Surviving as the Second Main Lead: Second Lead's POV

It was entirely Horas's fault he was in this situation. And by that, he meant writing such a bullshit setting in his novel.

In his defense, it had sounded cool when he had first written it in but now it was a pain in his ass. The dungeon just had to erupt around him and on this island.

"I-Is this a dungeon? Why did it appear all of a sudden? I thought we could predict when and where they will open to a degree."

Duke sounded surprised as he questioned the existence of this dungeon. He was the one most surprised by this happening since he had never expected to encounter such a scene.

As the son of a world-renowned adventurer, Duke had been following dungeons ever since the beginning and his parents had enforced his belief in the dungeon association and their tracking abilities.

"Hah, you poor ignorant adventurer child. Do you believe that humans can predict every move of the upper divinity? There is so much you people don't know about this world because you refuse to broaden your horizons."

The earth villain the children had captured yelled all of a sudden. He sounded justified as he held his head up high.

Howard yanked the chain of the villain a little harder than he was meant to and the villain came crashing down and banged his head on the ground.

"Oops, I am so sorry. Sometimes, I am not able to guess my strength and end up overdoing it. Are you alright?"

Howard extended his hand to the villain but the bound man could not take it. He glared up at Howard with a sore expression but it went right over Horas's head.

"Stop pitying me, you devil child. Do I look like I can accept your help in my current situation?"

The captured villain #2 yelled at Howard. He did not even notice the way Duke gripped his swords and how Regine tensed up, ready to take this man out.

But it was Howard's reaction that was the most unnerving. He did not even seem to have heard the insult addressed at him by this villain and continued to smile his gentle smile.

"Oh, I am sorry. Here, let me hold you out."

Howard picked up villain #2 quite easily and made him stand on his two feet. He did not even look winded after such a display of strength and Horas was quite sure Howard had attained this strength in the previous D-ranked dungeon.

Both villain #1 and villain #2 gulped as they noticed this abnormal strength. They could not run away in their current bound condition and even if they did, they had no chance of making it out alive.

"Everyone, this is enough playing around. You all need to pay attention to me and my instructions from here on. A dungeon is not child's play, no matter how easy it looks to clear. Even the smallest mistake can cost us our lives."

Horas did not want to scare these kids but he needed them to be vigilant for their sake. They were facing a big crisis right now.

Howard and Regine agreed with him quite easily and let Horas take the lead but Duke was different.

As someone who had seen the dungeons and related stuff ever since he was little, he felt entitled to add his opinion into the mix. Especially more so now that Regine, his crush since childhood, was here with them,

"Hey, why should you be allowed to take the lead here? I have just as much experience as you, if not more so when it comes to dungeon-related information. I can be the leader as well."

Dule argues in a childish display of aggression.

Horas knew that Duke was not serious about wanting to lead, he just wanted attention to be on him at all times. It was his way of coping with stressful parents and lack of attention in his life.

'But can this bastard not pick a better timing to be stubborn?'

"Duke, don't be an idiot. You have theoretical knowledge about a dungeon but you have never spent time in one before. We should just let our teaching aid, Horas take the lead here. He has the experience we can learn from."

Regine quickly put an end to Duke's tantrum and everyone was surprised when he settled down.

'Wow, I know I made him a simp for Ragina but I did not know Duke had it this bad. Seeing it is something else, alright.'

Horas quickly coughed into his hand to distract himself from what was going on in front of him. It was better to not think about these kids and their complicated relationships with each other.

'Ugh, I will need to lead these kids and two villains out of here all on my own. Now I wish I never accepted Principal Marbel's order. Next time I will fight her harder to get out of this.'

Horas promised himself, knowing fully well that he would end up in this position again anyway. He would feel too guilty leaving these kids on their own otherwise.

"So, what are we doing first? Are we fighting monsters? Looking for the boss?"

Howard looked excited to be in his first unsupervised dungeon. Horas knew that Jack was training Howard to take on dungeons ever since Howard was 8 years old. But this would likely be Howard's first experience with a dungeon.

"We will not be doing any fighting if we can avoid it. Listen, you know that there are two ways to clear a dungeon - to over-explode it with power or to defeat the boss. Now I will tell you a secret way to exit a dungeon"

Everyone leaned closer to Horas to hear the secret.

"You need to look for the exit as soon as possible."

Everyone was visibly frustrated at his answer but Horas did not care for their disappointment. He was giving them valuable life lessons which they would never forget in their lives.

"First of all, the exit will be where the least monsters are concentrated. Usually, we should wait around for the dungeon association to send a rescue team but we do not have time to wait for this right now."

Horas's words were accompanied by another quake and a small explosion from the volcano. Everyone shivered as they watched this unnatural phenomenon happen in front of their eyes.

"Yeah, I agree. I 100% agree with the team leader here. We should run away from this dungeon as soon as possible because we will all die here otherwise. I knew I should have not cheaped out on my donation this month to the all-knowing being."

Villain #1 moaned as he looked up with terrified eyes. The volcano was looking so menacing right now, an omen of death looking over everyone.

The children quickly formed a formation with Howard and Duke taking sides and Regine taking the center spot. The villains were much more scattered around, but they were close to the original group as well.

Horas did not allow his concentration to drop even for a second. He shot down the monsters who came too close to their group. The smaller fries were taken care of by Howard, Duke, and Regine respectively.

The worst thing about a newly formed dungeon was that no one knew where the exit was located.

For now, all they could do was roam around and begin walking around in circles.

…………………………

"Hoh, there were still some humans left on this island. What are you going to do about them, master?"

The raven asked the shadow, waiting for red eyes to open as he looked at the group walking beneath his branch.

*hisss*

Red eyes looked back at the raven from the shadow, only hissing and growling in reply. The language was not one that anyone could understand but the raven still understood what was being said.

"Ahhh, that is a good idea indeed. Then, I shall go ahead and begin preparations. I think the human soul will be a delightful addition to our nightly platter."

The raven yelled as soon as he was finished relaying orders. His voice echoed through the forest in an eerie manner, scaring smaller animals.

Then, the crow flew away from his branch, his black wings fluttering around in the air but not creating any noise.

It was going to lead these children to their death and enjoy their bones once they were made into soup. The raven could not help but salivate at his thoughts.

It was going to be a grand feast this time with a lot of living humans this time. Everyone would cheer in joy as they got to eat their favorite human parts.