The plane jostled slightly in the turbulence, causing Rin to be rudely awakened from his short rest. He groaned slightly and rubbed his darkly rimmed eyes before threading a hand through his unkempt black hair, glancing up at the attendant standing nearby. Noticing his gaze, the attendant perked up, smiling forcefully as she spoke.
"We'll be landing in five minutes Mr. Haze."
"Thank you." Rin grumbled through his tiredness, he covered his nose as the woman walked by, she was wearing too much perfume.
Passive Ability: Over Hyperosmia (S grade.) - An increased sense of smell that is incomparable to any animal or monster. This ability is a passive ability, meaning that it can not be deactivated and is constantly in effect.
He stood up from his seat, adjusting his tight black tactical gear and harnesses before shrugging on his large camo coat. He put a hand over his mouth as he yawned loudly. He reached down and grabbed his large backpack, throwing it over his shoulder as he moved to the front of the plane, he leaned up against the wall near the exit, closing his eyes as he waited for the plane to land, trying to ignore the buzzing in the back of his brain. As the plane made a rough landing Rin considered the information he was given about the dungeon.
A call had come in about four hours ago informing him of a failed gate clearing. Rin had just woken up and sighed and rubbed his eyes as he answered the phone without bothering to check the call ID. "Is it a rescue mission or body extraction?"
'We aren't sure. A majority of the team came out of the portal roughly two hours into the gate clearing but one member didn't come out and his condition is unknown.'
"What grade is the dungeon?" He said, already getting up and grabbing his go bag laying on a chair next to his bed.
'S-grade.' Rin groaned, he didn't like doing S-grade dungeons, he was only C-grade and even with his high grade abilities and weapons his weak body often made high grade dungeons hard to clear, he really didn't want to do this. Instead he'd much rather go back to bed. 'Rin. This mission is important, we can't ask anyone else to take care of it. The person who is inside is our guild leader and a SS-ranker. Les Fowler.'
"...Who?"
'Wh-what? You don't know who Les Fowler is?'
Rin headed to the door avoiding the empty bottles and glass littered across the ground. "Nope. I don't care either. Send a plane for me within twenty minutes and I will go into your death dungeon." As the only tracker hunter he had a responsibility to take care of such matters besides they paid him well enough. "And get me a permit to bring two monsters to wherever I am going."
Rin steps out of the plane, practically dragging himself out to see a group of worried people waiting for him, a lot of them were in tactical gear so he assumed they were members of the dungeon clear team. Rin begrudgingly trudged over to them already anticipating their frantic pleas for help that would hurt his eyes. His brow furrowed when he walked over to them yet none of them had said a word, instead they just stood there staring off blankly, seemingly not even noticing his presence.
He didn't really think on it too much he was just thankful that he wouldn't have to deal with getting his eardrums blown out right before a mission. "Mr. Haze. I'm can't say I'm happy to see you sir." Rin glanced up to meet eyes with a woman in a tight suit with her dark hair tied back tightly in a ponytail.
Rin rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fair enough. Who are you?"
The woman gave him a professional smile but one of her eyebrows twitched from Rin's response. "I'm Sylvia Rite, the vice guild leader of the Achlys guild. You know, the guild that asked for your assistance."
"Really? You seem far too concerned about your own ego to be asking for my help." Rin commented with a shrug before plucking the file out of her hand and walking by her towards the gate. He glanced at the gate a moment, it was a jagged rip in the air that was wide enough to fit 4 people at once. The gate looked the exact same as all the others as it showed a blurred image of inside the dungeon with a crystalized outside that made it seem like the air shattered to form the portal. He took a moment to observe the portal before looking at the file he had in hand. The dungeon was a jungle-type dungeon that averaged out to be on the lower end of the S-class rank. The monster spawn rate was between 60-70 monsters per reset which would cause him issues based on the appearance of the part members who came out unscathed and as requested the file also contained a piece of fabric which he took. The rest of the file contained maps and photos of the dungeon which he didn't bother to look at. He tossed the file to the side before stepping up to the portal, he took a small breath before stepping trough feeling the familiar warping as he passed through the barrier.
The thick smell of rain and plants immediately filled his nose but something felt off to him, the energy within the dungeon felt more oppressive than he was used to. Even if it was an S-rank dungeon, it shouldn't be this bad and he couldn't smell any monsters around instead he got a faint whiff of rot. A storm rumbled on above him as he lifted his hood over his head and adjusted to the change in location. Tall trees towered over him with long hanging vines drooping down the high sitting branches. Areas of the dungeon was sectioned off by large rocky walls that Rin assumed were to stop monsters from crossing territories. As he took a step forward his foot sunk into the set, soft greenery.
"Time to work." He pulled out the piece of fabric he got earlier and smelled it to pick up the smell of the missing SS-ranker. He immediately picked up a trail along with the faint smell of blood.
Skill Activated: Enhanced Vision - A combination of night vision and heat vision that is useful for tracking in low visibility environments. There is a visible change in appearance when this kill is on as the user's eyes get a reflective hue.
"What on earth could have injured a SS-ranker in a dungeon like this." As he traverses through the dungeon he noticed more and more things that confuse him and make him nervous. The layout of the dungeon didn't make sense, he felt as though he was walking in circles, and he hadn't encountered any monsters, despite the supposed high monster count. Despite his confusion he was gaining on the trail and as he got closer and closer the smell of blood got thicker and thicker. His combat boots sunk into the mud, making loud noises with each step. As he continued walking, the dense trees seemed to be thinning out and he encountered trees that were freshly cut down.
He stopped for a moment and glanced down at the ground. Sitting in the mud was a A-rank black combat glove that had been ripped to shreds. It had the same smell as the cloth he was carrying. "Once again, something weird. Why would an SS-ranker let their high quality gear get destroyed." It wasn't a question of whether or not the gear got destroyed in combat. Any hunter worth their skill would know how to preserve their gear, certainly a SS-rank should know how to keep their gear safe. "Maybe I should tell that guy to hand over his gear to me." He leaned down to pick up the glove thinking that he could repurpose the material but when he got on his knees he heard a loud cracking from behind him. Rin's eyes widened slightly but his calm look returned as he spun around to see a large jungle tree about to topple on top of him. He simply watched as it fell onto him, waiting for the right moment.
Activating Skill: Quick-Footedness - Increased footspeed for up to 2 minutes. This ability increases the users speed but can also be used to step through the air for a few seconds. Though the skill practically blurs the users presence with the high speed, the user leaves a trail of glowing blue footprints to show their trail.
A person stepped out from the shadows of the trees, headed for where Rin was standing just moments ago. As he walked an oppressing aura followed him that seemed to shrivel the plants around him and suck the moisture out of the soil. He towered over the tree he recently cut down, where he assumed he had killed Rin before reaching down with one hand and grabbing the tree. He got a firm grip before flinging the, almost fifty meter tall, tree away. "Where'd the rat go?" He mumbled to himself, seemingly in a complete daze.
"Here." Rin was standing behind the man, comfortably leaning against a tree. "Are you Les Flower?" He asked, tilting his head slightly at the strange man. The man didn't respond, instead he stared at Rin with his charcoal eyes that seemed to be trying to bore a burn into his soul before suddenly disappearing.
He instantly reappeared right next to Rin, about to deal a blow to his face but his arm was restrained. A glowing gold chain wrapped around Les arm, stopping him from attacking, he glanced back at the chain and tried to pry it off without any success before he turned to the person controlling it. Rin stood in front of him with a small smile on his face as he watched Les desperately try to claw at him, his control seemingly lost in his own mind. "Seems you are under some kind of mind control. Any high ranker in your position would be demanding for me to let them go or asking me if I know who they are. You are acting completely out of character. Unfortunately for you, I don't have any materials that can break mind control on me at the minute but I've found a method that is as equally as effective." He offered Les a polite, business-like smile before opening his mouth again. "Simply put, I'm going to beat the crap out of you until you pass out which should dispel the mind control." He released the chain restraining Les which promptly moved back to Rin and wrapped around his fist and arm, forming a weapon.
Rin stood relaxed, his hands and body loose as he waited for the incoming attack. He'd been in several situations like this before to him it was simply a part of his job.
About eight years ago, Rin signed a contract that dictated his responsibilities:
Rin Haze,
As the one and only top tier tracker type hunter in existence we require your assistance with the mandatory one-year resets of each dungeon that take place in each country each year. For the ease of convenience, each country has agreed to do their dungeon resets at a allocated time each year. Your responsibility, is to assist with these events that will take place all around the year, each year. You will be assigned any dungeon that is B-rank or above. As you are aware, dungeons can only be reset after all entities from outside of the dungeon are removed, you are to remove the human and monster entities whether they are dead or alive. Your assistance should only be necessary on the initial dungeon reset, the guild responsible for said dungeon then should be prepared for any monsters spawned after the initial reset. On the rare occasions that a rescue needs to be preformed after the reset, it will be up to the guild to decide whether or not to ask for your assistance. The Global Dungeon Association would appreciate your prompt understanding of your responsibilities and come with terms about your pay and benefits.
Global Dungeon Association.