Pov: Vik
Right now, I am standing in front of a glowing blue vortex. I can tell this is a dungeon gate after being teased by Louriel's bad joke.
I asked about the dungeon raid, and Louriel teleported me with her. We are far away from Azure Mountain City because there are no dungeon gates nearby. If I had to guess, we might be thousands of meters from that city.
This wasteland where the dungeon gate is located mostly consists of jungle, but there's also a new city a few miles away. Apparently, the authorities of that city asked the guild to clear this dungeon. An uncleared dungeon can sometimes get out of control here.
This can lead to a dungeon outbreak, where all the monsters are released at once. This has happened many times in the history of this world and caused a lot of casualties.
So, when a dungeon is found, the first priority for people here is to clear the monsters inside it. If the dungeon's level is too high, they look for help to clear it. That's why we are here. The dungeon we are targeting for our raid is a B rank dungeon, which means it must have at least one Lord-level beast inside.
In terms of human cultivation, this is similar to a Soul-forming realm expert or a 5th level mage. The more concerning thing is that there must be at least one B rank beast for the dungeon to be classified as B rank, meaning it may contain several of those beasts.
Normally, cities like Azure Mountain City only have people at most in the Nascent Soul realm, so they can't take risks with dungeons like this. They have to ask for help from higher rank cities or guilds.
Louriel leads a guild called Horizon Guild. She took the mayor's request from the nearby city to clear this dungeon, and I was invited along. While I stood silently, Louriel approached me. She needed to complete some paperwork for our entry into the dungeon.
Many people were around us, most of them armed forces from the nearby city. They carried advanced rifles and had placed bombs near the dungeon gate, likely to use them if there was a dungeon break. These folks take the threat of dungeons seriously, unlike some stories from my old world where characters wait until a D rank dungeon evolves into SSS rank. Then, the protagonist must fight for their life to save the world.
After coming to my side, Louriel said, "You look at this as if you've never seen a dungeon in your life."
Vik: "Yes, I have never seen a dungeon in my life."
Hearing my answer, she scoffed and said, "That's because you snakes like to hide under rocks or in dark places. If you came out of your hole, you'd see how big the world is."
Vik: "Can you please stop making jokes about my race? It's not like I chose to be a snake."
She didn't respond but silently looked at me. Then she signaled her team to enter. She had a full team with her for this dungeon raid. Other than Winston, I didn't know any of them, but I could see they were all undead creatures taking human forms.
The team consists of a hundred people besides me, Louriel, and Winston, totaling 103 people for just a single B rank dungeon raid. This made all the information I had from reading manhwas in my past life seem wrong. Normally, stories require a team of 10 or 15 for A rank dungeons, but in reality, this world has strict rules. Dungeons like this B rank dungeon need a party of 100 people to clear, no matter their rank. Even a Nascent Soul realm cultivator must bring 99 others with them.
This rule increases for higher rank dungeons. It is designed to ensure the safety of people inside dungeons. People in this world are excessively cautious about dungeons.
As Louriel's team entered one by one, we followed suit. After that, I experienced something like teleportation, but on another level. It felt like I had entered another realm. I think that's why they call dungeons small fragments of worlds. Now, in front of me is a vast jungle.
For some reason, I feel lucky to be in this jungle, maybe because of my snake race. This place is a dungeon, and I look around for a bit but don't see any beasts or monsters. All I find are Louriel's guild members, now standing in formation around us. Seeing their lineup makes me a bit alert. What if this is a trap?
I spot Louriel standing further away now, her smile gone, and Winston, her loyal summon, also looks serious. Then, Winston and the entire team raise their hands and simultaneously cast spells around us. I immediately gather all my power, ready to unleash my special fire on them.
But the expected attack never comes. Instead, they create a magic circle that forms a dome around us, like a protective shield.
After the dome forms, Louriel says, "Now we can talk freely without any problems."
Confused by her words, I ask, "What are you talking about?"
Louriel: "Why are you still acting like that? You know Vik, I know you are a reincarnated person who doesn't belong to this world?"
I immediately feel flustered; my deepest secret is out, and I say, "How did you find out about that?"
Louriel: "When we first met? You said you had expertise in Python programming. I know you are not from this world because this world didn't have such a computer language."
I never thought that mentioning a simple coding language would expose my secret. But still, I have my doubts, so I say, "But Louriel, if this world doesn't have these things, then how did you know it's a computer language?"
She smiles and says, "Simple, because just like you, I am also a reincarnated person from Earth."