The last thing I did before leaving was take a look at the leaderboard as I grabbed my bag to leave and see how much time I spent inside. Almost two whole days. That was not a short, or a long time, but for the context we are currently in, that was basically forever.

  A lot could change in a few hours, let alone nearly two days, and it also goes to show just how significant my constitution is now since it wasn’t like I ate regular meals over that timeframe. But whatever, it is time to leave.

  Since I knew that this time I was leaving for real, I was as ready as I could ever be, my spear was gripped tightly in my hands, and there was a focus in my eyes that wasn’t present, I don’t think, for any battle that I fought in the dungeon.

  I was hoping there would be nothing for me to do, that the lava people had not yet attacked and my family was fine. That was the wish. That was the hope. But it wasn’t my expectation.

  I couldn’t quite force myself to think of any worse outcomes for the members of my family, but I at least expected for some fighting to be happening almost immediately after exiting. If that wasn’t the case, then I would be happy, but I would not be caught unprepared.

  So that was why the second I exited the dungeon and saw what looked to be around ten or so of the regular red people I was used to seeing standing around the area in front of the dungeon and closer to the shop, almost as if they were on guard and waiting for something, there was no hesitation in my steps or any of my actions that followed.

  These people were the enemy, and they have killed enough humans and tried to kill myself and, worst of all, the members of my family more than enough times for me to not second guess when it came to them. They needed to be killed, and I would gladly oblige.

  I wasn’t fast or quick enough to kill them all without any of them making a single sound. Perhaps if I used Aqua Barrage to get all those water bullets going, maybe I would have killed them faster, but I didn’t want to waste mana like that, not knowing how much fighting I would have to do in the coming minutes.

  So they were able to make a whole bunch of noise the second they saw me, but it did not last very long. With my new Traits, such as Heart of Currents and the Crushing Depth Frame, I was better and stronger physically, and the latter especially increased how hard I could hit.

  Melee attacks would mimic the weight of the deep sea. I did not forget that line, even when I was complaining about not being all that strong. The fact of the matter is these beings were not my equal before I went into this dungeon, and now the ten of them that were gathered here would only serve as a warm up.

  And that they did. Despite their shouting and whatever attacks they hurled at me, not too long later ten new bodies were around me, broken and unmoving.

  From there, I surveyed the scene around me in full. Upon leaving the dungeon the first thing I noticed were the red people, so I took care of the threat. Now what was the situation? Honestly, not good.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  I did not wait any longer and took off running toward the compound because what I saw was destruction. Not necessarily in the area directly next to the dungeon and the shop, but there were plenty of smoke fumes rising in the distance, and I could see parts of the forest that held the gauntlet and the shop burned away. Things were happening or they already happened.

  As I moved toward the family compound, the destruction became even clearer. Entire rows of houses were destroyed, lava flowing all over the place. I could now see about three or four streets over because the houses that were blocking the view were flattened, burnt to nothing.

  There were craters here and there, weapons thrown about, and even blood. I was not seeing pools of it or anything like that, but I could see blood splattered on the ground here and there, on a broken tree, on the handle of a weapon left on the ground. And I am sure if I looked hard enough, I would probably find bodies.

  This feeling made my stomach turn with pain and anxiousness at the state of my family because I could not hear any screams. If there was fighting still going on, especially nearby or in the compound, I should be hearing screams, yelling, but there was nothing.

  Eventually I made it, and it appeared the destruction did not spare our family compound. A lot of the trees were destroyed. Lava was all over the place. More and more blood could be seen in various places, but most of the destruction for some reason was all centered not around our main home but the faction node.

  It still sat there floating in the same place I remembered it being, but the area around it looked like a missile had landed there.

  There wasn’t a single scratch on the node itself, though that wasn’t to say the house was without damage. The entire left wing looked like it was in rubble. That was the side of our house Grandpa’s room was on.

  My heart dropped as I considered the implications of what I was seeing and even more so what I wasn’t seeing or hearing or sensing of any kind.

  Even if my entire family was killed, surely there would be more bodies, more blood, more signs of struggle, something to show me that they were not just burned away into nothingness. There is no way Grandpa would go out that sad. I refuse to believe it.

  And just as anger, sadness, rage, pain, and all of the other emotions related to those things were threatening to overcome me, despite even the passive effect of my new class…

  I heard a noise. Faint movements, like someone accidentally shifted when they were not supposed to. It came from inside the house.

  My vision flashed with anger and my body moved before my mind could tell it what to do. I darted toward the house. There was no need to break the front door since it was fucking destroyed already, and I moved with intensity toward the sound I heard.

  All around me, furniture, walls, and various things were broken. There was clearly a fight here, one far more devastating than when the red people first invaded our home.

  When I reached the location of the noise, I eventually found someone hiding in one of the rooms. A man, probably about the same age as my dad or close to it, and clearly scared, but most of all not someone I recognized. And definitely not a fucking family member.

  Barely even thinking, my hand lashed out toward the man hiding in one of the studies, grabbed him by his neck, and squeezed hard. He tried to scream and fight his way out of my grip, punching at my hand with all he had, but whatever meager strength he contained within his body was not enough to dislodge himself from my grip, not when I was this angry.

  I looked him in his eyes, and I asked only one thing. My voice coming out colder than I thought possible.

  “Where the fuck is my family?!”