Avin led the party to the forest as it was part of his quest. And along the way, he decided to suggest a different place to search for a perfect monster to be tame.
"How about this? We changed the location to the dungeon?" Avin said that to Keiz.
"A dungeon? Isn't that supposed to be a dangerous place…" Keiz said as he was a bit worried about Avin's suggestion.
Avin smiles as he replies, "You shouldn't be worried. We're the Red Lion, is a C-rank party. A dungeon shouldn't be that hard plus it offers a much better monster. Certainly you want a monster that is strong right?"
Keiz was still contemplating it but decided to give a go. Since he realized that it might be an opportunity for him to finally impress his father.
"Alright but we wouldn't go deeper right? As I simply have a low rank taming skill so-"
Avin put his hand on Keiz's shoulder, "I know kid, we wouldn't put you in harm or else it would certainly ruin our party reputation."
With that agreement, the destination was changed to the dungeon itself. The place where adventurers could attain glory or their own death. But for Keiz, this was his chance to get the best monster that he could get for his skill.
…
It doesn't take that long for Keiz and the rest to arrive in front of the dungeon gate.
"So it is going to be safe? I mean by touching the dungeon gate… we will warp into the dungeon right. At least that's what I have read in books." Keiz asked.
"Kid, if you're that afraid of being in the dungeon. You wouldn't get any strong monsters to tame at all." Cian the thief said that as he was clearly annoyed by the uncertain attitude that Keiz is giving off right now.
Keiz apologized, "I'm sorry but I am weak, I don't trust myself enough since everyone is saying that I am."
Keska then reassured Keiz, "You shouldn't bother about that much. We all have our roles to play even for the weak… but let not dwell much, it's time to head to the dungeon."
With that all being said, all of them touched the dungeon gate and were warped into the dungeon in an instant.
Keiz trembles for a bit as he has never been inside of a real dungeon before. But decided to toughen himself up for his own sake. As he was already here and panic itself isn't going to help.
But the sight of the dungeon itself managed to calm Keiz a bit. Although it was a scary experience, he was so fascinated by the dungeon structure. It was made out of a stone brick that still holds up to this day.
From what the books that Keiz had read before, the dungeon structure might differ from one another. But the reason they still exist after hundreds of thousands of years was because of the mana of the demon king of the old world.
At least that's what the mages said and wrote in the book.
"Alright let's get moving on!" Avin said that as the whole party began to move deeper to the dungeon.
An hour has passed…
Yet Keiz hasn't tamed any single monster at all. As Avin the party leader said that the monster that appears here isn't worth anything. Despite Keiz telling him that he can't tame any high ranking monster as his skill only allows him to tame one low rank monster. But Avin simply kept saying to wait as he surely will tell when a good monster comes out so Keiz could tame.
Seeing how persistent Avin and how easily his party is able to handle the monsters so far. Keiz somehow believes that Avin might have a point, that the monsters that they encounter here are weak and Avin is simply trying to guide him to the best monster that he could tame.
Thus all of them continue to go deeper until they stumble upon an area inside of the dungeon. Where there's no monster nearby… completely silent.
"Kid, I think this is where we get to the good stuff." Cian said that all of the sudden.
Hearing that, Keiz can't help but to be a bit confused. As he can't understand what it's about.
"Good stuff? I can't see any monsters nearby as there-"
But before Keiz could say anything, he could feel that something or someone had hit him from behind. As all he could see in the next seconds was utter blackness.
…
It was still silent, but slowly Keiz regained his consciousness… he felt a bit chilly for some reason and he tried to call out Avin and his party. Afraid that there might be a monster nearby that harms them. As that is what he thought that had happened here.
But he soon realized that it wasn't what it seemed. His initial thought was totally incorrect as he finally figured it out. There's no monster… The one who attacked him from behind was the Avin party itself.
The reason why he was chilly was because his armor was nowhere to be found. As he was stripped down to nothingness beside his pants. His sword and armor was taken by them. He was deceived by the Avin party.
Keiz still doesn't understand why he was betrayed as he has done nothing wrong to them. He even pays and transacts the quest officially by the guild. Plus they don't seem to be evil at all at first glance.
"Am I really that bad at judging people's character?" Keiz said that to himself.
But that thought quickly disappeared from his head, it wasn't the betrayal that comes in Keiz mind right now. It was to find a way out of here, as without any equipment and the knowledge of the dungeon layout.
Navigating here to find the exit would be difficult plus the monster that Keiz would encounter inside of this dungeon.