Hal only needed two minutes to race to the designated location, and upon arrival, he noticed that a crowd had already gathered.
The man who appeared to be the leader of the group waved his hand at Hal.
"Welcome, young man! You must be Hal Rodgraim, right?" He said enthusiastically.
"Yes, that's me," Hal replied.
"Great! I take it you've seen the terms needed to participate in this raid?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you've agreed to them?"
"Yes."
"Good, then let's get going."
Before proceeding, Hal took a moment to study the expressions of each team member. The leader, a tall and lanky man with some scruff on his chin and long hair, wielded two katanas and appeared to be in his early forties. The other members of the team seemed unremarkable, so Hal didn't spend much time observing them.
The team consisted of six C-rank members and two D-rank members, with the leader being at the B-rank, they seemed quite strong, so their claim of handling all the killing didn't appear overstated, especially considering they were facing a C-rank gate.
The man introduced Hal to the rest of the team, and they prepared to move. Just as they were about to depart, Jack Spenser, the team leader, suddenly exclaimed as if he had just remembered something.
"Ah! Before we enter, Hal, I need you to carry that luggage over there."
Hal didn't say a word and simply moved to lift it. It was quite a load, but for someone with Hal's strength and stamina, it was a piece of cake. As he carried it, he wondered how a genuine E-rank Hunter would manage such weight; it would be nearly impossible. No wonder they were willing to part with so much just to have him do the heavy lifting.
"Okay, guys, let's go," Hal said, standing with the load on his back, but nobody moved. They all stared in disbelief, wondering how in the name of the heavens could a E-rank lift such weight without showing signs of struggle.
"Yeah, yeah, that's right, let's get going," the team leader said, somewhat flustered. "Oh, sorry, one more thing—sign this, and we'll be on our way."
He handed Hal a contract sheet. Hal reviewed the document and confirmed it contained the same terms he had heard over the phone.
"Here," Hal said, handing it back after signing. They immediately stepped into the gate.
****
The interior of the dungeon was scorching hot, and everyone gasped as they were taken aback by what lay before them. They found themselves on the edge of a volcano that seemed ready to erupt at any moment.
"Everyone, let's head down," Jack, the team leader, instructed, and the others quickly complied, eager to distance themselves from the active volcano.
Once they descended, they began to share their thoughts on the bizarre situation.
"This seems wrong, Sir Jack. How could we have arrived in this place?" one team member asked.
"I know; I'm thinking," Jack replied.
"It's like we were thrown right into the middle of a dungeon break."
"What the heck is happening?"
"Sir Jack, any ideas?"
"I'm thinking."
"You're thinking? How will that help our current situation?"
"I don't know! Just shut up! It's not like I've been in a situation like this before."
"Yeah? Something's off here; I can feel it. Are you sure this is a C-rank gate?"
"Yeah, I had the bureau check it twice before booking it."
While they bickered, Hal stood silently in a corner, squinting as he raised his head. From the edge of the volcano they had just left, something seemed to be occurring.
"Gbrahh!" A roar erupted as the volcano began spewing meteorites of flaming hot rocks into the air.
A commotion ensued, and everyone started running at the command of the leader. After running a short distance, everyone stopped as the volcano also ceased spewing flaming rocks.
"What the heck was that just now? Did we come here to run away from volcanic meteorites or to kill some friggin monsters?" one of the team members said in annoyance and as if to answer him, a storm of lava-red creatures could be seen rushing down the volcano.
"Oh my God, what in the heavens are those?" As the creatures closed the distance between them and the hunters, everyone began drawing their weapons and preparing for battle.
"Battle formation!" Jack cried out in a loud voice that seemed surprising for someone with such a thin frame.
Everyone quickly got into formation, forming a ring with their backs to each other.
"Hey, you! Are you just going to stand there and do nothing?" Jack called out to Hal.
"Yes."
"What? Why? Can't you see what's in front of you? Do you want to die?"
"No. But I remember that not participating in the raid was part of our agreement, and I plan on honoring that, besides I'm just a E-rank Hunter; you don't really expect me to contribute much, do you?" Hal said, pointing to the horde of monsters approaching at an alarming speed.
"Ahh!" Jack groaned in frustration, seemingly regretting bringing an E- rank to tag along for a C-rank raid.
"Leave him be, sir; it's not like we can expect anything from an E-rank anyway.";A C-rank Melee type Hunter said.
Jack took one final look at Hal before focusing his attention back on the impending battle.
"Try to survive!" He said to Hal as the monsters came pouncing on them.
"Survive? Sure"
Hal said with a smirk on his face, he was going to do more than that if things went south, as he suspected.
For now, he was just going to watch.