow that fire?"