[Quest Status]

[1 ongoing quest] Find and enter the dungeon portal.

[Conditions] Survival

Karl looked at the simple listing from the System and frowned. Find and enter the portal without dying. Yeah, that was basically what they were trying to do anyhow. There wasn't much of a reason to issue them a quest for it.

Unless they had been in one all along, and misunderstood, thinking that they had exited. If they had entered a trial when they left the last room, or worse, hadn't left the first one that they had entered at all, and were simply moving around areas of it, their entire experience could be an illusion.

Karl looked outside, using every form of vision that he could, but found that the only people around were a scattering of the dark-skinned Elves.

[I can still sense the portal, even if the city changed.] Rae informed him from her space.

"Rae says the portal is still nearby. Should we get a move on and see if we can make it there? I don't know what happened to the city, but I believe we're in a Trial, and it's still the goal." Karl whispered.

There were some shared looks of concern, but after a moment, both Alice and Corbin motioned for him to lead the way out of the room and through the city toward where he thought that the portal should be.

Their disguises weren't perfect, but they blended in well with the locals, who had a very eclectic fashion sense, with the only rule seeming to be that it must be black clothing with white hair.

They didn't speak as they moved through the city streets, headed for the centre of town, where everyone could soon see the glow of the immense portal. There were more people moving their way by the minute, as if there were some type of big event going on, and Lotus was getting excited.

"I speak Elvish, and while their accent is archaic and harsh, I can hear them saying that the portal is open. That must mean they're going to let people through." She whispered.

Alice laughed softly. "If we can just walk through the portal, I am throwing a party when we get back. How well do you think you can emulate the accent?"

"Well enough to get us in. Trust me." Lotus replied as she came to walk beside Karl at the front of the group.

They just followed the flow of people to the portal, hoping that the disguise spell held and wasn't seen through. Everyone in town was going the same way, toward the man in the black and white patterned robe that was shouting something in ancient Elvish.

"He says they're an outreach program, and they are looking for volunteers who are willing to risk their lives to prove that they have what it takes to be the champion of the Dungeon. I don't know what that means, but I'm going with it."

Before anyone could speak, Lotus threw her hands in the air and waved at the man in the black and white robes. He smiled and pointed at her, while the Elves all looked stunned that someone was volunteering without asking for any more details.

Lotus made a gesture that they were all together in a group, and the man motioned them up onto the platform where the Dungeon Portal was.

[Only nine you? The options are five or ten.] The man asked Lotus in Elven.

[This will be good enough for the ten-person challenge. Have faith.] She replied.

The man in the odd cleric robes, black on the left, white on the right, smiled and patted her on the head, then gestured to the portal for them to enter.

[The first volunteers for the new Dungeon are now entering. May the blessings of the Ancients be upon them.] The man announced as they walked inside, and Lotus almost stopped to ask him questions, but didn't want to give herself away with her foreign accent.

Lotus and Karl led the group through, and they stepped into a strange swamp with crystalline trees, and groups of snake monsters with vaguely humanoid torsos.

"Naga." Lotus announced in awe.

"Are they powerful?" Karl asked.

"They can be. They're semi-intelligent, brutal, and they use magic."

Hawk looked out over the surroundings from his space and gave a squawk of pure hatred in Karl's mind.

[Evil, they're pure evil. Nothing but swamps and water magic. This place should not be allowed to exist.]

After his close call with the Yeti Clans, Hawk's hatred for water magic seemed to have gotten more intense, but as Karl looked out over the swamps, he saw potential.

There were leaders at the Commander, and high Commander Ranks, countless Awakened Drones and Ascended warriors, as well as lesser subspecies that Karl believed were common grade and may or may not pose a threat.

Lotus was the only one of them that knew much about the species, and she hadn't mentioned the others, so Karl assumed that they were most likely common grade creatures, though he could see them using simple water magic, so they weren't completely harmless.

The scaled, almost human - shaped upper bodies of the Naga were throwing Karl's sense of scale off. Most of them only had two arms, but some had four, and they all had fully reptilian heads, like a Cobra's, with the widened hood. Only, theirs didn't only flare as a threat, it was held wide all the time, either on purpose or by evolution.

They came in a huge variety of sizes, from torsos the size of a child to as large as that of an Ogre. The Naga also wore some clothing, and jewellery, while carrying weapons as needed, which convinced everyone in the group that they were indeed an advanced species.

Karl didn't want to send Hawk up and draw the entire area toward them, but from the entrance, they could see quite a bit of the village.

Karl focused on the Quest Status again, now that they were inside, and found that it had updated.

[Clear the Naga Dungeon and eliminate the Naga King.]

That would definitely have to be done in order. But there was something strange about this place, other than the fact that it was full of Naga, or that it shouldn't exist in the location where they found it, or the weather in the Swamp.

Dana was the first to put it together.

"They can clearly see us standing here. Why haven't they attacked?" She asked.

Corbin smiled at her. "It's a unique feature of the Dungeons. I've been in a few before, and as long as none of your group leave the starting platform, nothing will attack. Once we move forward, they will engage as usual, and we will have to remain out of sight of patrols and other groups, while preventing them from calling for assistance."

[See, this place is evil.] Hawk reminded Karl.

[Actually, I have a great idea. Why don't you stay on the shoulder of one of the mages, which will keep you away from the fighting, and then you can throw fireballs at all the water magic users without attracting too many?] Karl suggested.

[Oh, that's good. I will stay with the Dana Mage. If I stand on her head, I will be the same height as everyone else.]

[Maybe just on her shoulder. Your claws are sharp, and she's not wearing a helmet.]

Hawk agreed to compromise, and went to stand on her backpack to look over her head.

Karl called Rae and Thor out, and the group prepared to move forward, to where the first group of Naga were waiting for them.

As Corbin had said, the moment that they stepped off the platform, the Naga took action, shifting into an attack formation and preparing to engage the group.

The creatures didn't seem to know what they should do with the presence of a Lightning Cerro. If snake faces could look confused, that was the vibe that Karl was getting from them as Thor charged, then horror as they realized that he didn't have to spear them with his horns to cause damage.

The Naga twisted in between the large upper horns on Thor's head, but the Cerro just violently shook his head back and forth, whipping the unfortunate warrior from side to side and leaving it unconscious on the ground.

The others tried to restrain Thor to rescue their teammate, but they were only Awakened Rank fighters, and a pair of fireballs from Hawk took them out before they could even get close.

Corbin nodded in satisfaction. "Everyone stay close, and try not to make any noise. We will grab the groups one at a time. There are no noncombatants in a dungeon trial, they're all here to fight, and the normal standard is to eliminate them all and see what sort of rewards you get.

It can be quite extensive, but these instances are rare."