As expected of a field boss monster, it was quite tough.

Overall, it took us 30 minutes of grinding its HP down to nothing before it finally fell—thirty minutes of the bear’s earth-shaking roars and the thick, loamy reek of crushed truffle flesh hanging over the battlefield like a fog.

If we hadn’t upgraded our equipment before this, I’m pretty sure it’d have taken over an hour instead.

And, of course, it’s not a hunt with no nail biters either.

At each transition of the boss’s stage, the girls always end up losing ground, pushed back like a tide receding. On those moments, if not for Eri’s fast reactions and me stepping in to tank the boss, then we would’ve gotten wiped several times over.

For the notifications, we only got the mob’s first kill and a new title: Bear Slayer.

We didn’t receive another announcement for the boss’s rank, though, as it was a Green Ranked Field Boss just like the Grass Wolf Alpha.

Furthermore, our levels rose by two each, too. With me and Miyabi reaching level 37 and the others at 36. As for the drops, it was bountiful.

Kiki was even lucky enough to get a new set—Mushroom Bear Set—that made her look like... a cute teddy bear. Genuinely.

The hood came with two stubby little ears at the top, and the whole coat was a soft, rounded brown that belonged more in a gift shop than a battlefield. By surface area, she just looked like she’s wearing a sports bra and hot pants. Is this really an armor? More like a joke by the devs.

Though the stats it gave were no joke.

It had a level 35 equipment requirement and had double the performance of the previous set. The set bonus even had a passive HP/SP regeneration added in, making it perfect for Kiki’s brawler build.

The rest of us only got stray parts of other sets—shy of a complete set—that we could only keep for now without equipping. It’s useless to have only parts of it unless we have a full set, after all.

For the other loots, we got crafting materials, upgrade stones, and many others.

Honestly, it wasn’t a bad haul.

After the boss hunt, one more change happened to me.

"Hmm?"

The quest panel popped up, showing that I had successfully cleared all the requirements, which caused a small change.

[

Quest: The Mystery in the Howling Forest (Unique)

Requirements: Level 15, Title of Pioneer

Description:

The Howling Forest to the East of the Beginner Village hides something. You must search for the anomaly and stop it before it’s too late.

Quest Targets:

- Kill 328/100 Shroom Rabbits ✅

- Kill 273/100 Shroom Boars ✅

- Kill 144/100 Shroom Wolves ✅

- Kill 1/1 Shroom Bear ✅

- Clear the Howling Dungeon (0/1) (new)

Quest Rewards:

- UR Class Advancement Scroll

- ?

]

The question mark on the quest targets finally revealed itself.

Of course, I knew of it beforehand, so I wasn’t surprised, but the others—

"Ka—WhiteGod, where is this dungeon? Let’s go now!"

"Dungeon?! Woohoo~! Adventure time~!"

"This... sounds dangerous. Is it fine to go there...?"

—were pretty shaken by the quest’s sudden upgrade.

They weren’t alone, though, as the chat itself erupted with all manner of reactions.

Some were buzzing with excitement over dungeons existing in Heaven’s Path, some were wringing their hands over the girls’ safety. Some were even dropping Super chats just to wish them good luck.

As for me...

[Anon19960509: Already going to "that" place? This should be fun~!]

[Anon49201131: Musclehead. Just shut up if you don’t have anything to say.]

[Anon78440705: I’m betting that they will clear the dungeon in three hours!]

[Anon00010101: You just lost your treasured flute to me before, and you dare bet again? I’ll take your sword this time~!]

[Anon78440705: Hah! And if I win, I’m taking your Blue Lotus!] 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

[Anon00010101: Take it if you dare! 🔥]

I’m stuck listening to gods throwing themselves into their own little circus. Betting and whatnot. Honestly, it’s distracting. If not for them taking so long to find me, I would’ve muted them or blocked them from my stream already. I-It’s not like I missed them, alright?!

Thankfully, we hadn’t burned through much of our resources on the boss, so we could still push forward without restocking.

If we stopped and turned back right here, the viewers—and two of the girls—would go mad about it, for sure. Thus, we could only go forwards.

Of course, I didn’t know where the actual location of the dungeon’s entrance was. All I’ve heard from Kiki in the previous cycle was that it sat somewhere deep inside the Howling Forest. Thankfully, I need not roam around in search for it, as the quest itself guided me through.

A golden marker appeared on the map, bright and unmistakable.

The path wasn’t so peaceful, though, with random mobs cropping up along the way. At our level, they barely qualified as a nuisance anymore.

"Is this the place...?"

Soon after, we reached the spot indicated on the map.

It was deep in the forest, hemmed in by thick trees and shrubs so dense the sky above was little more than scattered slivers of pale light.

A low mound, almost modest in size, with a cave-like opening cut into its face—exhaling cool, damp air that smelled faintly of wet stone and earth, the kind of chill that prickled the skin before you’d even stepped inside.

It spiraled downward, swallowing everything past the first curve into solid black.

When I approached the entrance and passed my hand through the "boundary" line, a notification quickly popped up.

[Congratulations! You are the first person to ever find a dungeon! Howling Dungeon!]

[You have gained: Fame +50]

[Congratulations for being the first person to unlock Fame. Fame Leaderboards have been unlocked. Rewards will be released to the top 1,000 players monthly.]

"Hmm..."

This... is weird.

Fame can be gained in many ways, so I was expecting someone to have already unlocked it. But to think I was still the first one to gain points on it...

Of course, even though only I "touched" the dungeon, the girls gained equal amounts of fame with me, launching all four of us straight to the top of the Fame Leaderboards at once. Other than us, no other names were present yet.

Obviously.

"Alright, now, we’re here to the spot of my quest."

I declared not only to the girls, but also to all viewers watching our every step.

"This should also be the place where FleetingCloud’s quest item is found. We should be careful, as this place’s danger level is twice of here."

Of course, my words weren’t unfounded, but the confidence in my voice alone seemed more than enough to convince them.

Seeing the dungeon’s panel, it was pretty obvious, after all.

[

Name: Howling Dungeon

Dungeon Type: Instance

Monster Type: Mutated Animals

Suggested Level: 40

]

A recommended level of 40. There’s no way it’d be an easy dungeon. But still, why the fuck is the rating of this quest level 15 again...?

We took a brief rest before entering, the girls filling the quiet with chatter aimed at each other and the viewers. I, on the other hand, was pulling a few troublemakers aside for some pointers.

Of course, in hushed voices away from attention.

"So, as expected, this changed too?" I asked once more.

Earlier, Kay did tell me that my presence in this timeline was causing a butterfly effect. And it seems like this dungeon was no exception.

[Anon78440705: Howling Dungeon is supposed to be a providence dungeon, with a suggested level of 25. But now, it’s 15 levels above that. You understand what this means, right?]

I nodded my head, frowning hard.

A providence dungeon is basically a dungeon to help players get stronger, preparing them for the hard climb further ahead. It’s supposed to be full of materials and light on real danger.

But with the suggested level suddenly ballooning like this, the changes inside were obvious without needing to look. More monsters. Stronger monsters. Maybe traps that had no business appearing in a dungeon of this tier. This place had shed its role as a "providence" dungeon entirely.

"But well, what’s done is done." I shrugged. "Even if the difficulty increased, I can only lead everyone to clear it. Everything considered, nothing changed."

There’s always the option of grinding our levels to 40 before we dive in, but that’s a waste of time we don’t need to spend. Leveling while we push deeper is perfectly viable.

We have enough resources, healing pots, and everyone is well rested. There’s absolutely zero reason to postpone the dungeon dive.

"Then, shall we enter?"

"YES~!"

None of the girls tried to argue, nodding all the same. Even Eri, who was wearing her unease plainly on her face, fell into step right behind the frontline troops.

I was the last person to enter the dark cave. The damp chill wrapped around me the moment I crossed the threshold—cold enough to feel real, pressing in from all sides—and then, between one step and the next, the scenery shifted.

The suffocating black peeled back, not into light exactly, but into something dim and sourceless, like a sky overcast so thick not even the clouds were visible. Shapes resolved from the dark—uneven walls, a stone floor worn smooth by something’s repeated passing. Seeing this, I realized with no doubt—we have entered the instance dungeon.

"To your formation!" I cried fast.

Ram and Gwen quickly moved, forming a line.

Miyabi and Kiki, who had both been craning their necks around at the walls like tourists, reluctantly dragged their feet into position. Eri rushed to her spot, and so did I. We stood there in the weak half-light, scanning every shadow for movement.

The mini map was only showing a small portion of the map.

The area we were on, and the paths branching away from it. A total of seven tunnels—two forward, one back, three to the left, and one to the right. Each one dark. Each one silent in the particular way that meant something was listening from the other end.

This... is definitely the type where we unlock the map’s display on the mini map only when we enter that said area.

"Feels like the classic dungeon delving games! Nostalgic~!" Kiki whispered with a smile.

Miyabi, on the other hand, was scanning the walls with narrow eyes. "There’s no monsters...? Is this place a safe zone then?"

"No."

Of course, I didn’t let her continue down that dangerous line of thinking.

This dungeon... there’s no such thing as a "safe zone" in it.

Rustle!

"...!"

A sound scraped out from one of the tunnels—quick and dry, like small claws ticking across bare stone. One of the three to the left.

"And speak of the devil..." I whispered. "Here they come."