Level Up The Colony
Chapter 33: Cliff Drake

Chapter 33: Cliff Drake

Earlier, he had asked Gray whether it could still grow in size, thinking it might be a tactical advantage.

But from that reaction, it seemed the size boost was only temporary.

Shrugging, he wrapped the scarf around his neck and attempted to tuck Gray underneath it.

Unfortunately, the termite was too noticeable.

Instead, he secured it around his waist, making him look oddly traditional.

By 11:45 PM, he stepped out of the house, a silent promise forming in his mind.

’If I make it out alive, I’ll call my family.’

Anxiety gnawed at his chest, but he kept reminding himself, it was all for his siblings.

Timothy walked toward his destination.

Running wasn’t an option, for two reasons.

First, the streets were dangerous at night, and if a random bystander saw him sprinting, they might assume something was wrong and panic leading to an unnecessary chain reaction.

Second, his destination was an industrial area with at least four major facilities, meaning a heavy military presence.

Rushing there would only draw suspicion.

So, he bided his time and walked.

Just as he neared a junction, an eerie wave of mana suddenly washed over him, probing him.

His system reacted instantly.

---

[Status Check Detected]

[Status Check Rebuffed]

---

Timothy didn’t flinch.

Forget the mana probe, the real test was whether he reacted to it.

An E-rank hunter shouldn’t have acute mana perception yet, so if he acted startled, it would give him away.

Besides, using mana waves to check someone’s strength was crude.

A scanning device would have been more accurate.

Without turning his head, he had already identified the culprit, a figure flickering in and out of the shadows.

An assassin, perhaps?

The figure moved fluidly, weaving through the darkness with inhuman speed.

It was as if the shadows themselves carried him from one position to another.

Timothy’s lips curled into a smirk.

’Looks like I’ve already got an audience.’ he thought

Timothy immediately recognized this group as a potential threat and, without hesitation, allocated his remaining five stat points to Agility, bringing it up to 40.

The adjustment made him feel slightly more prepared.

He continued walking until he reached his destination, a gas-filling station.

Strangely, the area was deserted, and even the police vehicles were empty.

No officers in sight.

Coincidence? Timothy doubted it.

"Do they always resort to sneaky intimidation tactics?" he mused, standing his ground.

That was when several new figures emerged, exuding undeniable power.

Their mana pulsed visibly, and unlike before, they didn’t bother concealing it.

They lingered just at the edge of his perception, yet he still hadn’t located the dungeon.

"They’re taking no chances with me... But where’s the dungeon? It’d be foolish to fight out in the open like this, especially at night."

Before he could probe further, a woman suddenly appeared before him.

"Timothy Walter?" Her voice was sweet, almost disarming.

"Who’s asking?" he replied coolly.

"Come with me," she said simply before turning away.

Timothy followed her into the station, where a group was gathered at the terminal.

A towering, bulky man wielding a radiant arm shield.

The assassin from before.

A nonchalant woman chewing gum, dressed in a hat and wielding a staff.

And lastly, a man carrying a katana, his entire demeanor screaming "weeb."

Timothy took a mental note not to underestimate any of them.

Comparing their auras to the werewolf from his last raid, they were all noticeably stronger.

Not enough to overwhelm him individually, but together, they posed a real challenge.

The tomboyish woman who escorted him remained unreadable, he couldn’t immediately gauge her role.

With his enemies now in plain sight, Timothy adjusted his strategy.

His priority was finding the dungeon.

If he could level up mid-raid, it might turn the odds in his favor.

He stepped forward, the room falling into silence as everyone’s attention locked onto him.

After a long, tense staredown, the woman who had led him here handed him a contract.

Timothy skimmed through it, stopping only at the payment, five hundred thousand again.

Generous, he thought, signing it without hesitation before returning it.

Still, the location of the dungeon nagged at him.

He was about to ask when one of the group members casually answered the unspoken question.

"It’s below us. Watch your step. And be careful, there are no reliable healers." One of them said in mockery

Without further delay, they navigated to the back of the station and descended a hidden staircase Timothy hadn’t noticed before.

He made a mental note to extend his perception underground next time.

At the bottom, the reason behind the station’s eerie emptiness became clear.

A dungeon entrance loomed before them, situated in what should have been the storage garage for gas cylinders.

But that wasn’t the real problem.

The real problem was the heat.

The dungeon was leaking steam, raising the temperature of the entire room in an instant.

Timothy wasn’t sure if he was sweating from the sheer heat or from the realization of just how dangerous this setup was.

If even one of these cylinders explodes, the system won’t be able to save me.

He was about to step forward when the team turned to face him again.

"Timothy, what happened during your last raid?" the katana-wielding man asked.

"It was successful," Timothy replied flatly, aware of the assassin attempting to sneak behind him.

He didn’t react.

"We already know the last raid had no survivors, except for you and the assassin," the man continued.

"There are a lot of unanswered questions about what really happened. Because of that, we want you to sit this one out. As you can see, we’re fully equipped and don’t need a porter. You’ll still get paid once the raid is complete."

Timothy barely hesitated.

"Sure."

The group exchanged glances before turning toward the dungeon entrance.

But just as they were about to step through, the gum-chewing woman stretched out her staff toward him.

"Just to be sure..."

The moment she spoke, a tree sprouted behind him, its thick vines coiling around his body from his feet to his chest, trapping him in place.

"Better," she muttered, finally stepping through the gate.

Timothy remained still for about five minutes before he started testing the tree’s strength.

The more he struggled, the tighter it constricted.

His arms were pinned inside, limiting his options.

But then, movement.

Gray, the small creature at his waist, silently slipped free and dropped to the ground. The part of the tree it had been trapped in quickly sealed itself shut.

Gray, his summoned termite-like beast, immediately sprang into action.

Its mandibles clicked furiously as it gnawed at the vines, secreting a toxin that prevented the tree from regenerating.

"That’s what it got from the serpent’s passive skills..." Timothy realized.

Gray kept biting, cutting deeper with each moment.

Seeing its progress, Timothy summoned his other recruits. They appeared eagerly and swarmed the tree, their pace increasing.

Within another five minutes, the tree began to wither, its structure failing.

Eventually, it self-destructed, releasing him from its grasp.

Timothy nodded approvingly at his summoned creatures before dismissing them.

DING!

[You have received 4 free stat points.]

[You will be randomly assigned a reward.]

[•••]

[Selected: Random Box.]

[Your item has been placed in the inventory.]

DING!

[Daily Quest Available.]

[Daily Quest: A Strong Body...]

"Huh?"

The notification snapped Timothy back to reality.

That was when it hit him, so much had happened in the past 24 hours that he hadn’t even taken the time to claim his daily quest reward.

"Not the worst timing, but it’ll do."

At least now he understood what happened when he completed a daily quest without claiming the rewards.

Without wasting another second, he leaped into the gate portal.

He would complete the daily quest later.

Right now he was in a hurry

There was a chance he’d spawn near the others or he could end up elsewhere.

Either way, they already had a head start.

Unfortunately for him, the worst-case scenario unfolded.

He materialized on the far opposite end of the map.

From his position, he could see countless monsters roaming the area.

They stood on two legs, their bodies composed of solid stone with faint red veins glowing along their forms.

Their worm-like mouths gaped open, revealing jagged teeth, while a feathered spine ran down their backs, extending onto their tails.

Their arms and feet were adorned with glowing red claws, pulsing with heat.

The system promptly notified him.

[You have entered a dungeon.]

"A dungeon?"

[Volcanic Cliff Drake]

The name hovered above the creatures in subtle yellow text.

Timothy noted that they weren’t solitary; rather, they moved in tightly-knit groups, almost like a structured community.

It was both a cause for excitement and caution.

This was an opportunity for rapid leveling, but if the hunters caught up to him, explaining his presence would be troublesome.

What he didn’t realize was that the female hunter was already aware her spell had been disrupted, and she knew it.

The dungeon’s terrain confirmed its volcanic nature.

The ground was a scorched red, fractured with deep cracks that occasionally spewed outbursts of steam.

The environment was wild and chaotic, featuring towering mountains, deep gorges, and uneven pathways that seemed to defy stability as if nature itself refused to be tamed.

Despite scanning the area, Timothy couldn’t spot the other party.

Without wasting time, he summoned Gray and called forth his recruits.

With a single gesture, he pointed toward the drakes.

"Eat them. And let me know if you sense anything strange around the vicinity."

His command was clear.

He suspected the assassin might be lurking nearby, scouting in stealth.

And that was the thing with stealth; it only deceived the eyes, not the senses, and even if one did deceive the senses, he doubted they could defeat all the senses of Gray and the others.

Drawing his trusty machete, Timothy steadied his stance.

The moment the blade gleamed under the dungeon’s eerie glow, the nearby drakes snapped their heads toward him.

With wild, guttural roars, they charged.

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