DOOMSDAY SYSTEM: REBORN TO BECOME A BOSS

forcefully pulled into a dungeon, again!

"That's the craziest part." The first speaker's voice shook as he recalled. Just as we thought everything was over, a black hole suddenly appeared. I thought I was seeing things at first, but then both Parker and Sarah suddenly disappeared. They were definitely swallowed by the black hole!"

 Lucas's eyes twitched.

 He could easily guess that the black hole was a dungeon, but what drew his attention was the appearance of fire users.

 An awakened one.

 These were people who awakened systems after the apocalypse.

 Not everyone could awaken a system and possess an ability.

 Despite the amount of resources poured into the research, Base-A scientists were unable to give specific criteria on how these people were chosen.

 Those who were awakened could control elements and spatial fields and heal.

 They were also stronger and faster than normal people.

 But the awakened also had ranks.

 They were.

 A

 B

 C

 D

 And S.

 Up until he died, there was only one person that held that rank. 

Gabriel.

 Lucas's fist visibly tightened when the name appeared in his head.

 Then he slowly unfurled his fingers.

 He was a bit curious about the dungeon that appeared and wanted to check it.

 Lucas waited for nearly half an hour before movement came from next door.

 They were going out.

 He walked over to the window and saw three men and two women walk out of the door.

 He stayed where he was until they were a good distance away, and then he started to tail them silently.

 The place they arrived at was easier to find than he expected.

 The dungeon gate had appeared in the middle of an intersection.

 Dark energy swirled around, and everything nearby had turned grey, lacking every hint of life.

 The group came to a stop a good distance away.

 The person leading the way was a round and slightly chubby man. 

 "There it is!" He pointed at the dungeon with a shudder. "That's the thing that swallowed Ja young and Da-eun."

 "What in the heavens?" One person let out a gasp.

 The only lady in the group scrutinized the dungeon gate with thoughtful eyes. 

 "Those things seem to have appeared with the apocalypse. I have witnessed one before." She then frowned. "But I don't know what happens inside of where it leads to. The people who went in never came out."

 Lucas couldn't help glancing at her twice.

 She was beautiful with flawless white skin and slightly upturned red lips, which gave her an easygoing look.

 "You said it just appeared in front of you, right?" She turned to the chubby man, and he nodded.

 "Yes, just all of a sudden out of thin air."

 She took note of it. "What about the crazy people biting others?"

 The chubby man looked around with uncertainty, stuttering. "I don't know—they were—"

 "Help! Ahhhh...." A panicked scream tore through the air. 

 Everyone froze.

 Two people came running toward them, their steps frantic.

 Not far behind them, another group was in pursuit. They had roughish black skin, and their eyes rolled back to reveal the whites. Their feet dragged on the ground unnaturally, and their body movement was wrong in many ways.

 The sight gave an eerie feel of a puppet controlled by string.

 "Ahhh...help...they are eating people." One of the men running screamed.

 "What the hell?"

 "Zombies?" The woman narrowed her beautiful eyes at the figures approaching.

 Without hesitating, they swiftly stepped in to help.

 This was still the beginning of the apocalypse, and humanity was yet to descend into madness.

 Kindness still exists. At least for now.

 Lucas was done observing the gate.

 From the amount of dark qi, he guessed that it was a low-level dungeon.

 His legs moved to leave, but something else happened.

 Lucas's eyes widen.

 The original stationary gate sprang to life without warning. The thick dark qi extended out, and everyone nearby was pulled in before they could react.

 A heavy atmosphere enveloped Lucas the moment he entered the dungeon. A wet, sticky metallic smell hung in the air.

 He had been pulled into a dungeon. Again!!

Lucas couldn't understand his bad luck with dungeons after his rebirth.

 Fortunately, it was a low-rank dungeon. 

 It shouldn't be too difficult.

 Lucas looked ahead.

 A wide and open land stood before him with no end in sight.

 There was no one in his vicinity, and the people he was dragged in with seemed to have been transported to other places in the dungeon.

 Lucas wasn't panicked in the slightest.

 He shoved both hands into his pocket, the pad of his right thumb pressed against the hilt of his knife.

 It was quiet, and the air was deathly still.

 Shiink...

 Lucas dodged instinctively.

 He glanced at the big stone that fell some steps away from him.

 It wasn't anything fatal, but it was enough to injure him.

 Lucas narrowed his eyes.

 He could see the outline of a short, dark figure hidden behind the trees.

 There were many of them.

 Goblins.

 They were low-level monsters that weren't difficult to deal with.

 Just annoying.

 Lucas squinted his eyes and then dashed forward.

 The stones weren't difficult to avoid, and in no time he stood in front of their hiding place.

 "Rar... argh..."

 "Arhh...arggg...rah...rah..."

 "Arrrhh...rrggggg..."

 The goblins panicked.

 They dropped the stone they were hurling and turned to escape.

 Lucas wasn't about to let them.

 His eyes narrowed on a hefty figure wearing a purple robe.

 The goblin pulled on the tail of the robe, struggling to escape. 

 Lucas noticed that it was the only goblin wearing clothes.

 He immediately tagged it as the leader and went for it.

 "Arrh...rah...rhh...hhhhh..." The dressed goblin let out a loud squeak as Lucas grabbed it by the scruff of its neck.

 "Stop talking. I can't understand you anyway, so you might as well save your saliva." Lucas's face scrunched up in disgust. 

 The green dwarf wearing a purple robe embedded with overly shiny diamonds stung his eyes.

 The rest of the goblins, seeing that their leader had been captured by the enemy, stopped running.

 They stared at him hesitantly, then started to growl back and forth, conversing.

 In the end they gathered together, holding their stones while eying him.

 Lucas felt his skin crawl under their gazes.

 So ugly.

 He looked at the goblin in his hand and scrunched his nose in disgust.

 The creature had a large head compared to the rest of its body. Two pointed ears protruded from either side, twitching ever so slightly.

 Lucas's gaze shifted to the rough-looking brown pouch tied around the goblins' waist.

 "Is that where you get the stones from?" He asked.

 Every goblin had a similar pouch tied to their waist.

 Throughout the assault he noticed that they kept fishing out the stones from inside without any shortage.

 "Rrrarrrr...aararghg...ar..."

 Lucas gave the goblin leader an unimpressed look. "I know you can understand me. Nod your head if the answer is yes and shake your head if the answer is no for each question I ask you."

 His lips curled into an unkind smile. "Don't try to blame me otherwise...." He played with the knife in his hands suggestively. "I will start with the ears."

 He licked his lips and said to himself. "To think that I have never had goblin meat before. It must be delicious."

 The goblin leader let out a loud screech, covering both ears with its strange-looking hands. "Ahhhh...."

 "Ahhhh..." The other goblins scream too. Some even tried to escape.

 "Ahhh...ahahahha..."

 "No one move!" Lucas shot them a cold look.

 Of course he was just trying to scare them. 

 Goblins were so ugly.

 He wouldn't eat it even if he were starving.

 "First give me all the pouches." Lucas straightened up and said.

 He had a hunch that the pouch must be a spatial object that could store things.

 The goblin fearfully took off their pouch. One of the goblins, trembling, stepped forward and handed it to Lucas.

 Lucas took it guiltily. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was bullying them.

 But they were the ones who attacked him first. 

 He was even being magnanimous, taking just the ugly-looking pouch. He thought to himself.

 "Okay, now the rest of you can leave." He nodded at the other goblins.

 He thought they would at least hesitate since he was still holding their leader. 

 In just a blink of an eye, all of them actively disappeared.

 Lucas pursed his lips, then looked down at the goblin leader. "Your followers don't seem very loyal." 

 "Ha...arrhh...rah..rggg..ajhhh...errr...ha...rah..." The green figure puffed its cheeks, muttering angrily.

 "Okay, that's enough." "I need you to take me to the dungeon core. You know where it is, right?"

 "Arrrr...."

 "Remember what I said: no tricks. If you behave, I will let you go when we get there. Understand?"

 "Urr..."

 Lucas took it as a sign the goblin leader understood him.

 He dropped the goblin on the ground and watched it closely.

 The goblin was very obedient as it led the way forward.

 Lucas walked a foot behind him, not trusting it in the least.

 The monsters from the dungeon had different levels of intelligence from humans, but that didn't mean they should be underestimated.

 Most of them were actually quite cunning and knew how to turn a situation to their advantage.

 They walked down an uncleared path and finally arrived at a cave opening.

 "Rrarr...arrrr...narhhhhggh," the goblin gestured inside.

 "Just stop talking." Lucas rolled his eyes.

 He observed his vicinity, confirmed that there was no danger, and then stepped into the cave.

 A strong odor slapped him in the face, and Lucas almost couldn't breathe.

 Good heavens.

 His eyes snapped towards a corner of the cave, and he saw a big pot bubbling with green liquid cooking on top of a crude firewood stove setup.

 The inside of the cave was quite spacious. 

 Lucas held his nose while browsing around with his gaze. 

 Then his eyes widen.

 A treasure chest!

 He unconsciously took some steps forward.

 It was a real pile of treasure glittering with riches.

 Lucas's expression became odd. 

 He had a bad feeling.

 Almost simultaneously Lucas heard a commotion coming from outside the cave.

 He turned around and just happened to see the goblin looking at him. It flashed him a hateful grin. "Hehe..."