As soon as I stepped through the red orb, everything around me shifted. It looked like I had ended up in the upper section of some kind of subway system that was abandoned. The lights were flickering, and there was the sound of dripping water coming from somewhere close by. There were also a few rats that scurried away as they sensed my presence, and I leaned against one of the support beams in thought about Chloe staying behind to wait for me.

I hadn't expected to end up in a place like this, considering the last dungeon had been a reflection of what the build had once been. This time I was surrounded by darkness, and it was hard to see anything in the murky water that had pooled along the floor. I sighed deeply before moving away from the support beam, my hand tightening around the hilt of my longsword as I moved forward cautiously.

I could feel Chloe through our bond, but I pushed those thoughts aside for now as I focused on what was in front of me. The first thing that caught my attention was a set of stairs leading down into the darkness, so without any other choice in the matter, "Here goes nothing," I muttered before starting my descent into whatever horrors this dungeon had in store for me...

It didn't take long to reach the bottom of the stairs, where there was a small platform with a subway train car on it that looked like it hadn't been used in years. There were also some more rats running around down here, and one even jumped at me! But thankfully, Midnight Frost did its job as it froze mid-air before shattering when it hit; thanks to Stopping Power 2 passive skill, though, it only took two swings from my blade to finish off all three rats.

There still wasn't any sign of monsters, so I cautiously started to make my way through the train car. The first thing that caught my eye was a small case on one of the seats, so without thinking twice about it, I went over and opened it. Inside there was a shiny gold coin as well as some other junk like bottle caps and gum wrappers.

[You have found 1 Gold Coin!]   [You have found 5 Bottle Caps!]     [ You have found 2 Gum Wrappers!]    

 It didn't seem like much, but every little bit helped at this point in time! After that, I continued to look around but didn't find anything else of interest inside the train car before moving on down the tracks. There were more rats crawling around down here as well as some other things that looked like they might be feral dogs or something by their size. Thankfully whatever these things were, they kept their distance for now. 

That was good by me right now because if something jumped out at me from behind one of these support beams, I would most likely end up getting hurt pretty bad! Still no real monsters in sight... It made me wonder what kind of dungeon this event was supposed to be? 

I came to a stop before what looked like an old service elevator that had seen better days, and there was a sign next to it with the word 'Up' on it. I doubted that this thing would work, but something told me that this might be my only way out of there, so pushing the button next to the door was my best course of action at this particular moment in time. 

Thankfully the elevator door opened with a 'ding,' and when I stepped inside, I noticed there was nothing special about it until I hit the up button. That's when things started getting weird as suddenly everything around me shifted into some kind of purple haze for just a brief second before everything returned back to normal, almost as if nothing had even happened!   Meanwhile...

---

"What is he doing?" Hades asked impatiently as he stared at his monitor showing Halberd in some dark place that didn't look any different from all other dungeons, in his opinion. 

"All he is doing is walking around looking lost," Helena said, but she didn't look concerned because Halberd was actually being careful and trying to get stronger using all of his advantages. The only thing that bothered her was the welfare goddess that had attached herself to Halberd.  

A bored sigh escaped Hades's lips as he watched Halberd move forward cautiously while looking all around him carefully for any monsters or traps waiting to spring on him, most likely. All in all very uneventful so far, which meant one thing: Boring!  

"Come on already; do something!" Hades demanded angrily while banging his fist down onto his desk hard enough to make several items fall over from their perches precariously close to the edge.

"I suggest you calm yourself down, brother," Persephone said as she came over and placed her hand comfortingly on his shoulder while Helena just rolled her eyes in annoyance. "We want him to get stronger, not weaker."  

Hades pushed away from his desk and started pacing around angrily while mumbling curses under his breath. He really wanted things to move along so he could find out where this was going, but at the same time, he didn't want Halberd to get hurt... Wait a minute! That was it!   "Who is watching over that goddess?" Hades asked suddenly while stopping mid-step with an evil grin on his face. 

 It looked like maybe things were about ready to liven up in this dungeon after all! Though truth be told, there wasn't much any of them could do about it even if they had seen what was coming for Chloe. Monsters tended not to attack anyone or anything except for their target, which meant... Well, let's just say poor Chloe would be getting a visit from some rather angry monsters very soon if Hades had anything to say about it, which, thankfully, he did.  

So with that being said, let's go ahead and pick back up with our story, shall we? 

---

     I continued pushing buttons until finally, the elevator reached its destination with a 'ding' sound before opening up into what looked like an old office building of some kind, going by the look of desks piled up in some areas while other areas looked like they had been ransacked. I stepped out of the elevator cautiously with my blade at the ready as my eyes scanned the area for any monsters or traps waiting to spring on me.

However, much to my disappointment, there wasn't anything here except for more rats and feral dogs that scattered as soon as I showed up. I knew better than to let my guard down, though, so instead of just strolling around carelessly, "Time to do this properly," I muttered before activating 'In The Zone, ' which meant all firearm skills would require fifty percent less energy from now on! 

I started by checking each room one by one for anything lurking inside but thankfully found nothing more than some old office furniture that was probably worth next to nothing and a few more rats and feral dogs but otherwise, no monsters in sight anywhere... But something felt off about this place; it was too quiet! Like something was waiting patiently in the shadows watching... And judging by how things have been going lately? That most likely meant trouble with a capital T! 

    Just as that thought crossed my mind, a flash of steel zipped by my face, and I barely had time to react as I spun out of the way, but not before feeling a sharp pain in my left shoulder. When I looked down, there was a small cut that was bleeding slightly from where the blade had grazed me. "What the hell?!"