Aditya Khumar was an ordinary person. A single father who made a living as the owner of a small Briyani Briyani stall in Aligarh. His life was fairly peaceful; cooking in the morning, trading in the afternoon, and resting at night. He devoted his days for his family.
And like most other happy people, his life changed after the dungeon landed on earth.
Three dungeons landed in India. One of them was on the edge of Delhi City. The city turned into a nightmare. Dense buildings crept up in flames, millions people were killed, and screams echoed from sunrise to sunset. The incident that left a scar of fear that couldn't be erased until now.
However, like a rainbow after a storm, the tragedy brought new hope.
India gave birth to humans who experienced awakening in the world the most. Thanks to that, the first dungeon break was successfully cleared within four weeks. Then, the guilds grew quickly in India. People left their old jobs and became hunters. Aditya was no exception.
India government rules were slightly different. They required hunters to join a guild to enter the dungeon.
He tried to join a guild, but unfortunately, no guild accepted him. The number of hunters in India was very high, making competition among them very tight.
At that time, the guilds did not yet have a standard for accepting members, so they chose a young man, who looked still fresh and strong. Meanwhile Aditya was just a middle-aged man trying to improve his standard of living. Thanks to his appearance; old and chubby, it knocked him out of the competition.
However, Aditya hadn't given up yet. He met an acquaintance who was able to make him work as a hunter, but he had to work in China. The offer was accepted by him without thinking much, in the hope of getting a better life.
And it didn't turn out as expected. Living in a foreign environment, with foreign people, and a foreign language, made him feel like living in hell. Luckily, he was blessed with a high level of understanding, making him quickly learn Mandarin.
However, it was not enough.
Similar discrimination happened to him. Aditya was often deceived by the opening of guild member vacancies on the internet. Besides, he often got a small share in the party because he was a foreigner. In fact, several times, he was not paid after doing a raid.
It often crossed his mind to return back to his own country, but he had owed a large sum of money to fly and live in China. It was necessary for him to work a lifetime to pay it off. The only way to be free from this debt was to become a hunter. He had to hold on, no matter what.
And his struggle did not end in vain.
Aditya found information on recruiting guild members and the guild was not a mere guild. It was Nine Sky, one of the ten major guilds in China. Without thinking, he registered himself.
He had low self-esteem when he saw the queue of hunters who were interested in joining the guild. They all looked young, athletic, and intimidating. At that time, his mind kept telling him to just go back because it was unlikely that he would be accepted. Moreover, his hunter certificate was Rank F.
However, Aditya ignored his thoughts and good fortune came to him.
He finally joined a large guild. He became one of the ranks of the top hunters. He even had his own title, 'Dark Physician'.
The hard work and sacrifice paid off. He gained wealth. He even built a house for his mother and sent his two sons to university. Even his potbelly was now gone and replaced by solid muscle mass due to hard training.
It was all thanks to Nine Sky, especially the instructors who gave him the opportunity and trained him to enhance his potential. Aditya was very grateful to Isaac. The man changed his life for the better.
Thus, he would show his gratitude by carrying out this mission well.
Currently, Aditya and the other members were on their way to the dungeon in Tianjin.
Ten black vans were speeding down the highway. The distance between Beijing and Tianjin was 150 km. They left at seven in the morning and arrived at the location at nine in the afternoon.
The location of the dungeon was on the outskirts of the city. It occupied a former residential area consisting of empty buildings. It used to be a flat that was inhabited by middle class citizens, but now it became a nest for monsters that came out of the dungeon.
Their vehicle stopped at the dungeon area border post. When Aditya got out of the car, there was a huge crowd. They were hunters, whether they had finished running a raid or not. Some of them were journalists who were trying to find the recent news. They came here to make news about the 'rumor' of the three major guilds that were reported to have lost contact in the dungeon.
This rumor was quite hot on the internet. The news that made an uproar was very attractive to the public. Even so, the hunters didn't seem to care.
"Wow, look. Isn't the rumor about hunters still widely circulated? This dungeon is still very crowded."
Aditya mumbled while amazed watching the crowd.
"Of course. There are still monsters to hunt and Power Crystals to dredge up. Money doesn't come by itself. They have to keep making a living."
Someone responded to his muttering. Aditya turned his head, a man with white hair and black clothes was next to him. He was instantly surprised.
"Instructor Isaac!?"
Isaac smiled. Behind him, Wang Yi seemed to follow. The other members quickly saluted.
"Miss!? You came, too?!"
Wang Yi sighed. "Adit, what's wrong with you? Why did you look so surprised today? Is this mission stressing you out?"
"Eh... actually yes, Miss Wang Yi. This is my first time entering a dungeon in Tianjin. Besides, I'm quite curious about the rumors of homunculus."
""Then, be calm. You'll be surprised when you look into it."
Aditya nodded, his face looked serious. He didn't take the woman's words lightly even though she was actually just being sarcastic. The other members held back their laughter.
Wang Yi ordered all her men to line up. She and Isaac stood in front of them.
"Listen to me carefully." She put on a serious face. "I won't lie, the mission this time is to find the traces of our members, including the Guild Master. I know this may sound like an exaggeration. The missing hunters are strong people who can take care of themselves. However, I want to remind you of what happened last time. At the time we were doing the Clearance in the dungeon on the border, we almost died miserably."
Wang Mei looked at their members one by one. The members seemed to have serious faces. Some of them turned somber.
"So, I want to prevent a similar incident from happening again. Moreover, recently rumors of hunters being kidnapped by human-like monsters, the homunculus, are hot. I don't know how strong they are, but we have to unravel their mystery. I hope you understand this."
The members looked down. Some of them looked doubtful. Aditya realized the situation of his colleagues quickly took the initiative.
"We are now family! Apart from fighting monsters, we have fought together. Don't let the monsters kill our family. We can definitely beat that bastard homunculus!"
There was no reply after that motivating remark. However, all attention was on Aditya, including Wang Yi. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Meanwhile, Aditya quickly covered his mouth while staring ahead. He realized he had just done something embarrassing.
He wanted to bury his face into the ground.
Not long after, loud laughter was heard.
All attention turned to the source of the voice. Isaac laughed, until tears welled up in between his eyes. Wang Yi was also surprised to see him laughing like that.
"You are very interesting. You're completely different from anyone I've ever met. If only all humans were like you, maybe the Earth wouldn't be destroyed."
Now it was the turn of the members who were astonished by their instructor's words. Wang Yi was no different. The woman then cleared her throat loudly to draw their attention back to her.
"Alright, nice words Adit. Now it's time for us to go to the dungeon."
"Yes!" they replied in unison.
Aditya smiled widely at Wang Yi's praise. Then, they rushed off towards the dungeon.
Then, a noisy wind sound suddenly rang out from the sky.
The hunters gathered at the dungeon border post raised their heads. So did Wang Yi and his group. An infantry helicopter with two propellers landed down.
Instantly, the atmosphere became lively. After the propellers stopped turning, whispering voices began to ring out.
"Helicopter? Who are they?"
"Did the government send their minions again?"
"It's not from the government, look at that person!"
A group of men in gold armor in white robes descended from the helicopter. The one who walked at the front was a man with slicked-back black hair. His face was handsome and had a look full of confidence. Everyone's attention was on that figure.
The hunters around started to mention the name of the Golden Dragon. The man standing in the front was said to be the leader. The hunters called him Ling Tian.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶