103 Ominous

Standing in front of the enormous gate, Sun Zhou Yi felt restless.

'Is it because this is my first mission?' Thought Sun Zhou Yi as he watched the darkness behind the gate.

As an unranked Wood Class Hero, the Hero League won't bother to assign him a mission. He had to look for the mission for himself in request board on Hero League's main page to earn contribution and money.

Now, he was Gold Class Hero, Rank 1 at that. So, his work was assigned by the Hero League, not for him to choose freely like before. That meant the mission would be harder and more dangerous. He thought he was restless because this was his first mission.

"Are you nervous?" A female voice resounded from the back.

Sun Zhou Yi snapped out of his restless feeling and turned around. He saw a woman with fiery red hair that reached her shoulder. She wore tight red leather armor designed especially for a woman. The tight leather armor showed her sexy curves.

He recognized this woman, Kang Seo Yeon, Gold Class Hero - Rank 9. A girl from the famous Kang Family and known as Fiery Archer because of her fiery red hair. Lately, the Fiery Archer seemed to be undergoing a huge change.

The change was of course in her appearance. Before, Fiery Archer was gentle, friendly, and conservative. However, she now began showing her appeal as a woman. Her fiery long hair was cut shorter and showing her charm by wearing sexy leather armor.

Of course, Sun Zhou Yi did not especially stalk Kang Seo Yeon to know this. He heard about Kang Seo Yeon's change from the other heroes during his trip to Ence Fort.

As one of the most beautiful female heroes, Kang Seo Yeon often became focus amongst the heroes.

Sun Zhou Yi nodded his head as a greeting, but he did not answer whether he was nervous or not. He turned back to the massive gate without words. Indeed, Kang Seo Yeon's charm was undeniable, but he had only Xiao Xi in his eyes.

Kang Seo Yeon also did not try to strike a further conversation, She stopped next to Sun Zhou Yi and stared at the massive gate. It was unknown what in her mind.

Meanwhile, Sun Zhou Yi activated his Mystical Eyes. His eyes turned blue and the gate showed another appearance under his Mystical Eyes. The calm and quiet darkness turned into a whirlpool of dark energy.

This dark energy was similar to Ki but had a different color. Ki that he knew was blue in color while the one he saw was black. He frowned in confusion, he felt the dark energy was also Ki, but he was not sure.

"What are you doing here?" another female voice resounded next to Kang Seo Yeon. As both were focusing at the gate, the voice startled them.

"Oh, Sister Xin Yue, you surprised me…" Kang Seo Yeon stroke her chest.

"Hello, Miss Bai," Sun Zhou Yi greeted Bai Xin Yue stiffly. As a man who grew up in the outer city, he was not used to associating with the people from the core and inner regions. He felt that it was easier to associate with the heroes with no big background.

Bai Xin Yue returned the greeting with a nod as her expression was still ice-cold as usual.

"What are you guys looking at?" she asked once again with her toneless voice.

"Just taking a look at the gate…" Sun Zhou Yi's words trailed off with hesitation.

The two girls found the strangeness behind Sun Zhou Yi's words. The two girls looked at each other and Kang Seo Yeon opened her mouth, "Do you find something?"

"Hmm, somehow this gate gives me an ominous feeling…" Sun Zhou Yi said uncertainty. It was what he felt after using his Mystical Eyes at the gate. The restless feeling turned ominous as the whirlpool dark energy came into his sight.

"But we have Naizen and Liang Xun, there's nothing to be worried about," Kang Seo Yeon replied positively.

"The beforehand dungeon break happened because we were poisoned. If not for the poison, the dungeon break won't happen," Kang Seo Yeon added optimistically.

"I hope so…" Sun Zhou Yi muttered in a low voice and turned around and bid his farewell to the two girls, "I am going back, goodbye, Miss Kang, Miss Bai,"

As Sun Zhou Yi's figure vanished behind the gate of Ence Fort, Kang Seo Yeon grumbled, "What's with him? How can he gets rank 1 if he's that pessimistic!"

Bai Xin Yue did not make any comment at Sun Zhou Yi, but looking toward Kang Seo Yeon and said, "You've changed,"

She scanned her friend that completely changed after the dungeon break incident. The Kang Seo Yeon she knew was fairly conservative, but in just a few months she turned into an enchanting spirit.

Kang Seo Yeon was surprised at first, but then she smiled charmingly at Bai Xin Yue and boldly declared, "It's because I already met my other half,"

"Then that person must be lucky to have you," Bai Xin Yue commented in a surprised tone. It was quite unbelievable that Kang Seo Yeon changed drastically like this because she had found a boyfriend.

"I believe that someday you will also willingly change when you find the right person. You just haven't met that person yet,"

*** ***

"I see…" Heero understandingly nodded his head and continued, "It's good for him. Training continuously is good, but he is lacking in battle experience. A dungeon is a good place for him to gain battle experience,"

It was Heero's assessment of his first disciple. Musashi Hirata also agreed with his Master's evaluation regarding Sun Zhou Yi. Even though he never had a spar against Sun Zhou Yi, he could see it from the training.

Then, Hirata noticed that his Master was looking at him with a thoughtful expression.

"Master, do you have something in your mind?"

Heero shook his head and stood up. He tapped Hirata's shoulder two times and said softly, "Don't listen to what others say about you. There's no end in fulfilling people's expectations. Just do what you want to do, doing things that make you happy. In this regard, you are lacking compared to Zhou Yi,"

After saying that, Heero turned around as he waved his hand while he had his back at Hirata and said, "Tomorrow, we will secure the north from Shadow Fang,"

Heero left the rooftop while Musashi Hirata mumbled in a low voice, "...Do what I want to do… things that make me happy…"

"I wonder what will make me happy?" Musashi Hirata asked himself absentmindedly.

All this time, he lived under the shadow of his genius big brother. His goal was to surpass his big brother in order to prove that he was not a worthless child from the main branch. But then…

'Would I be happy if I surpass him?'

A question popped in his mind, but he did not know the answer because he felt he had not surpassed that man yet.

*** ***

In the next morning, right at 5 a.m

Heero was doing a light stretch right in front of his noodle shop. He was not alone as Hirata was there with him. Hirata was sitting on the bench near the Dragon Pit, he absentmindedly sat there with unfocused eyes.

Creak!

Then, the door of Butcher Wang's shop opened and the Beardy Wang came out with sleepy eyes. When he saw Heero's figure, he rubbed his eyes a few times, making sure that the figure in front of him was real.

Lately, Heero did not participate in morning training. He only appeared at noon, beating him, Sun Zhou Yi, and Musashi Hirata. So he was surprised to see Heero in the morning.

"You are late, Beardy Wang!" Without looking at Butcher Wang, Heero commented in an annoyed tone.

Butcher Wang rolled his eyes as he thought, 'Says someone who rarely comes at morning training,'

"Stop calling me Beardy Wang, I already shaved my beard," Butcher Wang returned with an annoyed tone as well. Amongst the three disciples, only Butcher Wang appeared to be less respectful to Heero.

Of course, deep inside he respected Heero, but he still regarded Heero as a friend rather than a Master like Sun Zhou Yi and Hirata. He still felt awkward to call someone who looked younger than him with Master. Heero also did not mind with Butcher Wang's attitude.

"All right come here, I will teach you two a new technique, Mystical Eyes!"

With the appearance Specter Follower, he had to teach them Mystical Eyes. This technique was the easiest way to discover the Specter and Specter Follower.

*** ***

Meanwhile, the expedition team in Ence Fort was preparing to enter the dungeon. A team consisted of 323 heroes including two Emperor Class Heroes who would be entered the dungeon.

The team only waited for the meeting between the leaders about the plan. After the beforehand dungeon, Musashi Naizen did not want the same mistake repeated.

After half an hour meeting, the meeting was over. The arrangement was simple, sending three scout teams to enter the dungeon first. The scout team was tasked with mapping the dungeon and investigating the creatures inside the dungeon.

Knowing what would you face inside the dungeon would increase the heroes' survivability rate inside the dungeon.

The first scout team was led by Musashi Naizen himself. His team consisted of three Gold Class heroes and two Silver Class heroes. The second team was led by Huo Liang Xun with the same composition as Musashi Naizen's team.

Meanwhile, Sun Zhou Yi would lead the third team. His composition was different, he was leading a veteran team, Kang Seo Yeon's team which compromised six Gold Class Heroes including Kang Seo Yeon herself.

Bai Xin Yue was left behind to fill Musashi Naizen position. She would be in charge of the expedition team during Musashi Naizen absence.

Right in front of the gate, the three scout teams gathered. Musashi Naizen was at the frontmost while Huo Liang Xun and Sun Zhou Yi standing next to him.

"Somehow, this gate gives me an ominous feeling…" Huo Liang Xun muttered in a low voice. Surprisingly, Musashi Naizen nodded his head in agreement.

Kang Seo Yeon was surprised as Sun Zhou Yi said the same words yesterday. She peeked at Sun Zhou Yi and she found a frown on his forehead. She looked at the gate, but she could not get that ominous feeling.

'Maybe because I'm weaker than them…' Thought Kang Seo Yeon.

"Let's enter!" Musashi Naizen declared as he stepped forward. He was the first one entered the gate and under his lead, the others also entered the gate.

Heero took a deep breath and entered the gate. As soon as he entered the gate, his nose was assaulted by an unpleasant smell. He let out a surprised grunt.

"Urgghh!"

The other two Emperor Class Heroes also did not expect this and let out an unpleasant grunt. But then, a series of cough resounded from the back.

Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough!

The three turned around and found four people coughed continuously. These four people were Silver Class Heroes.

"Cough… My head dizzy… Cough…"

"Cough… I feel nauseous… I want… Uwaakk…"

The man who felt nauseous vomited the breakfast he ate this morning. Such thing, it caught Musashi Naizen off guard.

They just entered the dungeon, but they encountered trouble already.