"Woah, the hell is that?" Insignia pointed, squinting.

They had traversed through most of the dungeon and got to a large open clearing. It was away from the main path, and a large cavern strewn with jagged rocks, dead leaves, spider webs and rotting vegetation greeted them. The stagnant and stale air caused most members to stumble for their breath, as the deep atmosphere and briny smell weren't all too pleasant.

"Red Scorpion," Emblem replied, "It's the mini-boss."

"Bro, we here already?" Insignia was surprised.

They were on a tall ledge overlooking the circular area below. The scorpion was guarding a treasure chest, which was weird for Seungwoo. Monsters usually drop their items on death, or a chest spawns on their graves. For them to be guarding a chest meant that it was an intentional game design. He didn't think much of it, aiming his bow.

"Wait," Woo-jin stopped him, "There's a button."

"I'm glad you noticed," Insignia replied, "How do we clear this one, again?"

"We can skip this mini-boss," Emblem replied, "The boss doesn't drop anything."

"Can we lure it away and take the item's inside the chest?" Seungwoo asked.

"We just need to press the button," She replied, "It lets us access the second boss, which we're probably going to do first."

"Hmm," Woo-jin put his hand on his chin, "Do you think we should just kill the boss?"

"We can," She nodded, "Although that would take a bit."

"Really?" He asked. Seungwoo also wasn't convinced.

"This mini-boss has high health," She explained, "It's more of a gimmick boss than an actual one."

"Anyone got any ideas?"

"We just throw a projectile at the button, right?" Seungwoo replied.

"Nope, our friends tried that already," 

"Well, what did they do?" Seungwoo turned, asking.

"They tried to do the boss and almost got wiped," She chuckled softly, "They ended up just skipping the second boss because they were scared it would be too hard."

"That's..." Woo-jin raised his eyebrows, "Somewhat comforting?"

"So, how do we get out once we drop into the cavern?"

"The button once pressed, also spawns a platform you can walk on."

"Right, but why does the button have to be directly under the boss..." Seungwo sighed.

"Fuck it, man!" Insignia yelled triumphantly, "I'm in this bitch."

He jumped down the cavern without further notice. 

"Goddammit," Emblem shook her head as if this was an everyday occurrence to her, "I guess the ranged can stay up here, and the melee will tank the boss. I don't know why he does it, but I guess he just likes fighting everything."

"Have you tried telling him not to do that?" Seungwoo replied.

"Nah, I like his style," Woo-jin chuckled, "I'm going in with him. Back me up."

He leapt down with a swift landing, graceful and direct. Seungwoo only shrugged as he prepared his bow. Emblem tapped her staff, and several fireballs appeared behind her. Repeating the motion, the fireballs flung toward the giant scorpion. Seungwoo sat back with Emblem to watch the sight as the two melee players were locked in combat. They weren't in any danger, and they both knew what they were doing, so Seungwoo wasn't too worried about watching their positioning.

"So, how long have you been playing MMOs?" Emblem asked.

"A couple of years," He responded.

"Nice," She said, "I've only been playing for a couple of months, but I heard this game was the next big thing."

"Are you new to the genre?"

"Somewhat," She replied, "I worked in sports commentating. Traditional sports like football and such."

"How was that?" He inquired.

"It wasn't too bad," She replied, lining her sight and flinging more fireballs, "I just needed a breath of fresh air."

"You took a break?"

"I was attracted to video games because of the commentating in professional matches."

"Really?" Seungwoo was surprised.

"Yeah, the e-Sports scene has gotten quite big," She nodded, "I was curious about how they were able to commentate such chaotic actions. Unlike sports, there are many things you need to learn about the game to be a good commentator. I had no idea of all these terms they were referring to or abilities that the players were using."

Seungwoo threw more arrows, "How is it going so far?"

"Pretty fun!" She smiled, "I joined a good guild with great players, and even though they might be... interesting sometimes, they're good people at heart." She looked at Insignia, who seemingly had the time of his life.

"I get that," Seungwoo replied, "You should add us to your friend's list. Maybe we can catch up later down the line."

"That sounds good to me."

"Awww shit," Insignia replied, hitting the final blow on the boss, "I'm sending this boss back to the shadow realm, baby."

"The what?" Woo-jin chuckled.

"Card game?" He replied, "Super old one?"

"Never heard of it," He shrugged.

"Bro..."

The Red Scorpion fell with a large thud, dropping its entire body weight onto the ground before slowly vanishing. The chest directly under him, which he was guarding, was popped open, and several items spilt out of several rarities. The items were of acceptable quality, but it wasn't anything that Seungwoo and Woo-jin could replace. Most of their items were suitable for the level they were at.

"You good if I take this one?" 

The Red Scorpion Hide Armor was an item that let the player bounce back damage onto the attacker. It was good for tanks, so he could understand why he wanted it. Since they were in a four-person group, they would have to split based on rolling for numbers. Seungwoo was confident that he could've just given it to them without any hassle.

"You can have it," Woo-jin replied, "You can have all the drops; we're just looking for a specific item."

"You sure?" He asked.

Woo-jin nodded, and Seungwoo also agreed.

"Sweet," Insignia stressed, "This bitch mine, then."

After looting the room, they entered back into the main path. Upon pressing the button, a click could be heard as a platform appeared from under the earth for them to leave. There was also another rumbling noise, far away, which Seungwoo assumed to be the second path opening up. 

The cave grew narrower as they descended deeper, and the light that emanated from the crystals was growing dimmer as if something was absorbing the light. There were fewer veins of ore to mine in each room, so they managed to descend deeper without taking too much time to gather ore. Insignia joked that gathering ore took more time to clear the room, which had some truth to it.

"Watch out for the poison mushroom spores," Emblem said, "If you touch them, they will spread poison throughout the room."

"We should be good," Woo-jin nodded, watching his surroundings.

Insignia lighted her fireballs behind her, giving them enough light to see in the darkness of the cave. Her ability was good in this scenario, as she didn't need to use it until they found mobs, and prepping it also gave them an advantage.

Eventually, the paths diverged once again as they got deeper and deeper. There were several cave tunnels, and although Insignia had experience with seeing the dungeon before, the terrain was randomly generated, meaning that each one of the paths could lead to an unknown place. They didn't know which one was the right one.

"Should we split up to save time?" Woo-jin posed the question.

"I think we should stick together," Emblem replied, "There's no time limit to clear, and it's safer that way."

"Which one should we enter, then?" Seungwoo asked.

"I think the middle?" Insignia scratched his head, "Does it really matter?"

"Probably not, but the middle is our best bet."

The group entered slowly, as they were heading towards unknown territory. Emblem didn't know what to prepare for up ahead, so they were taking their steps deliberate and methodical. The path got narrower and narrower, and he could almost taste the sweet damp air surrounding them. That, along with the stalactites that hung from the ceiling was dripping water over his head.

After a few minutes of walking, they got into another clearing. This one was devoid of any monsters, which was odd since every room that they've encountered had monsters lurking about. Woo-jin put up his hand to make sure we didn't step any further but gave the signal to Insignia to keep proceeding. This was a classic approach, where the tank would first check the room.

"Keep going," Woo-jin spoke, his voice bouncing off the walls.

Once they entered inside, Emblem lit up the room to reveal an empty room with nothing inside. She moved her fireballs around the room and noticed some strange symbols, along with silken cocoons the size of a human. Everyone was interested in knowing what the symbols meant, but Seungwoo looked at the cocoon with a sense of unease.

There must have been a reason they added that.

Maybe the cocoons contain monsters?

"Hey, the entrance disappeared behind us," Insignia noted.

Looking around, they realized he was right. The entrance which they came in was suddenly blocked off by a huge boulder. No one knew how the boulder got there, but the glowing rune on the boulder meant that they couldn't leave. Seungwoo frowned, and then a sudden thought hit him that he hoped wasn't to be true.

"Everyone, stand still," He spoke quietly, "Do not move."

"Why are you whispering?" Seungwoo replied, "Is there something wrong?"

"Just stand still," He put a finger over his mouth, "Do not say a word."

Everyone followed his orders, and when he pointed his hands upwards into the air, everyone realized as well. Upon the ceiling was a horrid sight to behold. When Insignia trailed her flames into the air, what she saw shocked her to the cor. The whole ceiling was covered with thick cobwebs, containing hundreds of spiders the size of a human. They seemed to be asleep, but any noise that woke them up would spell almost certain doom for them.

"Fucking shit," Insignia whispered quietly, cursing under his breath, "Trap room."

"What?" Seungwoo looked, "How do we get out?"

"There should be a puzzle," He replied, "Trap rooms are basically puzzle rooms with a timer."

"Have you encountered this one, before?" Seungwoo looked at Emblem.

She shook her head.

"Alright, the runes might play a part."

"Obviously, but what do they mean?"

"Shit," Emblem cursed this time, "This is a secret boss."

"Secret boss?"

"There are two main bosses in this dungeon, but there's also a small chance of running into a secret boss."

"Is that a rule for every dungeon?" Seungwoo asked.

"Yes," She replied, "Does no one read the Introductory Guide? It's on their website."

"I wanted to go into it blind, for the experience," Seungwoo embarrassingly admitted.

"Well, we are definitely experiencing it now." 

"We should use party chat," Woo-jin replied, "Reduces the chances of waking them up."

"Agreed."

"Well, let's think of a plan to get the hell out of here," Seungwoo replied, "I don't think we're capable of fighting a Hell mode boss."

"Why not?" Woo-jin replied, "We should try to do it, don't you think?"

Seungwoo chuckled nervously at that comment.