Not even half of a minute after he entered the great oak, Arin's curiosity as to what resided the tree had already disappeared. It had been replaced by hundreds of thin cuts which littered his exposed skin, leaving him covered in a thin layer of his own blood. Already tired of the thrill that he had desperately been hoping for, he turned towards the bright entrance that lied directly behind him
Suddenly, both he and Renota felt a strange rustling emanating from their... pants. Two orbs—one looking similar to and the other being the lusterless orb the exhausted woman had given Arin at the Campaign Center—soon flew out from their pockets and into the void of the great oak's canopy. Arin was confused for a moment as to what exactly was happening, but he soon came to a realization.
A colossal grin appeared on Renota's face, somehow larger than any he made before. He started to laugh, almost maniacally, before thinking aloud.
"It's a Dungeon!"
Dungeons were a phenomenon found in every corner of the strange world Campaigners sought to conquer. Dungeons can come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from small buildings to large ones—such as the tree—and sometimes even taking the form of entire regions of the world. Although, the latter only occurs in extremely rare cases, and there are often not enough humans present to activate them, anyway.
Dungeons are activated when the number of humans within its range surpasses a certain threshold. This threshold is impossible to know until it's reached, but the number of humans required for activation is usually proportional to its size.
Not long after a human steps foot in a Dungeon, in one way or another it will collect the human's orb—known better as a Campaign Core. If a human enters a Dungeon without a Campaign Core, nothing will happen. At least, nothing will happen until the Dungeon is activated. When a human without a Campaign Core is within range of an activating Dungeon, they are killed.
Well, 'killed' might not be the best way to describe what occurs. They are simply purged from existence.
Campaigning and the organizations behind it were initially created in order to stop people from being purged within Dungeons, providing both stable travel into the world and protection from Dungeons, in the form of soul-tethered Campaign Cores.
Arin knew all of this already, and he was disappointed in himself for not realizing sooner that the orb he had been holding on to was a Campaign Core. His disappointment was almost outweighed by his confusion as to why he had never learned, or even wondered, what exactly a Campaign Core looked like.
But all of his disappointment and confusion was outweighed further by something resembling dread. Usually, you can simply leave a Dungeon before it is activated. However, since his Campaign Core was taken away, he could no longer leave. That's because he and Renota were the last two people required in order for the Dungeon to activate.
The idea of tackling a Dungeon seemed to excite Renota, since the yellow flames engulfing his fists became even brighter. He quickly rushed over to Arin, placed a burning finger on the scar beneath the cut on his shirt, and whispered an incantation.
"Ekor watom, itokone get. Ekor tso ashtafi."
The incantation was very similar to the one he had used when Arin was gravely injured on the first night, but it was much less intense. The sensation similar to burning alive was mostly the same, since he was still engulfed in light yellow flame, but the intensity of the inexplicable pain was much less fierce. It seemed to be a lesser version of the healing spell Renota used, one better suited for easily healed wounds like the cuts they were covered in. After a few seconds of incredible—but not unbearable—pain, his blood had returned to his body and all evidence of the rat's many lacerations disappeared. Renota also placed a finger on himself and chanted the incantation, healing him from the rat's cuts as well. However, it seemed that the pain from healing himself was much greater than the pain someone being healed felt.
In the few seconds they had spent engulfed in the healing flames, the opening in the tree had already almost sealed itself shut. The process of the opening being sealed looked natural, like the tree was simply healing a wound. It would've looked natural if its wounds weren't healing so rapidly. Time had barely passed since their Campaign Cores were taken and the Dungeon was activated, but the opening was already completely sealed.
The only thing visible in the entire void was Arin, Renota, the yellow flames, and the wet stone floor. No... there was also something else.
Far in the distance, there was a dim white light, and around it was five figures. It seemed that they were one of the other, if not the only other, Campaign within the great oak. Arin wanted to dash towards them, but unlike Renota, he was unable to produce light to see where he was going. That, however, was not his biggest concern.
Now that the Dungeon had been activated, various creatures were going to begin attacking him and Renota. Neither of them wasted a movement in preparing for the incoming assault, with Renota intensifying his flames and Arin unsheathing his blade. Arin was filled with grim anticipation, meanwhile Renota... Renota was grinning, as he usually does. He seemed excited to face the terrors that resided in the great oak Dungeon.
'How can he be so happy?! Just how stupid is he, really?'
Arin had no reason to be as irritated that he would have to face the dungeon as he was. Only a minute ago, he was wishing that his First Embarkment would be more thrilling and entertaining.
Arin had expected his experience as a Campaigner to be full of grand triumphs and the fearless conquering of vile beasts, but Campaigning isn't like that. At least not for someone like him. Right before him was the chance to have a grand triumph and to fearlessly conquer vile beasts, but he was full of fear and devoid of courage.
The first creature that attacked him and Renota was a familiar one, one of the grassland's scythed insects. It had been a while since he'd seen one in the light, but their appearance was still the same. It still had a toothed spider-like head, bone scythes extending from its mantis arms, ten crab-like legs, and dark, hairy chitin skin.
Its ten human-like eyes were trained on Renota, who was both literally and figuratively glowing. Quickly and without fear, Renota slipped under the creature's air-cutting scythes and then propelled himself upward into an uppercut to the creature's chin.
[4]
Renota's fist slipped just past the insect's head, but he instantly grabbed the back of the insect's head and pulled it downwards with all the strength he could muster, slamming the head into his knee.
[14]
A large crack could be heard from the now-staggering insect's skull, but it wasn't dead yet. Momentarily blinded by the cranial injury it had sustained, the insect violently swung its scythes at where it last saw Renota. But its scythes could not move. The insect quickly regained its vision and the first thing it did was look down to see what was wrong with its arms. For now, its arms were perfectly intact. The only problem was that they were both being held still by Renota, who's flames were slowly burning through the hairy chitin.
Before the insect could put more power into its arms and slice through Renota, it heard something terrible. Both of its arms had been effortlessly ripped off by Renota, the holes left in their wakes pouring azure blood. Confused as to what it should do now that its only method of attack was gone, and also starting to become heavily affected by the trauma inflicted to its brain, the insect lingered still for a moment.
Before Renota could deliver another heavy blow to its skull, the insect collapsed to the ground, killed by a combination of cranial trauma and blood loss.
Throughout the entire fight, his unwavering grin never faded. His glorious triumph against the beast was grand and flashy.
'Will you really let an Ishog perform better than you?'
Arin had been lacking in motivation, but this one thought ignited a blue flame of determination deep in his eyes. After all, he couldn't allow himself to be outperformed by someone who was so clearly lesser than him!
That's what he told himself, at least.