Solo Dungeon Runner-Chapter 32: [ Portal Frame ]

Alexander held his phone in his hand while walking into a parking lot that had barely any cars in it.

He followed the GPS on his phone as best as he could.

"It says it’s here..."

He looked up, in the middle of the parking lot stood a few people around a car.

Alexander approached with Fae beside him, drawing their attention with the strange outfit from his Inner Path.

The only change was the black underlayer beneath his outfit, while Fae wore her freshly cleaned dress that smelled heavenly. A pleasant addition to a thirty minute walk.

The five guys were leaning against their cars that formed an L shape in front of a pole.

Against the pole was leaning a frame for what would’ve been a tall painting, as big as him.

It was faintly shimmering, its insides fluctuating in shades of white and light blue.

That’s the portal?

"You’re the runner?" asked the closest man, while the others suddenly stopped talking.

Alexander stepped closer, the center of attention.

"Yeah."

They didn’t look like Dungeon Runners, rather, they looked like average people.

Blue jeans, shirts and t-shirts, nothing that would hint toward someone running dungeons or working for the Adventurer’s Guild.

"When’s the rest of your guild coming? We been securing this dungeon for hours," he replied.

"It’s only me and her," replied Alexander.

They all looked at each other, and broke in complete laughter that lasted a good minute.

"Alright kid, sure," said the man.

"Are you working for the Adventurer’s Guild?" asked Alexander, ignoring the laughs.

"Eh..."

They shared one more look, another one of them speaking up.

"Is this your first time?" he asked.

Alexander nodded.

They all arched their eyebrows while looking him up and down, unsure if they were being made fun of.

The one on the right then elbowed his neighbor, grabbing his attention.

"He’s a golden runner," he said.

They all shared that one look while nodding, furtively glancing at Alexander.

"What’s a golden runner?"

One of them sighed while throwing his cigarette butt further onto the ground.

"Means you’re lucky to have rich parents. They probably paid top dollars to get you all that gear to start with," he said.

"Why are you saying it with that tone?" said the man next to him. "You’d burn your paycheck too, if your kid became a runner."

"Burn a paycheck for shiny gear they can’t even use properly?"

"You’d throw them in a dungeon butt naked?!"

"Not NAKED. But you bet your ass my kid would work for his gear."

The discussion had turned into a debate, Alexander frowning while his eyes jumped from one person to the next.

He took a step forward and cleared his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention once more.

"I’m not a golden runner. I grabbed this gear off the corpse of a lifeless enemy that tried killing me to steal my eyes."

The silence grew heavier as if his every word commanded gravity.

The smile on their faces was gone, their tones finally serious.

"Sorry kid. This is your first dungeon, you said? Just go on the app, and confirm you arrived, we’ll then confirm it on our end as well."

Alexander got his phone out once more, going onto the dungeon app. He tapped the [ I’m here!] button, a soft chime confirming his action.

The closest man standing to him then got his own phone out, its model didn’t look like his but the app was similar.

The man frowned, then looked up once more.

"You’re really alone?" he asked.

The man looked down once more, reading the guild’s name out loud. "Solo..."

They all suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Kid, this is an E-tier dungeon, says here you’re an E-tier Dungeon Runner."

Alexander nodded.

The man continued. "E-tier dungeons are designed for a group of E-tier dungeon runners. At the very least, 5 people."

"We’ll be fine," replied Alexander while glancing at Fae.

"She can’t go in there," said the man.

Alexander turned to him like a hound at the scent of blood.

"What do you mean I can’t go in there with her?"

The man slightly stuttered, clearly uncomfortable.

"She’s not on the list... she needs... the app... register her participation..."

Alexander sighed.

"She’s my companion," replied Alexander.

The man shared a look with his friends once more, unsure how to react.

"Well... whatever you want to call her... you can’t just have your friends follow you into dungeons," said the man, his eyes wandering off in social discomfort.

Alexander rubbed his eyebrows, feeling a rising headache.

"I found her in my Inner Path," said Alexander.

The wrinkles dug deeper in their forehead as they processed his words.

"She’s... clearly human..." said one of them.

While another one pointed at her legs, "Ever seen prosthetics like that?"

"It could’ve been made from materials that comes out of those dungeons," replied another.

"Just look at his profile," said another one.

"Oh right, his profile..."

He lifted his phone up once more, Alexander watching as he opened a list that only contained his name, and tapped it.

A profile opened, his picture accompanied by several lines of information.

The man’s face turned darker and darker as he kept reading.

[ Class: Beholder | Status: Cleared Inner Path ]

[ Guild: Solo ]

[ Mana: Impure ]

[...]

The man scrolled down, until he reached the end where seemed to be a note section.

"What is it?" asked one of the others.

He ignored them, nodding while pointing at the frame against the pole.

"Go ahead, sir," he simply said.

"What?" "Is she human?" "She’s in his guild?"

The man was uncomfortably smiling, while he passed his phone to his right, each of them taking a look at his profile.

Alexander internally sighed.

He heard them whisper, the word ’cultist’ coming up several times.

They all walked around their cars, getting into them quickly while turning them on.

"We’ll come back once you’re out..."

The last man who had been leading the group had jumped into his own car.

They drove off, Alexander feeling their gazes as they watched him through their mirrors

He turned to Fae, extending his hand toward her.

She grabbed it, both turning toward the portal inside the frame.

As they stepped through the shimmering frame, the world folded inward—from light to dark, sky to stone, loud to silent.