Frostfire Legacy

*BAM!*

"The Cave Spider Mother has spawned?!"

Back in the guild, Zena slammed her palms on top of the counter, causing everyone in the guild to focus on her and hear her words. Her voice was too loud!

"Cave Spider Mother?"

"Damn! That's a bothersome enemy..."

"What floor is it? 6th? 10th?"

Hushed voices, speculating about the situation, started to echo around. Kali, of course, ignored them and continued.

"Yes. We already fought about 300 spawned Small Cave Spiders in the forest, so there's no doubt. The Cave Spider Mother spawned as the Rogue Boss of the 2nd floor."

"This is unheard of..."

Zena had a worried expression, something she rarely showed, as she tapped the Holo tablet in her hands.

"The last record of a Rogue Boss coming out of the floors below the 5th floor was over 20 years ago! And that was on the 4th floor!"

Lower floors have lower chances of spawning a Rogue Boss. That was common sense. No Rogue Boss has appeared within the first three floors in the entire dungeon's history!

"Anyway, I'll go and call for a Rogue Boss Alert for now." She continued. "There's a total of 153 adventurers on the 2nd floor recorded right now, so we should be able to handle it!"

Of course, not all adventurers from those 153 will participate. Despite incentivizing their expenses and losses, it was still a risky venture after all. Some wouldn't dare put their lives on the line, despite the bountiful rewards waiting for them.

To hunt a Rogue Boss, they would need at least 50 members at the average level of the floor to participate. For the second floor, the average level would be 4... but since it's a low floor, others usually skip past it. As such, high-level adventurers still on the 2nd floor were rare.

Of the 153, 41 were at level 2, 87 were at level 3, 21 were at level 4, and 4 were at level 5. In short, to have a fair chance against the Rogue Boss, they would need all levels 4 and above to participate, along with about half of the level 3s.

"That's... difficult."

The usual turnout rate on Rogue Boss Hunts was about 20% of the floor's adventurers. For this case, they would need a turnout rate of a little less than 50%!

Kali quickly gave up on expecting a lot of participants. They would be lucky if even half of the required numbers turned up!

"..."

However, they weren't without hope. She turned to Aster, who was listening a short distance away, and recalled his ability. With his wide area skills of either fire or ice, the difficulty would greatly lessen!

Anyway, they already did their part after reporting the current situation. Afterward, Aster's party moved to a nearby cafe and started to discuss matters.

"We're participating in this Rogue Boss Hunt." But before Kali could even promote the event, Aster had already declared his will. "Of course, if you're not comfortable with participating, I'm not forcing you to join."

He was aware of the danger of letting the rogue boss live. After all, spawning Small Cave Spiders endlessly sounds like a recipe for disaster.

'Without a doubt, spiders will take over the second floor if we fail here. That would mean nobody else would be able to go deeper into the dungeon anymore after this!'

After the boss fight, picture yourself coming up through the portal from the first floor and finding thousands of spiders swarming the entrance to welcome you. Not only was it a sight that would cause your skin to crawl, but your life was also placed in jeopardy the moment you entered!

*BEEP!*

"Hmm?"

At that moment, a small beep echoed from all of their Adventurer cards. Checking it, a new column called Quests had been added to his card's front display. When Aster tapped on it, the characters written on it started to warp, like getting rearranged, before showing different letters from before.

[Emergency Quest: Rogue Boss (Floor 2)]

[Target: Cave Spider Mother (Boss)]

[Participants: 1/153]

"Oh? There's someone who accepted it immediately." Aster groaned in surprise.

He didn't hesitate either and tapped "accept" himself, turning the number of participants to two. Although he was curious as to who accepted it first, he couldn't view the participant's list anyway.

The other three also quickly accepted the quest, making the number rise to five in an instant.

"Everyone... are you sure?"

Aster asked the girls, especially looking toward Celestinya, who had just joined their party.

"I'm a member of the party, so I'll follow what the leader says." She replied with a thin smile, casually, while leaning her chin on top of her curled fists.

The way she smiled and the way she looked at Aster were somehow unnerving him!

"Me? I'll join, of course! There's no way I'll let you head there alone~!" Cassy also responded with a smile.

Lastly, Kali crossed her arms before her chest, leaning against the cafe's soft cushioned sofa, and answered. "It is my duty to do this, so I will participate too."

Each of the three had their own reasons, so Aster didn't stop them anymore. "Then, let's prepare for tomorrow. Anyone who has any ideas about what we need to do?"

It was their first time doing a "Raid" with other parties, after all. They would definitely need supplies and other resources later.

Kali quickly spoke, seeing that nobody else was talking.

"Then, I will start by explaining how the Rogue Boss Hunt works..."

For an hour after that, Aster's party listened to Kali's explanation. She went in-depth with it too, adding things like cooperation with other parties, items that they need to bring in large quantities, spare weapons, and many others.

After their talk, the four headed to the nearest shop and started to buy the things they would need. Potions, for example, are placed on top of extra bullets, backup weapons, and extra armor.

Everyone spent what they had, almost up to the last coin!

With their shopping done, all that was left was to rest for the day early and prepare for a tiring battle tomorrow.

"Then, tomorrow, at 5. Let's gather at the guild." Aster declared before they split up.

He then started walking back to the Twister Hotel... but realized that three figures were following him. He stopped, looked back, and raised a brow. "Why are you all coming in this direction?"

"There's no need to meet up if we sleep in the same place~!"

"I just want to know where you stay, just in case..."

"..."

Kali was the only one who didn't say anything, but seeing how vigilant she was, he recalled the "excuse" that Magnus told her last night. About a member of the Anti-Human Movement slipping past the police's security net!

'Should I tell her?'

Aster mused but decided against it. It was doubtful if she would believe him anyway.

He quickly resigned himself to having another sleepless night.