“Father, when I grow up, I will be just like you!”

 

Those were the last words I spoke to my father before he left with an expedition crew to explore a S-ranked dungeon in the depths of the Southern Rift. I was not worried about my father’s safety because he was an A-ranked warrior with many conquers under his belt. However, fifteen years later, there was still no sign or news of him and his crew.

 

Other families have long accepted that they had died during the exploration. However, I still believed that my father was alive. Now, as a twenty-two-year-old youth with some decent skills in spears, I set off to garner experience and challenge the Southern Rift...to find my father and bring him home.

 

And so, the day had finally arrived. I had recently registered at the Exploration Committee as a spearman and joined a newly established party consisting of two swordsmen, an archer, and a priestess. For our first dungeon, we had agreed on the F-ranked Angry Chicken Dungeon.

 

This was a dungeon meant to be a practice on our teamwork. It wasn’t meant to be very hard to accomplish. I fiddled with the amulet around my neck. It was a gift from my father before he left that fateful day. Apparently, he scavenged it from an old tomb deep within a dungeon in the Northern Mountains.

 

The amulet had been with me for years and it served both as a memento of my father – who is not dead!!! – and as a lucky charm. Soon, we arrived at the entrance of the dungeon. After signing off with the local dungeon manager, my party and I entered the F-ranked dungeon.

 

“Careful guys…this dungeon may be an easy one, but let’s not let our guards down, alright?” I remarked as I took the vanguard.

 

The archer followed behind me to provide any assistance while one of the swordsmen covered our rear. The priestess stayed in the middle of our formation as the second swordsman protected her well-being.

 

Suddenly, I noticed some scurrying up ahead followed by scratching sounds and bursts of clucking. I quickly gestured to my party as we surrounded the small group of Angry Chickens. There were five enemies and there were five of us. It shouldn’t be a problem.

 

With a wave of my hand after we got into position, I rushed towards the nearest chicken and slashed it with the tip of my spear. The priestess reached into her pockets and pulled out three slender throwing knives. A swift toss guaranteed her three hits, each hit crippling each of the three chickens. As for the remaining chicken, it was quickly finished off by the archer’s pinpoint accuracy.

 

The two swordsmen made quick work off of the three crippled chickens while I pinned the last chicken to the ground. As it bled out, I pulled out my spear and cleaned the sharp tip with a handkerchief. I looked at the others and smiled. This was going to be an easy conquer.

 

Of course, I had to jinx myself. After taking down two more groups of Angry Chickens, the dungeon suddenly shook and the skies turned a shade redder. A loud cuck-a-doodle-doo rang out, followed by a streak of blurry orange. An earsplitting screech and our priestess died…headless.

 

Immediately, we grimaced. The archer, who was dating the priestess, screamed in pained fury and blindly fired arrow after arrow at the enemy. The monster, an Angry Rooster, kicked away the priestess’s bloody head and seemingly smirked in our direction while he ruffled his feathers. With unnatural speed, the monster stepped and leaped as he dodged the arrows.

 

Unleashing another call of the furious, the Angry Rooster charged once more. Another head rolled as the archer’s body sprayed forth a fountain of blood. The two swordsmen squinted their eyes in horror and fear, but a well exclamation from me shook them free from their trances.

 

“Don’t let him scare you! He’s coming! Wedge Formation! Wedge Formation!” I roared as I aimed my spear towards the Angry Rooster.

 

The two swordsmen quickly positioned themselves by my sides and held their weapons ready while we moved towards the enemy in formation. As if spooked by our formation, the Angry Rooster did not charge in like previously. Instead, he cautiously approached us with a few pecks here and there to test the waters.

 

Once the monster was within reach of my spear, I attacked. The two swordsmen left my sides and flanked the Angry Rooster while I kept him busy with continuous spear thrusts. The erratic movements of the monster made it difficult for me to land a solid blow.

 

The two swordsmen attacked as well, but it seemed that the Angry Rooster was still able to keep the three of us at bay. The monster spread his wings, pushing us back and breaking our close-knit battle array. The Angry Rooster lunged towards me, causing me to raise my spear on guard. However, that was all just a feint.

 

As soon as I took a couple of steps back, the monster changed direction and attacked the nearest swordsman, dealing massive bleeding damage to his target’s body. The swordsman reeled back and spat out a mouthful of blood. His complexion getting paler by the second.

 

Before he could recover, a well-timed wing attack sent him sprawling away. His status unknown but I could guess it wasn’t optimistic. It was at this time that morale within the party dropped a new low. I was shivering with fear that I couldn’t even move while my so-called teammate turned tail and ran.

 

The Angry Rooster took one look at me as if analyzing the situation before pouncing on the fleeing swordsman. With a powerful peck, the monster nearly decapitated the man. Fear and anxiety continued to rise within me and when the Angry Rooster let out a furious scream, I screamed as well.

 

BAAACCCAAAWWWW!

 

“AAAAHHHH!!”

 

<AAAAHHHHH!!!>

 

???

 

Wait, what? What happened? I couldn’t help but gape at the sound of a third scream. Who said that?

 

<I did.>

 

The voice responded. It sounded so near yet I could not see anyone despite the Angry Rooster cawing in front of me. It seemed like the monster did not hear the third scream. Was I the only one who could hear it? Was it all in my head? Am I hallucinating stemmed from all this stress and fear?

 

<Yes, yes, and no.>

 

Another response answering my three questions. “Who are you?”

 

<Me? Call me…System-Bro!>