" How long has it been like this?" Norman , the S class awakened that had been available, asked June who had been at the portal since it opened.
" Ten hours, it's actually a miracle it's still standing. I thought the awakened sent inside would be dead," she said shrugged of his hand touching her shoulder.
The fucker had been called and had come in after ten hours. S class rankers were just so freaking arrogant. Did he think she would just sleep with him because he was an S rank.
" Ma'am there are only seventy dead and ten missing civilians. Must have been caught by the portal or died" a technician said showing the data to her.
She breathed a sigh of relief, the portal despite being S had the least civilian casualties.
" Try finding those missing or put up an announcement, they might have just panicked and ran further," she said handing the tablet back to the technician.
She sighed tired. She could only imagine what the people in the portal were going through. Most of them were C class and the strongest being a B class.
" Alaric! Mama Martha!" She could hear various voices shout from the crowd gathering their.
She saw two disheveled women following behind the technician who had been taking to her walking towards them. He seemed reluctant but from the looks of it they were having non of it.
June met them in the middle.
" Can I help you with something?" She asked scrutinizing them. From the looks of they must be working here just from the way they were dressed.
" We are looking for two people their names are Alaric and Martha," they said gesturing widely. She could see the distress in their eyes.
" June stop talking to this sluts ," Norman said.
" How old are they and when was the last time you saw them?" She asked assuming Norman.
" Thank you, Alaric is eighteen and mama Martha is fifty nine," they said.
" Okay just write for me their description if I find them I'll...." She didn't get to finish her sentence when the portal started to tremble.
She knew that sign, it was opening.
" The portal is opening," someone shouted. Everyone turned to look at it just praying for the people coming out to be their friends.
A blurry hunched figure appeared before it become clear. The person that stambled out was tall, he had blood all over him and the thing that stood out was his incredibly long hair that reached his waist.
He was dressed in red trousers that were torn beyond relief. Just barely holding on. One could see the wounds on his body mixed in with all the blood.
He had a small backpack on his bag that looked pretty intact. There was a long snake like tattoo that coiled around his right hand.
He stood there for a few seconds murmuring to himself before falling over.
" Alaric!" Everyone was shocked out of their stupor by the shout.
June rushed forward and caught the man before he hit the ground. She could feel all the blood on him.
"One is out! The dungeon is closing." Someone shouted from the crowd.
The moment he fell the portal started to reduce in size shrinking at a rapid speed. Everyone knew what it meant, only one person had survived the dungeon.
From the look of it, the survivor was a civilian who might have accidentally entered the dungeon. All the awakened who had entered were probably dead.
June looked at the man in her arms and sighed.
" Well this is interesting," Norman said looking at Alaric with interest, " to survive an S rank dungeon as a civilian that is rare. "
June clutched the man tighter. He knew what Norman's interest ment. It was trouble.
She watched as the guy was loaded into a waiting ambulance with the two women following him clearly distraught.
This was going to be a bitch, she taught as she looked at the place where the portal was .
Most of the buildings were were still standing except for the few who had walls or their roofs knocked down. At least the damage was minimal.
The compensation was not going to be as astronomical as most dungeon opening sites. Most of the opening sites are always razed the ground .
She looked at the disappearing ambulance and smile faintly, maybe they will meet someday.
.....
" You were really banged up when you fell out of the portal," Bethany said her eyes full of worries.
" That wasn't my blood mostly so stop worrying," Alaric said while releasing soothing precense to calm her and all the other girls.
Non of them had been hurt during the scaffle and he was glad. It had been a week since he had been released from the hospital and they were planning to reopen the brothel that night.
Mama Martha had unfortunately died but the bag she had given him contained all the documents on the brothel and her will for them to help her take care of it.
She must have anticipated her death due to old age or something. It had taken a lot for Alaric to convince the girls to open the place that day.
Only the roof had been affected by the portal but the awakened organization had repaired it for them.
Things had been quiet and no one had come to disturb him. The only time people from the organization had looked for him was for him to talk about what had happened in the dungeon.
He had explained but not everything, just enough to describe the dungeon and it's attack pattern. They were pretty surprised that the dungeon had created an exit without him killing the boss.
He had thought that it was normal but maybe he was just lucky.
He had been test as an Awakened but they only found he was only an E class awakened which was pretty common for first time awakened.
They could increase their rank but their talent was mediocre at best.
That had been his last interactions with the awakened association.
He looked at the tattoo around his left hand. It moved the moment he looked at it. It was the whip that he had picked at the dungeon it seemed to have merged with him becoming his weapon.
He looked at it's attribute that appeared on the system.
NAME: Crimson Whip (Unstable)
GRADE: D-Rank (Evolvable)
Originally mundane. Mutated by exposure to an Eros-Type dungeon.
TYPE: Whip
BASE STATS
Attack: +12
Speed: +7
Vital Drain: 3% of damage dealt returns as stamina
Durability: Low–Medium
Affinity: Eros , Blood , Fear
ACTIVE SKILL.
Crimson Lash (Lv. 1)
A whip strike that converts emotional fear into destructive red energy.
Effects:
Releases a short-range crimson arc on impact.
Deals Spirit + Physical hybrid damage.
Slight vitality absorption on hit.
Damage increases when the wielder is terrified, cornered, or bleeding.
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Energy Cost: Uses emotional charge (no mana required)
Range: 4–6 meters depending on emotional intensity
PASSIVE EFFECTS
1. Blood Memory (Passive)
The whip "remembers" the deaths it absorbed
Slightly increases damage against plant-type, illusion-type, and Eros-type creatures.
Resonates with the emotions of the wielder.
2. Fear Resonance (Passive)
When the wielder feels fear, panic, or high emotional stress:
Attack power increases proportional to emotional spike.
Crimson glow intensifies.
Whip becomes easier to control (instinct-based syncing).
He looked at the increased stats .
( +12 stamina,+10 spiritual,+7 control,+7 vitality, + 20 reputation)
He had really scored a jackpot on the weapon side. So the weapon he chose was mostly active when he felt fear . It could absorb blood and anyone he killed their attribute will be remembered by the weapon and damage dealt would increase.
His basic stats had also increased drastically with the awakening of his combat ability.
With the combat ability and the whip , he was more assured that he would protect the brothel better. He was the only man here and hiring guards would be costly due to the situation they were in currently.
A guard would be a luxury.
He never planning on changing his career to an awakened. That was too much work for him.
His body was basically created to pleasure, not go through pain.
He never planned on registering as an active awakened who enters dungeon to fight monsters and find treasures.
He knew if he worked hard enough the system would help in and increase his skills.
He very much preferred being a prostitute.
He'd decided not to reduce the size of his hair but that would be the maximum length, he really liked it.
" Alaric you've really been out of it and depressed, are you sure you can do it tonight," Bethany asked still worried.
" You have gain quite a reputation so I'm sure you might get customers," Celey said.
Alaric knew they were worried since they were the oneswho had seen him coming out of the dungeon, that must have been traumatizing.
" Sorry for the depression era I'm back on track again," he joked flashing his most charming smile. They all giggled at that.