A Tale of an Adventurer and a Researcher:

 

So, we finally found them, humans... Well, Humans skeletons to be exact.

I walked towards the skeletons. They were lying inside a rugged and torn tent-like arrangement. There was some luggage lying around them too.

Judging by the clothes, one must be a man and the other a woman?

Upon moving closer, I saw that their hands were intertwined, they were holding hands when they died. I guess, they were quite close, maybe a married couple as they have the same kind of rings on their fingers.

Since their bodies are this deep in this dungeon, they must be the "other Imposters or sinners" thrown in this dungeon by that shitty woman.  

Seeing their luggage, if I had to guess then, they must be on a journey, or were already escaping from the Goddess, were caught and then thrown here to die.

But if that was the case, did that Bitch really didn't mind throwing them here with all this luggage along with them? Could it be that one of them had something like an inventory skill? Also, their bodies and even their clothes are in proper condition, indicating no signs that they died while fighting nor any signs that after their death any roaming monster messed with their bodies or belongings.

It looks like they lived here for quite a long time and finally accepted their deaths..... they didn't die while struggling at the very least. 

It seems that monsters really avoid this place, huh.

Is it a safe zone? No, as far as I know about this world, dungeons don't have safe zones.

Or is it because of this entrance? Or is it something else?

I rummaged through their belongings and found four items that looked like they were something meaningful. A diary, A Book, and two small-sized locked caskets. There are various other ancient-looking tools too, but I chose to check them out later.

I kept the locked caskets and skimmed through the contents of the book and the diary. The book was titled "BruSelina", it contained various formations of magic circles and descriptions of various animals/monsters, tools and dungeons. 

And, the diary was of the man, Bruce. I was curious about how they ended up here, so I began reading the diary while sitting cross-legged in front of the skeleton couple.

"I've read about Bruce somewhere, he and his wife were traitors of Humanity or something like that, are they the same people? But that was about 1500 years ago!" I frowned.

"I... don't know, history was never my interest, Itsuki-Kun." Rina smiled.

"Oh-okay." I flipped a page.

While I began reading, Akane scratched her head and sighed. She then said that she'll be keeping watch while I was busy.

'Hmm, I am able to read the letters just fine even though the language wasn't the one I knew, seems like the "blessing" works nicely.'

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Sigh.

This biography or diary was quite interesting as well as tragic.  

 In this world, people awaken their 'skills', usually between the age of 11 to 13. However, this man, named Bruce Williams was among those people who can't awaken their skills between that specific age group and remain skill-less and thus powerless throughout their lives. Somewhat like me, though I had that useless 'Skill-Possessing Individual' certificate.

But, even though he was bullied since childhood which became worse in his teen years due to being unawakened, Bruce's dream was to become an adventurer. Adventurer is an occupation that involves reducing the number of dangerous monsters, finding medicinal herbs, escorting, exploring dungeons to collect various items, etc.  

He often used to sneak into the forest to explore its wonders or to kill some monsters. He was content with just the little adventuring he could manage.

One day, he sneaked into the forest just like any other day. But when he returned, he found his whole village destroyed and his only family, his mother, the only person in this world who cared for him, who loved him... killed by a monster.

He despaired, he wailed, and he resolved himself to slay the beast that rampaged in his village. To get Revenge...

Blinded by his rage, he followed the trails of destruction and rampage of the monster and confronted it. That monster or beast turned out to be an A-Class beast, Rynyx. 

'Pretty bad luck, huh.'

Rynyx are among the strongest and fastest beasts in this world. 

Years of training, strengthening his body, sharpening his senses in the forest made him believe that he could fight and get his revenge but instead, he was confronted with the reality of being the powerless he was. 

It wasn't even a fight. 

The monster got bored after trashing him after a few minutes and left while he was lying there in a near-death state.

When he was taking his last breath, he prayed for a miracle. 

The miracle came, it came in the form of a woman. 

That mysterious woman saved him from his death and gave him an ORB, she told him that the ORB will grant him the skill to summon beasts that would follow all his commands when tamed. 

The skill- summoning, is one of the most common skills that the people of this world could possess. But the problem with the skill-summoning that ordinary people had was the limit of the number of summons, but surprisingly or rather as expected Bruce's skill didn't have that limit. He could have any number of monsters under his command. Of course, the number wasn't limitless, the limit of number of monsters under him grew as he grew stronger as well as their strength.

His first summon was an infant Fenris, he tamed it, trained it and cultivated its power. 

After a few years, he and his Fenris became the most powerful pair in the city. He also trained dozens of other monsters after that. 

And one day, he encountered the same Rynyx once again.  

However, this time after hours of intense blood-boiling struggle, he finally got his revenge. The battle cost him his left eye and a few bones. Except for his left eye, most injuries were patchable... 

That day was just the beginning of the rise of the strongest summoner of this world.

In a few more years, he became the strongest S-Ranked Adventurer of his time. He was respected and loved by the whole country. Well, he was a kind person and saved many people from monsters and even donated a portion of his earnings to the orphanages and temples, so that was an expected outcome. And on a fateful meeting, he fell in love with a woman who not too long after became his wife.

His wife, named Selina Williams was a historian, inventor, researcher and archaeologist. She was a devoted wife, a loving mother and passionate about her profession. She was already among the most famous and respected people in the world for uncovering many myths and secrets about this world. But being a historian and an archaeologist her curiosity showed no bound, there were two things she couldn't figure out. 

One. According to the tales and written records, humans flourished in this world since the beginning of time. And a few millennia ago, Devils arose to conquer the world. To consume the humans, and to destroy civilization. When things became dire for the civilization, then Goddesses, Heroes and Apostles came to this world to save the humanity and other peaceful races that lived in this world. Yes, there are multiple goddesses in this world.

But according to her research at various ruins and existing specimens, the oldest humans came after the Devils. 

Second. About a Corrupt Goddess that died in the "Dungeon of the Eternal Mist". 

This Corrupt Goddess came from the heavens 200 years ago, in their time, meaning 1700 years ago for us. She was accused of colluding with the devils. The other Goddess with their Apostles attempted to strike justice on her, but she escaped to the Dungeons.

Selina didn't get why a Goddess would ever collude with a Devil. For power? For fame? Or for any other reason?

Despite being on having lived half of their lives, in their fifties, no surprise that her curiosity and his adventure-seeking nature led them to go on a journey to explore the Dungeon of Eternal Mist for answers. This Dungeon was said to be a maze-type, one from where no one ever came out, neither dead nor alive. But since their daughter had already married and recently became a mother herself and Bruce was the strongest adventurer, they thought that they had nothing to worry about..... But just when they reached the entrance of the Dungeon of Eternal Mist, 

Apostles and Goddess Helastia came to capture them. Apparently, they too were labelled as Imposters and Humanity's betrayers, someone who colluded with the Devils for the fall of humanity. 

All the fame and respect they earned from the people turned into hatred and hostility. 

Their only daughter was gang-raped, in front of them and their son-in-law. Their son-in-law was tortured near death. And then their daughter, son-in-law and 1-year-old Grand-daughter were decapitated publicly as a show of petty justice. 

Bruce and Selina, on the other hand, weren't tortured nor killed instead they were shown worse. Finally, they were thrown here to die or rather sent back to their "masters". Same as she did to us. Selina had inventory like skill, that's how they managed to carry all these items in this dungeon. They left all these items for us,  that is, for the next victims of the goddesses. 

Among the multiple dungeons located in various places around the whole globe , five are the most dangerous ones. These five dungeons are said to be guarding The Devil Lord and his four main subordinates while they're unawakened. The dungeons of Eternal Mists is one of those five.

'It's like those demon kings and four heavenly kings kinda stories,'

Anyway, this dungeon belongs to one of the five and is called "The Tomb of Igris". 

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That... was the tale of this couple, a family- destroyed by the Goddesses and the people of this world. 

Scratching my chin, I stood up. 

'Another worry is now eating me up, the safety of my family.'

'Please, be safe... Mom, Dad, Brother.'

I told Akane-san to read the diary if she wanted, not wanting to recite it to her myself because of tiredness and... a bit due to a slight feeling of grief. I also told her that this place can be used as a safe zone, so she can relax a bit. 

She stretched her body while raising her arms and yawned, which highlighted her curves and bumps, I turned my gaze away. 

'Her face looks so pale. The dark circle under her eyes seems to be expanding day by day. I also spotted some white hair on her head. Sigh, stress.... I guess my face looks like that too. Well, that's what happens when you don't get proper food or sleep for this many days, khek.'

Looking at the caskets, I recalled what they contained... They contained our way out. But I should wait till she's finished reading the diary.

'My eyes feel heavy... I want to sleep!'

Exhaling, I walked to the front of the eerie yet majestic gate and stared at it.

Now... I know what's behind this gate. 

It really is the Boss Room.