Graveyard dungeon

The sun shone in the sky with the rays of a new dawn.

As the alliance between the four ancient families and the merchant association passed through the mirror-like portal rotating clockwise. The feeling of spacial movement spread out.

They found themselves outside a cemetery it was dark all around them and only the two rusted steel barred gates could be seen close to each other in front of them giving them a choice of going left or right.

The sky was unlit with an eerie silence all around giving them a feeling of perishing and wickedness.

Looking inside through the barred gates only the dreadful mist could be seen. giving them a sense of dread and mystery.

The leaders of the 5 squads were discussing their path forward after examining the choice of two routes.

While Alex was standing there in his black suit and brown belt dangling on the right side of his black pant. looking at everything with interest as if he was in a museum and not in a life-threatening den of enemies where S-Rank is the minimum to even enter.

As they discussed their next course of action, someone from the Li household. who was standing close by caught a disease?

An illness that can affect the strongest of beings and even cats. Yes, you guessed right, it's curiosity.

While everyone was nervous and regretting their choice of coming to a place like this. someone from the Li family came close to Alex and asked in a hushed voice.

"Hey, dude why didn't you move to dodge when that guy's sword was nearly going to cut your throat, and also why are you looking so comfortable?"

Alex looked at him with a smile and then looked around to see a lot of people were interested in his answer even though he asked in a low voice. they were cultivators so they had their senses enhanced. So, listening to a person speaking in a low voice was an easy task.

But as he looked at them they pretended to not hear it and started looking around.

Alex smiled knowingly and said to the man," it's because I won't die. let's not talk about cutting my throat even my suit won't be dirtied today, by him or anyone.

Alex said this with a cocky smile grinning from ear to ear. arrogance dripping from his bright Brownish black eyes seeming luminous little jewels. his body exuded an aura of confidence as if no one could touch him.

The man who asked this named Jacob was shocked by the reply and Madman was... Well mad at his answer saying that he couldn't even be touched.

Chu Feng was also displeased at his attitude and stopped his conversation with the captains to look at him.

Now, everyone was looking at him, with dissatisfaction, anger, and surprise at his confident expression and statement. but he didn't back off and stood there with a calm expression on his face.

"You don't believe me?" Asked Alex as he looked at the man beside him with a mysterious smile. Alex was acting unusual today.

"Well... What can I say?" said the man as he looked uncertain as to how to reply after a remark like that.

"Let me show you. the meaning of power," Alex said as he stood right in front of the armored man. stretched out his right hand and formed a 'v', and said with an arrogant smile," Two punches, punch me two times and you will understand."

Jacob was surprised and didn't know what to do for a moment but he didn't have to wait for long to decide as his fellas encouraged him and Chu Feng also voiced out," Do it, let me see the reason for his arrogance and neglect, to us."

Jacob nodded and punched Alex. but before his fist touched him it was pushed back. Like it touched an invisible wall that wouldn't let anything pass.

Jacob and everyone were surprised and confused at this turn of events, Alex laughed as he said.

"See?"

Jacob looked at his hands but didn't find anything off. he was an S-Rank and couldn't accept such an outcome. So, encouraged by his friends he tried again, and this time harder.

Instead of being repelled, his fist changed direction before it was an inch away from hitting Alex, it was like the punch slipped after touching an invisible wall, and he nearly fell to the right side of Alex before he applied force on his legs and jumped backward landing safely.

Jacob was shocked and said skeptically," How? Ho-

He was interrupted as Armando glanced at Alex for a second and said in a calm voice," Enough! We are going from the right gate." and walked towards the right gate without waiting for anyone else.

The others were doubtful and reluctant to accept Alex's arrogance but didn't disobey. And walked behind Armando.

This is a really interesting scenario as everyone respected Armando and no one retorted his words, the reason for that is what was said before.

Those who have a special ability are equivalent to S-Rank no matter their cultivation rank and are to be nurtured as an elite fighters.

That is accurate, but what about an S-Rank cultivator and even a veteran mercenary inheriting a special ability?

The answer to that question is Armando, a veteran mercenary who inherited a special ability.

But the reason for their respect and compliance of even the other captains is his ability itself.

The Power of Faith!

That was the special ability he inherited his Beliefs and faith power him up meaning that the more he has faith in something the stronger he will be.

An example of that would be his faith in being able to stop the madman's sword. normally it would have been very difficult but because he had faith that he could do it, he was able to do it, and with a single hand at that.

That is the power of belief, the power that can move mountains and split rivers, not just in fiction.

With Armando leading the way in, they walked in and saw graves just ahead of them. the visibility was low because of the mist and only a few meters ahead of them could be seen.

Without minding the seemingly harmless tombs they passed them by heading straight in a large group so that they wouldn't get lost if they for some reason were separated from each other.

As they passed the eerie graves and couldn't find any monsters they were a little dubious as they should have found some monsters at some point but no one found anything aside from graves.

At this moment, when everyone was tense and wary of the situation, someone decided that this was a nice time to start a conversation by asking a question. A rather bad choice of time.

"Uhmm...so I have this question that's been bothering me for some time now," Alex said in a laid-back manner. His voice rang in the air making the atmosphere even tenser.

In this dangerous situation as they were skeptical of everything when they heard his question everyone had the urge to curse but someone did reply to him and it was someone unexpected.

"What is it?" Armando asked as he stopped and turned to him.

"But sir...? Said, someone in an unsure voice as to why would he pay so much attention to him. Alex had been making trouble from the start so the thought it would be better for him to shut up.

"Yes, sir ignore him he is just fooling around," someone said agreeing with the person from before that they would pay more attention to the situation and not some non-serious fool. But Armando seemed to think differently.

"Enough!" Said Armando, and then continued while pointing at Alex," you, continue, what is it?"

"Why are we here?" asked Alex as he made a questioning gesture by stretching out his arms outward. Sounding stupid while standing in the dungeon. Because it was an obvious question.

"Like I told you-" someone was going to retort and advise Armando that they should continue their mission without minding any nuisance.

But he was interrupted as Armando replied calmly without minding his attitude or the opinions of others because he only believed in himself.

"We are here to clear this dungeon by killing all the monsters inside."

Everyone was displeased because he answered but no one voiced their dissatisfaction.

"So, why aren't we doing that?" asked Alex as he showed a surprised expression.

"Yo-" someone was going to yell at him and say that we would do that if we could find the monsters before he was interrupted as Armando seemed to understand something and became quiet including three more people.

Chu Feng, someone from the long household, and a woman from the Li household who was covered in armor from head to toe.

They were the only ones who seemed to understand something and became unusually quiet. Sensing their surroundings again carefully.

They now understood the reason they couldn't find the monsters and therefore warily looked down.

Yes, it should have been really obvious but sometimes the visible things are also the most difficult to find.

Armando spoke out in a serious and slow voice.

"get off the graves!"

Looking at him being so severe they obeyed without a retort as they slowly got off the tombs. Well, except for a certain someone.

Armando looked at Alex still standing on a tomb smiling back at him and saying," hehe, you got it!

And then it all started like a cliche. an outburst of all kinds of snarling and growling rang out at the same time. rotten hands came out of the graves and green smoke appeared from some graves. One of the green smoke also engulfed Alex before anyone could react or say anything.

And then the chaos ensued.