This was an E-ranked [Dungeon]. It's a relatively beginner friendly dungeon, but like with all other variants, its easy to lose your life if you aren't careful.

What are [Monsters]? 

They are by definition, any species of any kind, including humanoid, non-humanoid, plants, and animals that have no sense of conscience, and will attack anything and anyone mindlessly in an extremely violent fashion. Their aggressiveness is unhinged, and causes millions of injuries and deaths of people every year. There is no way to communicate with these creatures, which means termination is inevitable.

As such, most of the time, they will not go in a frenzy killing their own kind, meaning they behave like normal animals when they are around each other. It is safe to say that they have an ego, and have their own ecosystems in the dungeons, where there are predators and prey. For some reason, when it is anything outside of their own kind, they instantly become aggravated and will attack on the spot.

Differing from normal species of mankind, they have magic crystals within them, while humans do not.

As I slowly trudged along the rocky crevice, I held my gun close to my body in a 45 degree angle, lining the ironsights with my right eye.

The faint breeze of wind slapped my face, as my eyes became adjusted to the dark abyss that was the dungeon.

I eventually made it into a large room, shaped in a dome, with shards and icicles of rock hanging from the ceiling, with a gentle stream that flowed from one entrance to another. Glowing ores filled the spaces in between the rock, and in the side of the dome were other ledges that led to other parts of the cave.

I ducked behind a pillar, as I peeked beside it.

There were multiple kobolds. A furry subterranean creature with sharp long canines and a face for a wolf; their sharp gazes and well sense of smell proved to be quite the beast. They stood on two feet, and their fur was a deep dark red. They were innately cowards, opting to travel in groups, and prefers the method of traps and schemes, rather than direct combat. Quite similar to goblins, but more taller, the size of a normal adult male, and stronger, with preferable weapons that consisted to small daggers to a normal sword.

As such, they were all standing beside a rock. It seemed that they were resting, or perhaps waiting for an unknown prey to fall into their trap.

However, that didn't mean shit to me, as I simply extended my arms, aimed at their heads, and-

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!

Without even being able to put up some sort of resistance, the 9mm penetrated into their skulls, demolishing their brain matter, as their bodies simply hit the floor with a thud.

Dashing along the rocks, I relocated myself to a new pillar, as more kobolds began flooding in from one of the entrances, as they jumped off the ledges and landed beside the dead bodies of their comrades. 

Howling, their roars reverberated throughout the dome, as soon, small sounds of stomping came from within other entrances.

[Guns] were simply not the best weapon to use in a dungeon - they were too loud, and even if you did have a suppressor, that didn't mean your gun would instantly become silent: it doesn't work that way. It's a "suppressor" not a fucking "silencer." Some people just didn't get that, leading to their naivety which would get them killed in the dungeon, expecting their guns to be dead silent like in video games, when in reality, they didn't.

Well then, I better clean up this batch of monsters before the others come.

Aiming once again from around the corner, I placed a single bullet in each of their heads, as another group of kobolds arrive, as they glared in my direction.

(Tsk. They saw me.)

Circulating some magic into my legs, I darted from cover to cover, as multiple arrows flew past me. Firing off some shots, more kobolds hit the ground, and I continued to run to each new location. This area was like a battle dome, with infrastructure in between me and the enemies.

The Kobolds were beginning to become impatient, annoyed of a pesky weak prey that kept dancing to one new location to the other. They split up and began cutting my escape routes. They were getting closer and closer, as I soon became surrounded by them, their mouths growling and dripping with saliva. My heart was thumping, and the adrenaline started running through my bloodstream. 

I should be terrified. At this point, I was literally facing death in its eyes. But other thoughts instead surfaced in my mind.

 『Yes, this was it. 

   This exhilarating thrill of danger.

   When your heart starts to squeeze, and your lungs begin to pant harder and harder. 

   Is there something wrong with me?

   Why does my cheeks hurt?

   Ah... I'm smiling aren't I?』

My mind went blank. There were no thoughts of who I was, or what I was doing, or what I was striving for: I just needed to kill them.

They inched closer and closer, their canines in full view, their faces distorted with anger and hostility. 

Arrows pointed at my neck, the grinding of metal against rock as they got closer.

I readied my grip on my Glock 17.

Then... they pounced.

Digging my feet into the ground, I exploded off the floor like a springboard, as I flew over the kobolds.

Flipping in the air, I soon stabilised by squeezing my core, and held the Glock 17 in between my two palms.

There. Right there. 

As my body continued to fly across the room, I sent mana into my eyes, as everything around me gradually slowed down, and the heads of the shocked Kobolds came in sight with the ironsights of my gun.

Feeling the wall, I squeezed the trigger, as I felt the forward momentum of the striker¹A striker-fired gun uses a spring-loaded firing pin, commonly referred to as a “striker,” to indent the primer of the chambered cartridge to fire the gun.hit the primer²Primer: An explosive substance that ignites when struck to detonate the powder in a cartridge.on that lasviscious 9mm, causing the propellant³Firearm propellants are the chemical substances used to rapidly generate gas causing a pressure difference accelerating a bullet through the barrel of a firearm.to ignite and discharge the bullet through the barrel of the gun. Flying through the rifled barrel⁴The cutting of spiral grooves in a gun barrel. Rifling works by spinning the projectile about its axis, causing gyroscopic forces that spin-stabilize it throughout its flight., the 9mm bullet began to twirl, over and over, as it exited the muzzle with a burst of flames. On the walls of the dome were a bright beautiful amber light that flashed as my gun fired. As it flew towards the head of the Kobold, the spent casing flew out of the gun as the slide racked back with a loud clink. It travelled throught the air, twisting and twirling, its shell shining and shimmering under the dull blue light of the cave. 

As the slide racked forward, I moved on to the next target. Reseting the trigger, I aimed at another head and- BOOM!

The bullets rained down, as each and every single one of them crushed their skulls and lodged themselves in their gooey disgusting white and grey matter. 

In a matter of a few seconds, the large group of kobolds of around 13 fell to the ground, as I twisted my body once again wtih my feet facing the floor.

Landing on my feet, the slide locked back, as I simply pressed the mag release and flicked the spent magazine to the right. I inserted a new mag into the Glock 17 and pressed the slide release in one succinct motion. 

Other kobolds came in. 

However, they stared at the dead bodies of their comrades and then gazed into my eyes. A few seconds pass, as I continued to look at them with an amused grin, before they all fleed away with their tails in between their legs.

"...What the. It was just getting fun as well."

Releasing my [Mana], I hummed as I made my way to their corpses, looking upon their dead carcasses.

Grabbing my rusty dagger, I slammed it into the middle of their chest, as I ripped the skin apart, revealing a dark blue stone that glowed slightly in the dark.

This was the [Mana Crystal]. The one and only most valued item in the entirety of the world, excluding S tier drops of course.

You could even see it as a form of currency at this point.

As such, these kobolds were [E-rank], so their mana crystals wouldn't fetch for a high price, but it was still good money. Maybe around $10 for each stone, which again, isn't really high considering that you were basically risking your life to acquire these crystals.

I went further along the path, and came across goblins. Their dilated pupils and long nose made me sick. Their pointed ears and revolting sneers entered the cave. But... It was the same process. I simply shot them in the head in quick succession, and BOOM! Easiest way to make quick bank.

This was the reason why [Guns] were considered crutches. It was simple to just shoot them from a safe distance, and you would easily be able to kill them with no risk involved. That being said, [Guns] were a VERY unpopular choice of weaponry, because it was simply time-wasting and useless to be using them in the long run. It made sense. Why would you practice using a firearm if you couldn't kill high ranking monsters? The only people to use [Guns] in this modern society would either be bandits and thieves trying to earn some easy cash or low talented hooligans that simply wanted to commit murder and robbery in the city, which wasn't really effective considering that the police now had other [Gaia] that helped serve and protect the country.

That being said... it wasn't really as simple as just shooting their heads. If an untrained civilian were to enter a dungeon with a gun, most likely than not, they would immediately lose their lives. Using guns were not as simple as point, aim, and shoot - there are so many things that you had to consider, like your ammo count, the wind, whether your gun was zeroed or not, and especially the pressure of having to precisely aim at human-killing monsters that could easily overrun you if you weren't careful. These monsters were not simple static cardboard targets - they were real, alive and extremely deadly. For a normal civilian, it would be normal to miss a singular shot due to pressure, attract the rest of the monsters in the dungeon due to the loud explosion of the gun, and then become an easy target to chase and run down.

Oh right, did I mention that only people above 18 years old are allowed to enter these dungeons? 

I didn't. I lied about my age. They did not do a background check on me, and its relatively lax in terms of who enters the dungeon and who does not.

Why? I don't fucking know. It's might be due to the encouragement of the government to cleanse the dungeons, regardless of age. In that sense, you could consider them corrupt, but it worked better for me like this, as simply going to the firing range and shooting static targets were not as valuable as shooting real moving monsters. That being said, I remembered the time where I would walk into the range, and practice speed / tactical reloads, clearing gun jams, and moving across the field and shooting at the same time. It was fun times. Anyways...

Just like how an E-rank dungeon are meant for E-ranked [Gaia], an S-rank dungeon are meant for S-ranked [Gaia].

However, that didn't necessarily mean that I couldn't enter an S-ranked dungeon. Sure I could, but why would you? You were basically asking for a death sentence, and if you had any sort of normal common sense, you just wouldn't risk your life for such a stupid idea.
Yes... that is if you had common sense.

I was an F-rank, and I was heading into an E-ranked dungeon. But why? Why would I risk my life over this?

Easy.

[The Gate Incident]. This was the underlying motif and final arc of the original novel, [The Fractured Heavens]. 

Just like what the title suggests, gigantic gates all around the world started appearing in the sky, which shattered and released an incomprehensiveable amount of S-Rank monsters into the world. Not only that, but even normal dungeons that had existed since the start of time opened, unleashing the monsters from within. The world became what could only be described as [Hell]. Flames, roamed the streets, infrastructure demolished with humans and other species working together to irradicate the S-ranked monsters. This is where our MC would come in to save the day. He was blessed with the magic of [Light], which singlehandedly was the most effective element against monsters - his AOE was massive, turning the environment around him a holy sanctuary. 

While I did decide to leave everything to the main character... I realised something that had slipped my mind. Wouldn't I die? I mean, with this shit of a body, there was no way in hell I was surviving if an S-Ranked Monster arrived at my doorstep in my current state. 

⌈...Fuck.⌋ (In Korean)

I needed to get stronger, and fast. If I died now in this shitty E-rank dungeon, then everything will be for naught. Rather than hanging onto this pathetic life for as long as possible, I wanted to live till I died of age - Not to some fucking monster. Not to some fucking human. And definitely not a cowardly death that I would regret in the afterlife.

So screw it. If I die now, so be it. That is what it all amounted to in the end. 

.....

I came across other monsters. It ranged from basic mobs that consisted of Kobolds, Skeletons, Goblins, Small Spiders, and Small Snakes.

Eventually, I found my way in front of a humungous double door, endorned with steel blunt spikes that sprouted from the wooden furniture.

This was the Boss Room.

Pushing my way through the door, I was met with a gigantic circular room, with a bridge that connected to a circular platform of stone, right above a deep abyss of darkness. Sitting in a silver throne laid a fucking massive Kobold. His canines were prominent; he was quadriple the size of me, with his long snout and ripped muscles. His spiky fur laid burgundy, and his blackshot eyes stared at me, while he sat with a silver crown on his head.

The [Kobold King], the first E-rank Boss to be encountered in a dungeon.

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A/N: From now on, if you see ⌈ ⌋, this will mean that a character is speaking in a different language, which in this case for Sa Daehyun is Korean. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! :D