Chapter 49: First dungeon as a couple.

Zyra’s heart was suddenly pounding like a drum in her chest. She only got a few chances to hunt in gazetted dungeons in her last life. But, they had been more organized. All government-gazetted dungeons were supposed to be as safe and orderly as possible.

At least, that was the picture presented to them in class. A safe hunting and training environment.

Apparently, that was a lie! This was a lawless territory, no different from the jungles or any other territory of the Wild Lands.

The number of people and half-life beasts present was also higher than she expected. In case of a stampede, hundreds of lives would be gone. It was another fact that seemed to have been altered during classes. Didn’t the government care at all?

"Open the gates!" the Ground Master shouted, his voice booming over the crowd. "You have exactly two hours to evacuate. After that, the gates close automatically, and anyone left inside will be presumed to have become breakfast, lunch, or dinner for the beasts! Have fun!"

The crowd of hunters let out a massive, bloodthirsty cheer, raising their weapons into the air.

Amidst the roaring crowd, Hunter turned his head and looked at Zyra. He didn’t say a word, but his raised eyebrow said it all: I told you so. Regretting your life choices yet?

Zyra gripped the handle of her knife so tightly her palm hurt. She felt like she had just signed up for a crazy survival reality show, except there were no camera crews to save her when things went wrong. Honestly, she probably would have taken her chances out in the wild lands rather than in this crowded death trap.

"Too late to turn back now," she muttered to herself, swallowing her fear.

[Too late.] Beauty repeated with a lot of enthusiasm.

With a heavy, grinding groan, the massive iron gates swung open. Together, the crowd surged forward, shoving and pulling like prisoners looking for an escape.

Hunter stopped her from joining the frenzy. "A lot of sticky fingers in the crowd. Not everyone is here to hunt, some are just looking for easy pockets to pick."

She nodded. It seemed fighting was not the only thing he could teach her.

"Be observant," he said, touching a finger to her temple. "Dungeons are different. Some are buildings, some are caves, some are bodies of water. This one is a jungle within a jungle. You have to watch out for every shadow, leaf, drop of water. Anything could be poisonous."

He waited for the larger crowd to vanish before gesturing for her to move. It was easier to maneuver without being pulled or shoved.

"So," he said with a smile, "Our first dungeon as a couple. Do you want to take a picture to commemorate the moment?"

She flashed him a warning look. "Cut the nonsense."

They had barely made it in when a group of five came running out. A man was carrying a bleeding woman on his back. Their companions were fussing worriedly.

"Not even ten minutes yet." Someone laughed.

Zyra dripped her knife. Would she last ten minutes?

"Watch your step." Hunter said, pulling her back in time as she almost tripped over a vine.

"For half the stones at least, they should have put lights in here." Zyra commented.

Hunter leaned close to her, his breath warm against the chilly, damp air. "Keep by my side," he murmured, his eyes scanning the dense undergrowth. "Lose focus for a second here, and you’re beast food. I am your bodyguard, but you must be alert too."

Zyra glanced at him, her expression calm despite the eerie atmosphere. "Should I be worried about your friend Cade?"

Hunter frowned, his jaw tightening. "’Friend’ is a very strong word. More like a painful headache I haven’t managed to shake off yet. Focus on the present." He abruptly froze.

Behind them, the other hunters stopped dead in their tracks. The heavy silence of the forest was suddenly shattered by a low, guttural vibration that rattled the chest.

"Grrrrr...."

"It’s Shadowcast hyenas!" someone screamed from the rear.

From the pitch-black shadows between the giant mutated roots, glowing red eyes snapped open.

Dozens of dark-furred hyenas with the ability to blend into shadows silently lunged forward, attacking randomly. Some people pulled weapons, others froze, and others screamed.

"Great. Company," Zyra muttered. With a fluid flick of her wrist, she slipped the knife from her sleeve.

A massive hyena leaped straight at her face, its jaws snapping. Zyra didn’t even flinch. She ducked beneath its route with terrifying agility, her knife cutting a silver arc through the air.

The blade sliced clean through the beast’s throat, dark blood sprayed across the mossy ground as it crashed lifelessly.

"Damn! Who the hell is that?!" one of the hunters yelled, his eyes darting toward the blinding silver arcs.

That split-second distraction cost him everything. A beast lunged from his blind spot, its jaws clamping shut around his thigh with a sickening crunch. The hunter shrieked in agony as the beast violently tore his leg away, dragging him into the dark undergrowth. Only screams were left behind...until they were not.

Beside Zyra, Hunter used his gun. His shots were precise but lazy, blowing apart the skulls of three charging hyenas in rapid succession. "Not bad my protege, keep alert!" he yelled over the din.

"Save the compliments for when we get out of here!" Zyra shot back, already pivoting to drive her blade into the ribs of another beast.

To their left, Tyrant unleashed a fierce screech as he joined the fight. With a powerful sweep of his leathery, razor-sharp wings, he literally bisected two hyenas trying to flank them. Meanwhile, Spice scampered up a tree trunk and sprayed a cloud of glowing, pungent venom over a pack of oncoming beasts.

The hyenas immediately began to wail, clawing at their own eyes, completely disoriented.

"We need to move or we will never make it past the entrance. They will just keep coming, these things breed like rabbits. I am sure the people in charge of the dungeon stocked like hundreds of them. Run and fight!" Hunter roared, leading the charge.

What followed was a chaotic dance of survival. They sprinted through the tangled roots, the pack of Shadowcast hyenas pursuing them relentlessly. Zyra was a whirlwind of motion. She spun, parried, and thrust with lethal precision.

All of her stabs were lethally precise! To Hunter, it was mesmerizing.

She stabs like a trained knife assassin, he realized with a jolt of shock. And her speed...it’s not normal for someone without hunting experience.

"Watch your six!" Zyra yelled, interrupting his thoughts. She grabbed the collar of his jacket and yanked him backward just as a hyena’s jaws snapped shut where his neck had been. Hunter didn’t waste the opportunity, shoving the barrel of his gun into the beast’s mouth and pulling the trigger.

At that exact microsecond, a sharp ’crack’ echoed through the trees.... not the sound of a beast, but the unmistakable report of a high-caliber sniper gun. A bullet sliced the air, grazing Zyra’s ear. One breath nearer, and death would have claimed her!

She spun sharply, Hunter mirroring her actions, both eyes locking on the direction the bullet had come from.